I really didn't want to conclude with Daniel 6, but I made the
decision for a host of practical reasons. The bottom line was lack of time. Designing the series for the rest of the book would have taken too much
time, time I simply don't have because of other priorities. And the
reason it would take so much time is because I don't believe it would be
wise to cover Daniel 7-12 in the same way we covered the first six
chapters.
These chapters are mostly made up of apocalyptic imagery. A
verse-by-verse or section-by-section approach would be very hard for the
congregation to follow and to stay tuned in. It's akin to preaching
verse-by-verse through a genealogy. Genealogies are God's Word, and I've
preached from genealogies (e.g., week 3 of the Miracle series last
fall), but I don't think it wise to preach through one, using a verse-by-verse method. The same goes for the
apocalyptic sections of the Bible (Daniel 7-12 and Revelation 4-22).
They require, in my estimation, a different approach for preaching. I
tried to find a short-cut for designing it, but I was not able to find one.
Since I had to have two messages written before leaving on my
one-month sabbatical, I simply could not get it done without neglecting
other important priorities of the ministry.
But one of the great things about living in our age is that resources abound. And since I am a resource hound and input driven (StrengthsFinder language, if you're familiar), I know where I can point you to go for more if you want it. Unfortunately, I would definitely not recommend most of the resources out there on Daniel, so tread carefully. (So take a look at my previous post for recommendations.)
In a couple of days I'll post on what's coming next.
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