The Beast-Destroyed and Burned

​Last Sunday of the Church Year – B (Proper 29)                                          LSB #’s 515, 658, 655
Text – Daniel 7:11
 
I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.  And as I looked, the beast was killed, & its body destroyed & given over to be burned with fire.
 
THE BEAST – DESTROYED & BURNED
 
 
Some people have the idea that religion should be all about tolerance.   They want every single word of God to be warm & fuzzy, welcoming   & accepting of all beliefs & opinions.  Given the amount of pain that each of us has experienced due to the brokenness of this life, it’s a desire we can relate to.    It’s a huge reason why God’s children look forward to heaven. 
When push comes to shove,  even those who think religion should be all about tolerance will try to shut down beliefs & opinions they find  to be harmful & repulsive.  The struggles that go on in this world are not actually about which side is correct.  They are about who gets to decide what is correct.  The wars in Ukraine & Israel are all about who’s in charge. 
For people who follow Jesus, the first commandment lays it out clearly.   You & I are not in charge.  Neither is anyone else here on earth.   All of us are creatures, created by the wisdom & power of an almighty God.  That, by itself, is not particularly comforting.  Nor is it warm & fuzzy.   What changes all of that is the sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross. 
If you really are in charge of the entire universe, then death is nothing to fear.   The resurrection of Jesus was a given from before the foundation of the world for the One who truly is in charge.   Sinful human beings fear death because it’s something that none of us can overcome.   Why do we bury or cremate dead bodies?   It’s because we can’t fix them. 
By rising from the dead, Jesus proved He is the One true God & even the greatest human enemy cannot destroy Him.   In the OT reading, Daniel is being given a vision, from afar, of what Christ accomplishes through His first & second advent.   That makes this text appropriate for today as next Sunday we begin our reflection on Christ’s first advent.   The birth of God into the human race was an incredible event, but it is long since passed.   We do well to remember it, but we do so in order to help us prepare for His second advent.  That is when all of our longing for peace & harmony will be fulfilled as we enter the true life of eternity in heaven. 
Daniel 7:18, though not part of the OT lesson, gives a summary with these words, “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, & they will possess the kingdom forever – forever & ever.”   That’s what the second advent of Jesus is all about – delivering His followers into heavenly bliss.  It’s a completely free gift, offered to us purely out of love. 
That fact alone drives Satan absolutely crazy.   The only love he understands is the love of self.  He could not abide with God deciding what is correct.   The devil wanted to make His own rules, & because of our sinful nature you & I feel that desire as well.   Even as God’s children, we are tempted & badgered & frustrated by our inability to control our world. 
Satan does monstrous amounts of harm through people who refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord & Savior.  The death & destruction he has brought into God’s creation is beyond our comprehension.  He’s the arch enemy of God & all who follow Christ.  He will never accept being converted, & hell was brought into existence just for him. 
“I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.  And as I looked, the beast was killed, & its body destroyed & given over to be burned with fire.”  (Daniel 7:11 ESV)    That sermon text is not at all a warm & fuzzy Word of God, but it is a necessary one.  For heaven to be paradise there can be no evil there, nor corruption of any kind. 
Jesus tells us to love our enemies & pray for them, but He’s speaking of fellow human enemies.  Some people extrapolate that command & wonder if it’s wrong to wish ill upon Satan.  It is good, right & salutary to long for his destruction, & this text in Daniel describes that event.  We should look forward to that day as the solution to our fears regarding the direction in which our nation is headed.  We should look to that day – Christ’s second advent – rather than trying to conquer our culture & do battle against flesh & blood here on earth.  It is our calling to remind people that God alone decides what is right, yet we should do that with love & respect. 
We should pray for God to bring about the destruction of Satan & all who follow him.  As the text from Daniel begins, it pictures that final judgment: “As I looked, thrones were placed, & the Ancient of Days took His seat…  A stream of fire issued & came out from before Him…”  (7:9-10 ESV)   The Ancient of Days is Yahweh & the fire brings destruction to all who reject Him. 
Daniel continues, “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.  And as I looked, the beast was killed, & its body destroyed & given over to be burned with fire.”  (7:11 ESV)   
The horn, speaking great words, is the antichrist that has arisen from the beast.  Even as it goes to destruction it is still speaking great words against the Ancient of Days.   It refuses to accept Yahweh as Lord & will never relent in its desire to make its own rules.  No matter how we may try to make peace with evil mere human beings will always lose. 
That’s why the first advent of Jesus occurred.  God had to live a holy life on earth in our place, resisting Satan & all the beasts that he spawns.  Then Jesus had to die to pay for all the times we failed to resist & instead chose sin over life.  After defeating Satan by His death on the cross, Jesus ascended to heaven in order to rule over all things, that His kingdom might grow. 
Ultimately, evil must be destroyed, & the fire emanating from the Ancient of Days will never end for those who want all His words to be warm & fuzzy, welcoming   & accepting of all beliefs & opinions.  The second advent of Jesus will bring the final & permanent destruction of Satan & all his minions.  They will be destroyed & burned in a never-ending cataclysm of fire.  However, Judgment does not come to an end with the destruction of the beast – the world power in all its various embodiments.  In Vs. 13-14, Daniel reveals that destruction of the beast is only the first act of judgment.  That is followed immediately by the second act – the establishment of the kingdom of God by the Son of Man: 
“I saw in the night visions, & behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a Son of Man, & He came to the Ancient of Days & was presented before Him.  And to Him was given dominion & glory & a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, & languages should serve Him; His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, & His kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.” 
Jesus is presented to the Ancient of Days that He might receive the kingdom as it was meant to be – spotless & without blemish.  As you & I cling to Jesus, during this time between His first & second advent, we find rest & shelter from all the harm being done by those who want only warm & fuzzy words from God that welcome & accept all beliefs & opinions. 
That is a deceptive & false view of God’s plan of salvation.   What’s fundamentally necessary to the faithful in times like these are not trite answers, or flavor of the month formulas. What’s fundamentally necessary is a grounded realism & steadfast hope founded on the substance of who Christ is & what He has done. 
That truth matters because it does inform every person’s understanding of his or her own purpose for living in this world.  Yahweh gives us the opportunity to live in the stead & in the love, of the One who was first to love.  Remember these words from earlier in the sermon:
“All of us are creatures, created by the wisdom & power of an almighty God.  That, by itself, is not particularly comforting.  Nor is it warm & fuzzy.   What changes all of that is the sacrifice of God’s Son on the cross.”  That is proof, not simply of God’s power, but of His love for every creature He made here on earth.  However, He will not force anyone to accept His love.  For the church, windswept & storm tossed, on the waves of a history in which evil & Satanic powers appear to be the powers that prevail, there is only one voice that can speak assuring & empowering comfort.  That is the voice of our Lord & Savior. 
One day the beast will be “killed & its body destroyed & given over to be burned with fire.”  (Daniel 7:12 ESV)  That is good news.  Until then, we live during this time between Christ’s first & second advent, & we take to heart words from the Gospel lesson:
“Therefore stay awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning – lest he come suddenly & find you asleep.  And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”  (Mark 13:35-37 ESV) Amen. 
 
 
 
Preserve, O Lord, Your honor, the bold blasphemer smite; convince, convert, enlighten the souls in error’s night.   Reveal Your will, dear Savior, to all who dwell below, great light of all the living, that all Your name may know.      Preserve, O Lord, Your Zion, bought dearly with Your blood; protect what You have chosen against the hellish flood.   Be always our defender when dangers gather round; when all the earth is crumbling, safe may Your Church be found.    Preserve in wave & tempest Your storm-tossed little flock; assailed by wind & weather, may it endure each shock.   Stand at the helm, our pilot, & set the course aright; then we will reach the harbor  in Your eternal light.  Amen.  LSB 658:2-3, 5.