July 12, Daniel 12
"But go your way till the end. And you shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." - Daniel 12:13
Most worthwhile projects begin with a goal, something to be produced or accomplished by the process. Most journeys start with some destination in mind. The desired destination defines the path the traveler chooses when the journey begins. If the workers or the travelers become distracted along the way, they may not complete the task they set out to do or get where they wanted to go.
Chapters 10-12 of Daniel are really one narrative, centered around Daniel's vision. Chapter 10 establishes the circumstances of the vision. Chapter 11 reveals what Daniel saw and what some of it would mean. Chapter 12 brings that section and the book itself to a conclusion with bright promises of a glorious future for the true people of God.
Daniel saw ahead in history to the terror and mayhem that Antiochus Epiphanes would bring to the Jews in and around Jerusalem. But Jesus and the New Testament writers looked back on that dark history and used it as a symbol of a future time of great trouble in the last days, near the end of time and just before the resurrection and the judgment. Daniel 12 looks ahead to those last days. The angel told Daniel that his people would be delivered if their names were written in the book. He told him about a general resurrection of the dead, the judgment and the division of the whole human family into two groups. One group would be raised to inherit everlasting life, and the others would be raised to a very different inheritance — shame and everlasting contempt. He told Daniel that those events would not occur until the time of the end. Daniel heard someone ask how long it would be until these things happened. He also heard the mysterious answer about “time, and times and half a time.” But Daniel didn't understand the answer and wanted to know the outcome of these things.
I suspect most of us wonder the same things that Daniel did. We (like the prophet himself) struggle to understand what all the symbols and images meant. But we all need to hear and heed the answer the angel gave Daniel when he asked.
The angel assured Daniel that his vision pertained to the last days. Then he told him to go his way until the end and then rest. When the prophesied time came, Daniel and all the righteous ones would be rewarded and the wicked would be punished. They would stand in their allotted place at the end of the days. Isn't that what matters most to you and me as well? There are mysterious and unclear things about some of the details Daniel saw and heard. But it's quite clear that there will be a resurrection and there will be a judgment. There's no doubt that the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked will be punished.
Shouldn't you and I be more focused on our sure resurrection, judgment and eternal inheritance, and less troubled about symbols and statements we don't understand? We should never lose sight of these final things. We may not be sure about the number of days and other symbolic representations of passing time. But we can go our way to the end like Daniel. We can live godly lives, and die with assurance of the resurrection. We can trust God's word and know that he will raise us, and we will stand before him, and he will give us our eternal inheritance. Daniel got a glimpse of these things. You and I have clear New Testament teaching to assure us that they will come to pass. Let’s embrace them and cling to them in trusting faith.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—July 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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