Today Matters: A Meditation on Daniel 10-12

I’m guessing that I’m a lot like you, when it comes to how much I reflect on the little things that make up my average day.  Since I’ve technically entered “mid-life,” I’ve had plenty of practice at doing the things I do, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night.  My morning coffee, quick look at the news, touching base with my lovely bride and daughters on the events of the day, the city commute, the daily work, the home-bound commute, the extra-curricular activities, and a cold drink around the modern campfire (read:  TV) before heading to bed.  It’s amazingly predictable, when you boil it down, and being that predictable, it takes almost no thought at all.  I’ve often wondered if I could make my way to work and home each day with my eyes closed, and sometimes it feels as if I did.

The last few chapters of the Book of Daniel, help to remind us, that no day is ever forgotten.  All those things we do without thought or consideration, and all those days we let slip by us, never come back again—but they don’t disappear, either.  Our past, whether we think of our youth, our young adult years, or yesterday, are captured forever in the mind of God, who is the basis of reality for all that was, or is, or is yet to be.  Because God exists from eternity to eternity, and God is omniscient, knowing all things, every moment of time is always present for Him.  For you and I, as temporal beings, our past is behind us, our future before us, and the only moment we can influence is the present one.  We cannot go back in time to undo, or redo, anything that is behind us.  Likewise, we cannot lean forward and do what is ahead of us.  All we have, is this present moment, in which to work, love, fight, trust, disbelieve, build up or tear down.  This moment, right now, is the one we’re given to live in.

And, at some moment not too long in the future, we will all die (should the Lord tarry.)  At that moment, our whole life has passed behind us, and with it, all our opportunities to do, or act, or work.  In that first moment of eternity, we stand before our Maker naked and exposed, as our life which is our past, is brought into His eternal present, and there judged perfectly and righteously according to the good and holy Law of God.  In that moment, there are no more excuses, no more pleading, no more opportunities for repentance or grace.  That moment, in which our whole life is behind us, is a moment of destiny that marks our eternity.  We stand before the Judge of the Universe, to give an account of every careless word we have spoken, and moment of time we carelessly discarded.  Now, without time to change or time to turn, we give an account of the time we were given, to Him who gave that time to us.

I don’t know about you, but that is a terrifying thought to me.  How many moments, just today, did I waste?  How many words, just today, did I cast carelessly about?  And beyond today, how many of my moments, now cast forever into my past, shall be revealed before the Lord of Glory as wasted, or worse—used maliciously or selfishly, discarding the needs of my neighbor, and serving rather myself?  How many moments of this life so graciously given to me, shall cause me to hang my head in shame before the Judge?  Knowing who I am today, and who I have been yesterday, what hope do I have that tomorrow, should the Lord of Glory choose to give me even one more day of life, that I shall be any better a steward of tomorrow’s moment, than I have been of today’s? For we who are sinners through and through, the prospect of that Great and Terrible Day of the Lord should bring forth a divine fear unlike any other—a fear, that we will finally get what we deserve.

This is the Day of which Daniel speaks, in chapter twelve, verses 1-3:

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great

prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and

there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since

there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time

thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found

written in the book.  And many of them that sleep in

the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,

and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And

they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the

firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the

stars forever and ever.

Whether we face that Day as we step from this world through the portal of death and into the presence of God, or upon that Day when He returns to judge the living and the dead at the final Resurrection of all flesh, it is clear that what we do in this moment we are given, follows us for eternity.  The good or the evil we have done, will be brought forward to our remembrance, as it is always before the Eternal Present of the Lord of Glory.  The real question that emerges from the text above, is who is to be found “written in the book”?  Who will be raised to everlasting life, and who to everlasting contempt?

The answer is found in Jesus Christ.  If we stand before the Judge, robed only in our own works, the totality of our lives will leave us condemned to an eternity of shame and contempt.  Our misuse of our time, talents, and treasures, shouts out our condemnation before the Judge—and while we may forget our past and think we have escaped it, for God, it is always present and before His Holy Face.  We cannot escape the Judgment of our past, and we cannot hope to live long enough to expunge our just sentence.  On our own, we are lost, and destined to an eternity of shame, surrounded by the cacophony of all our wasted moments, declaring the justice of our place in hell.

But our God knows our condition, and the futility of our works.  He knows that on our own, all is vanity, as the Preacher has said.  He sees our hopeless condition from all eternity, and in divine love and compassion, pierces our temporal moment with His Eternal moment of grace, forgiveness, and life.  Where we struggle, He has succeeded.  Where we fall, He stands.  Where we waste, He does all things well.  In His Life, Death, and Resurrection, He effects a salvation so great, that His mercies pour out upon not only our present moment, but our past and our future.  Our life becomes hidden in His Life, our temporal moment in His Eternal Moment of Grace.

To us He comes, bearing His Word of forgiveness, life, and salvation, that we may stand in this moment, and in all moments for eternity, wearing His righteousness and grace.  For those who will receive Him by faith, the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord has lost its terror.  For those who fall down in faith and repentance for the wasted lives we have led, we shall be raised up in a Life and Hope not our own, but given to us in Jesus Christ.  This moment, this day, the Lord calls to all of us sinners, to repent and believe the Gospel, to give our wasted lives to Him that He may nail them to His Cross.  He calls us to rise in a new life, empowered by His Holy Spirit, to live by grace through faith in Him, and bring forth fruits of love, and mercy, and peace.  And to us is the promise, that with His Holy Absolution, our shame is buried with Him in His tomb, and that like Him we shall rise again, without the shame of sin and guilt, but rather shine forth as the stars of heaven, evermore reflecting His perfect glory.

Today matters, and this moment matters.  It will ring throughout eternity.  Let this day be for you a day of rejoicing in the love and mercy of Jesus by faith and repentance, so that when you stand before the Judge on that Great and Terrible Day, your evil is absolved in the Cross of Christ, and your eternal future is life forever blessed.  Amen.