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If you are here for the first time, we are in the book of Daniel. It’s one of the Old Testament books. One of the books of prophesy and we come today to Daniel chapter 11.  So if you have your Bibles, please turn with me to the book of Daniel and chapter 11 in particular.

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Now I was raised in a traditional Chinese family and so when I am in error, when I disobey my parents. When I'm naughty, my parents would discipline me. And they discipline me using tools, tools such as this.  All of you familiar with this?  This is called a cane and in Hokkien, we call it? Not very familiar ah? We call this? “Ding Tiao” [cane in Hokkien dialect].  So when my parents want to whack me with this or discipline with me, ah, discipline me with this, he was, they will say, "you want to “Chiak Kway Teow"? “Chiak Kway Teow” [to get caning in Hokkien dialect] means eat “Kway Teow” or noodles. Its a play on the words. So “Chiak Kway Teow” is a euphemism. It’s a nice way of saying you are going to be spanked.

So this is what I'm used to growing up and ah, I've eaten many times “Kway Teow”, ah but besides “Kway Teow” which is the cane, um, it slowly evolves to something a bit more severe.

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So my family, my parents, I don't do this to my kids ah.  By the way, this is not from my parents. This is my, my cane that I use on Shawn and soon to be Matthias and this is our third cane. The two, two of them have already broken..Ah… for my parents, they use not only the cane sometimes they can’t find the cane, they use the... the belt.

And there were times they use this and .. and there have been times where this end has been used on me before and on my sister for that matter.

So I remember these times and I realize that sometimes lessons are learned best when in pain and that may be true for you. You have been disciplined as a child by your parents, in school, in the Army, at work or in life.

Sometimes, we learned best in pain.

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The book of Daniel is really about Israel’s Chiak Kway Teow. It’s about Israel learning through pain. You see, God is teaching his people who are disobedient. So he sends them all the way from Jerusalem to Babylon. They have been there for some 70 years - first in Babylon and then subsequently to the Medo-Persia. You say why? Because God is disciplining, is chastising, is teaching his people a lesson. He is trying to turn their rebellious hearts back to himself.

So it has been a long 70 years and Daniel, the writer of this book is now wondering when will we ever get back.

God, didn’t you say through my friend and prophet, Jeremiah, that there will be 70 years in Babylon?  70 years is about up, so are we going back yet? Why is it that only just a few of us, 50,000 of us are back to Jerusalem and the vast majority are still in Medo-Persia?

So Daniel seeks the Lord and asks when are we going back. Why are we not all back yet?  And that is the context in Daniel chapters 10 to 12.

Why are we not back yet? So God sends an angel. We saw that last week. He sent an angel to Daniel and the sup..the answer that said that the angel gave to Daniel is a very surprising one.

I would have thought that the angel would have said, “Daniel, don't worry. Akan Datang. That’s Malay for saying coming soon, ah, like the movie coming soon.

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Don't worry. You'll be back to Jerusalem soon. But no, that's not the answer the angel gave to Daniel. If you read chapter 11 you realize that the angel actually said something to this effect. “Daniel, you thought 70 years in Babylon is all you guys are going to go through but let me tell you God's intention.  Let me tell you God's plan. Not only will you be under Babylonians for 70 years there will be hundreds and in fact, thousands of years more to come, you will suffer not only under the Babylonians. But you will suffer also under the Medo-Persians and to the Greeks and to another great empire. Your people will go through this suffering. Because you are so rebellious, this needs to be done.”

I remember that time when I was severely disciplined. Um.. the incident is that I forged my mom's signature on the report card. Kiang [clever in Hokkien dialect], ah?  Ha, ha. So I thought my mom's signature very easy what.  Just a few strokes so I can also do, lah.  So I signed, submitted to my teacher and my dad has always then, from then on kept asking me "When is your result coming back?"  "When is your result coming back?" I kept saying,  "Don’t know, leh." "Don’t know, leh." " Don’t know, leh."

And then one day he got so furious, I remember him sitting in the living room. I was walking into the house. He has this emotionless face. "Where's your report book?" "Don't know, leh".  Wah, that's it already. He took out his  “Zheng Sang Zi Bao.” Ha.. he take out his ‘Fa Bao’［法宝 fa2bao3, trump in Chinese]. He didn’t take this cane. He took out a belt, gave me a good whack. I mean it was really painful. I still remember the scene up till today. And I thought after the belt, whacking is over.  They say, who says its over.  And he told me to go to the door, to the gate of my house, to kneel at the door of my house and pull my ears.  And I was supposed to be there for an undetermined period of time. I do not know how long but I was supposed to do that. And so my neighbors will all walk by, the aunties, uncles will walk by and see me publicly shamed and humiliated. I thought it was over, initially, but it wasn't. It took much more to purge this from my system.

Daniel thought it's all over.  No! it's not over. Daniel, you, your people will have to suffer even more under even more terrible kings and monarchs and that's what is said in verses 2 to 35 and even beyond. Here the angel says, “I will show you the truth, behold, three more Kings shall arise in Persia and the fourth shall be far richer than all of them.” And when he has become strong through his riches he just stirs up all against the kingdom of Greece. Then another mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do as he wills and as soon as he has risen his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven.

You say, what is Daniel saying?  Daniel is saying, this is what you guys in Israel will go through.  The angel revealed that currently they are under Cyrus but there will be three more kings and after that a fourth king, who will be very rich and very powerful and will attack Greece. So that's all that he is saying in those verses. But, not only that, 150 years after that, there will arise another mighty king, this time he is referring to Alexander, the Great. And Alexander, the great will be a powerful man but soon after he got his power, his kingdom will be divided and if you have been following us in the book of Daniel, you will know the four generals  - Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus, Cassender.

Don't bother to remember the names. It's fine. But this is what is prophesied. So, God is saying in a short term instead of all going back to Jerusalem being your own people, you will still continue to be under subjugation. You be under the Persians, then under the Greeks and the Greeks are going to be a very tumultuous empire because after that, the four generals, there is a great battle from the North and the South, there is always the infighting and this whole story drama is depicted in verses two all the way to 35.

My purpose is not to tell you all the details. My purpose is to just show you that the people of Israel will have to go through these purging, chastisements under these kingdoms. So, in effect, God is saying,  "Daniel, you are not going back. Israel is not yet. I'm not done with Israel yet. You have to suffer under the Medo-Persians you have to suffer under Alexander, the Great. You'll have to suffer under the divided Greek kingdoms. This will last for hundreds of years. But it’s  still not enough. You will then suffer in the future if you look at Daniel 11 verses 36 onwards.”

Under another kingdom, and this King in the future kingdom is an absolutely monstrous and horrendous king. He is no ordinary man.  He is the embodiment of ultimate evil and you will really, really suffer, and that is the kingdom of the antichrist. So it's very interesting when you look at Daniel 11 for the first 35 verses, it talks about the short-term and the midterm future and plans and then it jumps to 2,000 over years later to a kingdom of the antichrist that is yet to come.  So Israel, these will be the people that I will use to purge and chastise you.

You say who is this antichrist? That is our study over the past few sermons. He is one of the key figures. Well, we don't really know who he is but the Bible does give us several names like antichrist, the prince that shall come, king, man of sin, beast, little horn, son of perdition, lawless one. Interestingly, someone asked me, is it possible for the antichrist to be a lady. My answer, I don't think so because you look at these names, they are all in the male gender. So he is going to be a man. This will be his names but who will he be? Well throughout history people have always tried to guess.

And these are some of the guesses that come up with they thought that Nero was the one or Napoleon was the one, Mussolini was the one or Hitler and Stalin and so and so even Ronald Reagan or Gorbachev, given all kinds of guesses. Beyond that they have guessed Yasser Arafat, Saddam Hussein, Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Prince Charles and look at this, Barney the dinosaur. Not a serious suggestion, but there are several websites devoted to this idea. It has something to do with the red Dragon of Revelation 12.  But I can tell you Barney is not going to be the antichrist, all right.

Who is the antichrist?  All of them have been wrong. We do not know. We really do not know. But what we do know is what the Scripture gives us. And that is the characteristics of the antichrist. Don't be shocked by this chart. This is something that as a church we have developed over the past weeks of sermons. You can check it up in our early sermons if you want. But these are some of the characteristics given by Scripture about who he is like and what he will do.

But in this chapter 11, the angel continues to give us further details something that will be quite cryptic, you may not fully understand. I don't fully understand. Nobody does.  But is still good for us to see what God has to say about the future kingdom and the kingdom ruler. The king shall do as he wills. He shall exalt himself and magnify himself above every god.  He shall speak astonishing things against the God of Gods. He shall prosper till the indignation is accomplished for what is decreed shall be done.

So this antichrist is a willful man who does all he wants. He exalts himself above God. He thinks he is greater than God and yet he is prosperous. He will succeed in all that he does until the indignation is accomplished. Until the wrath and the judgment of God upon Israel is done and what is decreed shall be accomplished and done. Further, he shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers or to the one beloved by women. Now this is a very, very difficult verse to interpret. There is no real consensus throughout all the scholars. These are the various possibilities.

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He shall pay no attention to the God of his fathers. Maybe he is a totally proud and irreligious man. He doesn't believe in any gods.  That's one interpretation. Another interpretation is interesting. He shall pay no attention to the Elohim of his fathers. The word, Hebrew word here is literally the word elohim. The word, Elohim, of course, is given in the Bible as the name of the God of the Bible. Genesis 1:1 in the beginning, Elohim created the heavens and the earth. By the way, the word Elohim is in the plural, that's why it's Gods.

Genesis 1:1 is not an error.  In the beginning, Gods created the heaven and the earth. Genesis chapter 1 says, let us make man in our image.  The Trinitarian God is hinted right in chapter 1 of the Bible. So the interesting interpretation is this. He shall pay no attention to the Elohim of his father. So there are some who suggest that the antichrist is therefore a Jew.  Whether that is true is definitely inconclusive. He may be. He may not be . It may just be a very generic reference that he has no other gods. Goes on.  The second part is also very difficult to interpret. "Or to the one beloved by women". "He pays no attention to the one beloved by women".  What does that mean? Well, other translations translate it, as he shall have no desire of women. Also, very difficult, right? He shall have no desire of women. Is he gay? Well, we laugh, you laugh, but it is one of the accepted understanding of the antichrist.

He can be so much in sin and so perverse that he is homosexual or something that he has no affection for women. He is, his, he is single he has no desire for these things. Or some think that he has no regard for that which is beloved by women and that is the Messiah. He has no regard for the Messiah. Now these are all difficult interpretations. None conclusive I would say just based on this verse, but we move on.

He shall not pay attention to any other God for he shall magnify himself above all. He shall honour the god of fortresses, instead of these.  A God whom his fathers did not know he shall honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. One thing he worships. War and power and military might.

He is willing to pay. He is willing to sacrifice just to get these powers. And it's going to be something so new that people before him did not know - a new machine, a new device, a new method. That's where he derives some of his power when he rules the world.  He shall deal with the strongest fortresses with the help of a foreign God. Those who acknowledge him, he shall load with honor; he shall make them rulers over many. They shall divide the land for a price. So he's sort of in control. He releases control to some of the minions that he will dominate and he's an absolute warmonger. So adding to the list of understanding about the antichrist. He is going to be willful. He does what he wants. He magnifies himself above all.  We are not sure if he is definitely a Jew, or he simply disregards all God's. We're not sure if he is homosexual, he's single and he doesn't have affection for these things but we know that he is going to be a warmonger.

So this is going to be the kind of a King in a future kingdom who will rule over Israel. And further on in Daniel 11, we are told that at that time of the end, the king of the South shall attack him.  So, this antichrist though he rules over the world as a dominant power, people, and kings and nations will start a revolution.  They cannot stand his leadership. So the King of the South will attack him but the king of the North shall rush upon him. Now some think that this King of the North refers to another nation Confederacy north of the antichrist rule. Some think that the King of the North is the antichrist himself again. It cannot be absolutely conclusive.  But the king of the North shall rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots and horsemen and many ships. Of course, the modern equivalence of it and he shall come into the countries, he shall overflow and passed through. He shall come into the glorious land. So he is victorious in his battles. You thought it's all over. He is now conquered Israel.  It probably starts the trigger of the 3 1/2 years of the great tribulation. He thought it's all done and tens of thousands will fall.  They will be delivered out of his hand Edom, Moab; main part of Ammonites will be spared.

Now I know what you're thinking. This is so bizarre. This is so out of this world. What has this got to do with me? Well, maybe if during the tribulation, and eh these things come, and you are near the Middle East, I advice you, please go to Edom, Moab. Don’t go to Ammonites because you may still miss the smaller parts. But this will be regions that will be spared from his rule at that time. And he shall stretch out his hand against the countries; the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall become ruler of the treasure of gold, silver, precious things of Egypt. The Libyans, the Cushites shall follow in his train. But after he has conquered there, there's another problem coming from the East and from the north.

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News from the East and the North shall alarm him, shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction. And he shall pitch his palatial tents between the sea and the glorious holy mountain, Mount Zion itself.  And what it is all saying is that this antichrist will rule a kingdom and his end will come something like this in the battle of Armageddon.  You have heard this. In fact there are movies about Armageddon, right?  It’s about the end of the world. So at the end of times the great battle will be the Armageddon war. So we read of the center of focus in Israel, there will be the Kings of the South; there will be the king of the North and then to be the King of the East. This is where commentators think this is where Japan, China will be involved. You see, in the book of Revelation, it is said that the 200 million troops from the East. Where can you get 200 million troops?  China, lah.  Export everything. So they will have two. So they think that China will be involved in this. Again, we do not know because that's in the future. But this is really the epicenter of all the war and focus. And this orange part, Edom, Moab, the greater part of Ammonites to be spared. You see the word, ‘Armageddon.’ The Hebrew word is the word ‘Armageddon.’ And it refers to the mountain of Megiddo. So that's why you have the Armageddon. That's where the soldiers would have great conflict and that's also where Jesus comes and destroys all those who oppose him. So this is really the end and it wraps up by saying, yet he shall come, that is the antichrist shall come to his end with none to help him. Now all these details. I hope you will just probably get a glimpse of it, but I want you really to see the bigger picture. The bigger picture is that Daniel is wondering when are we going back to Babylon. Or back to Jerusalem from Babylon from Persia.

And the answer from the angel is a very surprising one. You are not going back soon. But you have to go through further chastisements under the Persians, the Greeks and he probably didn't know 2,000 over years later, under the antichrist. You have to go through so much and then and only then will the indignation be accomplished, will the judgment be complete, will the chastisement and the purging be fully done. You say, why so severe?  Why can't God just stop at the Persians or why can't God just stop at the Greeks. Why must it be so severe in, until the antichrist? Must it come to such a drastic end? The answer is yes. Why?  Remember when Jesus came, when Jesus came, he was appealing he was calling, he was inviting the Jews to repent and come to himself, for salvation and life. But no matter how he did it, He says oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often have I gathered you but you are not willing.  And by this time Israel has already been gone through the caning, the scourging by the Medo-Persians and by the Greeks.

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They have been. I should preach to you all like that. You all will wake up. They have been scourged but they will not turn and so when Jesus came, it was still the same thing.  And even after.  Even after Jesus was crucified, and rose again, Israel still won't listen. That's why Paul says, all day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people, Israel just won’t learn.

We thought 70 years is enough. Daniel probably thought 70 years is enough.  God knew better.  Your sins. Your sins are so deep. Your rebellion is so entrenched; it takes nothing less than the ultimate evil done by the antichrist to purge you from your wickedness.

I studied medicine and for medicine you have to go through a five-year course. The first two years are foundational basic sciences.  You learn biochemistry, anatomy, physiology, stuff like that is absolutely boring but that's all necessary, and only when you come to year three, then you go to the hospitals and visit patients and learn from them. And learn about diseases and treatment options, so there's a big transition between year two and year three and they have what we call e-clinics or elementary clinics.

So in an e- clinic that’s where you learn for the first time to use your stethoscope. So for the first two years, don’t ask your friends about medicine. They have no idea.  So its only at the e-clinics that we learn about stethoscope, about simple techniques such as how to feel for an enlarged liver and blah, blah, blah, blah blah. So that’s the first time we learn about examining patients.

It was a very exciting time for me because the e-clinics were eight weeks and there was a book to guide us and it was so exciting to feel the big liver. Jeen, eh. Very big. Very hard. Very rough. Wow. The sounds, sounds a, la, la, la, la. Sounds weird. It doesn’t sound like normal. Wah, its so fascinating and I spent a lot of effort learning medicine and dealing with patients in the eight weeks. I thought I had mastered it. For months that it, I thought, eh. I think I am ready to be a doctor. Eight weeks training "Gao Liao." [enough in Hokkien dialect] The book I've memorized, I've studied. I know everything there.

And so at the end of the course, as we turn to the last page of the book I saw this quote, which is a very humbling but true quote.  I thought I had learned everything. I've got to the end of medicine but the quote says; ‘Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning. Winston Churchill.’ What a fantastic quote! You see, I thought I've come to the end of medicine but as a young rookie, I've totally underestimated the vastness and the depth of medicine. Medicine takes a whole lifetime to learn and nobody absolutely masters it anyway. But I thought 8 weeks will be enough.

The Jews, and Daniel included probably under estimated the depth and the vastness of sin in the nation. And therefore they thought 70 years is enough, God says no. Hundreds of years. And in fact, thousands of years. Still today, they are in a sense under a judicial blinding. They are a despised and dejected people today. And God is saying there will come a pinnacle of chastisement under antichrist. So today in this chapter, we see this cane; we see this judgment from God.

So today, in this chapter we see this cane right, we see this. Let me ask you. What do you see when I hold this? What do you all see?  Huh, sorry? You see?  Ah, obvious. You see ah?  As if I am tricking you like that. You see, ah?  Ya, actually I am tricking you. You see, all of us see a cane.

But we don't see. Jason, you didn't say you saw me, you just saw a cane.  And it is so easy for us to look at his chapter and say we only see God's punishment on them. We only see their sorrows. We only see the cane, but really the essence of looking into the Bible is to see not just the cane but to see God.

There is this man who is the first astronaut. First man to get out into space. He says, ‘I see no God up here. Yuri Gagarin.’  But I don’t see God. He thought that if he goes beyond the clouds, God is sitting there. I see no God, he says.

Many times in our lives, we say I see no God. Where is God? Where do you see him? You see God in the Bible. You see the Bible is written for you. But it's not about you. It's about God.

So as you look at chapter 11, the most thrilling and exciting thing about reading the Scripture and hearing the Word of God is not to see what is done in history only, but to see the hand behind the history, to see the God behind the events.

I'd like us in our closing applications to just simply see this.  As you look at Daniel 11, what do you see about your God?  How great and awesome is your God? Its’ in right here.

And there are three things I want to share with you about my God, about your God, and that is number one.  He's absolutely sovereign. He is absolutely in control. This is an amazing march of empires. This is an amazing sequence of events. And it is absolutely done as God has decreed. Isn’t it? There's no mistake. It’s not as if there's so much confusion that God has lost his plot. He says no. Before it has even occurred I tell you there will be three kings from Persia.

The fourth one will be strong.  You will fight against the Greeks. The mighty king will come out. They will split into four and then there will be continuous battles.  There are 135 prophecies in verses 1 to 35, all perfectly fulfilled.

God is sovereignty. And the sovereignty is so amazing that God even uses the wickedness of man to fulfill his plans. I mean.  How does God discipline Israel?  He uses wicked people.  Huh? God uses wicked people. Yeah. Let me be clear. God is not the author of evil. But he uses evil. The sovereignty of God is so great that he is not scared of evil, but he uses even evil for his purposes. See, there are some people who say how can a good God allow evil. It's almost as if God is scared of evil, and when evil comes, his sovereignty is denied.

No, the sovereignty of God is so great that it trumps evil, uses even evil. We see that case in point in the March of empires here. We see that in the Bible when it says surely the wrath of man shall praise you, the remnant of wrath, you will put on like a belt.  God will use even the wrath of man to fulfill his purposes. He says to the Assyrians. Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger. The staff in the hands is my fury. God uses the Assyrians as they attack Israel. They are evil, wicked people, attacking God's people but God is saying, even their attacks are in my control.

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They are simply my rod. But the supreme manifestation of the sovereignty of God, even in the midst of evil and suffering is none other than on the cross. Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.  The crucifixion and sacrifice of Jesus is not an afterthought, it's not an accident. It's not a reaction. God has planned it before time.



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Yet, you evil people. You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. The sovereignty of God employs voice and uses even the wickedness of man.  How sovereign is our God?  He trumps all evil on the cross. He uses evil and he trumps it on the cross.  How great is our God? Man's conception of God, apart from the Bible is always, this God when something goes wrong, he is surprised, he is shocked and he has to react to try to cover it up. No, the sovereignty of God is that he uses even evil. The evil and suffering in this world are greater than anyone of us can comprehend. But evil and suffering are not ultimate, God is. He is the ultimate sovereign one. I read this morning about Spurgeon saying the trials of our lives, when we go through the trials of our lives, we can rest our heads on the sovereignty of God. The sovereignty of God are the pillows on which we can rest our heads on, as you go through pains. You see, this is what Christianity is all about.

I am not in control. God is absolutely in control even when there's suffering and evil and I can trust him. And you see that in the life of Israel. You see that upon the cross of Jesus Christ. He is in control. So we see first of all, God is sovereign.

Secondly, would you also see, together with me that God is holy. He is not going to let any sin just go by. See, God has actually…by the way; his indignation on Israel is not unjustified at all. The purpose of putting them through this thousands of years of pain is so that they may be purged, they may be corrected, they may be cleansed of their sin.  And the reason is because first of all, they have disobeyed God, they have, they have rebelled against him.

Deuteronomy is a book written by Moses way before this time and God said to them, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything. And by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord, your God so as to provoke him to anger, so if you disobey me, if you are going to commit idolatry, then He says, “I am going to use the cane.”

If you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger. So if you disobey me if you are going to commit idolatry, then he says, a you will soon utterly perish from the land that you're going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed and the Lord will scatter you among the peoples and you be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.  So this will be up. But of course Israel didn't listen. They didn't take God's word seriously. They say: no lah. Ah..we can worship other gods. What's wrong with that?  Every other nation does so.

So they set up images. Why must we be the odd ones out?  So why must listen to the words of Moses? Why must listen to God?  So let us commit idolatry. And boom, the rod falls. God is holy and he will judge sin. The cross is a supreme demonstration of the holiness of God. You know, every other religion tells you that if you have done something wrong, all you need to do is to beg forgiveness from the deity, from the God. And you know what the deity will do? If the deity has favor for you he will simply say to you, all right, I will pardon you.  Come and enjoy a better life. Nothing.  Its simply saying: I forgive you; no price needs to be paid. No one is paying that. Just come in. That is the conception of human religion.

But the bible tells you the true God of Israel does not do that. He does not say, oh yes, sin, but I'm compassionate so simply come in.  What he has to do is to pay the price and he is to give His Son to die on the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ supremely demonstrates his absolute holiness and justice. Because if he is not holy, if he is not just, if he is not a righteous, he doesn't need to send His Son to die. The fact that he sends His Son is a strong message that the God of the Bible is a God of absolute righteousness. Otherwise, for all eternity, if we are in heaven, we will all mock God and say: how can you be God, when you so indulgent in sin?  You are not righteous!

This will be the scandal of heaven and the people in hell will say: how can you say you are great, God.  You have not paid for your sins or you have not paid for the sins of the world?

My friends, when you look at the cross, you see his holiness, and therefore don't say to yourself, it's just a little sin.  Don't say to yourself I'm good enough. The God of the Bible reviewed to us is a God of absolute holiness.  You notice something about God, I didn’t mention this the first service.  It just came to my mind. The Bible doesn't say, love, love, love mercy, mercy, mercy, grace, grace, grace is our God. What does the Bible say about God?  Holy, holy, holy. He is an absolutely holy God. He's of purer eyes than to behold sin. There will be absolute payment for every single sin and if Jesus has not paid for your sin, if you have not trusted in Jesus and you want to pay for sin yourself, you are in deep trouble, because He is an absolutely holy God.

Man should tremble at the knowledge of such a holy God. He is a God of wrath. But let me be balanced. I am not here just to scare you from scripture, because on the cross and in this story, not only do we see God's sovereign hands, God's holiness. I'd like us to see God's love. It really is a story of love. How so? Why is God love? Because, because the Bible tells us, when God did this to Israel he did not do this out of ah...vindictive anger? He did this out of love.

In Jeremiah 29 he says, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you. And I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope. He goes on to say, I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations, and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord.  And I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

So you see when someone waves a cane, it can be a picture of wrath, but it is also a picture of love.  Now this is where we can get confused.  You say: Pastor, God is holy; therefore he is a God of anger, He judges sin. So we learn about God's wrath. Is that true? Yes, that's true. But now you are telling me that God is also a God of love. How can it be wrath and love at the same time? How can our God be a God of wrath and a God of love?

It doesn't seem to mix. It seems to be like water and oil they are mutually exclusive. I can't wrap my head around it. In fact, I think they should box; they should fight with each other. So what has happened in churches and in Christian thinking is that we like to talk about God's love and we don't like to talk about God's wrath because we think they don't mix. And if they don't mix, then we should choose one to portray and to emphasize and is always nicer to talk about God as love, God is love.  It's always more positive to talk about God is love.

How many of you have ah magnets, fridge magnets that is God is love. Your, your iPhone screen saver, God is love.  You have stickers, God is love. How many of you have fridge magnets that is “God is angry”? How many of you, your phone will say God's wrath is upon sinners. Have or not? Anyone? None of you.  Why, because we all prefer to talk about the positive nice thing whereby God is love. The reason is because we think they contradict each other. So if you have to choose, you choose one. They don't both come together. That’s the modern, Western thinking.

But what if I tell you they don't fight? What if I tell you that God's love and God's wrath come together? What if I tell you, they actually complement each other? Would you be surprised? in fact, I would dare say that there will be, there will not be the existence of one without the other.  You see, this is not what I say this. This is what I think the Scripture says.

Ah.. otherwise we end up with this idea of God.  In the Old Testament he is very fierce. Wah, this God always sending judgment and plagues and lightning and thunder. Wah, when I read the Old Testament, I am very scared of God, But when I read the New Testament I like God. He is very kind. He is very nice. He suddenly changed. No, don’t know why.  2000 years ago, he suddenly changed his character like good mood already ah, God.

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So when you have this idea that wrath and love don't mix, what you end up with is a idea that God is very schizophrenic.  God is ah, very capricious, very fickle. He changes, from time to time. Last time is so fierce, now he's so nice. Don't understand God. That's the danger; you can have when you have the wrong theology. Another danger or misconception you can have is that you think that God is very fierce and Jesus is very merciful. Ah. Therefore, I now pray, I don't pray to God the father, I pray to Jesus.  Because Jesus very merciful.  Jesus always listens to me. Jesus. Very kind. He is full of Grace. He is full of mercy. God the father, don't nah. Try to avoid. He is very holy. Very scary.

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No again, that is a very a dangerous theology, err..err .understanding of God because what you make is that you have a good cop bad cop kind of a situation. Good guy, bad guy. Like parenting you have a good, good guy bad guy.  You know that right? OK, you don’t know that. Okay, anyway it’s a good guy, bad guy, and the Holy Spirit comes in between to mediate. What a weird thinking we have, because we think love and wrath doesn't mix.

And so in the church what happens is that the preacher always talks about God's love and he never talks about wrath. He doesn't want to talk about the judgment of God. He doesn’t want to talk about the negative things. He doesn’t want to hang the magnet God is a God of wrath here. So even when we sing songs, we can't sing songs about God's wrath and holiness, we sing about God's love. We have a sugary syrupy kind of understanding of God. Its like what Batman says.

Robin says on that cross as Jesus died the wrath of God was. We sing the love of God, not wrath,lah.  Pee- yak. That's what happens in churches. That's how we think wrath is so negative. Wrath is so contradicting.  As a church, let's focus on love.  Is that true? Do they contradict?  In my mind and as I look into the Bible, I don’t think they contradict it.

They, in fact flow from each other.  God's love leads to God's wrath. Why? 1 Corinthians 13:6.  If, or it, that is love does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. True love rejoices in truth and hates wrongdoing.  True love is pure and light. If our God does not hate evil, if our God does not hate sin, he does not really love you. He does not really love us. For him to love us he hates sin. The wrath of God is the expression of God's love.

It's put even more strongly in Romans 12. Let love be genuine. What do you mean by love being genuine? Ah..I love you.. No let love be genuine means I hate evil. Because evil destroys. Evil hurts. Evil perverts.  Evil twists. Therefore I hate it because I love you. Its a true analogy by Gifford when he says human love here offers a true analogy.

The more a father loves his son, the more he hates in him, the drunkard, the liar, the traitor.  Isn’t it true? You know when I discipline my son and I break my two canes, part of the breaking is because he play with it lah, okay.  But when I spank my son or when I have to prepare to spank my son, who do you think is hurt? I tell you my son is scared, but what hurts is here, you know. I mean I absolutely hate to cane him, but I love him too much not to cane him.

Because I hate to see him rebellious, spoilt, disrespectful, lying. I hate to see that. And the loving parent would do that for their kid.  For their kid. It's for their good. In fact, the opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. This is a statement by a Nobel peace prize winner. The opposite of love is not hate. It's indifference. It’s very true. How do you know you don’t love somebody?  When you don't care.  Whatever happens to him, you don’t care. Chinese also have a Nobel peace prize equivalent statement for this. You know what it is? Eh, we not bad you know. Chinese people can Nobel Peace Prize statements also. Anyone? ‘打是疼，骂是爱’（Da3 shi4 teng2 ma4 shi4 ai4，harsh words or deeds can demonstrate one's love）
Isn’t it true? For all our non-Chinese speaking. Ah..hit is to love. To scold is also to love. Okay, whatever. It’s an expression of love. And so if God loves us, he will be a God of anger because sin distorts, perverts, ruins and destroys us, separates us from him and he hates that. So God's wrath is God's love in action. It’s His emphatic “no!” to anything that harms us.

They don’t fight. They complement. And let me say this. It’s when you see God's wrath that you really see God's love. As well when you see how much he hates sin and yet he sends his that son to die for you. That's how much he loves you. So they don't clash. They complement and we as Christians, don’t need to choose. Oh should I talk about the God of love, or should I talk about a God of wrath. In fact, if you don't talk about both you don't have the right understanding of God. You don't.  You don't understand love and you don't understand holiness. They come hand-in-hand. They complement.

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God's wrath is not the opposition but the expression of God's love as I regularly expressed here and I like what Becky Pippert has to say. She said, God's wrath is not a cranky explosion. You know sometimes when we are angry; we get out of hand lah. We overdo things.  But, not God.

Don't think of God as a spoilt child just throwing his tantrums.  No, God's wrath is not a cranky explosion but it is a settled opposition to the cancer of sin, which is eating out of the insides of the human race. He loves with his whole being. Wonderful statement. So this is God's love and wrath beautifully balanced in his treatment of Israel and beautifully seen at all times on the cross of Jesus. When we see this cane, when we see this whipping rod that is used, we remember this is about indignation. This is about holiness. This is about purging. This is about chastisement. It’s said in verse 36. But at the very same time, you remember verses like Jeremiah 29, where it is not for their evil, but it is to give them welfare, future, hope to restore them. So we see the dealings of God with Israel as an act of God's wrath and it is beautifully complimented with God's love. Look at the tender words God has to say to his people.  E friend. Its E friend, my dear son. Is he my darling child? For as often as I speak against him I do remember him still.  Therefore my heart, my father's heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, declares the Lord. What about this verse in Deuteronomy?

Interesting that this follows the verse I read about the threat, the warning from God that if you disobey. I'm going to take all things from you and a few verses later, God says, when you are in tribulation and all these things come upon you in the latter days God has already known the end from the beginning. You will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice for the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them. Our God is faithful. Our God exercises amazing patient, loving kindness and this is his word to you today.

My friends, you may be feeling like Israel. You're in a mess. You're going through sufferings, and you may have this question does God still love me.  What's up with God? Why is he allowing these problems in my life? Why is my family wrecked?  Why is my relationship ruined?  Why am I heading into such a pit? It’s too hard for me. You say. See the hand behind the rod.  See the heart behind the hand. This is God's heart to you. The New Testament version will be here. My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be wary when reproved by him for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises.  That is the word for scourging. They use whips and chastises and scourges every son, whom he receives.  Why all these pains? Because He loves you. He wants to turn your face to behold him and is so hard to turn your face. And if there is no pain, you will not turn and therefore he turns not to destroy you but to restore you. He disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. For the moment every time anyone is disciplined all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. That's true.

But later it used the peaceful food, fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. The Word of God today tells us He loves you. Your circumstances may deceive you into thinking he doesn't. But the Word of God reveals to you He loves you.  Just as he has never given up on Israel He has never given up on you. If you believe in His Son you are his. He will be patient and kind and gracious and always have his best intentions for you all the days of your life. Do not despise this chastening, the Bible says. And so, as we draw to a close, we are reminded it all meets at the cross. That's here it's all here when we see his sovereign hand, it's all here when we see his holiness. It's all here when we see his love. This is our God. Maybe some of you are here today, you do not know Jesus, but you are already going through pain.  You can't make sense of all these things. Why, why you going through all the sufferings?  Can it be that God is leading you today to Jesus, His Son? Later on at 12:45 there's the outreach event.

This man, Kelvin Soh is going to share his testimony, share his life and how he came to know Jesus. Fantastic.  So I listened to his testimony this week and I found out a little bit more about his life. He was born into a family that is rather wretched I would say. His father is the head of a secret society gang. He is a drug addict who is in and out of prison. His mother left his family when he was just nine months old and therefore he said I could never sing the song "Shi Shang Zhi You Mama Hao.” ( Chinese song – in the world only a mother is good)

I don't understand what it means.  When he was 11 he saw his father and his friends take drugs. And so he decided to imitate his dad. He stole some of the drugs and consumed it for himself and that started him on a journey, 20 years struggle with drugs. He went in and out of prison like his dad. The longest he is out of prison is seven months. The shortest record time he had is eight hours.

After he is out, he is caught and thrown back into jail again.  He had to get all kinds of our ways to find money so he will break into houses he will steal, he will rob with a knife point. Even his own grandma who took care of him all the days when he was younger. So he was a recalcitrant drug addict. And finally, when he was caught in 1998 he was listed as a hard-core drug addict and sentenced to 5 1/2 years of jail and three strokes of cane. That really woke him up. His grandma visited him in jail in and said and really was so heartbroken by what Kelvin Soh has done. Kelvin Soh wanted to comfort his grandma and says, "Ah Ma. Wa eh kueh la." I will change Grandma. The Ah Ma then says, "Kuay si mi?  Kuay Ko Kar ah si Kuay Ko Tao." Which means, change what? Change the trousers waist or the length. You are not going to change. Kelvin Soh knew he could change. He was desperate for change, but he has no power for change.

When he was sentenced to 5 1/2 years, given the three strokes of cane, he was bored.  He was in prison and he just requested for something to read.  Some comics, some magazines, whatever. And very interestingly, a Malay prison warden came and gave him a book. Nah, here’s for you to read without thinking what it is, without checking what it is. It turned out to be a Chinese Bible and when he opened the Bible at this convenient point, because there was a little cross-slotted in the midst of the Bible. He, he saw the cross and right beside the cross were the words we have read just now in Hebrews chapter 12.  My son, despise not the discipline of the law.

Let me get Kelvin to share with you what this is all about.

( Video...in Chinese)

Kelvin Soh was led to the Lord because of the circumstances of his life.  Was it an accident? That he will take drugs. Be born into a terrible family. Be thrown into prison or was it that God is sovereign always in his life.  And at that right time when he had turned God blessed him with salvation in Jesus Christ.  Maybe that will happen for you today.  Let us bow for a word of prayer together.

I'd like us this morning to look up to God and to remember and to realize how great our God is. This is really what is all about. I'm not here to tell you about the story somewhere in the past. I'm not going to tell you about something that is happening in the future only.  I want you to see the everlasting, unchanging God. He is always in control. He is always sovereign in your life. He is always loving you and even the strokes, the pains, the afflictions you go through today is not because he hates you, but because he loves you and he wants to draw you to himself. This morning you are here because I believe God brought you here, and he has a word for you to comfort your heart to restore your confidence and to maybe bring you to salvation in Jesus Christ.

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Would you in this hour respond to him? Would you in this hour bring your pains, your struggles to Jesus, to God? Maybe you're wondering why is this happening to me. Why is my family like this? Why is my life in this mess? Why God? Why would You, a good God allow evil and pain in my life? He whispers in your ears. I still love you. ‘Look at the cross,’ he says. Look at the cross.  I've done it for you. I love you. I've sent and given you my son, how will I not freely give you all things. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord. It's not pleasant. It's not nice, but believe me, it will bring forth the fruit of righteousness. I will make you holy. I will make you love me more than love.  Let us sing in our hearts the greatness of God. Let us praise him from the depth of our being. As we look at history, as you look at Scripture, we are amazed at our amazing God.  May your heart be astounded. May your heart be amazed at who He is.

Father, we thank You for this morning that we can catch a glimpse of Your glory.  Thank You, we need not try to look for You in the tree or in the mountain but we can see You in the Bible. And as the word is unfolded today, may Your spirit help us, and, and enable us to see Your majesty, Your grace, Your goodness, and who You are in our lives. May we surrender to You. May we rejoice in You.  May we trust You.  May we put our hands together with You. So dear God, bless Your church, Your people, bless our guests who are here today, may they like Kelvin Soh turn away from sin to believe in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, Your Son. May they be beautifully saved for your own name sake. We ask this now in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

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