What Time is it? Dan 11:36-12:4

How many of you are familiar with the children’s program Awana?

When I was growing up AWANA was at its peak in popularity and function. They changed a lot since those days, but at that time the emphasis was on Scripture memorization and discipleship.

As part of the program, those in AWANA clubs could earn AWANA currency called “awana shares”. This currency could be exchanged for a variety of things in the AWANA store, further incentivising scripture memory. At our particular awana club, we had a leader who loved to randomly award awana shares in a segment he called “Crazy Bonus Share Time” where bonus currency was given for anyone wearing green socks, or a hat, or had glasses, or was wearing a watch, or had a birthday that month, or whatever else the leader would come up with.

This is something forever etched into my mind. Every week at the conclusion of the game time, we would all be in the gym lined up against the walls, and the leader would shout “What time is it??”

to which we would all yell as loudly as we could, “Crazy bonus share time” If he was not satisfied with the volume of our response he would ask again “I said, what time is it” and the reply somehow even louder than before “crazy bonus share time”

This is so deeply ingrained in me, that anytime someone happens to ask me, hey what time is it? I have to suppress the urge to reply “crazy bonus share time”

As Christians, we are called to be aware of what time it is. We are living in the last days. I don’t say that by way of sensationalism, or as an alarmist. The Apostle John wrote in the first century

1 John 2:18 LSB

Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared. From this we know that it is the last hour.

I can make a case that ever since pentecost we have been living in the end times, the last days, the last hour. At any moment Christ could call his church home. Scripture repeatedly calls those who belong to the Lord to be aware of the times and seasons in which we live.

For those who live through the events in our passage today, being aware of the times will prove to be a great ally in the struggle.

Daniel 11 provides for us the agenda of the Antichrist during the time of the end. As we understand it, this is during the tribulation period on the earth, when literally all hell breaks loose. You think its bad now? You ain’t seen nothing yet. But everything has its alloted time.

Even when all hell breaks loose, everything has its alloted time.

In the text we are given three such time allocations:

Time for the Antichrist’s success. Time for his downfall. and time for the rescue of God’s people.

Let us read our text.

Daniel 11:36–12:4 LSB

“Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak astonishing things against the God of gods; and he will succeed until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done. “He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. “But instead he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones, and desirable things. “And he will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god; he will give great honor to those who recognize him and will cause them to rule over the many and will apportion land for a price. “And at the time of the end, the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships; and he will enter lands, overflow them, and pass through. “And he will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. “Then he will send forth his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. “But he will rule over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the desirable things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. “But reports from the East and from the North will dismay him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and devote many to destruction. “And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him. “Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will stand. And there will be a time of distress such as never happened 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 reproach 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 time of the end; many will go to and fro, and knowledge will increase.”

As with most passages we’ve encountered with Daniel, a few preliminary remarks are necessary.

I’ve had to wrestle with how to present the information in this text to you. Similar to last, week I have the option to going into the weeds with every detail, making note of every cross reference, and painting the fullest picture I can of the end times events from all that we are given in Scripture. Not only would this help us get a full picture of what God will do in the end times, but many people find it to be extremely fascinating and it scratches a certain kind of prophetic itch that if we’re honest, we all have. And I think if I were teaching this in a more classroom setting, I’d likely lean more into that approach.

We are NOT in a classroom setting, however. This is Sunday morning. I’m here to preach the Word, to equip, encourage, challenge, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and teaching. As such my goal is to give you enough context for you to get the overall gist of the prophetic calendar, but then lean into what this means for us.

I’ve quoted this before and I will do so again: Prophecy was given not merely to provide us a calendar, but primarily to shape our character. My task, as the preacher, is to explain the word so that we may become doers of the word, not merely hearers.

This passage is one of the passages that critical scholars will point to as evidence that Daniel wasn’t written by Daniel, but by someone else at a much later date. They assume that the entire passage is about Antiochus IV. When you look at vs 1-35, and track the historical record, we find that every detail does in fact line up with has happened historically. But when you go from vs 36ff, things begin to diverge. While some of the details could possibly fit Antiochus, there are far to many that do not line up, including the record of Antiochus’ death. How do we account for this? The Critical scholar says, aha! see? He was accurate up to this point because this is when he was writing and he knew the history, but here he began speculating about his death to try to give a moral boost to the Jewish rebels. But the author clearly got it wrong. Nothing supernatural here.

This conclusion has several flaws.

One, The Jewish community has always held Daniel to be divinely inspired Scripture. For them to recognize as Scripture a book that contains such an obvious error flies directly in the face of how the Jews have processed books claiming to contain revelation from God. Remember, what’s the standard of a false prophet? How many things must he get wrong? One. That’s it.

Second, the critical scholars (and a few conservative ones as well) mistakenly conclude that the entire passage is about Antiochus. For the vast majority of Church History, Daniel 11:36ff has always been interpreted as referring to the Anti Christ at the end of the age. There are a variety of textual reasons to conclude so:

There is a reality that the details simply don’t line up with Antichrist. His actions, while similar in some cases, are different. His view of himself is different. His movement is different. His death is different. We must either conclude that Daniel was in error, as the critical scholars do, or else he refers to another person. In light of what we’ve already seen from Daniel, and in light of the evidence that points to the traditional early writing date, it makes the most sense to say this is referring to someone else.

The end of vs 35 seems to create a natural breaking point that transitions us in time. One scholar put it this way: the “until the time of the end formula seems to close off the Antiochus segment” (DRD pg 156)

The king is simply called “The king” rather than “the king of the north”.

chapter 12 begins with “at that time” and speaks of “a time of distress such as never happened since there was a nation until that time” which is similar to Jesus’ language to speak of the great tribulation at the end of the age. Everything about the descriptions here fit more closely with other prophetic texts describing the tribulation period.

The literary Structure, as Jim showed us a few weeks ago, makes it clear that as bad as Antiochus was, he merely served as a pattern, a foreshadowing, of what was to come in the Anti Christ.

Finally, when we bring in all the cross references from other places in Scripture which clearly do speak of the antichrist, including earlier in Daniel, 2 Thess, Revelation, etc. it becomes abundantly clear that this text is about the rise, exploits, and downfall of the Antichrist.

Okay. ALL that was just the preliminary remarks.

Let’s consider our passage.

Daniel jumps forward on the prophetic calendar. From his perspective its all future. For us, everything up through vs 35 is history. Vs 36 onward is yet future. If you would like the handout that I gave out last week, there are still some available on the back table.

I mentioned that there are three clear time indicators in this text that I am using to form today’s outline. First, we see that there is an alloted time for the Antichrist’s success

Time for Antichrist’s Success

Vs 36 begins with an ominous tone: the king will do as he pleases. Whatever he wants to accomplish, he will do. This will eventually include exalting himself above all other deities, and commanding the worship of others.

He will blaspheme the name of the Lord, but notice the end of vs 36.

He will succeed until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.

The time of the Antichrist’s rule on the earth will be the absolute worst time in human history. We can read through the history books and find countless atrocities, natural disasters, plagues, etc.

Nothing compares to the tyranny of the antichrist and his absolute subjugation of the world.

He magnifies himself to be a God, he relies on his military might, he rewards those who show him honor, he will conquer and amass great wealth.

But for all that, there is a limit. He can only succeed until the indignation is finished. He can only go as far as God allows him to go. And God says you’ve got 7 years. No more. We saw this concept when we were studying Mark

Mark 13:20 LSB

“And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom He chose, He shortened the days.

It is always helpful to remember that even in the most trying of circumstances, God limits the days. Whatever your plight may be, it will not last forever.

There is a saying “this too shall pass” and according to Persian tradition, it actually has it origin in King Solomon. There’s no way to verify that, but according to the story a Persian sultan asked Solomon for a signet motto that applied in all situations, and Solomon’s reply way “This too shall pass”

At the time of Israel’s most trying hour, God provides the prophetic insight: even this has its limits. Antichrist’s arm can only go as far has his leash allows him.

And we recognize. That leash extends pretty far. verse 39 says he will take action against the strongest of fortresses, and the implication is that he finds success. We know from Revelation that Satan himself is helping, empowering, and is likely even personally possessing the antichrist for these actions.

And yet, the time is still limited.

Antichrist makes a covenant with Israel for 7 years, as we learned from Dan 9. Half way through he breaks that covenant and unleashes his fury. But at the time. His time is up.

Time for Antichrist’s Downfall

As dominant of a campaign as he runs, it will not endure.

Vs 40 begins with another time indicator. “At the time of the end”

The end of the age. These are the events that lead up to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Antichrist will see success. But it will not last, because his reign begins with the end in view.

The text describes conflict. The king of the South, the king of the North. The fighting spills into the land of Israel. He will amass wealth, but then things change.

Look at verse 44. Reports from the East and from the North will dismay him. That could also be translated alarm him, or terrify him. He pitches his tent in Israel, but comes to an unceremonious end.

I love how Daniel puts it. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.

Revelation gives more details about his downfall. Jesus Christ Himself rides into battle and obliterates him and his armies.

But here. His time is done. He pitches his tent in Israel as if he intends to stay a while. And yet, his end will come. He will come to his end, and no one will help him.

Who could, even if they wanted to, right? You will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, a rider on a white horse, Faithful and True, His eyes a flame of fire, and coming with him the armies of heaven clothed in white.

There will not be anyone to help the antichrist, even all the combined power of Satan and all his demons together could not stop him.

His time will be over.

Which is very good news for God’s people, because they will have suffered horrendously.

But there will be a time for their deliverance.

Time for the Rescue of God’s People

The chapter break is really at an awful spot for this particular text. Chapter 12 vs 1 begins with “now at that time” indicating that these passages are linked. This is still one vision.

At the time of Israel’s deepest distress at the hands of the Antichrist, Michael the archangel shall stand.

It’s not clear what role he will play, or what exactly he will do when the time comes, but he’s clearly involved. Some commentators link this to Rev 12 which speaks of a cosmic battle in heaven between Michael and his angels and the Devil. This seem likely, as both in Rev 12, and here, what follows is intense suffering and distress for God’s people.

The text says time of distress that has never happened since there was a nation until then.

This is nearly identical language to what Jesus said when we studied Mark

Mark 13:19 LSB

“For those days will be a time of tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will.

This is the darkest hour. The saddest moment. There has never been a time as bad as this nor will there ever be. Satan having been cast down unleashes his wrath and fury upon the earth, and the whole world suffers for it.

And yet.

Even through that. “at that time your people” speaking to Daniel, so referring to the Jewish people, “your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued”

Antichrist is not the end.

Not only will many be rescued, but those who died will be resurrected. Revelation 20 speaks of this.

God will be faithful to His promises, God will rescue his people, God will resurrect those who have died, and they will enjoy everlasting life.

Who enjoys this?

Those who have insight. Those who lead others to righteousness. They will shine like stars forever.

What a beautiful text.

A time will come when all the suffering will be over. Those who have insight, those who have faith, those who believe the Word. They shall live.

I hope you’re in awe of this text. But even so, you may be wondering.

According to what we believe the Bible teaches....none of us will be here on earth for any of this stuff. If you have trusted in Christ for salvation, we believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, which means that before any of this occurs, we will have already been caught up to meet the Lord in the air.

If that’s true, then how does this text have anything to do with us?

This text shows us that Israel has a future. God isn’t finished with National Ethnic Israel. We believe that the church and Israel are distinct, we aren’t the new Israel.

God made certain promises to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. God entered into a covenant with the nation of Israel promises to disperse them, but then also to regather them. God promised that they would be recipients of the New Covenant. God promised that there would be a day when Israel would be restored, the Messiah would rule from Jerusalem. This text shows us that God still intends to honor those promises. This is how God will preserve His people through the tribulation. He equips them with the insight necessary to persevere, as we discussed last week. Perspective gives strength.

Does any of this mean anything for us? Yes! Our faith is in the God who keeps his promises! If God wasn’t faithful to the promises that he made to Israel, why would you have any confidence that he would keep his promises to you? How could you have that confidence?? But since he has kept all his promises and will keep his promises to Israel, we too can have confidence that he will keep his promises to us as well.

The promise that all who believe in Jesus Christ will receive eternal life

The promise that we are adopted into the Family of God, and can never be cast out

The promise that we gain entrance into the eternal kingdom and shall reign with him.

If God doesn’t keep his promises to Israel, then all those promises become massive question marks.

But since He does keep them, and will keep them, we have confidence that he will keep his promises to us as well. This text is not just about intellectual curiosity about the end times. The implications are massive.

Finally, look at the last verse of our text today. Vs 4.

But as for you, Daniel conceal these words and seal up the book until the time of the end; many will go to and fro, and knowledge will increase.

I believe that the angel was telling Daniel “you’re not going to fully understand this right now. Seal it up. It’s not for everyone to understand right now”

And verse 8 says that Daniel didn’t understand.

But they don’t remain sealed forever. The first half of chapter 11 was a mystery to Daniel. Today we look back and see it all with crystal clarity.

As time move on, more and more becomes clear. With the coming of Christ, and the giving of the New Testament Scriptures, we have more knowledge today than Daniel did, hence “knowledge will increase”.

Those who live through these events, if they have insight, they will know even more than we know, because they will be able to trace it out as it unfolds.

But for now.

Do you know what time it is?

There is a time for everything. Though we don’t go through the tribulation, we do endure hardship. But this too shall pass.

But as it passes we must realize that we are living in the last days. We could be raptured at any moment. Are you ready? Are your loved ones ready?

The only way to be ready is to trust the savior. The only one who will stand against the Antichrist is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. On that day, I would much prefer to be standing behind him, than before him.

Do you know what time it is?