Message Library

Daniel 10:1–11:1

THE TIME OF THE VISION (10:1, 4)

Daniel received this vision in 536 bc., in the third year of Cyrus’ reign, when Daniel was probably more than 85 years of age. The vision of chapter 9, “the vision of the Seventy Weeks,” had been received by Daniel two years earlier.

536 bc., is the latest date referred to in the book of Daniel.

THE OCCASION FOR THE VISION (10:2, 3, 12)

In chapter 8, in 551 bc., Daniel had received a revelation regarding Israel’s future but he did not understand the vision, 8:27.

In chapter 9, in 538 bc., Daniel was given more information concerning Israel’s future, but Daniel still did not understand what would befall his people, especially in “the latter days,” 10:14.

So now, in 536 bc., Daniel mourns, fasts, and chastens himself before God for three weeks, seeking for a better understanding regarding Israel’s future. The vision of chapters 10–12 is God’s response to Daniel’s seeking, 10:12.

THE PLACE OF RECEIVING THE VISION (10:4)

Daniel received this vision, at the end of the three weeks of fasting, as he stood by the River Hiddekel (Tigris).

THE AUTHOR OF THE VISION (10:5–9)

1.     His appearance to Daniel(10:5, 6)

As Daniel and his companions are by the River Tigris, Daniel lifts up his eyes and beholds a man clothed in linen and hears him speaking.

2.     His identity

Some hold that this person and the person who talks with Daniel in 10:10–12:4 are the same person, probably the angel Gabriel.

Others hold that both are Christ.

Others hold the first person is Christ and the second person is an angel, probably Gabriel.

3.     His effect upon Daniel(Daniel’s response to the vision of Christ) (10:7–9)

(Note the similarity between Daniel’s vision of Christ and Paul’s vision of Christ on the Damascus road. In both visions, only one person sees Christ and hears His words; the bystanders do not see Christ or hear His words. They draw back in terror.)

Daniel’s companions flee in terror. Daniel faints and falls face downward upon the ground in a deep sleep.

THE AGENT OF THE VISION (10:10–11:1)

1.     His identity

The person of verse 10, the person of verse 16, and the person of verse 18 are probably the same person, probably the angel Gabriel.

2.     His three-fold strengthening of Daniel(10:10, 16, 18)

He first set Daniel on his feet, then he opened Daniel’s mouth, then he strengthened Daniel.

3.     His past, present, and future assignments

a.     His past assignment(11:1)—God, two years earlier, had sent him to confirm and strengthen Darius, during the first year of Darius’ reign, 538 bc.

b.     His present assignment(10:12–14)—God, three weeks previously, had sent him to enlighten Daniel but he had been detained for three weeks by the prince of the kingdom of Persia. Now he arrives to fulfill his mission to Daniel.

For three weeks, Gabriel had remained with the king of Persia, influencing him to favour Israel while the prince of Persia (an evil angel assigned by Satan to Persia) was seeking to influence the Persian king to persecute Israel. God had dispatched Michael the archangel to assist Gabriel

c.     His future assignment(10:20)—After his mission to Daniel is fulfilled, he will resume his struggle with the evil prince of Persia. Later, when Greece becomes a world power, Gabriel will enter into conflict with the prince of Greece (an evil angel who will be assigned by Satan to Greece).

4.     His assistant(10:13)

Michael (“who is like God”) was sent to assist Gabriel (here we have the Bible’s first mention of Michael, the archangel, Jude 9, the guardian angel of Israel, 10:21; 12:1; Rev. 12:7).

OUTLINE

Concern for the People of God(10:1–3)

Vision of the Sufficiency of God(10:4–9)

Conflict for the Kingdom of God(10:10–11:1)

The last three chapters of Daniel form a unity. Chapters 10, 11, and 12 constitute the final lengthy section in the Book of Daniel. Chapter 10 sets the scene of yet another heavenly visitation, while the closing two chapters contain a lengthy and detailed prophecy for the future.

Chapter 10 emphasizes that human causes and effects are not the only forces or influences operative in the history of the world.

Daniel’s long season of fasting and prayer brought Gabriel from heaven to tell him the secret of the centuries.

This was one of the principles that governed Daniel’s relationship to God.

CONCERN FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD

V1It was in “the third year of Cyrus king of Persia.” Daniel received, and“understood the message and had understanding of the vision” .

V3Daniel had been engaged in fasting, mourning, and praying for a period of “three full weeks”.

v4he pinpoints the date of the experience. By “the twenty-fourth day of the first month” Since it was “the first month”, that would include the days of Passover celebration and the Feast of Unleavened Bread that followed it (he was engaged in these spiritual exercises from the third to the twenty-fourth of Ahib [later Nissan (Neh. 2:1)]).

Cyrus had issued a decree allowing the Jews to return home in the first year of his reign, a record of which is found elsewhere in Scripture: Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying,

Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any p1ace where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem. —Ezra 1:1–4

Why didn’t Daniel return to Jerusalem? He specifically mentions that he was “by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris” (v4). In view of the hints we have already received (cf. 6:10; 9:16–20), we would have anticipated that Daniel would have been in the vanguard of those who returned. Apparently he remained in Babylon. Was he simply too old for the journey? He was, after all, well into retirement age.

Scripture provides no certain answer to this question, but we must assume that the Lord had given him a deep conviction that he was to remain in Babylon. There may be an explanation in these opening verses.

The rebuilding of Jerusalem would involve heavy labour, action, busyness, controversy, time-consuming activity. God had already raised up leaders in that area (Ezra and Nehemiah). What these leaders needed most (as Moses had done before) was someone who would engage in the hidden but strategic work of prayer for the defence and advance of the kingdom of God. Daniel was already engaged in this when he received a further heavenly visitation.

It was Passover, a time to celebrate the deliverance God had wrought. It was a time of restoration, a time to rejoice that a way of return to Jerusalem had been provided. Yet Daniel was “mourning three full weeks” (v2). Presumably because he knew that only small numbers of people had taken the opportunity to return.

No doubt Daniel had also heard that there was strong opposition to the rebuilding program (described in detail in the Book of Nehemiah). It also seems that in the third year of his reign, Cyrus had gone abroad, leaving his son, Cambyses, to act as regent, and he had issued an edict forbidding the building of the temple.

Those who had returned to Jerusalem were easily discouraged. The work of restoration proved to be far more difficult than they had anticipated, the opposition far more than they had imagined. Would the restoration fail? It would not fail if Daniel could pray the work of God through these days of crisis. With great self-discipline and clear discernment of the needs, he devoted himself to seeking blessing from the God of heaven.

What is so remarkable about Daniel here is the way in which he consecrated himself to the advance of God’s kingdom, even though he was not directly involved in the rebuilding of the temple, nor would he live to see it. That is the mark of true faith and commitment. He believed but did not receive what was promised (cf. Heb. 11:33). He prayed for blessing he would never personally witness.

VISION OF THE SUFFICIENCY OF GOD

V5-6 The figure is clothed in linen, and everything about him expresses power, beauty, majesty, glory, and honour. Linen garments were worn by the priests. In particular, the high priest wore linen when he went into the holy place (Ex. 28:42; Lev. 6:10; 16:4). This would have reminded the exiled Daniel of the temple sacrifices and the Day of Atonement, the way of forgiveness ordained by God.

His “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, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in colour.” When he spoke, his voice sounded like a “multitude” (perhaps not only in its strength but also in its richness of tone).

V6 “like the appearance of lightning”. This would suggest power and glory in general, but lightning is a frequent accompaniment to the coming of the Lord in Scripture (cf. Ezek. 1:13–14; Rev. 4:5; 8:5; 11:19; 16:18) and was so supremely at Sinai (Ex. 19:16; 20:18). Was it meant to be a reminder to Daniel here of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness that he himself had confessed in the previous chapter?

V 7 As he gathered with others “by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris” (v4), his eyes were drawn to the person who stood before him. Such was the majesty of this figure that although Daniel’s companions “did not see the vision”, they felt it with such force that they fled in terror (cf. the experience of Saul/Paul and his companions on the Damascus Road [Acts 22:9].

V8 Daniel “was left alone”.

V9 Overwhelmed with shock, he was overcome and fell before the figure, “face to the ground”.

The figure spoke, but Daniel seems to have been too overcome to hear more than “the sound of his words”.

Who was this figure? Various answers have been given: Gabriel, Michael, or Christ in a pre-incarnate manifestation are some interpretations.

In favour of the last of these views is that the description of this figure and the impact of his presence on Daniel and the others far surpasses anything that is said of either Gabriel or Michael.

Furthermore, there are similarities between this vision and other biblical theophanies (for example, Ezek. 1:26ff. and especially Rev. 1:12–15, where Christ is described in somewhat similar terms as He walks among the churches). Additionally, Daniel addresses the figure in terms of reverence not found in his conversations with the others. He calls him “my Lord” three times (vv. 16, 17, 19).

God impressed on Daniel that He was a God of forgiveness and faithfulness. Daniel was rightly concerned for the prospects of God’s kingdom and mourned deeply over the sins and shortcomings of the people. His God, however, remained the same. He had not changed. The God of the past—of the covenant at Sinai and the sacrifices at Jerusalem—was still all-sufficient to meet the needs of His people. By reminding Daniel of the past, God was giving him encouragement to trust His adequacy for a future that looked increasingly bleak.

Knowledge of God’s work of grace in the past encourages us to trust Him and seek His blessing in the present and for the future. Think, for example, of the way in which Psalm 44 describes an individual in the midst of discouragement finding encouragement from the past. The prayer would be something like this: “You worked before, O Lord; work again in this time.”

v10-11Daniel was given a great vision, but none may experience such intimacy with God without it leaving a mark on their lives. Think of the great Old Testament picture of Jacob limping away from his encounter with the Lord (Gen. 32:22–31). Daniel is no exception. The vision makes him prostrate himself; even when he is encouraged, he trembles when he is addressed.

V12We miss the point of the constant emphasis on Daniel’s understanding, wisdom, and discernment if we fail to see that it led him to become a man of prayer. Yet this is constantly re-iterated throughout the book (cf. 1:17, 20; 5:11–12; 9:22; 10:1). His recognition of his own role, his discernment of the weakness of the people and the opposition they faced, all drove him to commune with God. That was why his “words were heard”.

Daniel was committed to the long-term view of God’s kingdom. The Lord had nurtured that spirit in him through the visions he had already received. Now as he prayed, he would not only receive further revelation of the future, but he would also be given an insight into what is involved in true, prevailing prayer for the church of God.

v12The figure had also come immediately as Daniel had begun to pray. How then had it taken three weeks for him to arrive? Is earth three weeks away from heaven?

V13The figure himself explains: “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia”.

v15He is speechless and turns his face to the ground.

V16-17He is overwhelmed with a sense of sorrow and feels himself to be without strength .

V18-19When he is thus emptied of all confidence in his own resources, he is strengthened by grace and given the ability to be strong.

Such people who have seen God’s glory and grace can never be the same again. They have come to know who God is, and in His presence they come to know what they are themselves in their need and by His grace.

CONFLICT FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD

V20 “Do you know why I have come?” Why did Daniel receive the message of this heavenly vision? The answer lies in the earlier part of the chapter.

Daniel’s spiritual exercises had been prolonged for three weeks before the heavenly figure appeared (v2). For his patience and persistence he was a “man greatly beloved” (v11; cf. 9:23).

What was news to Daniel, however, was that “from the first day [he]set [his]heart to understand, and to humble [himself]before … God, [his]words [of prayer]were heard” (v12). The figure had come because of Daniel’s words.

As he departs, he says further, “And now I must return to fight the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come” (v. 20). All this appears to have taken place because the heavenly figure had come to Daniel “to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days [that is, some time in the future, cf. Gen. 49:1; Num. 24:14]for the vision refers to many days yet to come” (v14).

Daniel’s special concern had apparently been to understand the prospects of the people of God during the Medo-Persian kingdom and then during the Greek Empire. The heavenly messenger comes to reveal to him what will take place. Precisely because this will stir up Daniel (and perhaps others) to pray for the kingdom of God, that the gates of hell will not withstand it, opposition is mounted by the “prince of Persia” (v13).

In view here is the “angel prince of Persia” (neb). The conflict envisaged is not one with flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). This is why Daniel needs to be “strong in the Lord” (Eph. 6:10). Nor is this conflict a momentary one. It will be engaged again (v20). It is perpetual.

 Daniel had been praying for the people of God. Some intimation of the kind of events recorded in Ezra 4 must have reached him. It seems likely that he was praying that the Persian ruler would be favourably disposed to the Lord’s people. Now the curtain, beyond which his prayers travelled invisibly, was momentarily lifted, and he realized the drama of heavenly warfare in which his intercession had involved him. No wonder he was awe-struck by what he saw.

Paul saw in this same principle, “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the God of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Cor. 4:3–4).

Such spiritual causes can be dealt with only by employing spiritual weapons: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:3–5).

Two things aspects of the power of prayer.

1. The power does not belong to the praying or to the prayer but to God. Prayer has no power in and of itself; prayer is wholehearted dependence on God. It is a confession that we can do nothing and that God alone can work. If in our self-sufficiency and folly we should think otherwise, a rereading of Daniel 10 should act as the cure. Here a man of prayer is mourning, has no strength in him, but finds his vigour has turned to frailty so that he retained no strength. This is what is involved in drawing on the divine power to aid us in our weakness. Spiritual treasure is kept in “earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us” (2 Cor. 4:7).
2. The only prayer which has power in its effect is that of a righteous person (James 5:16)—like Daniel (Ezra 14:14, 20). With God there can be no contradiction between the way we pray and the way we live. Prayer is not a piece of magic, a secret trick that we can use because we have a secret knowledge irrespective of our manner of life. The only prayer that is powerful in its lasting effect is the expression of the life and desires of a righteous individual who walks in covenant fellowship with God.

Theological Perspective

1.     Earnest and persistent prayer is rewarded—Daniel fasted and prayed for three full weeks. Also see Matt. 20:30–34; Luke 11:8; 18:1–8; James 5:16–18.

2.     Answers to prayers are often delayed—Our prayers are heard the moment they are prayed, 9:23; 10:12, but God often permits Satan to delay the answers, 10:13, or He Himself directly delays the answers, Rev. 6:10, 11.

1. Clever speakers are often dumb in the presence of heavenly beings—See 10:15; c.f. Exodus 4:10 with Acts 7:22
2. Saved persons usually fall forward and unsaved persons usually fall backward when confronted with God’s glory—See Gen. 17:3, 17; Josh. 5:14; Ezek. 1:28; 3:23; Daniel 8:17, 18; 10:9, 15; Rev. 1:17 regarding saved persons and John 18:6 regarding unsaved persons.
3. Weakness is the place of blessing—See 10:16–19; Gen. 32:24–32; 2 Cor. 12:10.
4. Touches from the Lord strengthen us greatly—See 8:18; 10:10, 16, 18.
5. Fierce struggles are going on in the unseen world—See 10:13, 20; 12:1; Eph 6:12; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7.
6. Angels minister to us—See 10:18; Matt. 4:11; 26:53; Lu. 22:43; Heb. 1:14.

Daniel 11:2–45

THE CONTENT OF THE VISION (11:2–12:4)

1.     Prophecies concerning the Gentile nations from Daniel’s day until the time of the end(11:2–45) (these prophecies concern only those Gentile nations which oppress Israel)

a.     The prophecies concerning Persia(11:2)

The three kings who will yet stand up (after Cyrus) are Cambyses, (529–522 bc.), Pseudo-Smerdis, (522–521 bc.) and Darius Hystapes (521–486 bc.).

The fourth king is Xerxes (486–465 bc.), the husband of Esther), who invaded Greece in 480 bc., and gave occasion for the counterattack of Alexander many years later.

The remainder of the Persian kings are not mentioned because they are after the Grecian king’s counterattack.

b.     The prophecies concerning Grecia(11:3, 4)

The “mighty king” is Alexander the Great (the “notable horn” of 8:5).

After his amazing military conquests, 335–323 bc., Alexander died in 323 bc. and his kingdom was divided.

c.     The prophecies concerning Syria and Egypt(11:5–20)

(1)     The Syrian kingdom and the Egyptian kingdom are divisions of Alexander’s kingdom

Syria was ruled by the Seleucids (the dynasty of Seleucus) and Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemies (the dynasty of Ptolemy).

(2)     The kings of Syria are called “the kings of the north” and the kings of Egypt are called “the kings of the south”

These kingdoms were located to the north and to the south of the land of Israel.

(3)     The Syrian kingdom and the Egyptian kingdom are the subjects of prophecy because these two kingdoms had direct relations with Israel

The Jews were ruled by the Ptolemies of Egypt, 323–198 bc., and by the Seleucids of Syria, 198–165 bc. The other two divisions of Alexander’s Empire are ignored in prophecy because they had little or no direct relations with Israel.

(4)     The detailed interpretation of 11:5–20.

 (5)     The prophecies of 11:5–20 are now history

Afterwards came exact fulfillment of these detailed prophecies! Hence higher-critics attempt to move the book of Daniel’s date of writing forward to 165 bc., or later, and so make all of this prophecy history at the time of its writing.

d.     The prophecies concerning Antiochus Epiphanes(“the vile person,” the last-mentioned king of the north) (11:21–35)

(1)     The identity of Antiochus Epiphanes

Antiochus Epiphanes (Antiochus, the manifest one), a son of Antiochus the Great, ruled Syria 175–164 bc. He is “the little horn” of 8:9.

(2)     The typicalness of Antiochus Epiphanes

(a)     The agreement concerning his typicalness

Most pre-millennial Bible scholars believe that Antiochus Epiphanes is typical of the end-time “Anti-Christ”.

(b)     The proofs of his typicalness

1)     Both Antiochus and the Anti-Christ rise to power peaceably—c f. Dan. 8:25; 11:21 with 1 Thess. 5:3; Rev. 6:2.

2)     Both are assisted by apostate Jews—c.f. Dan. 11:30, 32 with Dan. 9:27 (the “many” of 9:27 are the apostate Jews in the land of Israel at the beginning of “the Seventieth Week”).

3)     Both reward the apostate Jews who assist them—c.f. Dan. 11:32 with Dan. 11:39.

4)     Both exalt themselves against God—c.f. Dan. 8:11, 25 with Dan. 11:36, 37; 2 Thess. 2:4.

5)     Both stop the Jewish sacrifices and set up an idol in the temple—c.f. Dan. 8:11; 11:31 with Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15.

6)     Both are opposed by the godly Jews—c.f. Dan. 11:32 with Rev. 13:7, 8.

7)     Both are opposed by Jewish teachers of righteousness—c.f. Dan. 11:33 with Dan. 12:3.

8)     Both persecute and kill the saints—c.f. Dan. 8:10, 24; 11:33 with Rev. 13:7, 15.

9)     Both purify make white, and try the saints—c.f. Dan. 11:35 with Dan. 12:10.

10)     Both prosper for 3½ years and then are destroyed—c.f. Dan. 8:14, 25 with Dan. 9:27.

e.     The prophecies concerning the Wilful King(the end-time Anti-Christ) (11:36–45)

(1)     The prophetic projection beginning with verse 11:36

(a)     The belief in a prophetic projection

Many pre-Millennial scholars believe that verses 11:21–35 deal with Antiochus Epiphanes and that through him the end-time Anti-Christ is presented to us typically.

They further believe that in verses 11:36–45 we have a prophetic projection and that in this projection the end-time Anti-Christ is no longer presented to us typically in the person of Antiochus Epiphanes but that he is presented to us directly in his own person.

The projection begins in verse 36. In verse 35, the suffering and the purification of the Jewish saints at the hand of Antiochus Epiphanes is typical of a similar suffering and purification of Jewish saints at the hand of the end-time Anti-Christ and so is the occasion for the projection from the typical king in verse 35 to the antitypical king in verse 36.

(b)     The proofs of a prophetic projection(the proofs that a prophetic projection begins in 11:36 and that the remainder of chapter 11 is eschatological)

1)     The number of persons involved from verse 36 to the end of chapter eleven is three

In 11:21–35, the King of the North is in conflict with the King of the South. Now in 11:36–45, a third king, “a Wilful King,” is in conflict with both the King of the North and the King of the South.

2)     The correspondence of the prophecy with history ceases in verse 35

There is nothing in history that corresponds with the predictions of verses 36–45, so they must be yet future in their fulfilment.

3)     The Willful King “will prosper until the indignation be accomplished”(11:36)

The term “indignation” is a technical term used in Jewish prophecy to refer to God’s wrath upon evil men at the time of the end (“in the latter days”).

4)     The predictions of 11:36–45 exactly correspond with the predictions concerning the Anti-Christ found elsewhere in the Bible

See Dan. 7:8, 11, 20–26; 2 Thess. 2:3–10; Rev., chapters 13, 17 and 19.

5)     “The time of the end” of verse 40 indicates eschatological times

“The time of the end” is that period of time reaching from the mid-point of the Seventieth Week to the inauguration of the Millennial Kingdom.

6)     “at that time” of 12:1 places at least a part of chapter eleven in eschatological times

The six great eschatological events of 12:1–4 are said to occur at the time of at least a part of the events of chapter eleven. So at least a part of the events of chapter eleven must take place in eschatological times if they occur at the time of the definitely eschatological events of 12:1–4.

The logical place in chapter eleven to make the projection from historical events to eschatological events is after verse 35.

(2)     The predictions regarding the Wilful King

(a)     He will blaspheme the true God(11:36)

See Dan. 7:8, 11, 20, 25; Rev. 13:5, 6.

(b)     He will exalt himself above all gods(11:36, 37)

He will have no regard for the true God, the gods (the Hebrew is plural) of his fathers, nor for any god, 2 Thes. 2:4. Neither will he have any regard for the desire of women.

(c)     He will honour “the god of forces”(11:38)

He will be a complete materialist. He will honour “the god of forces” (military might). He will honour this god, a god not known to his fathers (the Romans have always worshipped personal deities), with his wealth (he will spend his wealth on increasing his military might).

(d)     He will honour and reward those who recognize him(11:39)

Those of his subjects who submit to his authority and collaborate with him he will honour, making them sub-rulers over conquered territories, dividing conquered territories to them on the basis of each sub-ruler’s potential as a helper of himself.

(e)     He will triumph over his enemies until the very end(11:40–43)

One View but unlikely

At the time of the end (at the beginning of the last half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week), the King of the South (the Egyptian king who will be the leader of the Arab block of nations) will push at the Wilful King.

The King of the North (the Russian leader who will head up the Northern block of nations) will come against him like a whirlwind (this attack of the King of the South and the King of the North will not be directly against the Anti-Christ but against his covenant ally, Israel. This attack is described in detail in chapters 38 and 39 of Ezekiel).

The Wilful King will then enter “the countries” (of Asia Minor or Turkey) and then move on to the Israel and overthrow many countries round about (Moab, Ammon, and Edom all now part of Jordan: will escape for it is probable that in these countries the persecuted woman, Israel, will be protected of God, Rev. 12:6, 14).

Next, the Anti-Christ will invade Egypt and certain other countries of North Africa, adding these lands to his domain.

(f)     He will make Jerusalem his final world headquarters(11:44, 45)

News from the east and the north will trouble the Anti-Christ (this news is probably of the invasion of Palestine by the revitalized forces of the king of the north, Ezek. 38:14–23, and by the military hordes of the kings of the east, Rev. 16:12) and he will go forth from Egypt to destroy those who challenge his authority. When he arrives in Palestine, he will make Jerusalem his headquarters.

(g)     He will come to his end with none to help him(11:45)

Around Jerusalem, the Anti-Christ and his opponents at first will fight each other and then they will join forces to fight Christ at His Second Advent. Christ will destroy these forces and their leaders, Dan. 2:35; 7:11, 26; 9:27; 2 Thess. 1:7, 8; Rev. 19:20, 21.

 Outline

Persia and Greece(11:2–4)

The Wars of North and South(11:5–35)

The Anti-Christ(11:36–45)

Chapter 10 provided the context for this final vision.

 “As for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but for our sakes” (Dan. 2:30).

We have already noticed two characteristics of the prophecies in Daniel.

1. The way in which he is given a broad vision of the forthcoming events of history; then the focus of attention will fall on one specific time period. In this way it is possible for the same ground to be covered again and again, with ever-increasing insight, detail, and application.
2. The second feature is that the kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world are portrayed in a permanent state of conflict which breaks out in open hostilities from time to time.

It is not always easy for us to determine where the vision of an intermediate conflict merges into a vision of the last and greatest conflict.

Both of these characteristics are present in this final section. It traces in greater detail the flow of the future already outlined in chapter 8. It also seems to merge that flow into the final consummation of the conflict between darkness and light (toward the end of chapter 11) in a description that appears to transcend the events of ongoing history.

PERSIA AND GREECE

Daniel had been informed where future heavenly strategy lay. His visitor had recently been withstood by the angel prince of Persia (10:13). His plan was to “return to fight with the [angel] prince of Persia,” but the conflict would continue with the angel prince of Greece.

V 2–4describe this in more detail but in the form of a sketch rather than a comprehensive description.

The future of the Persian Empire is summarized by means of a familiar Old Testament style of speech: three, followed by a fourth (cf. Prov. 30:15, 18, 21, 29).

Many commentators understand the prophecy to refer to Xerxes (the fourth Persian king following Cyrus, cf. 10:1). Xerxes does appear to have spent a great deal of his wealth raising an army (“through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece” [v. 2]).

Jerome, one of the Church Fathers, speaks of him leading an enormous army against the Greeks. If Xerxes is one of the kings, clearly Scripture traces the decline and fall of the Persian Empire from the early years of the fifth century bc. (Xerxes ruled 486–465 bc.). The definiteness of the statements makes this interpretation more likely than the view that the four kings are representative of the Persian Empire.

The heavenly messenger had already advised Daniel that the Persian Empire would be followed by that of Greece.

V3 The “mighty king … who shall rule with great dominion”  is clearly a reference to the “goat” of chapter 8, pointing to Alexander the Great.

V4 his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven.

 This prophecy, however, has its centre in God’s reign and its ultimate focus on God’s people. In the light of that, the great empires and emperors of history are as a drop in the bucket to God (Is. 40:15). Even one who “shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will” (v3) is dependent upon God for the ability to exercise that will.

Here is the difference between biblical prophecy and secular biography. One of Alexander’s earliest biographers, Quintus Curtius, wrote that “he seemed to the nations to do whatever pleased him.” Scripture agrees, on the surface, but sees the hand of God lying behind the day when “his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not among his posterity” (v4).

Alexander could not even secure what every father desires, namely, that his children inherit his achievements. His two sons were soon assassinated, and, as we have already seen, his empire passed into the hands of several others (cf. v4). Scripture’s judgment of Alexander is that he was a broken horn (Dan. 8:22).

THE WARS OF NORTHERN—AND SOUTHERN—AGGRESSION

The perspective from which history is assessed now changes. Until now in Daniel the viewpoint has been from above. Now it is from the centre. The long and complex prophecy from verse 5 onward sees the ensuing history as a conflict between the kings of the north and the kings of the south. But north and south of where?

V16 The centre of the compass used here is the Glorious Land, Israel. The “Land” is glorious because there the promises of God’s covenant were enshrined and His shekinah presence was made known.

At first glance, this prophecy has to do with foreign nations and their conflicts, but Daniel is learning that all human history is part of the fundamental conflict in which the object is the destruction of the city of God.

Daniel 11 is a tapestry of historical events in which the connection between events is not always clear. Since most of us have a limited knowledge of ancient history, we consequently find it difficult to identify the events to which the vision points.

One scholar commented on Daniel 11, “We do not see how it could be used for a sermon or for sermons.” The exposition of the passage becomes somewhat easier when we realize what lies behind it, and we are able to see the details as pieces of a bigger picture.

V5-35Perhaps the simplest is to outline the history referred to in these verses.

V5The “king of the South” (Egypt v8) momentarily stands before us in all his strength. Alexander the Great’s empire was eventually divided into four sections: (1) Macedonia, ruled by Cassander; (2) Thrace and Asia Minor, ruled by Lysimachus; (3) Syria under Seleucus; and (4) Egypt under Ptolemy.

Seleucus was forced to flee from Syria, but with Ptolemy’s help he recovered Babylonia in 312 bc. and did, in fact, build an empire greater than Ptolemy’s.

V6“At the end of some years”, that is, later in these dynasties, a marriage alliance was attempted between the king of the North and the daughter of the king of the South.

This seems to be fulfilled in the bigamous marriage between Antiochus II (grandson of Seleucus I) and Berenice (the daughter of Ptolemy Philadelphus).

Shortly afterward, Ptolemy died, and Antiochus divorced Berenice, returning to his earlier wife, Laodice.

Fearing the possibility of an eternal triangle, Laodice poisoned Antiochus and encouraged her son, Seleucus Callinicus, to murder Berenice and her child, thus leaving the way clear for him to inherit the throne.

V7The dynastic feud continued when Berenice’s brother, Ptolemy III (Euergetes [meaning, “well-doer”]) arose “in his place”, overcame the forces of the North and executed Laodice.

V8Then he pillaged the Northern kingdom, And he shall also carry their Gods captive to Egypt, with their princes and their precious articles of silver and gold, (note the reference to Gods that need to be carried).

V9Some time later, Seleucus Callinicus regained power, marched against Ptolemy, and was defeated.

V10His sons, Seleucus Ceraunus and Antiochus III (later, the Great), continued the conflict. Antiochus III then led an army (“a multitude of great forces” [v10]) to Ptolemy’s fortress.

V11Ptolemy IV (also called Philopator), now “the king of the South”, angered by this movement of troops into his territory, made ready for war with Antiochus, in which he was victorious (the king of the North “shall muster a great multitude; but the multitude shall be given into the hand of his enemy” [v11]).

V12Ptolemy inflicted a tremendous defeat on the North at Raphia, but, as verse 12 indicates, hinting at his profligate life-style, his ascendancy did not last.

V14He did defend his kingdom against further invasions (in which apparently a number of Jews participated believing they were fulfilling prophecy). Eventually, however, Antiochus would be victorious. Not even the choice troops of Ptolemy could withstand him.

V16Now Antiochus III also betrayed the hubris that characterizes great men without God in the Book of Daniel: he “shall do according to his own will”.

All this, however, is but the preface and explanation for a statement of devastating force to Daniel: “He shall stand in the Glorious Land with destruction in his power” (v16).

V17Antiochus III now completed a marriage treaty by betrothing his daughter, Cleopatra, to Ptolemy V, apparently to give him a fifth column within the kingdom of the South (“to destroy it”). She sided, however, with her husband—”she shall not stand with him, or be for him” (v17).

V18Antiochus then turned his attention to the Mediterranean area (“the coastlands”). He was, however, defeated in battle at Magnesia in 190–189 bc. by“a ruler,” when the Romans, under Scipio Asiaticus, intervened.

V19There was no place left to go but “toward the fortress of his own land”. He was eventually assassinated while trying to rob a temple at Elam, thus fulfilling the words, “he shall stumble and fall” (v19). Antiochus III was succeeded by Seleucus IV (also known as Philopator) in 167 bc.

V20He sent his chief minister to take the treasures of the temple in Jerusalem, but, according to 2 Maccabees, he was prevented by a vision. Seleucus was assassinated shortly after this (“not in anger or in battle” [v20]).

V21The next figure to step onto the stage of history dominates the rest of the chapter. He is “a vile person, to whom they will not give the honour of royalty”. This is Antiochus IV (Epiphanes). Since we have now reached the central section of this vision, it will perhaps be helpful to review the conflict between the kings of the South and the North. The two dynasties were as follows:

V22Antiochus Epiphanes was the brother of Seleucus IV. By careful intrigue he had gained the throne that should have belonged to his nephew, Demetrius. It has been suggested that Demetrius is the “prince of the covenant”, because he was already loved by the people; others suggest Onias III, the high priest who was later poisoned.

We should not be confused by the use of the term “covenant,” which often carries special redemptive meaning. It may be also employed in the sense of alliance or treaty here as elsewhere and points to someone who had an alliance with Antiochus IV.

V24He was able to “enter peaceably” (that is, into the city of Jerusalem ). His lifestyle was quite prodigal: “He shall disperse among them the plunder, spoil, and riches.” He made plans to invade “the strongholds” of Egypt (v. 24).

V26The first attack (cf v29) seems to have been incited by Ptolemy Philometor, who was to all intents and purposes the puppet of his advisers, Eulaeus and Lenaeus (“those who eat of the portion of his delicacies shall destroy him” [v. 26]).

V28  He entered without problems because Antiochus appears to have continued his intrigues by ingratiating himself to some of the Jews.

V27Antiochus was completely victorious in 169 bc. and entered into an uneasy alliance with Ptolemy Philometor, in which neither displayed great integrity (“they shall speak lies at the same table”). Antiochus’s plans, however, did not bear the fruit he intended. Daniel is given an interesting reason, a divine reason— “for the end will still be at the appointed time” (v27).

V28Antiochus returned from Egypt. A rumour had spread in Jerusalem that he had been killed. The news had been greeted with both rejoicing and swift action. The puppet high priest and his supporters had been slain. Antiochus’s “heart” was “moved against the holy covenant” . He invaded Jerusalem, looted the temple, and carried its treasures home to Antioch in Syria.

V29Antiochus made several attacks on Egypt (here is the description of his attack not “like the former or the latter”), two of which, with the ensuing consequences, are described in detail in verses 25–28 and 29–35.

V30Once again, in 168 bc., Antiochus set out to invade Egypt. This time, however, he was “grieved”) by the entry of delegates from Rome into the conflict (arriving in “ships from Cyprus” [v30]).

It is reported that the Roman consul, Gaius Popilius Laenas, drew a circle around Antiochus and told him to decide on his movements before he stepped out of it. Deeply humiliated, Antiochus sought to strengthen his power base, and at the same time vented his anger on the people of God.

Returning to Jerusalem, either in person or through his representative, Antiochus conferred secretly with those Jews who were sympathetic to the Hellenization process then taking place around the Mediterranean (“he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant” [v30]).

Finding stubborn resistance to his plans, he drafted Apollonius, the leader of a group of mercenaries. He pretended to be disposed peacefully toward the Jews, but on the Sabbath he paraded his fully armed men and then proceeded to massacre those Jews who stood by as spectators. He ravaged the city mercilessly. No effort was spared to destroy the faith of the people of God.

V31The sanctuary was defiled, the daily sacrifices abolished, and an altar or image of Zeus was set up and pagan rites were celebrated on the altar of burnt offering (“the abomination of desolation”).

V32Although there were those who apostatized, many remained faithful in the face of persecution— “the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits”.

V33Leaders emerged to encourage the faithful while the persecution continued. Military resistance was offered in the heroic deeds of the Maccabeans (recorded in the Books of the Maccabees in the Apocrypha).

V34They faced the problem often besetting resistance movements: “ Many shall join with them by intrigue”. Among the faithful, some will prove unfaithful and will “fall.”

Even this illustrates a constant biblical principle: “There must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be recognized among you” (1 Cor. 11:19, cf. v. 35).

V35Persecution will happen “to refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end” (that is, until God’s purpose through such persecution has been fulfilled ).

So, how is such a passage as this “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16)? Should we not simply accept the verdict that this section is valuable only as an outline of ancient history?

No for these two reasons:

(1) It is always important to study passages of Scripture that contain material that is difficult to follow.

(2) It is not written merely as a history lesson for one important reason: It is not history—it is prophecy.

The purpose of Daniel 11 will be missed unless we remember that chapters 10, 11, and 12 are a unity.

In chapter 10, Daniel was taken behind the scenes of history to see both the nature of the heavenly, spiritual conflict that affects history and to learn the degree to which his prayers played a causal, if secondary, role in that conflict.

The whole point of that revelation was to encourage Daniel to understand the significance of the rest of the vision and to teach him how he should pray and live in the light of the direction of world events and their impact upon the city of God.

He was to see that there were certain recurring characteristics in the pattern of the activities of the kingdoms of the world. Knowing that, he could pray intelligently and confidently for the future of the city of God.

Four lessons.

(1) Daniel’s vision reveals the perennial instability of the kingdoms of the earth. Evil is always unstable because it is rooted in our following our own wills instead of God’s will. God’s will alone is stable and enduring; it alone will ultimately come to pass (Job 41:10; Rom. 8:28; Eph. 1:11b).

The kingdoms of the world are unstable because their Gods are also unstable—being no Gods at all. The heavenly visitor speaks about the king of the South having to carry away the Gods of the king of the North (v. 8). Isaiah said something similar (Isaiah 46:1–2).

This is a moral universe. Under God’s judgment evil will eventually destroy itself for it cannot control itself (vv. 28, 30).

(2) verses 30–32. Antiochus, the symbol of earthly kingdoms, gains a foothold among the people of God. Historians believe that this double-dealing within Jerusalem was the reason for his success in Jerusalem.

However, evil cannot gain a foothold in the city of God unless it finds a spirit of co-operation among the people of God.

Doctrinal, moral, and spiritual. Where there is compromise in any of these areas, weakness and failure follow. All three must be guarded with care.

Antiochus (who bears some of the marks of the final Anti-Christ) succeeded only because he found those in Jerusalem enamoured with Hellenization, which involved a weakening of their doctrinal, moral, and spiritual vigour. That is no less of a danger for the church today.

(3) Daniel’s vision describes wave upon wave of the activities of the worldly kingdoms. The vision’s structure makes it clear that in the final analysis the aim of evil is always to destroy the people of God.

The kingdom of darkness never learns the lesson: “Man proposes, God disposes.” It does not yield to God because it knows it is doomed to destruction.

This assurance appears in a subtle but definite way in Daniel 11—in the number of times the word “but” is used (vv. 4, 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 27, 29).

It reveals a pattern: The worldly kingdoms plot their schemes; as they unfold, God brings them to naught. We make our plans, but God intervenes. He does so in various ways. His judgments are rarely recognized, but they are nevertheless real.

God is a righteous judge. He will not be mocked. What the kingdoms sow, they must also reap. If they sow to self-interest, then the harvest will be their own corruption and disintegration. The people of God know this because they know God. Consequently they “shall be strong and carry out great exploits” (v32).

Evil is “only for a time” (v24). There will be, in one form or another, divine judgment on the specific manifestations of evil we encounter and ultimately on the entire kingdom of evil.

(4) The final lesson is that God is working out His purpose for His people in all the circumstances of their lives (cf. Rom. 8:28). They will taste “tribulation … distress … persecution … famine … nakedness … peril … sword” (Rom. 8:35). They know that through this, the Lord will “refine them, purify them, and make them white, until the time of the end” (v35).

THE ANTI-CHRIST!

V36A new phase of activity begins and introduces us to probably the most difficult section in chapter 11.

The spotlight has been on Antiochus Epiphanes in verses 21–35, but it is widely recognized that the section that follows no longer focuses on him. How are we to understand this?

The concluding phrases of verse 35 are ambiguous. If we read only to the end of the verse, the phrases the “time of the end” and “the appointed time” appear to signify the end of the period of persecution.

The description of the king’s blasphemy, however, follows, suggesting that these phrases may refer to the final consummation of God’s purposes in history. Thus the “then” of verse 36 points to some period between the days of Antiochus and the last day of history. During that time there will be apostasies and refinings among the people of God.

This is consistent with the way in which the New Testament views history and the experience of the church in particular (Mark 13:8–13).

It is also consistent with the way in which Jesus seems to have seen the description of Antiochus’s activity as foreshadowing the future. Jesus speaks of an “abomination of desolation” (v31) that was yet to come (Mark 13:14).

To whom do these verses refer if not to Antiochus? Numerous answers have been proposed ranging from the Roman Empire (as John Calvin believed) to Herod, to Mohammed, to the papacy (as many Protestants held in the early years of the Reformation), to the view that is held by many of today’s interpreters, that the reference is to the final Anti-Christ.

There is good reason to adopt this view. The king in view clearly transcends in wickedness any figure in history. Then the time in view, “that time” (Dan. 12:1), appears to be related to the final resurrection (Dan. 12:2).

Two important principles will enlarge our appreciation of this section.

1. Daniel himself did not fully understand the vision he received. Later he confessed, “Although I heard, I did not understand” (Dan. 12:8). Yet it was intended that he share the consolation implicit in its teaching.
2. If these verses do refer ultimately to the figure of the Anti-Christ, then there will inevitably be many fore-shadowings of his character.

Those who were united to Christ through faith before His coming bore many of His characteristics. In a nontechnical sense, they were types of Christ.

The same is true of the Anti-Christ. History is frequently records those who share his kingdom and whose lifestyles resemble what his will be. No wonder that precursors of the Anti-Christ have been taken to be the final Anti-Christ (cf. 1 John 2:18).

What are the features of the final Anti-Christ and all interim Anti-Christs? A number of features stand out in Daniel’s vision.

1. The most basic is the quest for autonomy: “the king shall do according to his own will: He shall exalt and magnify himself” (v36). We have already seen this spirit emerge in various figures in Daniel (cf. 3:15; 4:30; 8:25; 11:3, 12, 16).

It will emerge in full-blown form at the end in the final conflict between the kingdoms. It does so inevitably because it is the crux of the conflict. Its foundations run back into the origins of history and beyond into the mists of eternity. The tempting words “you will be like God” echo through the ages from the Garden of Eden to the end of time.

(2) Coupled with this is blasphemy and inhumanity. “The king … shall speak blasphemies against the God of Gods” (v36). He will lack and despise any sense of loyalty, even to parental religion—a mark of appalling decadence in the world of Daniel’s time and still in many places of our world today. “He shall regard neither the God of his fathers nor the desire of women” (v37).

The “desire of women” is sometimes taken to refer to Tammuz, the pagan deity whose death the Goddess Ishtar mourned and summoned others to mourn also (cf. Ezekiel’s dismay at this abomination [Ezek. 8:13–14]).

The phrase, however, may be taken in a narrow literal sense (think, for example, of the way in which those who have borne some resemblance to the Anti-Christ have shamefully and shamelessly treated the women in their lives—mothers, sisters, wives, and others).

God has made humanity as male and female, interrelated and interdependent, to reflect His glory. There is nothing more basic to human life, biologically, psychologically, emotionally, and socially, than the male-female distinction-within-unity. The “love of women” (2 Sam. 21:6) is synonymous with deep and lasting affection and devotion. For this the Anti-Christ has no regard. It is no surprise that empires that bore some of his traits should be painted in the Book of Daniel as beasts.

1. The doctrine of the Anti-Christ is “might is right.” The God whose glory he advances and honours is “a God of fortresses” (v38). Here the metaphor is military but the principle applies to all circumstances of life in which power is possessed.

What we have here is simply a thumbnail sketch of sin grown to maturity. Wherever we see these elements we know there is enmity to the kingdom of God.

Having described the character of the Anti-Christ, Daniel’s vision went on to describe his progress. Here again caution is required because inevitably the vision of the future is presented in terms of the experience, knowledge, and events of the present. He refers again to the conflict between the king of the South and the king of the North.

Many Christians read these verses with complete literalism or “literalistic-ism.” This probably misses the intention of the vision. Taken in a literal fashion, these verses suggest that chariots, horsemen, and ships will be the weapons of conflict in the last days. This fails to see that prophetic visions view the future in terms of the contemporary. The understanding of them requires the recognition of symbolism.

V40–45present us with a picture of the final struggle.

V40The king of the North (Anti-Christ) prevails over the king of the South

V41He establishes himself in the Glorious Land.

The only nations to escape (“Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon”) are the age-old enemies of Israel.

V43All his enemies and their allies (Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia ) “shall follow at his heels” as prisoners.

V44Curiously, the narrative is cut short. The king will hear of trouble and plan to destroy it .

V45He will set up his headquarters “between the seas [plural although perhaps the Mediterranean is in view]and the glorious holy mountain”.

His defeat will be as inauspicious as his rise to power was meteoric. There is a devastating—presumably deliberate—anti-climax to the progress of evil. In fact, “The Lord will consume [him] with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming” (2 Thess. 2:8). Christ will simply blow him away. It will be as anticlimactic as that.

“This is the way the Anti-Christ ends. Not with a bang, but a whimper.” (T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men”)

After all is said on this difficult chapter, we should not lose sight of the fact that its whole function was to encourage Daniel to faithfulness in prayer. By showing him that the real conflict lying behind world events is spiritual (cf. ch.10), the Lord was teaching Daniel that the real weapon of the church is prayer. Fail in the work of prayer, and we fail to understand this great vision.

Daniel 12:1–13

2.     Prophecies concerning the nation of Israel at the time of the end(12:1–4) (the prophecies concerning Israel during the Great Tribulation, during the 30 days of God’s direct wrath, and during the 45 days of the setting up of Christ’s kingdom)

a.     The prophecy concerning the standing up of Michael(12:1)

Michael is the archangel, Jude 9, and the guardian angel of Israel, Dan. 10:13, 21; Rev. 12:7.

Israel has been persecuted by the Gentile civil powers since 605 bc. During the last half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week, when Israel is undergoing the persecution and the martyrdom associated with the Great Tribulation, Michael will personally and directly defend God’s covenant people, Dan. 12:1; Zech. 12:6–8; Rev. 12:7, and bring a remnant of them through the fire into the Millennial Kingdom, Ezek. 34:11–14; Zech. 13:9; Rev. 7:3, 4; 12:13–16.

b.     The prophecy concerning the coming of“The Great Tribulation”(12:1)

(1)     The names given to the Great Tribulation

(a)     “The time of Jacob’s trouble”(Jer. 30:7)

(b)     The “day of darkness and gloominess”(Joel 2:2)

(c)     The “Great Tribulation”(Matt. 24:21)

(d)     The persecution of the woman and the remnant of her seed(Rev. 12:13–17)

(e)     “The Tribulation, the great one (Greek)”(Rev. 7:14)

(f)     The wrath poured out during the first six trumpets of the seventh seal(Rev., chapter 8 and chapter 9)

(2)     The subjects of the Great Tribulation

The Tribulation is directed chiefly against Israel, Jer. 30:7; Rev. 11:2; 12:7, 13–17, but it is also directed against the saved of all nations, Rev. 7:9–14; 13:7.

(3)     The promoter and the agent of the Great Tribulation

Satan will pour out his wrath through the Beast (the Antichrist), Rev. 12:12; 13:2.

(4)     The purpose of the Great Tribulation

From Satan’s standpoint, it is to destroy all those who refuse to worship himself and his protege, the Beast, and from God’s standpoint, it is to humble and purify a Jewish remnant, to make this remnant ready to receive the Messiah at the time of His Second Advent, Dan. 12:10; Zech. 13:9; Mal. 3:2, 3; 4:1–3.

(5)     The duration of the Great Tribulation

The tribulation will continue for three and one-half years (the last half of Daniel’s Seventieth Week), Dan. 7:25; 9:27; 12:7; Rev. 12:6; 13:5.

c.     The prophecy concerning the deliverance of a godly Jewish remnant

(1)     The subjects of this deliverance—This deliverance is of all Israelites who are “found written in the book” (of life) at the Second Advent of Christ (the unsaved Israelites and the saved martyred-by-the Beast Israelites are not a part of this group, for the unsaved Israelites are not “written in the book” and the saved martyred-by-the-Beast Israelites are delivered by the resurrection spoken of in 12:2).

In this group will be: (1) “the 144,000” (Rev. 7:4); (2) the “third-part” remnant of the Israelites in the land of Israel (Zech. 13:8, 9); (3) and the saved Israelites gathered from the Gentile lands (Ezek. 11:16–21; 20:33–38; 34:11–31).

This deliverance of saved end-time Israelites is typified by the deliverance of the three Hebrew children, Dan. 3:20–27. This group will be the nucleus of the holy nation, Israel, through whom God will bless the whole world during the Millennial reign of Christ.

(2)     The meaning of this deliverance—The Israelites who are found saved at Christ’s coming will be delivered (1) from the sufferings of the Great Tribulation and (2) from the dominion of the Gentile nations (a centuries-long dominion).

(3)     The agent and the means of this deliverance—Christ, at His Second Advent, will effect this deliverance through the destruction of Israel’s enemies, Zech., chapters 12 and 14; Rev. 19:20, 21.

d.     The prophecy concerning the resurrection of the Tribulation-martyred Jewish saints(12:2)

(1)     The participants in this resurrection

(a)     Negative

1)     The sleeping church-age saints are not included—They will have resurrected seven years earlier, 1 Thess. 4:13–18.

2)     The unsaved dead are not included—They will resurrect 1,000 years later, Rev. 20:4, 5, 11–15.

A good accurate translation of Dan. 12:2 is as follows: “And many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, these to everlasting life but those (who are not of the “many” and so will resurrect later) to everlasting shame and contempt.”

(b)     Positive

Verse 2 probably has reference only to the Jewish martyred by-the-Beast tribulation saints for Daniel is being enlightened concerning what will befall his people in the latter days, 10:14, but others will resurrect at this time, namely, the Jewish and Gentile Old Testament saints and the Gentile martyred-by-the-Beast tribulation saints, Job 19:25–27; Isa. 26:12–21; Rev. 11:18; 20:4.

(2)     The time of this resurrection

It will take place at the time of the setting up of Christ’s Kingdom, Isa. 26:19–21; Dan. 12:2, 13; Rev. 11:18.

(3)     The purpose for this resurrection

The Jewish martyred-by-the-Beast tribulation saints and all other saints who resurrect at this time have been promised a place in Christ’s Messianic kingdom, Job 19:25–27; Isa. 26:12–21; Dan. 12:13; Matt. 8:11; Rev. 11:18, and so they are resurrected at the time of the setting up of this kingdom that they might be given their promised place.

These resurrected saints will enter the Millennial kingdom in resurrected, glorified bodies, Luke 20:27–36, but the preserved-through-the tribulation saints will enter the kingdom in natural, un-glorified bodies, Rev. 7:9–17.

e.     The prophecy concerning the shining of the end-time teachers of righteousness(12:3)

Just as God in the dark days of Antiochus Epiphanes raised up wise and understanding teachers of righteousness, 11:33, even so will God in the dark days of the Tribulation raise up instructors of the truth, Rev. 7:3–8. These men will shine as heavenly luminaries during the cloudy and dark day of the Tribulation, Ezek. 34:12.

f.     The prophecy concerning the end-time increase of knowledge(12:4)

(1)     The book of Daniel is shut up and sealed until the time of the end

The prophecies of the book were partially sealed to Daniel, c.f. 10:1 with 12:8. The book has been partially sealed to all peoples until our day but the seal is gradually being removed as the prophesied events of the end-time are nearing fulfillment.

(2)     The book of Daniel will be unveiled at the time of the end—Then the Jewish teachers of 12:3 will run to and fro, opening up the truths and the prophecies relating to the end time, making many to understand these prophecies, 12:10, and be strengthened by them.

THE FINAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS CONCERNING THE VISION (12:5–13)

1.     The reappearance of the man clothed in linen(12:5)

“The man clothed in linen,” first appeared to Daniel in 10:5. Now he re-appears, accompanied by two angels. The angels are seen standing, one on each side of the river Tigris, and he is seen standing above the waters of the river.

2.     The first question and answer(12:6–8a)

a.     The question(12:6)

(Daniel, and not one of the angels, is the one who asks the question. Note that the word “one” in verse 6 is in italics)

Daniel asks the man clothed in linen: “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?”

b.     The answer(12:7)

These six end-time events will occupy “three and one half times” (three and one half years) plus 75 days of preparation for the scattering of the power of God’s holy people, the Jews (the total length of time from the beginning to the end of the end-time wonders is in 12:12 said to be 1335 days).

The people of Israel have been scattered for more than 2500 years and have had little power and influence over the nations. After the 3½ years of the tribulation plus the 75 days of preparation for the scattering of the power of the Israelites, they will be back in their land, will be in right relationship to God, and will begin to scatter their power and influence throughout the whole world.

c.     The lack of understanding by Daniel(12:8a)

Daniel heard but did not understand the answer to his question.

3.     The second question and answer(12:8b–12)

a.     The question(12:8b)

Not understanding the answer to his first question, Daniel as the same question again.

b.     The answer(12:9–12)

(1)     The closed nature of the answer(12:9, 10, 13)

(Before Christ answers Daniel’s second question, he tells Daniel that he [Daniel] can’t understand the answer for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.)

(a)     The words are closed to Daniel(12:9)

Christ tells Daniel to go his way (to go on without understanding) for the words of 12:7 and 12:11, 12 are sealed until the time of the end.

(b)     The words are closed to Daniel’s people

The words are closed to the people of Israel and they will remain closed to them until the time of the end.

(c)     The words are now being unveiled to the church

As the church-age draws to its close and as the prophesied end-time events near their time of fulfillment, the church is receiving more light concerning the prophecies of Daniel.

(d)     The words will someday be unveiled to Daniel’s people(12:10)

At the time of the end, the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation will be unveiled to the people of Israel. God will raise up wise teachers, 12:3, who will run to and fro, 12:4, causing the wise saints of Israel to have understanding, 12:10 (just as God raised up wise teachers in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, 11:33, who caused the wise saints of that day to have understanding, 11:35).

(e)     The words will someday be unveiled to Daniel(12:13)

Daniel is to go his way, rest in the sleep of death resurrect at the end of the 1335 days and receive his portion (“lot”) in the Millennial kingdom which will be inaugurated at that time. Then he will understand the words of his vision.

(2)     The substance of the answer(12:11, 12)

(Although Daniel is not expected to understand, the messenger now elaborates the answer given in 12:7 to Daniel’s first question. The elaboration is not given for the enlightenment of Daniel but for the enlightenment of the Tribulation saints.)

(a)     A portion of the “wonders” will take place during a 1290-days’ period(12:11)

The Great Tribulation will begin at the mid-point of the Seventieth Week of Daniel when the abomination that makes desolate is set up, 9:27; 12:11, and it will continue for 1260 days (the last half of the Seventieth Week).

This 1260-days’ period is the time of Satan’s wrath, poured out through the end-time Beast as the first six of the seven trumpets are blown.

Following this 1260 days’ period is a 30-days’ period, the time of God’s direct wrath, poured out through the seven vial (bowl) judgments as the seventh trumpet is blown. It is a time during which God recompenses tribulation upon those who have been troubling His people during the tribulation, Psa. 2:5; 2 Thess. 1:6; Rev. 16:16–21; 19:11–21.

So Satan’s wrath (1260 days) and God’s direct wrath (30 days) occupy 1290 days.

(b)     The whole of the “wonders” will take place during a 1335-days’period(12:12)

The 1290-days of Satan’s wrath plus God’s direct wrath are followed by a 45-days’ period, probably the period of preparation for the inauguration of the Millennial Kingdom.

During this period of preparation for the Kingdom, the following and other prophesied events will take place:

(1) The nation of Israel will be judged (Ezek. 20:33–38; 34:11–24);

(2) the Gentile nations will be judged (Matt. 25:31–46);

(3) the Millennial temple will be built (Ezek., chapters 40–48; Dan. 9:24);

(4) Satan will be bound (Rev. 20:1–3);

(5) the Old Testament and the martyred-Tribulation saints will be resurrected (Isa. 26:19–21; Dan. 12:2, 13; Rev. 11:18; 20:4).

So after the 1260 days of the Tribulation, two things must be done before the power of Israel, God’s holy people, is ready to be scattered:

(1) God’s direct wrath must be poured out upon Israel’s enemies (during the 30 days following the Tribulation)

(2) the preparation for the kingdom must be completed (during the 45 days following the 30 days of the pouring out of God’s direct wrath).

In conclusion, the six “wonders” of the end-time will take place during a 1335-days’ period.

4.     The final pronouncement of blessing(12:12, 13)

Blessed is the person who waits and comes to the end of the 1335 days for at that time:

(1) The 6 “wonders” will have taken place;

(2) The Kingdom will be inaugurated;

(3) the 6 blessings of 9:24 will be bestowed;

(4) the power of God’s holy people will begin to be scattered.

Daniel is to go his way, rest in the sleep of death until the close of the 1335 days and then resurrect to receive a full understanding of the prophetic visions given to him.

Outline

The Hope of Glory(12:1–4)

Living with Unanswered Questions(12:5–13)

The third and final section of Daniel’s vision fittingly provides the conclusion to all that we know of his life. Chapter 12 contains both revelation of God’s future purposes and application to Daniel’s life in the present.

Chapter 12 divides into two sections: Verses 1–4 conclude the prophecy that had begun in 10:20; verses 5–13 contain Daniel’s own record of the final moments of his visionary experience.

THE HOPE OF GLORY

The heavenly visitor had described the rise of Antiochus Epiphanes (as the fulfilment of his prophecy indicated). The description of his blasphemous activities seemed to serve as a springboard for describing a more sinister figure yet to come, to be known in the New Testament as the final Anti-Christ or the man of sin.

V1“there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (v. 1). Daniel, however, must not allow himself to be overwhelmed with despair because God will provide His people with protection, specifically in the work of Michael.

Michael (meaning, “Who is like God?”) has already been mentioned in 10:13, 21. He is “one of the chief princes,” that is, an archangel (Jude 9).

He is “the great prince” who acts as the guardian of all God’s people (“your prince” [10:21], the one who “stands watch over the sons of your people”). His task is to bring deliverance to all those whose names are written in the book of life.

Two explicit references to Michael and his ministry appear in the New Testament. In Jude 9: “Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Michael did not underestimate the power or perversion of Satan. He did not imagine that he could tangle with evil in a cavalier fashion, but he instead trusted in the Lord to rebuke the Evil One.

Michael here is seen in the fullest possible sense as the guardian of God’s people until the resurrection. That is why he contended with the devil over the body of Moses.

The allusion in Jude is to an extra-biblical apocalyptic work, The Assumption of Moses, in which Satan claims Moses’ body as his own on the grounds that Moses had been a murderer in earlier life.

The Assumption of Moses(otherwise called the Testament of Moses) is a Jewish apocryphal pseudepigraphical (the Pseudepigrapha are Jewish religious works written c 200 BC to 200 AD, from the Greek for False Inscription) .

It is known from a single sixth-century incomplete manuscript in Latin that was discovered by Antonio Ceriani in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan in the mid-nineteenth century and published by him in 1861.

Jude’s use of a non-biblical Jewish work should not cause us any more difficulty than Paul’s citing pagan poetry in Athens (Acts 17:28). He is drawing on an extra-biblical story to illustrate a point he wishes to make. It simply underlines that Michael is the guardian angel of the Lord’s people.

The final reference to Michael is found in Revelation 12:7, in which he is seen as the leader of the heavenly host making war on the dragon and his angels (who sought to destroy the male child). Here again, Michael is seen as the one who battles on behalf of God’s cause. Daniel learns that through him “[his]people shall be delivered” (v1). All those whose names God has written in the book of life will be preserved.

Is Michael the angel mentioned in Revelation 20:1 (the one who binds the dragon for a thousand years) since he was already instrumental in the dragon’s being cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7–9)?

If he is, there may also be good reason for believing that Paul’s obscure and much-debated reference to “what is restraining” and“he who now restrains” the man of sin (2 Thess. 2:6–7) is also a reference to Michael and his ministry.

It also explains how the dragon once again is allowed to deceive the nations while Michael’s influence is withdrawn.

Conscious experience of angelic intervention was doubtless rare, even in biblical times (Heb. 13:21), but the reality of their guardian work is plainly affirmed: God “shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone” (Ps. 91:11–12). The people of God have been preserved by angelic intervention times beyond number.

The “time of trouble” (v1) will be brought to an end, and the resurrection will occur.

V2Daniel is assured that “many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake”. A clearer reference to the hope of the resurrection scarcely seems possible, but how do we understand the words “many of those who sleep”?  Will not all who sleep be raised, either to salvation or condemnation?

Some commentators understand these words in a universal sense (“many” = “all,” which it may do in Scripture). Others take the expression here to refer to many but not all, without necessarily excluding all; that is, those concerned are those who have been put to death in the great tribulation just described.

Throughout the Book of Daniel people are divided into two groups. The last judgment perpetuates that division. Some will awaken “to shame and everlasting contempt” (v2). Raised from the dead, they will be forever excluded from the city of God.

The annihilation of the wicked is not envisaged here, but rather a perpetual state of guilt and separation from God.

The Old Testamnet’s standard way of envisaging dying and coming back to life is by speaking of lying down and sleeping, then of waking and getting up. The former is an extreme form of the latter, which thus provides the metaphor for it (2 Kgs 4:31; 13:21; Isa 26:19; Jer 51:39, 57; Job 14:12).

Dying means lying down with one’s ancestors in the family tomb, with its nonmaterial equivalent, Sheol; so coming back to life would mean leaving such a “land of earth” (cf. also Pss 49; 73). The image presupposes a restoring to life of the whole person with its spiritual and material aspects.

But what does the image of the renewing of earthly life refer to? The seer could be promising a revival of the nation after the Antiochene persecution (cf. e.g., Ezek 37). But the revival is to “lasting life,” which suggests more than that, as does the reference to the destiny of “others.”

These whose destiny is rather “utter shame” and “lasting abhorrence” are presumably the apostate, the persecutors, and the blasphemers of 11:30–45.

The promise of vv 1–2, then, corresponds to motifs from the Psalms (e.g., 6; 69; 79). There supplicants may pray for their own vindication and rescue from the realm of death, and for the exposure and punishment of people who have attacked them; the response to such a double prayer is a double promise.

So here the seer promises renewal of life and the exposure of the wicked. There is both a community and an individual aspect to this awakening, as in the Psalms.

Part of the sufferers’ affliction is that one way or another it deprives them of a place in the people of God; their awakening restores them to that.

Dan 12 promises the awakening of people individually, but with a view to their sharing a corporate destiny. It is an expression of the movement “From Dust to Kingship” spoken of in passages such as 1 Sam 2:6–8; 1 Kgs 16:2; Ps 22:16 [15]; 44:26 [25]; 113:7, that great reversal in history when the powerful are put down and the nobodies are given power.

Like the motif of awakening to renewed life, the motif of the exposure of the wicked has a this-worldly connotation.

This was so in Isa 66:24, which v 2 takes up: its picture of people in Jerusalem looking at the corpses of the wicked decomposing in the Valley of Hinnom suggests a metaphor for a feature even of the new Jerusalem.

Vindication and exposure after this life cannot be literally described, as vindication and exposure in this life such as the Psalms seek can be, so the latter becomes a metaphor for the former.

As esewhere in Scripture, the description of the blessedness of those whose names are “written in the book” (v2) is both fuller and richer.

V3They will shine like the sun and display a splendour like the stars. The “saints of the Most High” (Dan. 7:27) will reflect the glory received by the One like the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13–14). They will be changed into His likeness (2 Cor. 3:18; 1 John 3:1–3).

Nothing will then be able to undo that final transformation. It will last “forever and ever” (v3).

V4  He now once more explains “the time of the end” (cf. 11:40). Already in the Old Testament we see that the goal of the hope of believers is not individual death. It is the resurrection and the transformation (or glorification) that will accompany it.

Believers do not look forward merely to dying but to the destruction of death (which is not so much the last enemy but “the last enemy that will be destroyed” [1 Cor. 15:26]).

They see the fulfilment of God’s grace not in release from the body but in total transformation, body and soul, when they share in the triumphant glory of the kingdom of God. Paul speaks of the transformation of the body at the resurrection (1 Cor.15)

In view of this great prospect, there is something that Daniel must do. He must preserve the revelation he has received, “until the time of the end” (v4).

It must be on record for God’s people so that the events of the end will not take them by surprise. Later believers who are familiar with God’s Word will not only be equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:17) but also will be kept trusting the Lord and living stable lives even in the troubles that precede the end.

They may not have access to the details of God’s planning, but they know that God has a plan and that He is faithfully fulfilling it. All that they have learned thus far from the Book of Daniel helps them to “sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.”

“many shall run to and fro” (v4) is best understood as a further contrast between the life-style of the citizens of God’s city and that of the citizens of the city of destruction—not only in the long term (v2–8) but also in the short term.

While believers are able to rest secure in the knowledge of God they receive through God’s Word, unbelievers are agitated in their search for the truth— “many shall run to and fro” in the quest for reality. As a result of their quest, “knowledge shall increase” (v4). Apart from the knowledge of God’s Word, that increased knowledge will simply be in vain. (cfAmos 8:12).

It is a picture of those who reject God but who are driven to seek for what God alone is able to give. When truth is rejected for lies (Rom. 1:25; 2 Thess. 2:11), we cannot find contentment. We must live as though we have been branded with the mark of Cain (Gen. 4:12); as gypsy wanderers without homes, we are driven from one home to the next, seeking a place of rest.

“ ‘There is no peace [shalom, health, wholeness of life],’ says my God, ‘for the wicked’ ” (Is. 57:21).

How different is life in the city of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the city whose maker and builder is God and whose name is “ Uru -salem” (Foundation or city of Peace).

Daniel is to “close up” and “seal” the words: the expressions suggest not merely conserving them but withholding them (cf. 8:26). This is confirmed by the next words: because they are withheld, “many will hurry to and fro,” unable to find a word from God: see Amos 8:11–12. When Daniel’s book is unsealed, during the Antiochene crisis, that famine ends.

LIVING WITH UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

V5 Daniel now catches sight of two other figures, one on each side of the river.

V6He overhears one of them questioning the giver of the revelation, “the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river”. It is the very question Daniel would like to ask: “ ‘How long shall the fulfilment of these wonders be?’ ” (v6).

V7  The One who is “above the waters” raises both hands to heaven, as if taking a sacred oath, and affirms in the name of the Living God that “it shall be for a time, times; and half a time”.

This expression has a rather general numerical significance (cf 7:25). It conveys a sense of extended periods of time, but it also conveys something of God’s sovereign control over all events.

All these things will be finished, adds the heavenly figure, “when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered” (v7). When the powers of darkness have done their worst against the kingdom of God, then He will act.

V8Once more, Daniel heard alarming news by way of revelation. He wanted to know more because he “did not understand” (v8). His wanted to know when and how all this would come to an end.

V9It was not for Daniel to know. He was commanded: “Go your way”. The prophecy he had been given will be understood only as God unravels history in the unseen future.

V10The important thing for Daniel to know is that the Lord’s people will be purified and refined through these events; whereas those committed to the destruction of God’s influence will harden their hearts even more and remain in their wickedness.

Despite their worldly wisdom, they will not understand God’s ways. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” (Prov. 9:10).

V11Daniel receives his final word of encouragement. He is given fresh insight into the more immediate climax of the persecution of God’s people. From the time when “daily sacrifice is taken away … the abomination of desolation is set up”.

V12That is, in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, “one thousand two hundred and ninety days” must pass. The period is approximately three and a half years. It perhaps suggests that this nearer period of suffering is a miniature or microcosm of the future period of “a time, times, and half a time” (cf7).

The nearer period is measured in days, however, in order to underline that it has been carefully measured and is completely controlled by God. It will not last forever. It will, however, be extended briefly for another forty-five days (v. 12; cf. Rev. 2:10; 11:3, 9, 11; 12:6 for a similar use of “days”). All this serves to emphasize that God alone changes the times and seasons (Dan. 2:21).

Various calendars were in use in the seer’s day. The Babylonians used a lunar calendar that produced a year of 354 days, the Essenes a solar calendar of 364 days, the Hellenistic regimes a luni-solar one of 360 days; in each case the calendar was corrected to the true length of the solar year—just over 365 days—by intercalating months.

Evidence of familiarity with all three calendars has been found in the Old Testment. The question of the right calendar was overtly a subject of dispute in the second and first centuries bc., and Daniel’s periods of days have been seen as reflections of this dispute.

They most straightforwardly fit the luni-solar calendar but they can be understood in the light of the other systems.

When allowance is made for intercalation, 1290 days can represent 3½ lunar years or 3½ solar years; 1335 days can also be reckoned to comprise 3½ solar years.

As Daniel’s figures can be related to several calendars, so they can be related to several sets of events between 168 and 164 bc.

The beginning of v11 could be the time of one of Antiochus’s edicts, the actual desecration of the temple, or the enforcement of the ban on the regular sacrificial order (11:31–33).

The beginning of v12 could be one of these, or an earlier event such as Apollonius’s mission, though more likely vv 11–12 begin with the same event and v12 terminates later, suggesting that the promised release will have successive stages during which a continuing faithful expectancy is required.

Thus v11–12 could terminate with Judas’s victories, the temple rededication, Antiochus’s death, the arrival of news of his death, or the further events envisaged by 11:45–12:3. 1 Macc 1:59; 4:52–53 makes the period from the first pagan sacrifice to the altar’s rededication exactly three years.

To Daniel, all this lies in the future. Much of the meaning of Daniel’s vision will become clear only when it is fulfilled.

V13He is told, “Go your way” (cf 9). In the light of the preview he has been given of God’s future purposes, his primary task is to live now for God’s glory.

This is the constant application of all biblical eschatology (study of the end times). In one form or another, every New Testament passage that points to God’s future plans carries with it the application: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives” (2 Pet. 3:11).