The Time of The End
Sermon • Submitted
0 ratings
· 2 viewsNotes
Transcript
Daniel 12
Daniel 12
1 “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. 6 And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” 7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. 8 I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” 9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. 11 And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. 12 Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. 13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”
OPENING REMARKS
The message title today is ‘The Time of the End’. An apt title for the final installation of our series through the book of Daniel, and also a mini summary of what our text today calls for us to consider.
Daniel Chapter 12 is the continuation and close of Daniel’s final vision which began in Chapter 10 besides the bank of the Tigris.
This vision, revealed to Daniel in 537 BC after the fall of Babylon by an angelic messenger, deals mainly with the rise of two empires; the Persian empire and the Greek empire. And the vision is concerned particularly with how these future empires interact with Daniel’s people; the nation of Israel, the covenant people of God.
I know some of you have been quietly looking forward to the end of this series! But, let me say this; the Book of Daniel when properly understood in context is a wonderful testimony to the sovereignty and majesty of God. It also serves as a key to help understand the book of revelation. Sadly, because people don’t properly take time to study the book of Daniel they end up with all kinds of weird and wonderful end times theories; trump is the antichrist, Obama is the antichrist, Islam is the antichrist, the vaccine is the mark of the beast etc etc. I get comments and messages from end times fanatics with all kinds of theories that are wildly unbiblical. These flow I believe from a lack of understanding about the book of Daniel and therefore a poor understanding of the book of revelation. So tedious as you may find it, studying these visions of Daniel’s will prepare you for the times we live and in, prepare you for the future and protect you from fanatical, unbiblical theories.
In Chapter 11 we were left with a vivid prophetic picture of a certain King of the North, a vile person who will take away temple sacrifices and who will place in there the abomination of desolation. We know from history that these things were fulfilled by a man named Antoichus Epiphanes, the 9th King of the Seleucid kingdom of the North.
There is debate between biblical scholars as to whether Antiochus Epiphanes is the subject of the end of chapter 11 and of chapter 12 or the end time antichrist, since verses 36 to 45 of chapter 11 prophesy a third successful campaign over Egypt, but we know that this never happened in Antiochus Epiphanes lifetime. Chapter 12 also seems to be speaking about the end of human history with references to the resurrection and to judgement immediately after this ruler dies. Some scholars believe that this vision refers in part to Antiochus and in part to the future antichrist, the little horn of Daniel 7
We can see the similarities between the beast of Revelation 13 and the little horn of Daniel 7 and we see how Antiochus Epiphanes was a foreshadow of this future Antichrist figure.
I think however you look at this final vision of Daniel, it has to be consistent with the rest of the book of Daniel and should also be consistent with the book of Revelation. If we hold both Antiochus Epiphanes and the time of the very end in mind we won’t go far wrong. Personally, I find myself drawn to thinking that chapter 12 and the end of chapter 11 seem to make more sense in referring to the end of world history, to the rise of the future antichrist, the tribulation, the return of Christ, the resurrection and final judgement. I could be wrong! After all, even Daniel didn’t fully understand this vision (v 8), yet it seems to me that these things sealed up in the final vision of Daniel will be made more and more clear to God’s people as we near the time of the end.
4 But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”
This verse is a perfect example of how we can easily get caught in the trap of reading our own concerns into the scripture. People have taken this verse to be a prophecy of airline travel and the birth of the internet, but on careful examination the proper context and meaning of this verse becomes clearer.
11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.
This running to and fro isn’t speaking of international travel, and the knowledge increasing isn’t the rise of the internet. But rather it speaks of a thirst for the revelations of Daniel’s prophecy increasing in the last days, people at the end will be searching out these scriptures to make sense of what is happening to them. Scripture is always the best interpreter of scripture.
THE TIME OF TROUBLE
This prophecy speaks of a time of trouble. A time of trouble unlike any troubled time seen before in human history.
Some have thought that this refers to the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes, however the church Father Jerome rightly points out that this time of trouble in Daniel 12 is to last 3 and a half years. The same amount of time mentioned in Daniel 7 and Revelation 13. However, Antiochus’s time of trouble lasted only 3 years.
JEROME: Porphyry asserts that these 1,290 days were fulfilled in the desolation of the temple in the time of Antiochus, and yet both Josephus and the book of Maccabees, as we have said before, record that it lasted for only three years. From this circumstance it is apparent that the three and a half years are spoken of in connection with the time of the antichrist, for he is going to persecute the saints for three and a half years, or 1,290 days, and then he shall meet his fall on the famous, holy mountain.
Others have felt this time of trouble to refer to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. However, the siege of Jerusalem lasted just over 4 months, not anywhere near 3 and a half years.
Furthermore, those who make this passage to be about the Maccabees or the fall of Jerusalem attempt to make the resurrection of the dead to be metaphorical, speaking of the freedom and new life the Maccabees encountered after AE was defeated. This just doesn’t deal honestly with the text in my opinion.
This time of trouble will mean the persecution and physical destruction of God’s people on the earth at that time.
HIPPOLYTUS: “There shall be a time of trouble.” For at that time there shall be great trouble, such as has not been from the foundation of the world, when some in one way, and others in another, shall be sent through every city and country to destroy the faithful; and the saints shall travel forth from the west to the east and shall be driven in persecution from the east to the south, while others shall conceal themselves in the mountains and caves. And the abomination shall war against them everywhere, and shall cut them off by sea and by land by his decree and shall endeavor by every means to destroy them out of the world.
We’re talking about an unimaginable amount of sufferring for God’s people. Worse than the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, worse even than the dark horrors of the holocaust.
But we read that the archaengel Michael, the Archangel of God’s chosen people stands up to attention at this time. He is on guard, He is attentive, He is fighting on behalf of God’s people. God commands His angels concerning His people in times of great distress, to strengthen them, to give them courage, to ensure that their faith doesn’t falter. God never saved the church martyrs from the pyre but in His unmatched wisdom He saved their faith through the flames, and used their deaths to win the souls of many others throughout history.
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19 For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
These days will come to an end just when the ‘power of the holy people has been completely shattered.’ Then we read that God’s people shall finally be delivered.
THE BOOK
We then read of a great resurrection from the dead after this great tribulation has ended. Those who sleep in the dust will awake. Souls don’t sleep in the dust, so this is talking of bodily resurrection, a physical resurrection. When we are raised at the end of human history it won’t be as a disembodied spirit, like a ghost, it will be with a physical body.
Some will be raised to EVERLASTING LIFE. Some to shame and EVERLASTING CONTEMPT.
There’s no getting around the force of these words. There is an eternal destiny for each individual, some will go on to eternal life, and some will go on to eternal shame and contempt. Have you considered this? That this life you are living now is literally a tiny drop in the ocean of eternity. It will be over in a flash and then you will be raised one day to spend an eternity living bodily in either heaven or hell.
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Why do we give so much thought to the cares of this life and barely spare a moment to consider our life in eternity. Where will you spend eternity? Will you be raised to life or to contempt?
Only those who’s names have been written in The Book shall go to everlasting life.
It is the book of life, not life and death, not a mixture like we experience in this world, but pure life.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
It is the Lamb’s book - It belongs to Christ the lamb of God. It is a book of all those who trust in the lamb, those who believe in Him, those who have been given to the lamb by the Father.
37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
It contains names, individual names.
3 To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
These names aren’t jotted down on the day of judgement, they are found on the day of Judgement. They have already been written before the foundation of the world
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
How might you know if your name is in that book of life? Can we have assurance that on that day we won’t rise to shame?
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Old Testament XIII: Ezekiel, Daniel Believe in the Word of Truth
TRUTH. HIPPOLYTUS: And who are they who are chosen but those who believe the word of truth, so as to be made white thereby, and to cast off the filth of sin and put on the heavenly, pure and glorious Holy Spirit, in order that, when the Bridegroom comes, they may go in immediately with him?
Have you believed in Jesus today? Have you confessed that faith in Him with your mouth, or your social media accounts? Is the Holy Spirit at work in you today? Gently assuring you of God’s love for you, training you to walk in holiness, guiding you in the truth of God’s word? Test yourself with these questions. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling for as the scriptures tell us, this great day is drawing near.