Introduction: Are you ready for Jesus to return and bring an end to
sin? The book of Daniel has opened our eyes to God’s control over
the sweep of human history. This week Daniel brings us to the end of
that history. Let’s dive in and examine what God reveals to us about
His final victory!
- The Time of the End
- Read Daniel 12:1. What time is “at that time?”
- Read Daniel 11:40. ( Daniel 12:1 refers back to Daniel
11:40 – the time of the end.)
- Who arises at the last time and for what reason?
(Michael arises to protect God’s people.) - Why do they need protecting? (The worst time
ever takes place on earth.) - What is the “good news” about this terrible time?
(God’s people are delivered. This is the final
salvation of the righteous.) - What is this “book?”(The “book” is the book of life.
See Revelation 3:5 & Revelation 13:8) - Read Daniel 12:2. Notice that not only the righteous
living are saved, but the righteous dead are also
delivered. What does Daniel 12:2 suggest about the state
of the dead? (They “sleep in the dust.” This supports the
concept of “soul sleep.” The dead are in an unconscious
state until the Second Coming of Jesus.) - What is the alternative option to being raised to
everlasting life? (Being raised to “shame” and
“everlasting contempt.” Notice Daniel does not say
that all, but rather “some,” are raised to
everlasting life. This suggests that the shame and
the contempt for those who reject Jesus is eternal,
but their miserable lives are not.) - Read Daniel 12:3. Who gets to “shine” on resurrection day?
(Those who are “wise” and those who lead others to
salvation.) - What does it mean, as a practical matter, to be
“wise” and to lead many to righteousness? (Being
“wise” means that you have accepted God and His
guidance for your life. Bringing others to salvation
means that you have applied His Godly wisdom to your
life. It is not just theoretical knowledge.)
- Read Daniel 12:4. We have more references to knowledge.
Verse 3 refers to the “wise,” verse 4 refers to the
“scroll” being closed and people running around to
“increase knowledge.” Do you see a connection between
these three references to knowledge? (Read Matthew 13:11.
If we go to God (as opposed to “here and there”) for
knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom, He will reveal
them to those who seek Him at the time they need them.) - Are we supposed to be able to understand all of this
(the revelation to Daniel) now? (I don’t think we
have anything approaching a complete understanding.
In out study of this book, where I thought the
message was within our grasp, I have gone through it
in these series of lessons on Daniel. Where I thought
it was obscure, or no commentator had a superior
suggestion, I have not gone into it.) - What is our obligation with regard to these
messages in Daniel? (Our obligation is to keep
going back and trying to measure what God told
Daniel against what we see happening during the
time of the end. Remember, it is the “wise” –
not those who stick their heads in the sand –
who are shining at the end.) - The Time Prophecy
- Read Daniel 12:5-7. We have this picture of the man in
linen (which we determined last week was Gabriel) and some
other heavenly being who is asking questions. What
heavenly question is asked? (How long before all of this
happens?) - Since Daniel was just told ( Daniel 12:4)to seal up
the words of the scroll, why is this heavenly being
asking more questions? Did he not hear the statement
about closing things up? (Whatever message is closed
up, this heavenly being wants Daniel to understand
the time sequence.) - What do you conclude about the way that Gabriel
answers? (This is astonishing stuff. Gabriel swears
by God on this time frame.) - Why would Gabriel do that? (The time must be
both important and certain.) - What is the time frame “for these astonishing things
to be fulfilled?” (A time, times and half a time.) - Have you seen this time reference before? (Yes!
We discussed this in the last part of Lesson 8
of this series when we studied Daniel 7:25. Both
Daniel 7:25 and Daniel 12:7 connect this with
the defeat of the saints. This is the same 1,260
year time period. (Recall that 3.5 years = 42
months = 1,260 days. If these are prophetic
days, then one day equals one year.) - What did we conclude in Lesson 8 about the end
of this 1,260 year period? (It depends on what
date you use to determine the beginning of the
“little horn” power. The earliest date (529
A.D. brings us to 1789 A.D. If you use 538 A.D.
(the date selected by our
lesson), that brings us to 1798 A.D. If you use
752 A.D., that brings us to 2024 A.D. – or 20
years from now. William Miller was obviously
wrong when he predicted the Second Coming of
Jesus in 1844. Our studies so far have concluded
that he was wrong about the event. However, it
is not beyond possibility that he was wrong
about the date – not the event. Recall I do not
believe in “date-setting” for the Second
Coming.) - Read Daniel 12:8-10. How do you explain this: the heavenly
being draws out this date in front of Daniel, Gabriel
swears by God it is accurate, and then they tell Daniel
“never mind” when he says he does not understand? (The
only reasonable conclusion is that this is all written for
us – those who live during the time of the end and who are
“wise.”) - Friend, what should be our conclusion to all of this? If
you take the entire book of Daniel, you see that God is in
control. We started out with God protecting faithful
Daniel and his three friends in very difficult times. God
controls the events of our life. We also saw that the
prophecies about the world empires have been fulfilled.
God controls the timing of the rise of empires and
nations. We also saw that there was a conflict here on
earth and in the supernatural between God and Satan – but
that God wins and delivers those whose names are written
in the book of life. The righteous are given everlasting
life. God controls the end. We also saw that although
there is a great deal we do not understand, God shared
information about the future with us. He will help us, if
we are wise and seek Him, to understand the information
when we need it. - The outcome of the conflict between good and evil is
not in doubt. The question is, whose side will you
take? - Next week: We begin a new quarter on “His Wondrous Cross” – the
story of our redemption.
