We open our Bibles once again this morning to the book of Daniel and the 12th chapter. With this message we conclude the series in the book of Daniel began back in January. Chapters 11 and 12 comprise the culminating revelation given to Daniel in this book. In his vision Daniel speaks with an angel who unveils the future of Daniel's people. The message that he gives concludes with the fourth verse of chapter 12. I begin reading with verse 1.
Now at that time Michael the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise. There will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time. And at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.
And those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven. And those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But as for you Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. At that point the angel stopped, his revelation was finished. But the chapter goes on because two questions were posed.
One by an angel, another angel who appeared and a second by Daniel himself. The response to these two questions then brings to a close this prophetic book of the Old Testament. As chapter 12 opens keep in mind that the same period is in view as in the last part of chapter 11. You'll recall in verse 36 of chapter 11 it describes this period of time as the indignation. And again in verse 40 it speaks of it as the end time.
Now in chapter 12 the words go on, now at that time Michael the great prince, and again in the verse that time until that time and at that time your people. So the same period is in view, it is the period that we call the tribulation. That 70th week of Daniel, that period of seven years of trial that is yet to come upon the earth. Also keep in mind that revelation of the Bible is progressive. That is it unfolds to our understanding.
No doctrine is found isolated in one text or is fully revealed in a single place. Doctrine unfolds to our understanding throughout the flow of scripture. And so the pieces of information that are given to Daniel are fitted into place as one studies later disclosures of God, especially those in the book of the revelation which concludes the New Testament.
And so this morning we're going to turn back and forth from Daniel to revelation to attempt to fit into place the pieces of information that are given to us here in the book of Daniel. It is to fit them into place in the total spectrum of future events. Our text tells us what the end time holds in store. We notice in the first place that the end of time holds in store distress.
You will notice in verse one it speaks of a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time. Now let that sink down for just a moment when you realize the despots that have ruled in our century alone. You think of an Idi Amin in Uganda or Hitler in Europe or Mussolini in the southern part of Europe down into Africa. You consider a Stalin in Russia and how ruthlessly they ruled and what times of terror and suffering they brought upon mankind.
But the Bible says there is a time of distress coming that cannot even be compared to those people. It will be a time of distress not limited to one nation or one continent but a time of distress for the whole earth. Jesus Christ spoke of this time in similar words in Matthew 24-21 when he said, then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now nor ever shall. This will be distress for the whole world.
It will be a time of unprecedented suffering due to the judgment that God will pour out upon a Christ-rejecting humanity. But it will be especially a time of suffering for the dear Jewish people. For as a nation they will be persecuted. There will come in this time of the tribulation a supernaturally induced attempt to exterminate them. I believe we saw one in World War II. I believe that Hitler was motivated and stimulated in his hatred of the Jews by demons, by Satan himself.
But he did not get very far. He killed many millions of them but he did not exterminate the nation. He went insane and mad in his hatred for them and in his obedience to the devil. As a result, he ended his own life as far as we know in a bunker. But there is one who is coming in the footsteps of Hitler in the end of time who will bring terrible suffering to the Jewish people as he seeks to literally exterminate them from the face of the earth.
This is a fact that is revealed also in the New Testament in the book of Revelation. I invite you to turn to that last book of the New Testament in the twelfth chapter. This is a chapter that is highly symbolic but it is not difficult to understand. It says, And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman, clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, and she was with child. And she cried out, being in labor and in pain, to give birth.
The Roman Catholic Church interprets this to be the Virgin Mary. However, that is an erroneous interpretation as we shall see as the chapter unfolds. And another sign appeared in heaven, behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. Quite a fierce looking creature. His tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child was caught up to God and to his throne. And so we understand clearly who the child is. The child is Jesus Christ. Here a picture is being born, and then quickly in the vision that John sees, he ascends to heaven and is at the right hand of God.
Mary is the one who will eventually rule over the whole earth. Who is it that gives birth to Jesus Christ? Well, of course it is true that Mary did, but the woman here pictures the whole nation of Israel. It is the nation as a whole that is symbolized by this woman, and the twelve stars in the crown of her head represent the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel. And it says the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that she might be nourished for 1,260 days.
The next verses tell us that there is war in the heavenlies, and Michael and his angels cast out Satan and his demons to the earth, so that no longer do they have access to the heavenly realm. This stirs up tremendous anger in Satan, and he directs the anger toward the woman. It says in verse 13 that when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman, that is Israel, who gave birth to the male child.
And the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman in order that she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.
And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth, and the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus. And so we see here in this symbolic language of John's vision that Satan will induce tremendous persecution like a flood. He will come after the Jewish people, and his desire is to exterminate them.
But why? After all, she has already brought forth Christ. Why does he yet hate the Jew with such venom? And why does he seek to destroy the Jewish people? The best answer that I know to that question is that he thinks by destroying the Jew, he will prevent the second coming of Jesus Christ. For he knows that when Christ comes, he will rule over the nation of Israel.
And since he cannot strike out against Christ directly, he desires to prevent Christ from coming back to the earth by destroying the Jewish people, so that Christ will have no nation to rule over. That seems to be his thought process. And so you see this will be a time of tremendous distress in the world. A satanic-produced distress will occur in the midst of a heavenly-produced woe that will be poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world.
But we notice that along with distress, the end of time will bring deliverance. Deliverance for the people of God as a whole, not for each individual. Deliverance in the sense that they will all be saved, but not deliverance in the sense that they will escape the persecution of Antichrist. For there will be many people martyred during the tribulation period.
In his vision, John sees in heaven a whole multitude that he could not number of those who had come out of the tribulation and who had apparently been killed for their faith. The deliverance that will take place in the tribulation period seems to be mediated by the actions of this mighty angel by the name of Michael. Verse 12 says, at that time Michael the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise, going back to Daniel 12.
And so in some sense Michael, who casts Satan down to the earth, will then intervene and hinder Satan from exterminating the Jewish people. And at least a remnant of them, it is said in Revelation 12, will flee into the wilderness and there be nourished by God for 1,260 days or for three and a half Jewish years. Those are lunar, not solar years. Where are they going to be protected?
There is a question that is often asked, and we don't have that information precisely, but a good conjecture is that they will be protected around the area of ancient Petra, the rose-red city that can still be visited today in the nation of Jordan. It is in ruins, but it is a magnificent city, and it was in its day a well-fortified city because of its location.
There are those who believe that the Jewish people will flee, at least a remnant of them, to this area of Jordan and that God will there supernaturally protect them so that Antichrist cannot reach them. And they say that is the reason, as we saw last week in chapter 11, that Jordan is said specifically to be excluded from Antichrist's maneuverings when he comes into Palestine. He will go on down into Egypt in his battle, but it says he will not get into Jordan.
And this may well be the reason for it, that God prohibits him in some manner we don't know, because God is in that nation protecting a remnant of the Jews in the area that is called Petra. And so this will be a time of deliverance for at least a remnant of the Jewish people, but also there will be believing Gentiles who will be included with these believing Jews. Indeed, in some sense, everyone who is found written in the book, it says in verse 1, will be rescued.
Now some will be rescued from the suffering by this supernatural protection. It would seem that others will be rescued from it by death, that God will allow them to die and in that sense deliver them from the hands of Antichrist and take them home to heaven. But the point I want to make this morning is that some people, believers, will be protected and will survive through the tribulation period and will enter into the kingdom of Christ in their natural bodies.
This is essential because the earth will need to be repopulated. Most of the population of the world will die in the tribulation. And so the earth will need to be repopulated and it is only people in their natural bodies who will be able to do that.
Now that ties together with something I want to talk about in tonight's message, so I invite you to tuck that away in some corner of your mind where you can retrieve it and we'll pick it back out tonight and tie it into tonight's message as to why Jesus Christ must come back before the tribulation. There is also found in our text something else that will take place in the end of time. We have seen distress, great distress. We have seen deliverance.
And now we notice that it will also be a time of destiny. And that is described in verses 2 and 3 in a couple of ways. It's described as physical resurrection and it's described as reward for those who are faithful. Notice in verse 2 that there are those who sleep in the dust who will awake. This is a future resurrection and it is an Old Testament reference to the fact that someday there will be a resurrection from the dead. But notice that Daniel speaks about two distinct groups.
He speaks about these to everlasting life and others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. He sees one group raised that they might share in the life of God. This by the way is the first time the phrase everlasting life is found in the Old Testament. And it seems to have the same meaning as the term does in the New Testament. On the other hand there are those who are raised, he says, to shame and disgrace and everlasting contempt. These are strong and frightful words.
For John sees a group of people who are raised to judgment. Gleason Archer as he writes in the, the name slips my mind. It's a Bible commentary, so it's a very good one. If you'd like to know it I can give you the name of it someday. Maybe I'll think of it before I quit here. Gleason Archer writes these words in that commentary. Term to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt shows that resurrection will come universally to all men. Expositors Bible commentary, thank you.
Will come universally to all men, whether believers or unbelievers, whether saved or lost. But the resurrection of the unsaved will be neither a blessing nor a deliverance as it will be for the saved. Rather as Jesus said in John 5, 28 and 29, it will bring them public judgment and condemnation before Almighty God.
They will be exposed to shame and contempt before the whole tribunal of angels and men, when all their sins will be exposed to view and they will be covered with utter confusion and disgrace as they are led off to their everlasting place of torment in the lake of fire. Is there any more terrifying thought than this? To be raised from the dead only to experience what the New Testament calls the second death? Only to be brought back into a body of some sort from one's judgment in hell?
To stand before the Almighty God and to have one's sins exposed before the angels of God and the saints of God? To be filled with shame and utter and everlasting contempt and then to be led away to the lake of fire and to be thrown into that place everlastingly? Is there anything more terrifying than that thought? I think not. You see, Daniel looks ahead and he sees through this revelation given by the angel that there is a resurrection coming for everyone.
For those who are saved, it will be to everlasting life. But to those who are lost, it will be to everlasting judgment. It goes on in verse 3 to say that regarding those who are saved, there's a reward that awaits them that's part of their destiny. He says those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven. And those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever.
Those who have insight or who are wise are, according to Leon Wood in his commentary, the knowledge of God and His will. Charles Ryrie says, they are those who see through antichrist's deception. The point is that these are the saved. Those who have insight are those who are the saved of God. And these saved of God, it says in verse 3, go out and lead many to righteousness. That is, they are interested in persuading others to come to faith in the living God.
Now that is, ladies and gentlemen, our call in this age. But it will likewise be the responsibility of those living in the tribulation time. Not only to be saved themselves, but to go out and seek others that they also might come to faith in Christ, be brought to righteousness. Now he says those who are saved will shine like the brightness of the heavens. Just as the stars shine out against the black expanse of space. So those who are the saved will shine, be illumined in some way.
There will be some illustrious designation for them because of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ. So we see the end of time will bring distress, it will bring deliverance, and it will bring destiny. But notice in verse 4 that it will also bring discernment. The angel concludes his words by saying, as for you Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. He says preserve and seal up this book.
The idea isn't to keep it away or to keep it from people who might read it, but the idea is to safeguard it, preserve it as a revelation for future generations. The idea behind concealing, which I don't think is the best term for it, is to close it up. In other words, Daniel, it's done. Close it up. This commentator I mentioned earlier, Gleason Archer, has pointed to the ancient Near East and its traditions to explain what this verb means.
He says in those days legal documents were written out in duplicates and the original was kept in a secure place, a repository, to preserve it for all time to come. The reason was so that the terms of the contract or the rights of the interested parties might be preserved. Copies could be made at any time, but that original document was to be closed up. It was to be concealed. It was to be preserved. That's the point here.
He says close up the book in the sense of preserving the rights of all of those who are mentioned in these pages. Then he says seal it up. What does that mean? Well, it means to put your notary public seal on it, Daniel, if you were to say it in our own language today.
You see, in those days a scribe would take down a legal document or a contract and after doing that and writing it in the soft clay of a tablet, he would take a cylinder seal that was uniquely his with his distinct name or symbols on it and he would roll it across the clay right at the bottom of his writing. That would indicate who he was, that what he had written was finished, and that what he had written was accurate. So Daniel is told to do the same thing in essence. Seal it up.
Put your name, your attestation on it, Daniel, that it's finished, what I've given you, and that what you have written has been accurate. Then he says many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. I've heard some preachers say that this refers to airplanes. Going back and forth and transportation in the end times and the people are going to be smarter and more knowledge in the end times. I don't think that's what Daniel was told.
Many will go back and forth, an interesting verb that pictures the arms of a swimmer going back and forth as he swims across a river or a channel. Before it was a word used of gleaners in the field as they would take in hand some of their grain and then they would use their other hand with a sharp scythe and they would cut it off. And so it refers to the movement of arms in the original use of the verb. But it came to mean something that was done with eagerness or with intensity.
Now putting that together with the idea of knowledge increasing, here seems to be the thought. Daniel is told to preserve these words and to keep them safe for a future generation which would one day intensely study these words and as a result of that, that generation's knowledge of what was going to take place would increase. You understand what he's saying now? We today have greater understanding of the book of Daniel than some who lived in past centuries because of the times in which we live.
But that generation that lives in the tribulation will be able to go to the book of Daniel with scrutiny and intense study and by doing so will have greater knowledge than we have of what Daniel wrote in these pages. In other words, there will be greater discernment in the end of time than we have today as to what some of these things mean in the book of Daniel. And so the end of time will bring discernment into what God meant in the revelation that Daniel recorded.
Fifthly, as we think about what the end of time will bring, let's notice that it will bring discipline. Verses 5 through 11 talk about this. There are two questions that are posed in these verses. One is from an angel who appears and he addresses another superior angel, the one who had brought this revelation, and basically he asks, how long will all of this take? Notice verse 6. How long will it be until the end of these wonders, he asks. And the response is interesting.
This angel swears before the living God that it would be for a time, times, and half a time. Verse 7. Now if you've been with us before, that's not a new phrase in Daniel, and it means for a year, multiple years, and a half a year. And we know from other texts that it refers to one year plus two years and a half a year or a total of three and one half years. How long will it take, angel, for all of these things that you've spoken about to be fulfilled?
And the angel responds by swearing before God that it will take three and one half years for these things to be completed. And he says specifically, for the finishing of the shattering of the power of the holy people. What does that mean? It seems to be a phrase that refers to a shattering of the pride and the self-sufficiency, the unbelief and the rebellion that has characterized the Jewish nation since the time of Jesus Christ.
How long will it take for that nation of people to be brought to its knees and to recognize that Jesus is their Christ, the Messiah of God? How long will it take? How much discipline must be poured upon them from God to bring them to the end of their self-sufficiency and their unbelief? The angel swears before God it will take three and one half years and then they will be shattered. They will be broken. Daniel hears all of this, but he couldn't understand it.
He says in verse 8, by way of a question, my Lord, what will be the outcome of these events? And then the angel again responds and gives Daniel several bits of information that are interesting. In the first place he says, go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. In verse 13 he also says, go your way to the end. In other words, Daniel, number one, you're going to die. What's been revealed in this book is not going to take place in your lifetime.
Go your way. But he says, many will be purged, purified and refined. What does he mean? Well, he's talking about particularly those Jews who will be saved in the tribulation period. Remember, he's dealing primarily with Daniel's people. And he's talking about those who, because of the discipline of God, will eventually be brought to faith in the Christ that has been promised to them. But he says, the wicked will act wickedly.
In other words, there will be many who will not be refined and purified and purged. They will go on in their sin and they will not understand none of them. They will understand the times they're living in. They will understand the prophecies of God. They will understand who Jesus Christ is. They will not understand because of their wickedness. But he says, those who have insight, that is the saved, will understand.
And then in verse 11, another very interesting passage, he says, and from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. In other words, he is saying that when the sacrifice ceases and the abomination of desolation occurs, there will be 1,290 days until all of this has been finished, that Daniel's heard about. Now the question is, when does that occur? What starts this period of time?
Go back to chapter 9 just quickly and look at verse 27 and you'll see. And he, Antichrist, will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, that is seven years remember, but in the middle of the week, after three and a half years, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering. And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolates. In other words, at the middle point of the seven year period, after three and one half years, what is said in Daniel 12, 11 will take place.
The sacrifices will be forced to stop in the Jerusalem temple by Antichrist. And he will present himself as their messiah. He will demand that they worship him. He will establish an image that will be able to do miraculous things. And he will insist that they now worship him as their God. And Daniel is given the information that when you begin to calculate from that day, you can count off 1290 days until all of these things will be fulfilled.
Now if you count those out, you find that it is 30 days longer than the remaining three and a half years out of the seven. Remember we're talking about lunar years, months of 30 days. These are not solar years. So of the seven, three and a half years pass, this abomination of desolation takes place. Then Daniel is told 1290 days. Well, we understand that 1260 of them bring us to the second coming of Christ. The end of Antichrist's reign, the destruction of his armies.
But what about the next 30 days? Well Bible scholars debate that back and forth, but I think the best answer is that the next 30 days after the return of Jesus Christ are days when the judgments will take place. For example, the judgment of the nations, which we're going to look at as part of tonight's message. Those judgments will take place in that 30 day period. This will be a time of tremendous discipline. Discipline upon the whole world.
Discipline especially upon the Jewish people to bring them as a nation to faith in their Christ. But notice finally that the end of time will be a time of delight, verses 12 and 13. It says, how blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days. Oh no, not another day, period of time, of days, yes. Another one. How does this play together with the 1,290 in the previous verse? Well, it includes those days and goes beyond them by another 45. You notice that?
Beyond the 1,290 it says that something very blessed is going to take place 45 days after that. The question is what? He says blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to that time. Well, he is talking about the inauguration of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ will be officially coronated and his government will be established over the whole earth. So we ask the question why another 45 days beyond the 30 days of judgment?
Perhaps the best answer for that, at least that I have seen and those in the tribulation will understand this more clearly perhaps than we today, but I think the best answer I have seen is that these final 45 days will be used to organize the monarchy of Christ. Officials will need to be appointed.
Officials will be given to the saints for ruling over Christ's kingdom and it will take that long for everything in the government to be put into place and then Jesus Christ will be inaugurated and the 1,000 year reign of Christ will officially begin. The angel says how blessed is the one who attains to that day. He says in verse 13, as for you, go your way to the end.
In other words, Daniel, you are going to die, but then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age. Daniel would die and enter into rest, but he himself would be resurrected to share in his allotment in that kingdom that is to come. And so the end of time, while it is going to bring distress and deliverance, while it is going to bring discernment and discipline, is also going to bring delight.
Delight for the people of God who will share in the reign of Jesus Christ. In this book we have studied the biographical and the prophetical portions. Our hearts have to stand amazed at the scope of the revelation that was given to this faithful servant of God, this honored man of faith, one of God's chosen, 2,500 years ago.
You and I in 1990, following the footsteps of people like Daniel, people who have stood tall for the truth of God and who have served God with integrity and righteousness in their generation. I tell you as a noble procession, this line of godly men and women in which we walk, oh may God grant to us that we be faithful in our generation. We upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
We who may very well be living in the terminal generation, that very generation foreseen by Daniel and other prophets of old. That time predicted by the angels, by the Holy Spirit as he spoke through New Testament prophets. That time is quickly coming, we believe, upon the earth. As they were faithful in their day, let us not fail God in ours.
But let's serve him with faithfulness and integrity, whether it be on our campuses, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, our mission fields, our church ministry, in whatever we do. Let's do it for God and do it with all of our might. But I cannot close without saying that for those whose names are not written in the book of life, the future is not one of delight and blessedness.
Because of the things coming upon the earth, the tribulation, the suffering, the death, the antichrist, the judgment from God. Because of those things coming upon the earth, the future is one of fear and dread. Because of the final judgment with its disgrace, its resurrection to everlasting contempt and to darkness and to the lake of fire, the future of the unsaved is one of dread.
If you are one today who has never trusted in the Savior, the only one who can deliver you from this judgment that is to come, then will you trust him today? Will you bow the knee before him and receive him into your life as Lord and Savior? Will you make him your own personal Savior?
May God help you to do that so that the angels in heaven may then take that quill and inscribe your name too in the Lamb's book of life so that you may share with the rest of the saved in the glory and the delight and the blessing that God is going to bring upon the earth one day when Jesus comes. Let's pray. Our heads bowed, our eyes closed. I wonder if there is just one or two people who would today say, this is the day for me. Today I would trust in the Savior.
I've heard about Jesus, I've known about him, but I've never trusted in him as my own Lord and Savior. And I recognize my need for deliverance from judgment. And I place my faith alone in him today. Would you indicate that to be your decision by lifting your hand so that I can see it? God bless you. Is there another? I would trust in Christ today for my deliverance, not only from the tribulation, but from the judgment for my sin. I believe in him who died for me and rose again. Is there another?
Oh Father, we thank you that this is still the day of salvation and that the long suffering of the Lord means that the door is still open for people to come in faith and to be delivered. But may all of us be motivated today for those who are lost, who know not the Savior and who are headed toward this period of time of unparalleled grief and distress upon the earth, who are headed ultimately toward judgment without Christ and to the lake of fire.
May we in our day be among those who would win others to Christ and turn them to right righteousness and away from their sin. May we be faithful, serving you as Daniel and others have been before us in their day. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.