The Final Focus | Sunday, August 27, 2023

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, every one 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. (Daniel 12:1–3)

The book of Daniel ends not with a timetable, but with a promise: suffering now, resurrection and inheritance forever.

An Awesome Book of Encouragement

We come this morning to the very last chapter of Daniel, closing out this great book that we've worked through all summer. The traditional view is that Daniel was written by a Jewish exile to Babylon in the sixth century BC, after Israel was taken over by the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar. Through a series of exiles—the first wave around 605 BC—the people of Israel were carried to Babylon, and it is believed that Daniel and his three friends Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah found their way there at that time.

Some are skeptical of that early dating. The visions and interpretations in this apocalyptic literature point to future events with such clarity and precision that skeptics insist it must have been written later. But what we have here is an awesome text given to encourage the people of God as they go through hard things in this world—and that is exactly what we have seen throughout the book.

Sometimes the People of God Suffer

The first six chapters focus on events in the lives of Daniel and his friends. As young exiles—probably about fifteen years old—they were stripped of their culture and language, dressed in Babylonian clothes, and put into what we might call Babylonian University. Many scholars believe these young men were also castrated as they were brought into Nebuchadnezzar's court. They went through horrendous things.

From their story we learn our first point: sometimes the people of God suffer. When you look at the Bible and at two thousand years of church history, this is sadly more often the case than not. Peter tells us, "Do not think it strange when you experience trials." Yet we often do think it strange, because we have been privileged to live in a time of unprecedented ease and extraordinary religious liberty.

As we sit in an air-conditioned room in Southern California, freely singing praise to God, there are believers in other parts of the world who must gather in secret, who are baptized in hiding for fear of persecution. That has been much more the norm for the people of God throughout history. Suffering affects all people in a fallen world, but the follower of God faces an additional kind of suffering—opposition for the work of Christ, opposition that is sometimes physical and, as Daniel shows us, often spiritual.

God Is With Us in Suffering

When we open apocalyptic texts like Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation, we discover our second point: God is with us in suffering. These books arise out of difficulty and trial precisely to encourage God's people. Yes, we will suffer—but God is with us in the midst of it. And not only is He with us, He empowers and strengthens us as we go through it.

The ultimate end of these texts is that God will deliver us from suffering. That is the hope the world does not have. All suffering finds its root in death—ten out of ten people die—and the root of death is sin. Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and death spread to all creation. The promise of Scripture is that God will deliver us from sin, death, and suffering in the end. He will wipe away every tear; there will be no more suffering, no more death, no more war.

Every person you meet has that hope of a future where sin and death are gone. Some call it paradise, others heaven, others utopia. Even the agnostic or atheist coworker yearns for it. People spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to have their remains cryogenically frozen, hoping a cure for death is found. Others hope to upload their consciousness to the cloud—as if we aren't already trapped in our devices. If our worldview sounds crazy to them, theirs is just as strange, if not more so.

The Pattern in Every Story

We saw this pattern again and again. In chapter one, God was with Daniel and his friends when everything they knew was turned upside down in Babylon, and He promised to fully deliver them. In chapter three, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were thrown into the fiery furnace—and God was with them there, empowered them, and delivered them. In chapter six, Daniel was thrown into the lions' den—and God was with him, protected him, and delivered him.

The second half of the book drives the same theme home through visions and dreams interpreted by angelic beings. Their message is consistent: your people are going to suffer—under the Greek empire, the Roman empire, and beyond. The Bible does not lie to us and pretend everything will be perfect. It tells us the honest truth: we will go through difficulty. But we are promised future empowering. As 11:32 says, "the people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits," empowered and strengthened by God in the midst of suffering. And there is a future deliverance.

Why These Truths Matter Now

The exact details of how and when this works out are not as clear as we'd like. If God gave us the entire script point by point, we would most certainly argue with Him—I would be saying, "In paragraph six, sentence four, I have a problem with how You decided to do this." We want to edit the script. The details can be fuzzy, but the general truths are clear: there will be suffering, God will empower and strengthen His people, and He will deliver them.

I felt impressed at the beginning of the year that we should go through Daniel this summer precisely to drive these truths home. We have lived in an extraordinary, privileged time of ease and religious liberty—but that is abnormal compared to most of human history and most of the world today. It is the tendency of things to return to the mean. So we should not assume our ease will continue indefinitely.

Jesus said it explicitly in John 16: "In the world you will have tribulation." You won't find that on page 172 of a book of seven thousand promises, but it is an emphatic declaration. Notice the words: "In Me you might have peace; in the world you will suffer tribulation." I wish it said you might suffer and will have peace—but it doesn't. In Matthew 24 He said they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. In John 15: "If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you," and "a servant is not greater than his master; if they persecuted Me, they will persecute you."

A Warning About Western Culture

We may live our whole lives under religious liberty and never face that persecution. But many Christians have, and many do today, so it could well come to us. We may even be seeing the seeds of it in Western culture, where people are told they cannot teach what Scripture says or risk losing their livelihood. Consider Jordan Peterson, whose license is threatened by the College of Psychologists in Canada because he speaks truth about identity and how we are created as men and women. It is increasing, to the point where clearly articulating Scripture could one day limit your ability to buy and sell.

I don't want to be a downer, but I want to speak the honest truth. None of us likes to suffer; I'm not inviting it. But Paul's final word before his martyrdom, written to Timothy, was: "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution," and "evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse."

The Danger of Prosperity Theology

It is critically important to understand this because we live in a day when the chief export of American Christianity for the last half-century has been prosperity theology, which is completely false. Its fundamental tenet is that if you are truly faithful, you will experience health, wealth, and prosperity. That sounds good, it sells well, and you can find verses that, taken out of context, seem to say it.

But if that teaching were true, then the whole history of God's people—who suffered immensely—would prove they simply lacked faith. It always puts everything back on you: just have more faith, give $99.95, scan this QR code, and we'll send you a prayer rag or a little vial of oil. I've seen it all before. It is false teaching that sets people up for a fall.

The Bible predicts a future apostasia—a falling away—before Christ returns, and I think one cause of that falling away is when suffering comes and people give up on Christianity because they thought it would be easier. In the parable of the sower, those who sprang up quickly but had no root were scorched when the sun came—and Jesus says the sun is tribulation and affliction. Seven years ago, running on a treadmill, I spoke with a man who didn't believe in God because his father prayed, wasn't healed of lung cancer, and died. Many people have that testimony. Suffering is the expected experience of God's people—but we can be assured of His presence, His strengthening, and ultimately His deliverance.

"When Will These Things Be?"

As we read Daniel, so much seems coded between the lines, and we wonder: when will a future Antichrist persecute God's people? When is the abomination of desolation, the time of great trouble? Daniel asked the same thing—he set himself to pray for three weeks to understand. Jesus's disciples asked it too.

Here is the frustration: whenever we try to comprehend all the details of timing, we are frustrated, because it is not for us to know. In Acts 1:7 Jesus said, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put under His own authority." In Matthew 24 He said, "Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, but My Father only."

We are further frustrated when we try to figure it out. Date-setters abound throughout history. Harold Camping kept changing his date until 2012, and it never happened. Edgar Whisenant wrote 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Happen in 1988—a book now only good for starting fires. Hal Lindsey expected it before the turn of the millennium. On New Year's Eve 1980, Chuck Smith stood before a packed Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa and said the Lord would return in 1981—because he'd backed up seven years from Whisenant's 1988. Before all of them, William Miller predicted 1844, and his followers' failed prediction became known as "the Great Disappointment." Date-setting always leads to frustration and frequently to the loss of faith.

Five Insights from Daniel 12

Yet God does leave Daniel some amazing details. In the opening three verses we are given five insights.

First, this is a clear and specific future time. The word "time" appears four times in verses 1–3. Some say it was already fulfilled under Antiochus Epiphanes in the Greek period; others say it was fulfilled under Titus in AD 70. I believe each of those times is important and is spoken of in this text—but there are things in Daniel that I do not believe have come to pass yet.

Second, that time will be distinguished by intense and severe trouble. Gabriel tells Daniel, "a time of trouble such as never was." Jesus echoes it in Matthew 24: "a great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be."

Third, there will be angelic involvement and divine protection. "At that time Michael shall stand up" to defend and strengthen God's people.

Fourth, it concerns the descendants of Abraham. Daniel is told "the sons of your people"—the Jewish people—shall be delivered. When Jesus describes this tribulation in Matthew 24:15, He ties its beginning to the abomination of desolation "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" and tells those in Judea to flee and pray it not happen on the Sabbath. Who lives in Judea and observes the Sabbath? The descendants of Abraham.

A Twofold Resurrection

Fifth and most importantly, that time of trouble ends with a future resurrection. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake." But note: there is a resurrection unto everlasting life, and another resurrection unto shame and everlasting contempt. This twofold resurrection is confirmed in the Gospels and in Revelation—life for the people of God, judgment for the unrighteous.

This brings our third point: whatever troubles are suffered in this life are incomparably light in light of the glory that shall be. Paul says, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." This hope is always the ultimate focus in apocalyptic passages, and it is why I have long taught that we should have an optimistic vision of the future and do everything with joy.

Revelation 20 confirms it: "I saw a great white throne... and the dead were judged according to their works... and anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire." There is a future time of great trouble, God will strengthen His people through it, and in the end He brings a great deliverance.

"A Time, Times, and Half a Time"

Still the question lingers: when? Verse 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." Daniel wanted to know when, and Gabriel tells him to shut the book—it is for the future, when knowledge will increase and understanding will grow.

Then Daniel sees two beings, one on each riverbank, and one asks the man clothed in linen above the waters, "How long shall the fulfillment of these wonders be?" Picture it: Daniel has spent three weeks seeking God by the Tigris River in what is now Iraq. He sees this awesome being clothed in linen with a gold belt, hovering above the waters—the one I believe to be Jesus, the Son of Man. Joined on either side by angelic messengers, likely Gabriel and Michael the archangel, Gabriel asks Jesus the question on Daniel's mind.

Verse 7: "Then I heard the man clothed in linen... and 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."

Can you sense Daniel's exasperation? "Although I heard, I did not understand. So I said, 'My lord, what shall be the end of these things?'" Three weeks of asking, and the answer is "a time, times, and half a time." Jesus responds, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. The wise shall understand. From the time 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."

Endurance Rewarded

Many Bible teachers note that 1,290 days, divided by the Jewish 360-day year, comes to about three and a half years—a time (one year), times (two years), and half a time. The abomination of desolation ignites the countdown; some imagine cutting one link off a paper chain each day for 1,290 days. Maybe that is the meaning. But the emphasis is endurance: "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the 1,335 days," who makes it through that time of great trouble in which God strengthens His people. Jesus said the same in Matthew 24: "He who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness... and then the end will come."

So our fourth point: endurance through suffering is rewarded in eternity. God will empower His people to endure.

The Final Focus

Finally, Daniel—a man of God probably eighty-five years old—is encouraged with the last word of the book. Verse 13: "But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of days." Daniel, you're going to die; you won't see these things firsthand. That would seem like the end of the story. But "you will arise to your inheritance at the end of days."

So our fifth and final point: the final focus is resurrection and inheritance. There is much we don't understand in Daniel, Ezekiel, and Revelation—dry bones, a rebuilt temple, Gog and Magog. But this is perfectly clear: the people of God will suffer, God will empower and strengthen them in the midst of suffering, and He will return to deliver His people that they might be with Him forever.

And what does that do for us? It inspires hope and joy—a hope and joy the world does not have. We know a lot of people ready for good news, and we have the best news. Our hope is not in the political efforts of 2024; if that's where your hope is, you will be utterly hopeless, and it will get worse with every passing day. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I thank You for Your word; it is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and it is so encouraging when we open it and learn these truths. Lord, we may go through difficult times in this world. We are not assured of being rescued from or taken out of trials and hardship, but we are promised that You will be with us in the midst of it and empower us, and we are promised that we will be with You on that day in Your kingdom, where in Your presence is fullness of joy and at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Lord Jesus, come quickly; the Spirit and the bride say come. Even so, Lord Jesus, come. But until You do, strengthen us to be about Your work, committed to Your mission, fulfilling it every single day, so that when You come You find us so doing. Help us to be wise servants who use the talents, gifts, abilities, time, and treasure You've given us for Your name's sake and for Your kingdom, no matter what may come. For we ask it in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, Amen.