Prophecy and personal Purity

 Read Daniel 12.

Is our future uncertain?  The answer is yes and no.  Yes, we do not know what a day may bring our way (James 5:13-14).  But our ultimate future is as sure as the promises of God.

In this chapter, the angel revealed even more of things that are yet to come.

The prophecy foretells of a double dose of suffering for Israel.  As presented in the previous chapter, Antiochus Epiphanes did desecrate the Temple and thousands of Jews died.  However, Jesus quoted from this section in Daniel to say that this prophecy has not been fulfilled.  The Antichrist will do even more evil in the future (Matthew 24:15).  In the New Testament, this time of unparalleled trouble (12:1) is called the Great Tribulation.  With all the terrible suffering in Jewish history, unfortunately, the worst is yet to come.  The good news is that Michael, the archangel, is assigned to watch over God's chosen people (v.1).  And, there is a comforting hope for Israel.

1. God has promised a national restoration for Israel.
Jeremiah 31:31: "Behold the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah."  Hebrews 8 quotes Jeremiah and describes this even further.  The Apostle Paul explained in Romans 11 that currently we are in a time of the Gentiles with the birth and development of the Church.  A day is coming, however, when "all Israel will be saved" (Romans 11:26).

2. God has promised a personal resurrection for everyone.
Everyone will be present in eternity but with two very different destinies.  Verse 2:"...some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt."  This chapter in Daniel mentions that God has books with individual names written down.  He knows who is His and who is not.  The Apostle John saw this same vision with even more clarity.  "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the 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 what they had done....And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:12-15)  Eternal life or eternal punishment awaits.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6).  Oh, that everyone would choose life through faith in Jesus!

There are two questions posed in Daniel 12.
Question: Another angel asked, "How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?" (v.6)  In other words, how long will the tribulation suffering last?
Answer: "...a time, times, and a half a time." (v.7)  The Tribulation will be a period of seven years.  It is the second half, three and a half years or 1260 days, when the suffering will take place.  Revelation 11:2-3 confirms this.  We are not told why there is an additional 30 days, then a total of 75 days added in verses 11 and 12.  Obviously, there is more detail that is not explained.

Question: Daniel asked, "What shall be the outcome of these things?" (v.8)
Answer: "Many will purify themselves...but the wicked shall act wickedly...those who are wise shall understand." (v.10)  "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he (Jesus) appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure." (1 John 3:2-3)

 

What God decrees shall be Done

 Read Daniel 11.

God is never late.  All His plans, including meeting our needs, are always right on time.

Ken Taylor paraphrased Habakkuk 2:3 like this: "But these things I plan won't happen right away.  Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled.  If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass.  Just be patient!  They will not be overdue a single day."

Daniel chapter 11 falls in the middle of a three chapter explanation from an angel to Daniel of God's plans for the nation of Israel.  There are three aspects of insights here.
1. The Historical Perspective.
Most of the events recorded here were future to Daniel, yet history to us.  The descriptions are incredibly accurate.  The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls confirms once and for all that this chapter was written in advance of these developments.  The vision provided further detail of all the previous dreams and visions in this book.  The fourth Persian king (v.2) turned out to be Xerxes, the husband of Queen Esther.  The kingdom of Greece was divided among four generals (v.4).  They were Seleucus in Syria and Mesopotamia, Ptolemy in the Egypt, Lysimacus ruled Thrace and portions of Asia Minor, Cassander took Macedonia and Greece.  The Selecuids and the Ptolemies fought back and forth (vv.5-20).  The wicked Greek ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes, desecrated the Temple (v.31).  However, in 164 B.C., a godly priest whose surname was Maccabeus and his family repelled the Greeks and reestablished the true worship of God in Jerusalem (v.32). 

2. The Prophetical Perspective.
Antiochus, however, did not fulfill the prophecies concerning the Antichrist.  According to Daniel, the Antichrist will rise from the Roman Empire.  Jesus taught that the fulfillment of the prophecy in Daniel was still to come.  "So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place..." (Matthew 24:15)  Jesus went on to say, "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no and never will be." (Matthew 24:21)  According to Daniel 11:36-45, the Antichrist will outdo Antiochus in his evil deeds.

3. The Practical Perspective.
-The word of God is accurate in every single detail and may be fully trusted completely. (v.37b)
-God will fulfill all His future plans for the world and for us right on time.  Note how often the phrase "the appointed time" occurs.
-While we wait for the unfolding of the next movements in the LORD's plans, the Apostle Paul exhorts believers to be careful on how we live.
"...to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time..." (1 Timothy 6:14-15a)

 

Winning the spiritual Battle

 Read Daniel 10.

How many times have we prayed and waited a long time with no answer?  We may be tempted to think:
-Prayer does not work for me.
-God is not answering.
-Doesn't God care?
-Did I do something wrong?
Or, is something else going on?

Daniel was loved by the LORD (v.11).  Yet, as this chapter describes, the vision that was revealed to him was so awful that he fasted and prayed for three weeks without an answer from God.  Why did not God respond sooner?  The answer is He did (v.12), but Daniel could not see it.  His prayer resulted in a spiritual war in heaven that delayed an angelic response.  This angel provided amazing insight into the spiritual battles that are constantly taking place. 

God immediately dispatched this one to give Daniel understanding of what was revealed to him.  However, the heavenly messenger was hindered by an evil angel who was exercising demonic influence over Persia.  The spiritual warfare was so strong that God's messenger needed the help of the angel Michael to overcome the opposition (v.13). 

If answers to Daniel's prayers experienced such conflict, it stands to reason that ours will also.  So, what can we learn from the prophet's example?
1. Set your heart on understanding. (v.12a)
Train yourself to recognize what God wants, pray according to the will of God, and realize that Satan works every time to oppose what God wants done.  "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)

2. Humble yourself before God. (v.12b)
The disciples of Jesus asked Him why they were powerless in doing what He commissioned them to do.  Jesus replied, "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." (Mark 9:29)  Admitting that we cannot live for God in our own strength and ability should drive us to cast our dependence upon Him.

3. Listen to the Word of God. (v.15)
It is a good thing to take in what God has said and then be silent.  Meditate and think about what the Scripture stated.  The Bible is our only offensive weapon in this spiritual war.  Believers are constantly losing because they do not know their Bible.  As Paul instructed believers to put on the whole armor of God, he concluded by saying, "...and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication." (Ephesians 6:17-18)

4. Act courageously. (v.19)
Fear freezes us.  Faith frees us.  As soldiers of the cross, there is a holy aggressiveness to the victorious Christian life.  "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Prayer is indispensable in spiritual warfare.  We cannot win without it!

 

God's plans always exceed our Prayers

 Read Daniel 9.

When the Babylonian empire fell, Daniel turned to the Scriptures.  He read again the words of the prophet Jeremiah regarding the time when God would restore Israel.

"For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."  (Jeremiah 29:10-14)

Daniel realized that the seventy years was coming to a close and now God would act.  God's call to seek Him moved the prophet to pray a prayer of national intercession.  He confessed the sins of the people for not listening to God's word and rebelling against Him.  He pled for mercy, forgiveness, and for the LORD not to delay in acting on behalf of His people.  That is all Daniel could see from the Scriptures he had.  What he could not see was much more that God intended to do in the future.  Therefore, God responded to Daniel's prayer by sending the angel Gabriel.

Gabriel did not speak of the seventy years but seventy sevens (not weeks), or 490 years.  In Hebrew it is a play on words.  469 of those years have been literally fulfilled in history.  It is the 70th week (7 years) that has not happened yet.  Revelation describes the time of Tribulation as a 7 year period.  The descriptions of that time by Jesus and in Revelation confirm those future events as foretold in the book of Daniel.  We are now living in the gap between "an anointed one shall be cut off" (v.26, the crucifixion of Messiah) and when the Tribulation will begin.  The Apostle Paul explained it this way: "...a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." (Romans 11:25b)

In the meantime, we may be assured of two things:
1. God will keep His promises to His ancient people.
2. He will be faithful to us today and for eternity.

 

 

A prophecy for then and Now

 Read Daniel 8.

Two years later God gave Daniel this second vision.  Some of the events in this chapter were future to Daniel and history to us.  Some of these prophesies remain future to us. 

This is the third time in the book that the same sequence of empires is presented in a dream or vision.  See also chapters 2 and 7.  Each time the interpretation is included within the chapter.  The angel Gabriel explained what Daniel saw.  The prophet observed a ram with two horns in verse 3.  In verse 20, we are told that this represented the kings of Media and Persia.  Next, in verse 5, a goat appeared with a powerful horn that broke the horns of the ram.  In verse 21, the goat is identified as Greece and the first powerful king was Alexander, the Great.  After Alexander, the empire was divided among four generals (vv.8 and 22).

As predicted in verses 23-25, one of those generals, Antiochus Epiphanes, became intolerant of any who did not conform to Greek culture.  He especially hated the Jews.  He stormed the Temple in Jerusalem and offered a pig on the altar to desecrate the holy place.

What remains unfulfilled?
Some of the statements do not match the historical events.
Three times in verses 16-19 alone, it is stated that the vision is for "the time of the end", "at the latter end of the indignation", and "the appointed time of the end".  In Matthew 24-25, some of these events were still future to Jesus.  While Antiochus did fulfill what Daniel saw, he only foreshadowed a similar evil ruler to come in the end times.  The final period of wrath, or indignation, will come during the Great Tribulation.  The Antichrist will possess the same attributes and perform similar acts of hatred against Israel.

So, what do we learn from this?
1. God will not tolerate pride. (vv.4, 25)
Where is the once powerful Medo-Persian Empire?  Where is the seemingly unstoppable empire of Greece?  Their downfalls came due to the same basic root.  When a person becomes self-deceived into thinking they are great, they live only to please themselves, and they do not need God, their downfall becomes certain.

2. God can use unbelievers to accomplish His purposes. 
Though these leaders and their empires did not honor God, He used them to fulfill His plans.  "Surely the wrath of man shall praise you." (Psalm 76:10a)  We do not have to live in fear of the evil others may do.  "Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!" (Psalm 37:7)

3. God has a plan for restoration.
The exiled Jews in Daniel's day looked forward to being restored to their homeland, the Temple being rebuilt, and their relationship with God renewed.  Even in the toughest of personal times, God is in the business of renewal and restoration.  The key is repentance of sin.  Elihu was spot on with his counsel to Job when he said, "Then man prays to God, and he accepts him; he sees his face with a shout of joy, and he restores to man his righteousness.  He sings before men and says: 'I have sinned and perverted what is right, and it was not repaid to me.  He has redeemed my soul from going down into the pit, and my life shall look upon the light.'" (Job 33:26-28)

 

Who is the Son of Man?

 Read Daniel 7.

It was Daniel's turn to have a prophetic dream from God.  In the previous chapters, he only interpreted the dreams of others.  Here, he saw four beasts rising up, one at a time, out of the Mediterranean Sea.  And, as in the past, we are not left in doubt as to what it all means.  The second half of the chapter provides the interpretation.

The meaning and message is the same as Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two.  God revealed the succession of empires that would rule from Babylonia to Medo-Persia to Greece to Rome.  No one ever conquered the Roman Empire.  It fell from within and, according to the Bible, it has never ceased to exist.

There is coming a day when the Anti-Christ, the little horn with the big mouth (vv.8, 20), will wage war against the saints.  But greater than he will be the coming of the "son of man" (vv.13-14).  When the Messiah appears in His second coming, all the earth's kingdoms will be under His control.  "All peoples, nations and languages" will serve Him.

Why did Messiah come the first time?
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." (Luke 19:10)

Why did the religious leaders want to crucify Messiah?
"...Again the high priest asked him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?'  And Jesus said, 'I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.'  And the high priest tore his garments and said, 'What further witnesses do we need?  You have heard his blasphemy.  What is your decision?'  And they all condemned him as deserving death." (Mark 14:61-64)

How should we respond?
"Jesus...said, 'Do you believe in the Son of Man?'  He answered, 'And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?'  Jesus said to him, 'You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.'  He said, 'Lord, I believe,' and he worshiped him." (John 9:35-38)

 

When your faith is under attack

 Read Daniel 6.

This is a story of a man who would be god versus one who was God's man.

While Cyrus, the Persian, served as head of the empire, Darius, the Mede, had been appointed as king.  The pagan Babylonian advisers continued to have access and influence.  Their jealousy of Daniel, and their hatred of the Jews in particular, provided the basis for this bizarre episode.

By this time, Daniel would have been over 80 years of age.  His reputation as a wise and faithful man had been impeccable.  After a lifetime of top-level government service to the Babylonians and now to the Medes and Persians, Darius planned to promote Daniel to very highest position in the kingdom (v.3).  The adversaries could find no fault in which to accuse him.  So, they plotted against him spiritually.  They used a legal tactic to prohibit Daniel from the free exercise of his faith, though it had nothing to do with his job performance.  In short, they tried to make it illegal to worship the Lord God.  They observed Daniel's spiritual disciplines and lied to the king about Daniel's loyalty (v.13).

What did Daniel do under such a threat of death?
-Should he have sued these advisers for slander?
-Should he have attempted to negotiate a compromise?
-Should he have conceded that his critics may have a valid point?
-Should he have changed his spiritual disciplines and kept his faith secret?
He did none of these.  "He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously." (v.10)

What should we do when our faith is under attack?  Be on guard.
1. Guard your personal conduct.
"That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world." (Philippians 2:15)

2. Guard your public conduct.
"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." (1 Peter 2:12)

3. Guard your prayer commitments.
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." (Philippians 4:6)