Consolation for the Time of the End (Daniel 12)

Michael Hardt

How Daniel’s people will fare

As a young man, Daniel had been deported from Jerusalem to Babylon, the seat of the first of the four world empires. The transfer of power from Israel to the heathen nations marked the beginning of the time of the Gentiles (Luke 21:24). Daniel must have had one burning question: how would God’s people fare during that epoch?

This explains why the emphasis of the Book of Daniel is not on Israel’s ultimate blessing, the millennial reign of Christ — although this is taken as given and the fact clearly established (Dan. 2:44; 7:13‒14). Rather, the book focuses on the journey that will lead there. Daniel 12 zooms in on the final stretch, which will be the most difficult part of all: the great tribulation. God reassures the prophet that, throughout the coming storm, He will preserve a faithful remnant among Daniel’s people.

Daniel 10–12

The last three chapters of the book form a unit. While chapter 10 informs us of Daniel’s deep affliction of soul, chapter 11 contains the revelations he received: detailed predictions in relation to the Gentile nations and their treatment of his people. Daniel 12 contains a great reassurance, namely that Israel (in the form of a remnant) will be preserved throughout all the coming sorrow — and a personal reassurance for Daniel.

A time of greatest trouble

In the opening verses we learn what is in store for Daniel’s people: there will be ‘a time of distress, such as never was since there was a nation until that time’. This is ‘the great tribulation’, the last half of the seven-year tribulation period, for the following reasons:

The description matches the characterisation of the great tribulation in our Lord’s Olivet discourse (Matt. 24:21).
The length of time of this distress is given as ‘a time, times, and a half’ (see below).
The opening words of the chapter (‘at that time’) link back to the last part of chapter 11, which describes the Assyrian invasion that will form part of that time of distress (vs. 40–45).
The setting up of the idolatrous abomination (v. 11) corresponds to the middle of the tribulation period, Daniel’s seventieth week (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15).

In the face of the invasion from the north, Israel’s situation will be most precarious. While this will be true for the entire nation, the largest part of which will consist of apostates and followers of the antichrist, it will be especially so for the minority of faithful Jews who will exist at the time (the ‘remnant’). These ones will have to face the additional enmity of their own people, the antichrist and the Roman dictator who will be in league with him (cf. Rev. 13).

Michael’s intervention

Exactly ‘at that time’, help will come through the instrumentality of the archangel Michael (Jude 9) who takes a special interest in the well-being of Israel: he ‘standeth for the children of thy people’ (Dan. 12:1). He helped defeat ‘the prince of Persia’ (Dan. 10:13). Just before the great tribulation, Michael will fight with Satan who will subsequently be cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7–9). Here his intervention is linked with deliverance. For those who put their trust in the true God of Israel there will be deliverance.

Daniel further learns that ‘many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake’ (Dan. 12:2). This is not a reference to physical resurrection but to a development so miraculous that it is likened to resurrection: the children of Israel who are dispersed across the globe will re-emerge — even the ten ‘lost tribes’. For those who believe, it will be for blessing. Note that ‘everlasting life’ here means ‘life for evermore’ (Ps. 133:3), namely life in the blessing of the kingdom. For the remainder, who do not believe, it will be to ‘everlasting contempt’ (Dan. 12:2).

The faithful remnant

The faithful remnant will be marked by wisdom and purity, and they will give vital instruction to many (v. 3). Daniel is told to ‘close the words’ and to ‘seal the book’ to the time of the end (v. 4). So, the fulfilment was in the far future. Christ had not yet come and the work on the cross had not been accomplished. The prophecies therefore had to be ‘sealed’. But when John was on Patmos, he received the ‘Revelation’ which unfolds many of the details that had been unknown to Daniel.

How long?

In verses 5–7, Daniel resumes his account (which starts in chapter 10) dealing with the circumstances in which he received these revelations. As he stood by the river, he saw two ‘others’, whom we take to be angels, on either side of the river, in addition to the man clothed in linen, who was above the water. I would not claim that the latter was a divine person (he swears by the Almighty, not by himself), but he certainly reminds us of the Lord Jesus (cf. 10:4‒6). In any event, Daniel seizes the opportunity to ask him the following question: ‘How long is it to the end of these wonders?’

By now, Daniel was an aged man. The incident at the river took place in the third year of the Persian king Cyrus (10:1), i.e. about 73 years after Daniel’s deportation as a youth. He had seen the first of the four world empires come and go. Meanwhile, the second world empire had arrived on the scene. He knew that two more were to come, and that a remnant of Jews had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. But how did ‘the time of distress’ fit into all this?

The man in linen answers

Verse 7 describes a solemn scene: ‘The man clothed in linen, who … held up his right hand and his left hand unto the heavens, and swore by him that liveth for ever …’. In answer to Daniel’s anxious question ‘How long?’, he pronounces: ‘It is for a time, times, and a half’. This phrase is strikingly reminiscent of the well-known apocalyptic expression ‘a time, and times, and half a time’ (Rev. 12:14) or 42 months (Rev. 11:2; 13:5) or 1,260 days (Rev. 11:3; 12:6),[1] i.e. 3½ years of the prophetic calendar.

At that point, ‘the scattering of the power of the holy people shall be accomplished’ (Dan. 12:7). The dispersion of the people of Israel (which has already lasted almost 2,000 years) will finally come to an end and ‘all these things shall be finished’.

The prophet admits that this revelation well surpasses what he can take in (v. 8) and goes on to ask, ‘My lord, what shall be the end of these things?’ He must have been wondering about the outcome of the great tribulation. What would happen to the saved minority? We wonder whether he realised the connection to the stone from heaven that would then destroy the world empires (in the form of the revived Roman Empire) and then turn into a great mountain filling the earth (Christ and His millennial kingdom — ch. 2).

The man in linen does not provide the detail of what ‘the end of these things’ will be because Messiah’s kingdom of peace is not the focus of this book. Rather, he addresses some closing words of instruction and comfort to the faithful prophet (vs. 9–12):

‘Go thy way, Daniel’ — he did not need to know the full answer at this point because ‘these words are closed and sealed till the time of the end’. The details relating to the time of the end will be made known at a later date (cf. v. 4).
‘Many shall be purified, and be made white, and be refined’ — a remnant of Daniel’s people will be saved and have understanding, whereas the unbelieving part of the nation will remain in the darkness of ignorance (v. 10).
Verse 11, as we have seen, confirms that the final crisis corresponds to the great tribulation. This starts in the middle of Daniel’s seventieth week, when the continual sacrifice is taken away and the idol is set up.
A blessing is pronounced upon him who endures this time and patiently waits until it is over. Whereas the great tribulation will last 1,260 days, here slightly longer periods are mentioned: 1,290 days and 1,335 days respectively. What exactly will occur during these additional intervals of 30 days and 45 days we do not know, but it is clear that a number of events will take place between Christ’s appearing in glory and His reign of peace.[2]

The book closes with a final direction and encouragement addressed to Daniel personally: ‘But do thou go thy way until the end; and thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days’. Daniel would not live until that time in the distant future. He would rest (or, as the New Testament puts it so blessedly, sleep). But the time will come when he will ‘stand in [his] lot’, i.e. inherit millennial blessing. He forms part of the saints represented in the 24 elders in heaven (Rev. 4–5), and part of those ‘sitting on thrones’ (Rev. 20:4), reigning with Christ for a thousand years. All his distress, his burning questions and the oppression of his people will then have given way to uninterrupted bliss.

[1] In prophecy, months are generally 30 days.

[2] Christ will stand on Mount Olivet. Then there will be the judgment of neighbouring peoples, the return of the ten tribes, the judgment of the nations, and Russia’s invasion and defeat. A list of around 25 events to occur in connection with the appearing, together with Scripture references, is available here: The Appearing in Power and Glory - Sequence of Events - Michael Hardt

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From: Truth and Testimony, 2022