I don't worry about dying frankly because I'm going to rise again. In fact, when we get to her. With a bit of a review on those points, here is John to start today's lesson from Daniel chapter 12. We're looking at the last portion of the book, chapter 12 verse 4 through 13...12, 4 through 13. Now let's see these final words and we'll take them just as they flow in the text and move right on through. First of all, the content sealed, secondly, the chronology set, then the confusion stated, the cleansing secured and the commendation sworn.
First, the content sealed...the content sealed. Verse 4, "'But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book even to the time of the end.'" We can stop there for the moment. Now the angel says to him, the vision that began in chapter 10, or the revelation that began in chapter 10, the revelation of the history of Israel from Daniel's time to the time of the Antichrist. All of that sweeping revelation is over. I've given you the final words of this last revelation. Now roll up the scroll and shut it. That's all. That's the end. Seal it until the time of the end.
What does he mean by this? Well, what he is saying is a reference, mark this, to the time of the great tribulation. It is best to interpret the phrase, the time of the end, as a reference to the tribulation time. Verse 5, we go from the content sealed to the chronology set. The chronology is here set. How long is it going to be until the end, till all of these things come under the Antichrist and the great tribulation?
How long will the time of trouble last? Verse 7 comes the answer, "'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 unto heaven, and swore by him who liveth forever.' And what does he swear, that it shall be for a time," that's one, a time, "'times," that's two, plural, "'and a half.'"
That's one plus two plus a half, three and a half, three and a half years. So we see the content sealed in verse 4. In verses 5 to 7, the chronology is set. Now in verses 8 and 9, the confusion is stated. Daniel heard all this and he's still confused. Now remember, he doesn't have all the knowledge we do.
And in the other side of the coin, he probably had a lot more that we don't because he maybe understood the depths of some things that we can't perceive because we're so cluttered with the world. But look at verses 8 and 9, and Daniel is confused. "'And I heard,' he said, I mean, I heard it all, but I was not understanding it."
The idea of the imperfect use of the verb is that he was struggling along to try to figure it out, but he couldn't quite get it. "'And then said I, O my Lord,' and that's another reason I believe the man clothed in linen was a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, "'O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?' Now the angel said, when and how long," that was their thing, "'how long does it last?' He says, "'What is it going to be like? How severe! What kind of things are going to take place?
I really don't think I understand.'" Daniel wanted to know the kind of events. How severe! And how much would his people suffer to bring them to holiness?
How much would it take? Tell me the degree of severity. Tell me the kind of events at the climax. Now he knew it was going to be a disaster, but he wanted some specifics. What did he get as an answer?
Verse 9, "'And he said,' that is the man in linen said, "'Go your way, Daniel. Well, you know what kind of an answer he got? He didn't get any answer. He said, "'Go away. Go away, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.'" He says to him again, "'I can't help you, Daniel, because you can't understand them until you see the things begin to come to pass.'" In fact, in effect, he said, "'Stop asking questions.
You've got all the information you're going to get. The information is preserved, it's sealed, it'll be made clear in the future to those who live in the time in the end.'" Now those are words of rebuke in a way, but they're also words of comfort. The comfort consists in the fact that Daniel doesn't need to worry because God's in control. And the events are way far in the future, and the truth that he has been used by God to pen will be preserved for that future and become a source of knowledge and a source of salvation and comfort. In other words, it's a great principle here, beloved, he's saying, be content with what God has revealed, rest content in that, and stay away from meaningless speculation.
That's a good word for us. You know, I think there's so many people today who are trying to figure out every little nook and cranny and prophecy that they really muddied the waters. Let's accept what God has told us and leave the rest to mystery. We don't have to have every single prophetic detail cataloged and every event fully explained. I think a lot of us are going to get our eschatology rearranged in the end anyway. But I think what he's saying here is, you can't fully understand it until you get to the tribulation time and those will understand it then. And Daniel wasn't going to be there and frankly, folks, neither are we. But the people then will see it all.
Sometime in your life and in mine I have to learn to say, I don't know, I don't understand. That's not bad, that's good. That's not weakness, that's faith. So Daniel's somewhat confused, but God gives him two glorious closing realities. The next one is the cleansing secured. Verse 10 to 12. I'm going to go by this rapidly, so listen.
This is great. He doesn't want to leave him on a negative note, he doesn't want to say, go away, Daniel. That's the end. That would be a terrible ending, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it be awful if it ended in verse 9? Go away, Daniel. Poor fellow, all I put into this deal. I mean, do you know what I've been through for 90 years?
Go away. No, he doesn't leave him there. He's got something to add and there's a cleansing secured. Verse 10, just know this, Daniel, you don't need the details, but many shall be purified and made white and tested. In other words, the same statement exactly made in verse 35 of chapter 11. Just know this, Daniel, that there will be a redeemed remnant born out of that time.
That's all you need to know. There'll be a time when the people turn to me and to the Messiah. It'll come to pass, says Zechariah 13.8, that in all the land, says the Lord, two parts in it shall be cut off and die and the third shall be left. Not all, it doesn't say all shall be purified, it says what?
Many. Only a third, according to Zechariah, two-thirds will be destroyed. But I'll bring that third part through the fire, that's the testing, and refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested and they will call on my name and I will hear them, I will say, He is my people and they shall say, the Lord is my God. That's the salvation of the remnant, the many, not all, the many. Then the many of Daniel becomes the all of Paul in Romans 11, 26. They constitute the redeemed nation.
So Daniel, there's a cleansing secured. Those will be saved in the midst of an abominable wickedness. Look at verse 10 again, but the wicked shall do wickedly.
Isn't it amazing? These are the worst of times and yet these are the best of times. You know, I can honestly say that based upon the principle of the Word of God, you don't need to fear that the more wicked the world gets, the more difficult it is to see men redeemed.
That's not necessarily true. The most wicked time in the history of the world will be the tribulation, and it may be the greatest time of revival the world has ever seen. Because when men are left with nothing but evil, they have little difficulty recognizing their sinfulness, and that's prerequisite to salvation.
The wicked, they're going to go on doing wickedly. It's like Revelation 22 where it says, him that is filthy, let him be filthy still. I mean, they're going to go on with their vile evil, but in the midst of it all, many will be purified, made white and tested, and they'll come out as Zechariah 13, 8 and 9 says, as gold and silver. Tribulation is the apex of evil. All hell's fury is poured out, evil unrestrained, all the demons running across the earth, and in the midst of it all, glorious salvation.
It's just like God to take all the fury that Satan can throw when he's at his full power and turn it into revival. Now notice also in verse 10, none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand. The wicked won't know what's going on. They may even pick up the book of Daniel, but they won't understand it because the natural man understandeth not what?
The things of God. They won't be able to understand. They won't see it at all. It's like today, we've been preaching a lot about the existence of the nation Israel, and we say it's the great proof that the Bible is true, that that nation still exists. People hear that message and they just go on about their business and ignore it. They just ignore it. And in those days, it says the wicked will never understand what's going on, no matter how many preachers.
Why? Because no one of his own human understanding perceives the truth of God. Great truth. If you're going to understand the Word of God, you have to understand it by the Spirit of God. The truth is always unavailable to the wicked. It's hidden from the wise and the prudent, Matthew 11, 25 says, and revealed unto babes. No man ever can understand the Word of God unless he is enlightened by the Holy Spirit to discern its true meaning.
So Daniel says, well, what's going to happen? The Lord says you don't need to know that. All you need to know is that many are going to be saved. Even though it's a time of consummate wickedness, and even though the wicked won't understand what they're reading, the wise will understand, it will be clear to them. And then the Lord gives them a little more truth about the cleansing of the people. Verse 11, and from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Now get that?
Now what is this? The time the daily sacrifice is taken away? Well, for the seven years, Antichrist makes a treaty, right? They establish their worship in their temple. They're having a great time making their sacrifices, doing their thing in their temple. In the middle of that seven-year period, the Antichrist says that's the end. He desecrates their temple, probably sets up an image of himself there.
He abominates their worship, and from that time begins the fiery, blazing persecution. And look what it says, from that time shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Every other time it's a thousand two hundred and sixty days, twelve hundred and sixty. How do we get twelve hundred and ninety?
Where does this come from? Revelation 12, it's twelve hundred and sixty. How come we got an extra month? Well, the purpose of what the Lord is saying here is to tell Daniel the time involved in the purification. Verse 10, many will be purified, made white, and so forth, and it's going to take twelve hundred and ninety days.
Why? Well, I believe the best explanation is this, you have twelve hundred and sixty days until the end of the tribulation, the return of Christ. And then apparently you have thirty days. Thirty days for what? Thirty days for the remaining purging. And if you want to see that purging, all you have to do is open your Bible and read the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew.
It's called the judgment of the nations, or the judgment of the sheep and the goats. And I believe in a thirty-day period, the Lord Jesus Christ finishes the purging. Twelve hundred and ninety, thirty days to finish the purging. To determine who has a right, mark this, to enter the millennial kingdom. Who has a right for the blessedness of Christ's kingdom? And then verse 12, and here's a positive note, blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Now wait a minute. Twelve hundred and sixty, now we've got thirty days more for cleaning up the judgment as defined in Matthew 25. And now we've got thirteen hundred and thirty-five days. That's forty-five more days.
Say, what's that? Well it's not forty-five more days for purging, but it's forty-five more days for...what's the first word...blessing. So if it takes him an extra thirty days for the purging, it apparently will take an extra forty-five for the full establishment of the kingdom of blessing.
I guess the best way to see that is the set up. And if a man endures through the tribulation by the grace of God and is a part of that living remnant, and if he is a part of the sheep who are told, you on my right hand inherit the kingdom, he'll pass by the twelve hundred and ninety days, and as he goes through that forty-five days, he will enter into the blessedness of the establishment of the kingdom. Now folks, that's pretty accurate stuff, isn't it?
Pretty specific. The climax of the book then in verse 12, the kingdom comes. God is He who waits and comes to the completion of the thirteen hundred and thirty-five days. Now I had people say, well, you just can't believe the Bible when it tries to be specific. That is such an asinine comment that it hardly deserves an answer. I mean, God is good at generalities, but He has trouble with specifics.
You can believe the minutiae as well as you can believe the general things. So the climax of the book is the final restoration and blessedness of Israel. Blessed is He that waiteth.
Beloved, can I just add a footnote to that? Blessed are all of those who will enter the kingdom. Blessed is everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. We'll be there. We'll be there. We come back with Him, I believe, in our glorified bodies to reign in His kingdom. It will be a kingdom of blessedness. You say, well, what makes it so blessed to be there?
Let me just give it to you as fast as I can. As Christ will rule, Satan will be captive, saints will have authority, truth will dominate, righteousness will flourish, peace will reign, joy will abound, justice will pervade, the Holy Spirit's power will be revealed in fullness, there will be a new temple, a purged earth, the curse will be lifted, plenty of food, health and healing, the exaltation of the city of Jerusalem, and so it goes, the blessed kingdom. It's kind of good, isn't it, that the book of Daniel ends in blessedness? It began with a sad captivity, didn't it?
It began with a people of God ripped out of their land, slaughtered, taken captive. It sweeps us clear through all of human history to the time of their blessedness. Finally, the Lord gives a commendation in verse 13. We've seen the contents sealed, the chronology set, the confusion stated, the cleansing secured, and now the swearing of a commendation.
I love this. "'But go thou thy way till the end, for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.'" This is a blessed benediction, a sworn promise by God to Daniel. Oh, what a man Daniel was, nearly 90 years old, always faithful, God's man in a pagan land, devout, uncompromising, godly, loyal, courageous, prayerful, humble, zealous, compassionate, wise, bold, every good thing you could say about a man. He'd been given thorough revelations of the history of the times of the Gentiles. He'd been given insight into all of the destiny of Israel. He had seen the time of the end, he had seen the antichrist, the great tribulation, and the kingdom of blessedness.
And he knew that in the meantime Israel, his beloved people, would suffer horribly. So God gives him a glimpse of the pre-incarnate Christ, the man in linen who gives Daniel great comfort. He gives him three things, three great features to this verse.
Number one is responsibility. I think this speaks to us. He says to him, go your way. What does he mean by that? Live your life, Daniel. Go about your business and leave the future to me. You live according to my word and my will. You go your way, you do what I've told you to do.
It's kind of like the New Testament where it says, occupy till I, what, come. Live the life. It's like Peter who said, seeing you know all these things that come to pass, what manner of persons ought you to be? You ought to be holy and godly. Go your way. Live your life.
That's a message to us. What is your response to the fact that all this is coming to pass? You get your pajamas out and sit on the roof and wait for it?
Do you panic? No, you just go your way. You just live the life so that when He comes you'll not be ashamed of His appearing.
So the first feature is responsibility. The second is a promise, resurrection. I love this. For you shall rest and stand. In other words, go your way till the end. The end of what? The end of your life. Go your way till you die and when you die, you'll rest and then you'll stand.
What is that promise? Resurrection. One of the great Old Testament statements of resurrection. Daniel, you've got two things, responsibility, go your way, and resurrection.
You're going to rest and then you're going to stand. And a third thing, Daniel, reward, reward. You're going to receive your lot at the end of the days.
What is the lot? It's his inheritance. The corresponding Greek word is used in Colossians 1, 12, for the inheritance of the saint. It is that inheritance laid away, uncorruptible and undefiled and reserved for us in heaven. Daniel, I promise you this, you have responsibility as long as you live and when you die, you'll rise again and when you rise again, you'll be rewarded eternally. You'll inherit your lot in the kingdom. Well, it's thrilling, isn't it, to look at the future with that kind of view? I don't worry about dying, frankly, because I'm going to rise again. In fact, when we die, our spirit goes immediately to be with Jesus Christ and it's only the body we wait for anyway. And in that day when we rise again, we'll be rewarded.
But until that time, we have responsibility. I'm so thrilled that at the end the Lord came face to face with Daniel, told him these things. The father tells about being awakened in the night by his little boy. Apparently he was having a nightmare and he was just panicked and he cried out, Daddy! His father ran in the room and it was dark and he said, Daddy, are you here? Yes, son, I'm here. Father said reassuringly, Daddy, said the little fellow, is your face looking at me? The father answered, yes, son.
Little fellow lost his fear and went to sleep. You know what the great hope of the future for us is? That the face of the Savior is looking at us, isn't it? He has us in His heart. He's not indifferent. He's there. All these things are going to come to pass until heaven and earth pass away.
Not one jot or tittle shall in any wise pass from this law. But we don't fear because the Savior is looking at us and He has us in His heart. He had Daniel in His heart. He wouldn't let that man close out his life without stepping out of glory and speaking personally with this saint. What a great, great confidence that you and I have the same Christ who has His face toward us who cares.
We have responsibility. We have the promise of resurrection and eternal reward. With those things in mind, God help us to live like Daniel lived, to be the kind of man he was.
Thanks, John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. Today's lesson on grace to you is part of John's current study titled, The Future of Israel. With what we've seen these past three weeks about Israel's future and prophecies yet fulfilled, it's clear that fearful things are ahead for the world. But John, as you said in closing, knowing that our Savior is watching us, that He's caring for His children every step of the way, that has a unique ability to chase away fear. Yeah, well, as believers, we're not looking to the coming of Christ with fear. As somebody said, we're not hoping for the Antichrist. We are hoping for Christ. Ours is a blessed hope, not a frightening hope. We're looking for the Lord Jesus Christ. And all of these things that we've been considering in terms of prophecy and the future of Israel are all connected with the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is not an intrusion into our lives.
This is not an invasion into our lives. This is not something that we fear, something we don't want to happen. Again, this is the blessed hope.
This is the hope that purifies everyone who has this hope, as John put it. This series is very important. Israel is, at this point, the focal point of world attention. We need to understand why and what's going to be happening. We've just wrapped up the series from Daniel 9 through 12.
You need to know what's going on in the world, and this is the future as laid out in Scripture. The whole series, The Future of Israel, get it free by downloading it on our website. Thank you, John. And friend, if you caught even part of this study, you know there is an amazing amount of information to take in. To review it all, including parts that we didn't have time to air on the radio, be sure to download John's study, The Future of Israel, when you get in touch with us today.
You will find all eight lessons online at GTY.org. You can listen to the MP3s of those messages, and you can read the transcripts free of charge. In fact, all of John's sermons, that's more than 3,600 messages, all of them are free to download at GTY.org.
And friend, remember that in just about every major city around the nation today, people are tuning in to this broadcast. They are listening and learning and growing, and that's the personal ministry you help sustain when you partner with us. You also help us take God's word to people around the world through radio, through thousands of free online resources, also through books and booklets that we send in the mail. If you'd like to express your support, you can mail your tax-deductible donation to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412. You can also donate online at GTY.org or when you call us at 800-55-GRACE. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Remember to watch Grace to You television this Sunday, Direct TV, Channel 378. And be here Monday when John launches an important study titled Jesus Over All, designed to strengthen your faith and deepen your worship of Christ. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth one verse at a time, on Grace to You.
