14/05/2023 – Daniel 12:1-4
Daniel 12:1 – And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation [even] to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Michael – God’s angel, in fact, here he is “the great prince”. In Jude 1:9 he is God’s archangel (chief or ruling angel), “Michael the archangel”. He is referred to as “your prince” (that is, the prince of Israel) in Daniel 10:21, while Daniel 10:13 says he is “one of the chief princes” (or “the first in order of the chief princes”). It is clear that his particular responsibility is, as the angel-prince of Israel, to watch over God’s nation of Israel (“the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people”).
He is also recorded as leading a force of angels against satan (“the dragon”) in Revelation 12:7-9 – 7And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 8And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
For further information see notes on Daniel 10:13.
shall …. stand up – ‘amad
(stand; take one’s stand; stand up; take a stand)
It would have the idea here of taking a stand in order to defend a position
(or, in this case, God’s people, Israel). In Daniel 11:1, “stood” (‘omed
– derived from ‘amad)
had the idea of the angel standing up in order to confront an issue. In Vs 1
above, Michael will stand up (take an aggressive stand) in order to fight for
Israel as their great prince.
there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation – This then refers to the time when the antichrist “opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4) Jesus spoke to His disciples about this same great tribulation “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” in Matthew 24:15-22.
What Jesus told His disciples on the mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3) makes it clear that the coming great tribulation (Matthew 24:21-22) was the same event that we read about in Daniel 12:1.
Matthew 24:15-22 – 15When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
While the tribulation period covers the final week of years (7 years) of Israel’s timeline (Daniel 9:24-27), it is the 2nd half of this period which is considered to be the great tribulation, far worse than the 1st half. During this 2nd half of the 7-year period, the antichrist sits in the temple to be worshipped as God (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4), while Israel is protected by God in the wilderness (Revelation 12:14), except for the few who didn’t flee Jerusalem soon enough (Matthew 24:15-20).
It is this time, therefore, when Michael their great angel-prince stands up in order to aggressively defend God’s people. At this time all other nations will be getting prepared by satan to violently oppose Israel; if God does not intervene now, they will not survive (see Matthew 24:22).
This time of trouble will be worse than anything they have ever experienced, right from the time they were established as God’s nation. No trials and troubles before this have been able to purify them, not wars, nor oppression, nor captivity, nor even being set aside from their land for 2,000 years. Jeremiah 30:7 says “it [is] even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it”.
Jeremiah also seems to be talking about the coming day of Israel’s everlasting righteousness (Jeremiah 30:3-9): “Alas! for that day [is] great, so that none [is] like it: it [is] even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.” (Jeremiah 30:7)
the book – The Lamb’s book of life. This is God’s list of all those who enter heaven (Revelation 21:27); all whose names are not written in this book will be cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:15).
Psalm 69:28 – Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.
every one that shall be found written in the book – The book of life which lists all those who have eternal life. Revelation 3:5 (“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.”) does appear to teach that names can be written in the book of life and afterward blotted out (obliterated; erased) from the book.
Note that Hal Lindsay (in “There’s a New World Coming”, a commentary on Revelation) says: “This Book contains the names of all the individuals ever born. If a person does not receive Jesus Christ as Saviour by the time he dies, his name is blotted out of the Book of Life.” This is such a weird interpretation, effectively that all are initially saved but lose their salvation if they haven’t called upon the name of the Lord to be saved by the time they die.
thy people shall be delivered – Your nation (Israel) will be delivered (will escape; will be saved) (from the destruction that will come upon the others). Note that it will not be all those who declare themselves to be of Israel who will be saved, but only those whose names are written in the book of life. It will be a remnant who will be saved (Joel 2:32), noting that it is those who call upon the name of the Lord who will be that remnant whom the Lord delivers.
Joel 2:32 – And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.
It is interesting that Benson teaches that this is really the church of God, and not Israel. He writes: “The angel had told Daniel 10:21, what a friend Michael was to the church of God, and he now informs him that he should interpose in a singular way, and work out deliverance for her. …. It evidently relates to the incarnation of the Son of God, which was to take place soon after the days of Antiochus; in order to the eternal salvation of God’s people.” It is hard to see how they could miss all the evidences that demonstrate that God has never rejected His people Israel, and that the church will never replace Israel.
Daniel 12:2 – And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt.
them that sleep – Not a verb but a plural noun, therefore “sleepers”. Here it is a euphemism for those of Israel who have died and been buried in the earth.
shall awake – Shall awake from the dead. Those who died and were placed in their graves in the ground shall be brought back to life.
Isaiah 26:19 – Thy dead [men] shall live, [together with] my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew [is as] the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.
to shame (and) everlasting contempt – to shame (reproach; scorn; taunting; disgrace) and everlasting (perpetual; will never end, ever) contempt (aversion; abhorrence).
some to everlasting life, and some to shame [and] everlasting contempt – There will be a resurrection of all who have ever lived, some to eternal life, and some to everlasting reproach and abhorrence. Even those who have died will rise again and be judged for either life or death, noting that Matthew 25:46 (see below) is the end of the passage on the dividing of the sheep and the goats. All whose names are in the book of life will go into life; those whose names are not in that book will face everlasting damnation.
John 5:28-29 – 28Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
Matthew 25:46 – And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
In particular, this resurrection will apply to God’s people Israel: some will rise again to eternal life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt. Not all who declare themselves to be Israel will be declared Israel by God. “For they [are] not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Romans 9:6) 28For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:29But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God. (Romans 2:28-29)
This waking from sleep, therefore, does not refer to the valley of dry bones coming back to life again as the people of Israel (Ezekiel 37) as Ezekiel is referring more to the whole house of Israel rising as a nation before this 7-year period rather than individual people of Israel,
Ezekiel 37:11-14 – 11Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13And ye shall know that I [am] the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, 14And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken [it], and performed [it], saith the Lord.
Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
they that be wise – Those who have understanding; have discernment; prudent; have insight – note those with understanding (Daniel 11:33, 35) who face persecution as God’s people rather than compromise their beliefs.
Daniel 11:35 – And [some] of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make [them] white, [even] to the time of the end: because [it is] yet for a time appointed.
They shall shine with the brightness of the firmament (the sky above us), or, more probably, they shall shine forth like the lights God placed in the firmament (Genesis 1:14-18) including sun, moon and stars. Matthew suggests that they will shine with the brightness of the sun in God’s kingdom.
“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:43)
Note that shining is a characteristic of God’s glory such as on the mount of transfiguration. Matthew 17:1-2 – 1And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
they that turn many to righteousness – those who cause many to be saved. Note that “they that understand among the people shall instruct many” (Daniel 11:33) Those who are wise shall by their teaching cause many to become righteous, that is, via evangelism. “he that winneth souls [is] wise” (Proverbs 11:30) Those same people in Daniel 11:33 “shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, [many] days” Remember, it’s those who “live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” (2 Timothy 3:12)
Romans 8:18 – For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Isaiah 53:11 – He (Christ) shall see of the travail of his soul, [and] shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
Daniel 12:4 – But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, [even] to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
shut up the words – keep these sayings hidden or secret. Of course, Daniel wrote these words before he died, and therefore they weren’t actually hidden, yet the meaning of them was to remain a secret until the events occurred (permitting comprehension to those who sought to understand them).
Note “wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it [shall be] for many days” (Daniel 8:26)
In a way, it does suggest that we now may not yet fully understand the prophecies in Daniel that relate to the future end times and the coming antichrist. It also could suggest that as we approach these end-times, our efforts to learn the meaning will bear fruit as we begin to increase our understanding of this prophecy.
seal the book – Place a seal on the book, such a seal only being able to be opened by those authorised to open it (that is, by those who understand, or have discernment regarding God’s word, effectively meaning via God’s Spirit to guide.
John 16:13 – Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall
he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
By the way, the Bible doesn’t actually say that one day we will know all things. The passage so often quoted to demonstrate that we will know all things one day in fact just says that we will know even as we are known. That is, we will know all things that relate to ourselves personally; there will nothing that we have a need to know that we will not know; everything we have a need to know, we will know. And all things that relate to us personally must include everything we need to know about God. It does not mean that we will know all things as God knows them, but all things that we will need to know in eternity and this includes a perfect knowledge of God
“now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12)
to the time of the end – to the time of the end (of time); to that time appointed by God as the end of Israel’s 70 weeks of years and she goes into her everlasting righteousness as per Daniel 9:24. These events in Daniel 12 deal with the 2nd half of the tribulation leading up to Christ the Messiah returning to defend His people Israel, to bring them into their everlasting righteousness.
Zechariah 12:10 – And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for [his] only [son], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for [his] firstborn.
shall run to and fro – The idea could be that many shall go to and fro throughout the whole earth; travel will be increased to this extent. “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of [them] whose heart [is] perfect toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)
Only a few centuries ago, most people rarely travelled far from the village of their birth. Very few knew what any other country looked like. But now we can be anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours. Certainly world travel has increased astronomically in the past 100 years. This seems a possible explanation.
However, running to and fro could
also refer to a search for knowledge or to find out things, particularly from
the Bible. The same term is used as such in Amos 8:12 – And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north
even to the east, they shall run to and fro to
seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find [it].
Thus, many
shall actively (going to and fro) seek knowledge in
order that they might better understand the events of the future, particularly
as the end-times approach, revealing clues to those times. (Eg
Israel coming back as a nation certainly set a lot of people rethinking what
they believed regarding the future.)
Pulpit says:
“This is to be looked upon as a description
of the last time, when circumstance shall remove the seal from the book.”
knowledge shall be increased – The knowledge that man collectively accumulates will be significantly increased. Just to see the difference since I was young is significant.
Computers We had no computers (only huge experimental ones which used punch-cards for data). Pocket calculators were unheard of; instead we used slide rules and log books for computations. Early computers had no hard drive. Starting up a computer in the early 80s needed a tape player, or floppy discs. Monitors mostly non-colour. The C64 games computer, ahead of its time, had colour but needed a long time to load each program; only one program at a time though could be run.
By the 90s computers had hard drives that could store a few software programs, usually simply word processors and games. Printers were dot matrix and took a few minutes per page. Hard drives were a bit larger, but the standard hard drive was still measured in Mb (usually 200-300Mb) by the mid-90s. Limited email was in use but required a dedicated sender and receiver system. And since then the technology has exploded in size and complexity, especially noting the internet.
Mobile phones Back in around 1990 I remember an article which claimed that soon everyone would have a personal telephone number. At that time most houses had a landline with a number per household. But this article claimed that not only would everyone have an individual phone number, but we could see them included in wrist watches. At that time most people considered this beyond acceptability.
Satellites and space exploration The first satellite (Russian Sputnik 1) went up in 1957. Later that same year Sputnik 2 carried a dog into space. And I remember the big event in 1969 when everyone (it seems) stopped work to watch live the first moon landing. These days there are thousands of satellites, used for earth observation, communications, weaponry, GPS, etc.
We also have GPS, satellite navigation, even multi-media tablets that can do just about everything these days except keep people safe from scammers.
So when Revelation 11:9 says that people all over the world will see the 2 witnesses’ bodies lying in the streets of Jerusalem, and Revelation 11:12 says their enemies saw when the 2 witnesses went up into heaven, many people declared this to be beyond belief. That is, until the last 2 decades when it became obvious that this could actually be done, especially with the technology we have today. These days, computer chip implants to enable the deaf to hear and the blind to see are possible. And of course, to even control a person’s thinking, such as the AI technology today.
Many have wondered over the years regarding what the mark of the beast was and how it might be given to man. Many have associated it with the name of the beast, trying to somehow equate 666 (some believe it is really 616) with the numerical value of the name (or other circumstances seemingly associated with the coming antichrist). There were those in the 70s and 80s who claimed that the Bankcard was the mark, with its triple 6s within each other.
Then computer barcodes became the new idea for the mark of the beast; these, they said, could be tattooed on the person’s wrist or forehead (being, they said, the 2 places visible if one were wearing lots of cold-weather clothing).
After this came the imbedded microchip beliefs. Microchips can be read by any scanner that sends out a signal that activates any microchip to send a return signal. They are best known for being used for tracking animals today. But note that so many products in shops have something similar: security tags that must be deactivated before they can leave the store. If they aren’t deactivated then that product can be tracked anywhere there’s a compatible scanner.
But another possibility these days is something to do with AI which is, according to a number of experts, a scary option for a brave new world. Artificial intelligence now may be capable of actually reprogramming itself to improve function, such that it could possibly even out-perform the programming done by humans, and even be capable of reproducing itself in improved formats. Some are declaring this to be the next stage of evolution.
AI implantable devices have already been developed to monitor bodily functions such as heart health. While they are only in experimental stages, it is anticipated that they could one day become more sophisticated to the extent that they could control certain brain functions. It would use a neural implant that can sync up the human brain with AI, a brain-computer interface (BCI) system able to read and write from millions of neurons in the brain, translating human thought into computer commands, and vice versa. And it would all happen on a small, wireless, battery-powered implant unseen from the outside of the body (spectrum.ieee.org).
Also note the following re brain micro-chips): (from https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/60116608)
The microchips are designed by a
company called Neuralink - co-founded by Elon Musk -
which is hiring someone to lead a team of researchers that will test the chips
in people's brains.
Neuralink, which was co-founded by Musk in 2016, is a company that
aims to "connect humans and computers" according to its website.
But don't hold your breath - while they say it will happen soon, the company have been known to overestimate how quickly they can get it done - in 2019, they promised the chips would be planted in humans by 2020.
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