Curtain to the Future

Two college kids, John and Ron, faced a big assignment deep in the jungle of New Guinea. They were supposed to get local villagers to help them build a mission airstrip. But because of a mix-up they’d been dropped off at the location without a translator. Suddenly they were very much alone, facing a group of primitive people, some of whom still practiced cannibalism.

They couldn’t communicate. They didn’t know where they would stay or what they would eat. There was supposed to be a Christian villager in the area, but Ron and John had no idea how to contact him. So they prayed that God would protect them and help them. Soon they spotted a tall, white man walking out of the jungle straight toward them. He was accompanied by an Indonesian. The white man and his colleague were working for a Bible translation ministry.

Before Ron and John knew it, these two men had arranged a place for them to stay near the site of the airfield and provided food for them to eat. They helped Ron and John write down all the phrases they would need to direct the locals in building the airfield. After spending hours on this make-shift dictionary, the two men said, “See you later!” And they walked back into the jungle.

As Ron and John watched them disappear, the mystery of this providential rendezvous began to sink in. The two men had no backpacks, no supplies. It would take them several days of trekking through the jungle to get to any town. Ron and John had no idea where they’d come from or where they were going. It seemed like these two men had just been dropped from heaven, exactly when they were needed. Ron and John were able to build that mission airstrip, using the phrases they’d been given. And all that time, they had the sense that angels were at their shoulders.

God can act on our behalf in a supernatural way. He cares about you and me and longs to use His power for our good. Satan is always trying to interfere with God’s blessings. And sometimes we wonder why he is allowed to do so. But in the end God is going to win big time, and Satan is going to lose big time. In Daniel 7, God gives us a glimpse of future events that lead toward the divine climax of history. A loving heavenly Father wants to assure us about where we’re ultimately headed.

Yes, sometimes it’s hard to see God’s guiding hand. It’s hard when your child dies of leukemia; it’s hard when a spouse refuses to acknowledge the problems in your marriage; it’s hard when some disturbed individual mows down school kids with an assault rifle. But God is much more pained by these tragedies than we are. He is even more deeply wounded by the suffering that sin causes in our world than you or I could ever be. And God is working out His plan to bring a permanent solution to the horror of sin—so that it will never happen again.

Let’s see what information God has given to us in Daniel chapter 7 to help us understand how the pieces of life’s puzzle fit together.