Dennis Tuuri

# Daniel Chapter 12 Sermon Transcript

is Daniel chapter 12. And if you have the handouts that were prepared and distributed for today, you can follow along in the reading in those handouts. Today, I did something a little different that I haven’t done yet in the series. And I put in some notes, mostly some scripture references in between the sections. You’ll just have to glance over them as we read through chapter 12. And this is the last sermon on Daniel, sort of—this will wrap up the book for us being the last section.

But next week we’ll return to Daniel chapter 10 and use the manner in which Daniel was resurrected to speak to how we resurrect people in the context of our culture through benevolence and then through the preaching of the word. So we’ll return to it for sort of an application sermon of touching and speaking being the process whereby Daniel is resurrected as an object lesson, maybe an illustration of how our benevolences, which we’ll focus on next week with Loving Sunday, are vital to the work of evangelization and resurrection of people that are bowed down.

So today we sort of conclude Daniel and then one last sermon next week in application. So today we’ll preach on Daniel chapter 12. Please stand for the reading of Daniel chapter 12. Well, and you’ll notice that as we look at how these sections are laid out, there is some parallelism. We have Michael standing in the first section and Daniel standing at the conclusion. And so those are the bookmarks that sort of mark the movement of the text.

And that’s why the title for the sermon on the outline is “King Daniel Stands”—Standing and Ruling. All right. Daniel chapter 12:

“At that time, Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 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.

Then I, Daniel, looked, and there stood two others, one on this riverbank, and the other on that riverbank. And one said to the man clothed in linen, who is above the waters of the river, ‘How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?’ And I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times and half a time and when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered all these things shall be finished.

Although I heard I did not understand. Then I said, ‘My Lord, what shall be the end of these things?’ And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel. For the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, made white, and refined. But the wicked shall do wickedly, and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1,335 days, but you go your way till the end, for you shall rest and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you once more for your word and we know that this is unlike any other book. It must be spiritually discerned. We know that without the illumination of our hearts and our minds and understanding by the Holy Spirit, we will not see the truths of this text. We pray for that illumination. We pray that your spirit might transform us by the word of our Savior as it comes forth in exposition of Daniel chapter 12 as the summation of this book.

We thank you for the great victory, for the rest, for the going of our way and for the inheritance that we have secured for us through the work of Jesus Christ our Savior. Now build us up with the good news of the implications of the coming of our Savior. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen.

Please be seated.

Well, two weeks ago we had a service of lamentation. We prayed that God might bring judgments upon pastors that advise abortion in our country to the end of either converting them or having them perish from off the earth. That’s kind of what Daniel 1–5 is about. We had the empire established by God clearly in chapter 2. And through chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, we saw the first of those things, how God brings judgments upon men to the purpose of converting them.

And Nebuchadnezzar by the end of chapter 4 comes to a full profession of faith in Yahweh and declares that throughout his kingdom. And so we sort of saw how empires are converted through those first four chapters. And then in the fifth chapter, we saw Belshazar and we saw a man who was not converted, a man who mocked God and whom the judgment of God removed that very night and this was the end of the Babylonian Empire.

So we sort of saw those two courses. Although actually when we talked on Daniel 5, we said that well in actuality it appears that even that temporal judgment that Belshazar knew was coming—he was going to die that night—was efficacious to bringing grace, the grace of God to him and he in the context of that chapter had honored his mother and then honored Daniel as the servant of Yahweh. And so maybe we have hope that even there the great tribulation of temporary judgment of his death was part of what God used to move him toward conversion.

And then we saw in the sixth chapter the obvious conversion of Cyrus and his growth in grace and the greater proclamation even than Nebuchadnezzar had given out to his whole empire in terms of the Persian Empire. And so those first six chapters—stories that talk about how Christian empires, we can say now in hindsight, grew in the context of pagan cultures and that’s very encouraging to us. And then these last six chapters have been a little more tough. They’ve been prophetic chapters. They built on chapter 2.

Chapter two, remember Nebuchadnezzar saw the dream. He saw a series of what was interpreted to him as four successive empires: Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman. And then the coming of Jesus in chapter 2, and the stone—the worship of Christ, altar stone, stone cut without hands, crushing all these other kingdoms at once—so they were one dwelling place for 500 years or so. And then Jesus comes to establish the church and it grows to fill all the world.

So all the prophecy we’ve looked at really is in simple form there. And what we’ve seen sort of moving out from there are details. Even in chapter 2, remember that the toes were iron mixed with clay mixed with the seed of men, so-called. And this was the Jewish people, the apostate Jewish people, the Herods who worked with Rome in an apostate way. And so even Herod, which was the last thing we looked at in Daniel 11 before today’s text, he began to be spoken of in general in Daniel 2.

And as those prophecies built, they really built with the context of that chapter 2 in mind. And it gave us more detail. Then those four elements of the statue were in chapter 7 were described as four beasts or creatures—not necessarily negative, positive creatures that are coming up out of the sea because of the working of God’s people. And this again was a picture in more detail of history as it moved from Daniel’s time up to the coming of Jesus Christ.

And then again in chapter 7, what did we see? We saw that the Ancient of Days was seated and then one like the Son of Man received the kingdom. Now that’s important for today’s text. Those things have been given to us already—that the kingdom of Christ is going to come at the end of this time and the kingdom of Christ will be given then to his church.

And whether or not you agree with the interpretation that Jesus is the Ancient of Days—and I think he is—it’s his enthronement in heaven that’s being spoken of—and Daniel representing the Christians or the church is the one like the Son of Man, very explicitly in chapter 7, where you agree with that interpretation, it explicitly goes on to say that when Jesus receives the kingdom he gives it to the saints and they’ll rule forever.

So the kingdom we saw in chapter 2 becomes more articulated for us as a kingdom first of the resurrection and ascension of Christ and then the giving of that kingdom to his people and we can date that to the completion of the period of God’s patience for 40 years after the resurrection to God’s judgment in Jerusalem on AD 70 and then the church begins to reign in an explicit form.

So this chapter 12 takes up those same themes. So if we just kind of keep in mind how this has gone then it’s then it’s it helps us to understand the dating at what time chapter 12 occurs. We have been given no indication as we’ve gone through Daniel that this refers to anything other than the coming of Jesus Christ and what happens in the first century of the church. So when we read today’s text, as much as it has implications for physical death and life in heaven, it also has tremendous implications picking up the same themes of Daniel that have been recited over and over again. And the prophetic section that this is in helps to recite those things.

Now, we’ve said that the book chapters 10 to 12 are one section and the providence of God. I decided it’d be best to deal with it in three sermons, but it’s really one section. And this is the last and concluding section. And what we said in the overarching outline is this links up with the tenth commandment.

The 10 sections, ten commandments. And the tenth commandment is a warning against or the law against coveting. Don’t covet. And what we have in the prophetic section of 10 to 12 is the horrific results of coveting. You know, the king of the north and the king of the south, there’s warfare back and forth and Israel’s in between and they don’t do good either sometimes. And so, it’s just a bad thing that’s going to happen for hundreds of years. Warfare, raping, pillaging, stealing, all this stuff going on back and forth. And this is because of the covetous nature of man. Man covets another’s possessions.

Listen to this from James chapter 4. Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? Let him show out of a good conversation his works and meekness of wisdom. Now that’s going to be important because in today’s text the mark of those who shine as lights are wise are those who are wise and can teach wisdom. So James in chapter 4 is talking about people that are wise. And then he goes on in chapter four to say this:

“Whence come wars and fightings among you and we could say what was the reason for the wars and fighting among the king of the north king of the south and Israel in between there and then James tells us come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members your coveting in other words your desire for the other guy’s possessions you lust and have not ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain ye fight and war yet ye have not because you ask not.

You ask and you receive not because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your lusts. The adulterers and adulteresses know ye not that friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. You think that the scripture says in vain, the spirit that dwells in us lust to envy, but he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resists the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.”

James tells us why wars happen. Wars happen, he says, because of lust, because of covetousness, because of desiring things that the Lord God has not seen fit to give us and desiring them frequently just because the other guys got them. And this is pictured for us in this 10th section, the horrors of covetousness. And as much as we want to go on and exposit this section of chapter 12, we don’t want to leave what we just learned without having the lesson driven home to us, this horrific nature of coveting and how it creates wars and hatreds.

And so as we try to build a community here at Reformation Covenant Church, as we try to build happy families and homes and in the workplace, covetousness, the 10th commandment, many people think that the 10th commandment is given at the end because it is driven all the other violations. And that’s what James says. You covet, you lust after things, and you kill, you steal, you bear false witness, you take somebody else’s wife, you engage in adulterous relationships. You don’t honor your parents. Why? Because of your covetousness for things that the Lord God has not given to you.

And so, as we move through this last section, we want to see a very easy application here to make in the context of our homes to our children, the horrors of covetousness described in chapter 11 in the middle of this 10th section.

So, and in light of that, let me just point out something else that may be useful for you. You can see that what I’ve done in the notes from chapter 12 is I’ve laid this out in seven sections. This outline comes from Jim Jordan originally and just look at it because it kind of—if you look at the outline that I’ve handed out today in section one, Michael shall stand up and I’m going to make the point that I think this is really the second person of the Trinity. Not Jesus yet. That’s probably not quite right on the children’s sheet that Michael is Jesus.

But I’m going to make the point that Michael is the second person of the trinity and so we have this on day one, you know, let there be light. The light of Michael stands. In day two, there was a firmament created and a division between two kinds of people. And the heavenly people are those who had their citizenship in heaven. Well, in section two, this is what we’ve got, right? Tribulation, the great tribulation quoted by our savior in the gospels.

And then those who are delivered from that who are found written in the book the heavenly book. So the firmament and division is described in chapter two of this or the second section of this chapter or in section three rather we have a picture of people who sleep and then awaken. The resurrection—the third day of creation is the first fruits the first coming forth of the world of resurrection. We can say Jesus is the first fruits and in Leviticus the feast of first fruits falls into this third slot connecting back to the third day of creation. So, people coming up out of the ground like plants coming up out of the ground awakening. And then in the middle section, what do we have on the fourth day of creation? Sun, moon, and stars to rule. And what do we have in the fourth section? Those that are wise shining in the brightness of the firmament. Same place where the sun, moon, and stars are placed. So, we look up to the firmament, we see sun, moon, and stars.

So, we have these stars shining in the forest, there, you know, rulers. The church is given rule, dominion, and authority. And then in the fifth slot, the increase of knowledge. In the fifth day of creation, teeming things in this in the birds and fish were commanded, first command given to multiply and they teem upon the on the in the earth. And so we here we have the increasing knowledge of this fifth section of the chapter.

And then in six, we have the man clothed in linen above the river. And He is being above the two other angels on either side of the river. He is the determiner of all things. He’s perfect man. Again, this seems to be a theophanic vision of the second person of the trinity over the waters of creation. We can say, but the perfect man, sixth day man is made in God’s image. And here the great image bearer of God, the second person of God, the Son is pictured as being the source of the information of the time of this.

And then finally in the seventh section, now Daniel is stressed. Right? He asks a different angel, not Jesus. So Jesus tells or the second person of God tells the two angels what’s going on. Daniel doesn’t understand it. He asks his angel to tell him and that angel gives him basically the same information that this angel over the river had given to those two.

So chapters sections six and seven are in parallel but you know six is the perfect man Jesus and seven Daniel becomes enthroned as the true man of God, got enthroned in kingdom and the very end of it very end of chapter 7 says arise to your inheritance and the word stand or arise is used 28 times in this 10th section of Daniel chapters 10 to 12. 28—4 × 7, a completeness of the use of this number. And what we have to say is the use of the term has must be defined in terms of what’s occurred up to now and what’s occurred up to now is the king of the north stands, the king of the south stands this ungodly king stands. This king stands. And every time it’s been used, what it means is a person stands up to assume power to rule. Okay? So to stand means to assume power and authority to rule.

And so Daniel is last man standing, right? In the book of Daniel, we’ve had a lot of standing going on. And in this 10th section, a lot of standing going on. Daniel’s the last man standing. And so at Sabbath enthronement, the people of God stand at the end of things, at the end of their Sabbath rest, and God enthrones them with power and authority.

So, we have this kind of sevenfold tracking again, reminding us that the old world again is coming to an end. When Jesus comes, it’s a new creation. And in terms of literary structure, the text reminds us of that by showing us yet one more time, as it’s done many times in the book of Daniel, that this sevenfold pattern that tracks creation because that’s what’s happening. The Lord God is bringing about the new creation through the coming, the incarnation, the earthly movement of Jesus Christ.

You know, back in chapter 2, that series of empires were earth, not inferior. That’s the King James translation. Another empire arises earthward. The image is showing the incarnation of Jesus. And when Jesus arrives, then his kingdom, no need for all the rest. He gets rid of them and his kingdom is established. So the incarnation of Jesus surprised is the meaning of history. The center point, it’s the movement away from all the old creation and the movement and establishment of the new creation.

Well, look at James just briefly here. I don’t—this is a bit of a diversion, but I want to point it out to you terms of this wisdom from above. We already know that the wisdom isn’t covetous. That’s the big problem. But look at verse—is this James chapter 2 or three? I think it’s three. Verse 17. Let’s see. I think I’ve given the wrong direction to myself here. I think it’s actually James 3. We’ll see. Yeah, James chapter 3.

I’ve incorrectly marked it too on my own notes. So, if you look at James 3, look at verse 17.

“Wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.”

And if you can imagine those seven traits of the wisdom from above, you could link them up very nicely into another heptarchic structure. Sevenfold structure with a middle hinge point. We move from purity to being without hypocrisy. That’s what purity is. We move from being peaceable to not showing partiality. You see, peacefulness brings people together. We go from the gentleness and patience to being full of mercy and good fruits. Those are the two descriptions of what love is. Gentle toward other people and helpful to them. And that puts right at the middle of the wisdom from above. Easily entreated.

Now, to avoid the horrors of covetousness. We have to root out improper desires. But we got to fill in with this central trait of being easily entreated by others. You see, and the whole point of this James 3 and 4 is that it’s pride and that drives this covetousness and it’s humility before people that is the central trait of the wisdom, the new creation wisdom we can say from the book of James—easily entreated.

And I would ask you to ask yourself today, you know, do you need to repent of not being easily entreated? And children, so important that you see this that the application of this 10th section is to not desire things improperly and to be easily entreated by other people.

So it’s kind of a summation of this book of Daniel and it tells us some very important very practical things here for us.

Now, as I said, we can look at this text and we can sort of see that what we have here, if nothing else, is a text of great comfort. Great comfort. Because the text concludes with this statement to Daniel, verse 13: “you go your way till the end, for you shall rest, and you will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”

And it is perfectly proper and appropriate, I think, to see that verse as having application to the general course of our lives. So this big long complicated book of Daniel with this big long complicated tenth section, it gets down to some pretty easy stuff at the end. We’re sitting down today. We prostrated ourselves before God in humility. And at the end of the day, God’s going to say, “Rise up. Men of God, go your way. Do what you’re supposed to do, okay? And then you’ll come to your rest when you die. And after that rest, you’ll be raised up and given your inheritance at the end.

So there’s some wonderful words of comfort here to those of us who are now 50-some and not 30-some. Those who may be 60-some, you know, this is this is what it is. We’re moving toward our final rest. and then the inheritance in glory. And we should take great comfort in that. And we should take great comfort that we’ll shine in the firmament. There are crowns, the New Testament says, to be given out to those.

What we do here on earth and the small things of life have tremendous significance in heaven. You know, it’s interesting because chapter 11 is that all these great matters, kings running to and fro, this sort of stuff. And so we read the paper and the paper always points out the abnormalities of our life, does it not? It’s not normal people get killed or shot or wars happen or this or that thing occurs. It the papers are given to abnormalities and there’s a proper place for that. That’s what chapter 11 was. But this last text of Daniel, you see, this is really the normal stuff of life. You arise every morning and you go about your way and you rest at night and you raise up, you know, as a picture of your coming resurrection from the dead.

You raise up tomorrow morning increased in knowledge and understanding and in your inheritance from today. So it’s really at the end the application is live out your lives. God is in charge of all those abnormalities. God is in control of Iraq and Iran and this and that and China and what’s going to happen and all this stuff. All the stuff that happened. It’s legitimate to talk about it in Daniel 11. But God, the whole point of the book is that no matter what else men are doing, the Lord God is superintending every bit of this for the purposes of his kingdom and actually for his people.

Did you notice here? It talks about how these bad things will happen. This horrible tribulation is going to come in the second section and then the description of that the effects in the seventh section. Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly. In the midst of this horrible tribulation, even that is being used by God to refine his people, to purify them.

We don’t know what to ask for usually, you know, in prayer. I preached on Daniel 2 last week, and I don’t think I mentioned this when I preached on it here, but it’s such an important thing to recognize. Daniel 2 sets up the rest of the prophecies and understanding these wars and stuff. The king has a most troubling dream. Wakes up in the middle of the night and can’t get back to sleep and in the middle of the night starts killing all of his wise men because they can’t tell him what he dreamed.

I mean, this is upsetting. This is the horror of dreams. But why did the king have the dream? Well, when Daniel interprets it for him and tells him what he dreamt, he does more than that. He tells the king what occasioned his dream. And he says, “Oh, king, before you went to sleep, you were laying on your bed considering what might happen in the future.” That’s what Daniel tells him in chapter 2. And God answered that prayer of a pagan unconverted man at this point in time. Here’s what he’s meditating on and sends him the answer.

Now, the answer that God sends Nebuchadnezzar is terrified to it. And frequently, my point is that we ask for things, but we don’t know what we need. Sometimes we need to be terrified. We need to be shaken to the core of who we are. And all this, you know, all this warfare and horrible things going to happen happened in Jerusalem is shaking Daniel to the core. But he’s reminded here that the Lord God is in charge of every bit of it.

Okay? And so even the things that come to our lives that are tremendous trouble to us, he tells us to go our way and to rest knowing that the Lord God is in charge of the specific details of our life and even the things that horrify us like Nebuchadnezzar was horrified is the grace of God to us. You know, God has wisdom and knowledge of the future and he’s granting Nebuchadnezzar that knowledge you see the incarnation of Jesus the coming down to earth of wisdom about the future graciously granted by God to Nebuchadnezzar and yet in a format that terrifies him so that God will shake the old creation and begin to make a new creation of Nebuchadnezzar.

So we have this wonderful picture from beginning to end of Daniel of the sovereignty of God over the details of our lives and we have this tremendous these passage, this passage in our text of comfort that we go about doing our work and when we lay our heads down for the final rest, final sleep, and when we die in the bodies, we can do so knowing that the Lord God is going to resurrect us to give us our inheritance, our crowns and glory, which we of course will cast around the foot of the Savior, knowing that ultimately it’s all of his grace.

Tremendous comfort here. Don’t want to lose that as we talk about some of the other implications of the text. Tremendous comfort.

Well, let’s let’s go back now and look a little more specifically. That’s kind of the overview, but let’s look specifically at why I think there’s more to it than just this description of a person going about their normal life, laying down at the end of that life, and being raised up to glory. There’s something more to that, I think, something more contemporaneous.

And what we’ve seen is that, you know, what we’ve seen is that the events of Daniel prophecies are contemporaneous. They are political prophecy about nations and empires, but they’re going to happen in a specific time period that terminates not with, you know, 3,000 or 4,000 years down the line, but 500 years down the line with the coming of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, his ascension, and then the judgment of Jerusalem in AD 70, the washing away of the city that was spoken of in Daniel chapter 9.

The city is destroyed, the city of the apostates, so that the church is established and we saw that one more time. I know I just mentioned this, but again, what we see back in chapter 7, we saw Jesus coming to the throne and then the people of God, one like the son of man. That was one like Ezekiel to the current hearer of that word. We think Jesus, but no, Ezekiel was called son of man. So, one like the son of man, that’s Daniel probably in the text receiving the kingdom from the ancient of days after his enthronement.

And Daniel 7 went on to say, say that Jesus at the end of these empires will take his reign and the saints of the most high will then receive rule and authority from him. And what do we have in our text? At the very beginning of this section, we’ve got Michael standing up and at the end we have Daniel standing up. And with standing up indicating reign, we have Michael, who I believe is the second person of the Trinity, reigning. And then we have Daniel being given reign at the same time at the terminus of these days.

Now, he’ll be dead. But Daniel represents the people of God and the church of God. So we have the same thing. You see this is more detail on what chapter 7 had told us. Jesus is going to take his throne and then you’re going to be given the throne as well. And that’s why two things from that means that this a the immediate interpretation of these texts has to do with the contemporaneous events that’ll happen.

In other words, the church is going to assume reign not at the end of history. But the church will go about its way and at the terminus of the times when Jesus receives his kingdom, the church then will receive its kingdom to rule here on earth as it is in heaven. So the application at the end to our death and resurrection is okay. But it seems like the first interpretation is to rising up to rule in the earth. That’s what all the other rulers have done. They’ve all stood up to rule in the earth.

So okay, let’s look briefly. Why do I say that the first verse of chapter 12 refers to Jesus Christ. Who is this Michael? Michael means literally “who is like God?” Who is like God? And Michael the word is used here. It’s used in the book of Revelation and the only other place is in Jude in Jude verse 9 which is an odd verse. But before we get to that verse, let’s think a little bit about this.

It says, “At that time, at what time?” Well, time that we had just been considering at the time of the full-blown apostasy of men as pictured in the time of Herod the Great. In the years following Herod the Great, in the immediate context of Herod, Michael shall stand up. Michael shall begin to rule. Well, who ruled in the context of Herod?

Jesus Christ did. Jesus Christ did.

Secondly, Michael is identified as the great prince. Okay, the great prince, the overarching chief prince. And In the Old Testament, there is this angel of the Lord. You know, an angel of the Lord appears to Hagar and Hagar makes an immediate identification with the Lord himself. Yahweh has done this for me. Yahweh has visited me when she sees the angel of the Lord visiting her.

And so most commentators take the angel of the Lord as a theophanic, an appearance of God, and which would be the second person, the Trinity, Jesus Christ. No one has seen the father, but some people have seen the son in these theophanic appearances in the Old Testament. So the angel of the Lord, the chief angel, the archangel, the angel over every other angel is Jesus Christ.

Now, we don’t have to worry. You know, the problem with that is that some people will say, “Well, angels are created beings. Angelos are created and so Jesus is created.” We have plenty of evidence in the scriptures. Jesus is not created. He’s the eternal second person of the Trinity. So, we don’t want to be confused here with those who want to identify Jesus with Michael and then say Michael was created and therefore Jesus is not God.

No, we’re Whether we whatever we do with Michael, you have the same problem with the angel of the Lord. You see, if God is going to use the angel of the Lord to describe the second person of the trinity, and it certainly seems like he does in Genesis and other places, we have that same problem no matter what we do with Michael here. Okay? So, that’s not that’s isn’t determinative.

Well, so we have this angel of the Lord, Michael, the chief ruler over God’s people, stands up. And let’s look now at this text. The only other place besides Revelation and Daniel where Michael is used this reference in Jude. Jude verse 9 I believe. somewhere. Well, I can’t find it in my Bible either. This isn’t good. Where is Jude at? Who can tell me just before? That’s what I thought. I couldn’t see. Okay. I think it’s verse 9. Yeah, it is. Okay.

“Yet Michael the Archangel when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, did not bring against him a ruling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuked thee.’”

Okay, so this is an odd verse, right? Maybe it’s one you’ve puzzled over many years. I know I did. What’s this mean? Well, we have a text that may help us in the interpretation of this verse from Jude in Zechariah in the text of Zechariah let’s see I can’t find the reference in Zechariah what is wrong with my notes here. See, I knew this would come because John S. told me last week in Sacramento, he was so impressed with my ability to keep all my notes straight even though I was blind.

So, here I am. Whoa. What’s going on? Humility is a wonderful thing that God grants us in lots of ways. Okay. What’s the reference I have on the handout? Could someone tell me what verse from Zechariah—3:2? Okay, let’s just do that. Zechariah 3:2.

What’s going on here is that this is a description of the ironic priesthood and description of what’s going to happen. happen in the future. And in Zechariah chapter 3 specifically, we’re told, “The Lord rebuke you.” So, you know, we’re looking for some place in the Old Testament that would help us to understand this text from Jude that seems so obscure.

And in verse one, he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan. So see here again, the angel of the Lord is identified directly with Yahweh. Yahweh, the angel of the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuked thee, oh Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is this not a branch plucked out of the fire?”

Okay, in that text, here’s what’s happening. Joshua, the high priest, is supposed to start up the sacrificial system again, and he can’t do it because he’s got dirty garments. The way you clean—you clean dirty garments is to have the high priest do a purification offering. But in order to do the purification offering, he can’t be dirty, right? So we got a catch-22 situation here.

And it is a time of great danger in the in the context of the narrative from Zechariah. In other words, the Mosaic administration, the Mosaic house of worship, tabernacle, Levitical offerings, all of that stuff can’t be restarted. Satan is accusing the one who’s going to start up the sacrifices again. So what’s at risk in the book of Zechariah is the entire Mosaic ceremonial law, the house of Moses, we could say, and we could say by way of, you know,, picture the body of Moses. This seems to be referring back Jude 9 to that text in Zechariah.

The Lord rebuked thee, Satan or devil, right? And it seems like it’s the angel of the Lord, Yahweh, who’s saying this in Zechariah. And Jude 9 identifies the archangel, chief angel, gives him the name of Michael. And it seems like it’s a parallel text. The only thing that throws us off is the body of Moses. And we think, well, there must have been some dispute going on outside of the wilderness where Moses’ physical body was. And the devil, for some reason, wanted Moses’ body and God didn’t want him to have it or something.

I mean, it’s an odd text if you don’t take the interpretation I’m giving. It’s always puzzled me. But this explanation seems quite useful, I think, quite good. Seems to fit the circumstances of Jude 9, the body of Moses. Just like, you know, we partake of the body of Christ. We are the body of Christ. And this and Satan contends for the body of Christ by accusing us of being unwashed. But God says, “No, this is one plucked out of the fire. These are my people. I’ve established them. Yahweh, the angel of Yahweh, Michael, the archangel rebukes Satan. Says, “The Lord rebuke you.” The father, in other words, the father rebuke you. Says the son Yahweh to the devil.

And this is why it seems like it’s legitimate in in the context of the text itself that the first section at that time in the time of the Herods, Michael the Archangel, Yahweh the second person stands up to rule. He is the great prince and he establishes his rule. And then in the second section, there’ll be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.

Well, again here, this places this in the immediate context of our savior because he says in the gospel of Matthew indeed that this he quotes this very verse about the tribulation that’s going to happen as we move toward the judgment of Jerusalem in AD 70. Horrible time. And he says that, you know, even the elect would be, you know, deceived and apostatized unless that time was cut short. Cut short. So this time of trouble in the second section, “at that time your people shall be delivered.”

And we know from Jesus’s quotation in Matthew, the way they’re delivered is that the times of tribulation are cut short by God. And that’s the way they’re delivered. And notice their deliverance, of course, is solely the grace of God. Everyone who is found written in the book, not as a result of what they do, but the sovereign election of God.

And the third section, “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awaken, some to everlasting life, some to shame, and everlasting contempt.”

Now here, you know, the question is this at first glance seems to be a description of the final judgment, but it’s already given us the time marker at that time, the time of Herods, and it’s given us the specific events that Jesus alluded to. So, it seems like we should try to understand verse ver the section three in a way that’s consistent with that in Ezekiel 37.

And remember that Ezekiel was a contemporary of Daniel, same age. When Ezekiel wrote, He wrote about the vision, the valley of the vision, the vision of the valley, all the dry bones being raised up, flesh being put on them, skin, and they become the army of Israel who are going to go back into the promised land. Okay? Now, Ezekiel was describing not a a spiritual resurrection in the ultimate sense or a physical resurrection. He wasn’t describing the end of time. It’s very clear that Ezekiel is describing the resurrection of God’s people in the context of the situation and then being brought back into the land in the context of Nehemiah’s restoration.

So it seems like to understand this text would be parallel to that what’s being talked about here is the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ in his 30 years of his three years of public ministry was bringing people out of sleep into an awakened state. He was bringing about a recreation a rebirth of the nation of Israel and it actually specific specifically tells us that some are raised up to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Well, in other words, that as people are brought forward, right, there are those who apost who are apostates, they’ve been baptized, they’ve been cleansed by Jesus Christ as he cleanses the nation of Israel, and yet they fall away. And so, this apostasy and the spiritual resurrection of Israel seems to be described in the third section.

The fourth section, “those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament.”

I make every I make use of every occasion that I have given to me to remind children of Philippians 2. This is one such occasion. Those who are wise, those who are teachers, those who can bring instruction and knowledge shall shine like the brightness of the firmament. Where are we told in the New Testament a parallel text? Well, we’re given it in Philippians 2. Right. Philippians 2:14:

“Do all things without complaining, grumbling.” Grumbling is the answer on your handout sheets, children. We darken our lights by grumbling and disputing, talking back to your parents. Why should you do all things without grumbling or disputing? That you may be blameless and harmless, children of God, without fault, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.

It doesn’t mean stars. It means the light of stars. Jesus is the star. We’re the light of the stars. And so it says that our role in this new creation now, the epistles are written to the church are to shine in the midst of the world. And that shining is put out or dampened if we grumble and dispute. If we are covetous, want situations which we don’t have and as a result grumble and talk back to our parents, to our employers, to our wives, to our husbands. This is how our light at the center of the text.

Those who rule for Jesus Christ are those who shine like the stars and they do so with a contentment, a holy contentment and a holy thanksgiving for the things that the sovereign God has placed in context.

Now, Daniel’s text goes on also to say, “Those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.”

And we can connect these two illusions to the church of Jesus, to you and to me as stars. This way, our grumbling and disputing are not just unhealthful and unsavory and make it unpleasant for those you’re around, but it gets in the way of the brightness of leading people to righteousness, to Jesus Christ, and of maturing other people. You see, we have an obligation to shine and to turn many to righteousness. And when we grumble in dispute, it seems like a small thing to want what somebody else wants, to covet what we don’t yet have. But when we grumble in dispute about those things, you see, we’re getting in the way of the brightness of God’s light shining through a contented, thankful people, and we no longer rule then and bring many to righteousness.

It’s interesting. The Philippians text goes on to say, Paul goes on to say, “Holding fast the word of life, so that I, Paul, may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Well, Paul is one of these bright stars. He has turned many to righteousness. And he warns them that the way for that to go south, the road to apostasy is strewn with grumbling and disputing. It’s a big deal. It’s a big deal. And it’s big this connection particularly in this 10th section to rooting out covetousness.

So, at the very center of the text again, the establishment of God’s people. This is a text of victory, of total victory of Jesus Christ and his people in the world. That’s the way Daniel ends is with the church of Jesus Christ ruling.

Fifth section, “many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase.”

What does it mean? Well, hard to say., I think this is positive. I think what it means is that in the new creation, these stars will move amongst the created order and knowledge of Jesus Christ which leads to knowledge of our physical world will increase. And this is exactly what’s happened for 2,000 years. You know, John S. gave us a great sermon on the implications for Christian faith on science and on knowledge. So there’s no reason here to restrict knowledge to just a knowledge, personal saving knowledge of Christ. Knowledge increases. Knowledge has already increased for Daniel, right? He knows what’s going to happen the next 500 years. And the church as it moves along and its ruling authority increases knowledge in the context of the land.

Interesting in Amos 8:11 and 12 the famous text where Amos talks about the coming famine not a famine of bread not a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord they shall wander from sea to sea from co north to coast they shall run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord but shall not find it so this running to and forth is contrasted in our text with that of Amos And it ties this running about to the increasing knowledge of God’s word, the word of God. And specifically as that word applies in our context to our lives.

Sixth section—”that night Daniel looked there stood two others, one on this riverbank and the other on that riverbank.”

And then we have the description of the man clothed in linen. Now the word river here is bolded because this is not the normal word used for river throughout the rest of Daniel’s book. And it’s not the word for river that’s used in virtually any other book of the Bible except Genesis. And there every time it’s used, it’s a reference to the river of Egypt, the Nile. And so here at the conclusion of Daniel’s book, we have a reference to a river. Now really, it’s the Tigris and or Hiddekel River. It’s not the Nile, but it’s described as the Nile. Why? Because again, we’ve had this Egyptian idea throughout these prophecies. that what’s being affected is a new exodus, new moving out of enslavement to Egypt, a new crossing over or destruction rather of the river Nile.

“The man clothed in water.” How long should this be? so God is over the river. The second person of the Trinity, Jesus, I think is being described here. He’s the one who gives the answers to the angels. He’s over the waters. Creation again coming forth with the spirit of God, Yahweh, hovering over the water.

“The man clothed in linen above the waters of the river when he held up his right hand and his other hand swore by him will live forever. It shall be for a time, times, and half a time.”

And this is going to be explained in the next section. “Power of the holy people has been completely shattered.” Again, the marking of this time is to the abomination of desolation. The apostate Jews that we talked about in the times of Antiochus Epiphanies, begins there, completes with the final abomination of desolation. under the Herods, the rejection of Christ, the attempt to kill him.

And this is how time is marked as we lead up to the coming of the new creation and the reign of Jesus Christ. “Then all these things shall be finished.”

Now Daniel says, “I don’t understand.” And the same thing now that is said in verse in chap in section six is then repeated to Daniel in section 7.

“I didn’t understand. I said, ‘My Lord,’ now he’s talking to the angel that he’s been talking to, not the man over the river. ‘My lord, what shall be the end of these things?’”

“He said, ‘Go your way. The words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.’”

When were they unsealed? When did more prophecy come? Book of Revelation. This ties the end of Daniel to the beginning of Revelation. Particularly Jan Revelation 4–5:6. The book is opened up. We have more prophecy of what’s going to happen. So there’s this tying together of Daniel and Revelation by the words of the angel here.

“Many shall be purified, made white, and refined. kind. But the wicked shall do wickedly. None of the wicked shall understand. But the wise shall understand. From the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away and the abomination of desolation is set up, that time marker, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the 1,335 days.”

What does that mean? Well, there’s a general meaning, but first a potential specific meaning. 430 is given to us is the exact number to the day of the year the years of the Egyptian captivity of God’s people. They dwelt in Egypt 430 years to the day. And every Jewish person who received this from Daniel’s hand would know that 1,290 days were meaning for years is 430 × 3.

And there are specifically you know times and half a time described in the context of this three periods of time. What are we being told? We’re being told that what will happen from the abomination of desolations in the time of Antiochus Epiphanies is essentially a big long Babylon or Egyptian captivity, tribulation, problems, people being killed, the true faith not being much evident, apostasy left and right happening. But blessed is he who goes to the 1,335 days. 45 days after come comes this great event, the blessing. Well, in 45, I’ve given you the reference there on your notes.

Caleb told Joshua that it had been 45 years in the book of Joshua when Caleb says this, 45 years since Moses told us to go spy out the land. And now 45 years later, we’re here. God’s been faithful and we’re dividing up the land. So, it seems like the reference here is that these half a times that will be cut short report introduces the time of the release from Egyptian bondage, a new conquest of the world, and the dividing up of the conquest. That’s the specific interpretation. I think it means the coming of again the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in AD 70 and then the divying up of the world, so to speak, at the end of 45 years after captivity.

Now, another very important point to be made here is this. The times of tribulation, the 430 × 3 is a set time. All of the rest of history is not marked by those 1,290 days. That’s for a particular period. But once you attain past that to the 1,335, you’re in clover.

Now, for 2,000 years, the church has had trials and tribulations. You and your wife have had some trials and tribulations, no doubt, difficult things happen. But I think what it’s telling us is that the days of the new creation, while there’ll be some similarities between what happens here, is distinctively different because we’re supposed to arise and go our way, that we know that the inheritance now has been granted to the last man standing, the representative of the church, Daniel. We are in those times. We’re this side of the 1,335 days.

We are now in the time when the world has been divvied up to the church of Jesus Christ and this is a time of rule and reign for the people of God. Daniel’s book ends on the assurance of victory. It’s odd, you know, in a way we sit here really in the lap of luxury in the Christian church for the most part and yet we worry about tribulation all the time. It’s odd, isn’t it? It’s the sign of a narcissistic culture that cannot receive bless bings from God and say praise God for what he has provided for us and we’re always wait—no we don’t do that instead we are always waiting for the other shoe to fall and the next problem to occur in our lives this is out of sync with Daniel when we do that we’re not trusting in the greater Michael the Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment of his kingdom we’re not believing the words of Daniel says the church of Jesus Christ is the last man standing in the 500 years that will follow Daniel is history and the church of Jesus Christ stands now and has been given all the earth.

It is ours. Daniel ends on the note of victory. Whether or not our lives appropriate that victory is up to us. But God says this is the great promise. This is the gospel of Daniel again, right? The good news that when Jesus Christ comes, he will ascend to the right hand of the father. He’ll be seated in heaven. He will assume rule and control and authority over all the earth until His kingdom grows to fill all the world.

And that period of time will not be marked primarily by tribulation. It will be marked primarily by victory. The people of God will rule as stars in heaven. They’ll run to and fro over the face of the earth. Knowledge will increase of Jesus Christ and of the created order that is his over which every detail he rules and reigns and gives his people knowledge and dominion.

Knowledge increased in chapter 2. You know the knowledge of what happens in the future was granted to a anxious Nebuchadnezzar in a way that brought him trouble but eventually conversion. The knowledge began to come down from heaven in the context of the vision that Jesus Christ was moving earthward and in his incarnation 500 years later would bring knowledge of from God to the earth. Knowledge of our relationship to him, knowledge of how to live together in community and knowledge of the physical order in which we’re created would increase peace and grow in the time of the church age.

This is the great blessing of the gospel of Daniel. This is the blessing that we should feel very convicted over not receiving and so often being those who are fearful that tribulation shall mark our lives. No, it may in some places and in some times people continue to be killed in small numbers for the faith. But overall, history for the last 2,000 years has moved increasingly to the establishment of God’s people. Whether here in Poland, Saudi Arabia, it’s all the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, we have this mega picture of victory, conquest, and the increase of knowledge. And then we have the simple concluding verses given certainly to comfort us, but also given to us to tell us what the nature of our life is. He tells Daniel and he tells us to go our way to rest and to come to the inheritance of all things that God has given to us.

The simple things of life are the means whereby the knowledge of Christ increases and grows in the earth. And the simple things of Christ—of not of Christ rather grumbling and disputing is the thing that dims our light and moves the world that we live in to darkness.

Jesus concludes this book of Daniel with the promise and assurance of victory.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank you for the wonderful message of Daniel chapter 12 and of this book. We thank you that even in times when our lives look like the time of the warfare between north and south for a period of time, we know that the end of this is the establishment of your people and that our world moves now in terms of the increasing victory of Jesus Christ over the world. Give us victory this week. Help us not to be grumblers or disputers or answers back to authority. Help us not to covet what each other has.

Help us, Lord God, to shine as bright lights in the midst of an otherwise dark society in which we live. And may we, Lord God, by so doing, by living our simple lives of obedience and thanksgiving to you, may we turn many to righteousness. In Jesus name we ask it. Amen.