Daniel 12 Commentary
You would be forgiven if you thought we were in the Gospel of Matthew or indeed the Book of Revelation! Daniel ends his work by pointing to the very end of the times.
Many verses from this chapter are lifted word for word and repeated by our LORD Jesus Christ in the New Testament. The message He gives to Daniel through an angel in this chapter is the same message He will give us through His disciples in the New Testament.
Verse 2 is a strong reference to the resurrection of all the living for either an eternal life of joy or an eternal life of disgrace.
“A time, times and half a time.” Now that is great communication! You understand why Daniel wants more information! But not now. The data shall remain coded until the right time. The future is not yours to see! Not now. So Daniel is commanded to “go his way” until his own resurrected body receives his “allotted inheritance”. So ends the Book of Daniel.
The Book of Daniel combines court narratives and apocalypse. Court narratives show us how the LORD evangelizes the top palaces and the great kings of the world. They also show us the possibility of living our values and beliefs in a world that is totally opposed to the gospel. Loyalty to your God at all costs, including death, underlines the core message of the first section.
Daniel is a man of prayer, and so he engages the LORD concerning the promised restoration of Jerusalem. So where are we now that the seventy years are done? Typically, the LORD answers Daniel’s ‘surface’ question and the questions behind the ‘surface’ question. There would be restoration, but it would only be a shadow version of the real restoration. The real restoration comes with the Son, or Isaiah’s Immanuel. Then Daniel gives us hints on the work of Immanuel, but as the Servant of Isaiah 42, 49, 52, and 53.
There are references to the persecution between the ‘times’ but eventually ‘Michael’ shows up and victory is certain. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to everlasting contempt.
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