The Time and The End | Sunday, August 20, 2023

Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come... (Daniel 10:14)

Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. (Daniel 11:32–33)

When the plain sense of God's strange visions makes sense, seek no other sense—and let prophecy drive you to faithfulness now.

Reading Daniel by the Plain Sense

We are in the Old Testament book of Daniel, chapter 11, beginning to wrap up our summer study; next week we finish the last chapter. As we've gone through this text, I've shared an important truth about interpreting Scripture: when the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense.

This is critically important in strange passages like this one. If you've been around church for any length of time, you've heard teachings on Daniel 7–12 that drift away from the plain sense of the text—and when you drift away from the plain sense, it is easy to drift into nonsense. There is a lot of interpretive teaching on the apocalyptic genre that, evaluated in the light of Scripture, is fairly nonsensical. So we want to follow the plain-sense method.

The Same Outline, Repeated

Daniel divides evenly into two halves. The first half is a series of stories demonstrating that God is with His people in troubling times—Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah as teenage exiles, the fiery furnace, the lion's den. These are the familiar Sunday school stories, easy to understand. But chapters 7 through 12 get strange.

Throughout the book Daniel sees or interprets a series of dreams and visions—beginning with Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter 2. As you study them in their plain sense, all the dreams and visions correspond to one another and basically cover the same period of time. The interpretation given by Daniel and by the angel Gabriel concerns what was coming for God's people, according to God's work, leading to the coming of God's anointed one—the Messiah—who would usher in God's Kingdom.

These visions trace the kingdoms of the world: the head of gold (Babylon), the chest and arms of silver (the Medes and Persians), the body and thighs of bronze (the Greek Empire), and the legs of iron mixed with clay (the Roman Kingdom)—then ultimately the Messiah. The imagery differs—sometimes a great image, sometimes beasts—but the outline is the same.

Why Daniel Mourns

Chapters 10, 11, and 12 all correspond to the same time. Daniel has become fixated on these visions because he wants more understanding. The visions concern his people, his nation, and the coming Messiah—but they also tell him that more challenging things are coming for his people in the future.

At this moment, most of Israel is filled with joy and expectation. They have just been liberated from nearly seventy years of bondage in Babylon, and Cyrus, king of the Medo-Persian Empire, has given them word that they can return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Yet Daniel, as we saw in chapter 10, is filled with grief and mourning. He has spent twenty-one days in continuous prayer and self-denial.

Why mourn at a time of joy? Because Daniel knows what is coming. He knows a strong conquering king will come among the Greeks and bring another time of turmoil. He has seen that the rebuilt temple will be desecrated—the abomination of desolation. And from chapter 9 he knows the Messiah will come but will be "cut off," an idiom for being killed—and his beloved nation will be destroyed again.

Wanting the Whole Picture

Daniel wants to know how and when all these things will come to pass. Imagine his position: he knew Jeremiah's prophecy of seventy years' exile, and Isaiah's prophecy that Cyrus would release Israel—and he has just watched those things come to pass with his own eyes. Babylon has fallen to Cyrus, prophesied by name 150 years earlier; his people are liberated; Jerusalem is beginning to be rebuilt.

Can anyone identify with Daniel's question, "When shall these things be?" There has been huge interest among Christians in the last fifty or sixty years on such things—because, like Daniel, we believe we have seen biblical predictions fulfilled, most clearly the regathering of the Jewish people and the re-establishing of Israel as a nation in 1948. Daniel had a small peek; he wanted the whole picture.

The Vision by the Tigris

So Daniel sets himself by the Tigris River, in sackcloth and ashes, in continual prayer.

Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month... I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz! His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire... (Daniel 10:4–6)

This vision appears above the river—one like the Son of Man, as prophesied in Daniel 7, hovering as if coming in the clouds. The description is very similar to the description of Jesus in Revelation 1. Daniel alone saw it; the men with him fled in terror.

No strength remained in me... yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground. (Daniel 10:8–9)

Oh, how I wish Daniel had recorded the words of that One in the sky. He was so overcome with awe and terror that he passed out, hearing something but recording no details. Then another individual—whom I believe is Gabriel—comes to strengthen Daniel and give him understanding: "Now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days" (Daniel 10:14).

The "Latter Days" and the Already/Not Yet

What are "the latter days"? Some scholars say it refers to the last things of Daniel's vision, ending in the first century around A.D. 70, when Rome destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Others say it also refers to the very end of all things before the Lord establishes His Kingdom. I believe both are right in part—this passage deals with things that have happened and things not yet come to pass.

This highlights something important. In apocalyptic and prophetic passages, prophecy often has an early fulfillment in history and a later fulfillment that may not yet have happened—multiple stages of fulfillment. Think of going to the eye doctor: they drop in one lens and it's a little clearer, then another, then another, until you can really see. We sometimes need different interpretive lenses, because of the tension between the already and the not yet.

Consider Isaiah: "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things." Historically, those messengers told the exiles they could go free. In the New Testament, that same prophecy is applied to John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord—a christological fulfillment. In Romans 10, Paul applies it to Christians bringing the gospel—an ecclesiological fulfillment. Some see further fulfillment in the witnesses of Revelation—an eschatological fulfillment. One prophecy, multiple fulfillments, made clear only as you drop in the different lenses. So too: if you are a Christian today, you are already saved but not yet glorified.

The Scripture of Truth and the Unseen Realm

Then he said, "Do you know why I have come to you?... But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. (No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.)" (Daniel 10:20–21)

Notice the phrase the Scripture of Truth. Gabriel has come to give Daniel understanding of what is already written in the book. Apparently God in heaven has a book, an outline of things to come—a strategic plan for all human history, what we sometimes call the meta-narrative: creation, fall, redemption, and ultimately restoration. None of the craziness of the world frustrates that plan.

This passage also reveals things about our world we could not know apart from revelation. There is a spiritual realm beyond the veil, not completely disconnected from the physical. Human affairs are in some measurable way affected by spiritual realities. There are entities aiding the work of God and entities opposing it. Gabriel must go contend with the Prince of Persia—some demonic entity—then the prince of Greece will come; and earlier he had strengthened Darius. Why strengthen a pagan king? Because God has a strategic plan, and there are spiritual foes opposing it.

History Foretold: From Cyrus to Antiochus

I don't have time to go verse by verse through this long chapter, so I'll give broad strokes. There is wide agreement among commentators on the first thirty-five verses. As one commentator notes, "although there are inevitable difficulties in this passage, there is wide agreement among commentators about the general outline of the history to which this points."

Verses 2–35 fill in the details of the general outline Daniel already knew. The new material concerns the troubling third kingdom, Greece. Most commentators agree this section deals with history from about 536 B.C. until the end of Antiochus Epiphanes, who reigned 175–164 B.C.

The Medes and Persians were overcome by the Greeks under Alexander the Great, who conquered everyone but died young at thirty-two with no heir. His kingdom split into four; the two strongest were the Seleucids (in modern Syria) and the Ptolemies (in Egypt). What lies between Syria and Egypt? Israel. So for that entire period these powers fought back and forth, and Jerusalem changed hands more than a dozen times—by some accounts more than twenty—destroyed and rebuilt again and again. Archaeologically you can see the layers: building, burning, building, burning.

Antiochus Epiphanes and the Abomination

Then came the king known to history as Antiochus IV, "Epiphanes" (the enlightened one)—the Jews called him Antiochus Epimanes, "the madman." Around 175 B.C. this Seleucid king went on a rampage against the Ptolemies, failed, and in his rage descended on Jerusalem. He caused absolute carnage, desecrated the temple, set up an image of Zeus, offered pigs on the altar, and massacred Jews.

This provoked the revolt led by Judas Maccabeus and his brothers, recorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees. They fought this madman, won, and restored worship in the temple in the winter of 164 B.C. When they rededicated it, they did not have enough oil—but God miraculously provided oil to last eight days, celebrated to this day as Hanukkah, the Feast of Dedication. All of it flows from this period.

The Break at Verse 36

There is broad agreement on verses 1–35—covering 375 years, from 536 B.C. to 164 B.C.—until you reach verse 36. Critical scholars look at the precise detail and, because they struggle with the supernatural, conclude it could not have been written in the sixth century B.C. They claim a pseudonymous author wrote it around 165–164 B.C. as encouragement to those suffering under Antiochus. Traditional scholars, and I, believe Daniel wrote it predictively in the sixth century B.C.

So what do we make of this? This passage reveals that God gives phenomenal liberty to humans to cause strife and stir up trouble—as we see all around the world. Skeptics say a powerful God would not allow it. Yet God's ultimate plan is not frustrated by human chaos, nor is He troubled by those bent on evil. From this we draw our first point: God's people are not ultimately overcome by those who devise evil and speak lies.

God's People Are Not Overcome

That doesn't mean God's people escape trials. The sad story of God's people throughout the ages is that they often experience trouble, tribulation, and persecution. We are awesomely privileged to know the religious liberty and peace of our lifetimes, but most Christians in most places throughout most of history have not. Yet God's plan is not frustrated, and His people are not ultimately overcome.

Jesus gives apocalyptic encouragement in the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven." He points us to the future Kingdom—though we need the enabling power of the Holy Spirit to actually have that mindset in difficulty.

Daniel 11:32–33 says it plainly: those who do wickedly corrupt with flattery, "but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits"—even as many fall by sword and flame and captivity. This gives us point two: great exploits belong to those who know and faithfully follow their God.

From Antiochus to Antichrist

At verse 36 the agreement ends, because the storyline breaks from what we know of Antiochus. Critical scholars say this proves Daniel didn't know what he was talking about. But think of an old transparency sheet: lay a second one over the first and everything fits until it shifts and goes out of alignment. The image fits Antiochus perfectly until verse 36—and then it no longer looks clear.

I believe this is one of those passages with more than one fulfillment. The first thirty-five verses clearly deal with Antiochus Epiphanes. But verse 36 onward points to a future ruler with the very same nature and spirit of Antiochus, doing similar things—yet he is not Antiochus. Many call him the Antichrist. We move from Antiochus to Antichrist.

John writes: "Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour" (1 John 2:18). Antiochus was an antichrist who prefigured the Antichrist; he performed the abomination of desolation.

Jesus and the Coming Abomination

We might think all of this was past—until Jesus, in the week He would be crucified, told His disciples not one stone of the temple would be left upon another. Stunned, they asked, "When will these things be, and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" On the Mount of Olives, in the Olivet Discourse of Matthew 24–25, Jesus answered:

When you therefore see the "abomination of desolation," spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place... then let those in Judea flee... For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:15–21)

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened... and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven... and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. (Matthew 24:29–30)

That last image echoes Daniel 7. So just as Daniel's prophecy has multiple fulfillments—much fulfilled in the 375 years from Cyrus to Antiochus, the rest awaiting a future Antichrist—Jesus's prediction also has multiple fulfillments. Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in A.D. 70 under Titus, exactly as He said, not one stone left upon another. But Jesus also said the Son of Man would come immediately after the tribulation to establish His Kingdom—and that has not yet happened. There was a fulfillment, and there is more to come.

How Then Should We Respond

Daniel has seen visions and interpretations of world history before it happened. He sought God for more, and a heavenly messenger told him what was coming. Even so—as we'll see next week—he still doesn't fully understand, and the angel tells him to seal up the book for future people to understand when knowledge increases. God sent this messenger to encourage Daniel. So how should we respond? Four quick applications.

First, we should rejoice in point one: God's people are not ultimately overcome by those who devise evil and speak lies.

Second, we should remember point two: great exploits belong to those who know and faithfully follow their God.

Third, God's word fulfilled in times past should encourage our readiness to remain faithful for what remains unfulfilled. God was faithful concerning Cyrus through Isaiah, the seventy years through Jeremiah, and all that He gave Daniel. He was faithful then; we trust He will be faithful in the future.

Remain Committed to the Commission

Fourth, we should remain committed to the commission of Christ. The people of God are marked by faithfulness to His word and His work in the world. Notice that every time Jesus speaks of future things, He turns back to a call to be faithful in the present. This is where Christians err—we get so focused on the future that we lose sight of the mission.

At the end of the Olivet Discourse, Jesus gives three parables—the two servants, the ten virgins, and the talents—and the focus is the same: because of what is coming, be waiting, watching, and working now. When His disciples asked about restoring the kingdom, He said, "It is not for you to know times or seasons... but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me." In the Great Commission He says go and make disciples, "and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

We always want to know, "Is it the end?"—the storm, the buzzers, the trumpet of our cell phones, look up, your redemption draws near. Jesus always answers the same way: it is not for you to know; you do the work. "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).

How many of you know somebody who doesn't know Jesus? There is still more work to do. "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things"—that's you. May He, when He comes, find us so doing.

Closing Prayer

Father God, we pray that You would fix our focus on the task You have set before us, looking unto You, the author and finisher of our faith. Help us to run with faithfulness the race set before us, looking to You, trusting in You. Would You pour out Your Spirit upon Your people and enable us to be witnesses for You in this day, that we would be like a city set on a hill that cannot be hid, shining brightly the light of Your grace and Your truth into this world. There are so many people who desperately need to know Your mercy and grace, Your love and forgiveness. Would You use us to be Your ambassadors. Strengthen us for the work, we pray; whatever may come, help us not to be moved. We praise You, Lord. And now may the Lord bless you and keep you, make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace, even in the midst of this great storm, in Jesus' name. Amen.