The great tribulation
12
📚“And at that time Michael 📖, the great prince who stands guard over the children of your people 📖, will arise. And there will be a time of trouble 📖 such as never occurred since there was a nation until that same time. And at that time your people will be delivered 📖, everyone who is found written in the book 📖.Deliverance, resurrection and rewards
2 📚And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake 📖, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 📚And those who are wise 📖 will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. 4 📚But you, Daniel, shut away the words, and seal the book, until the time of the end 📖. Many will travel here and there, and knowledge will increase”.
The vision and message concluded
5 📚Then I, Daniel, looked, and saw two others standing there, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. 6 📚And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be to the end of these wonders?”
12:5-6 A continuation of the vision which begins at Dan 10:4-5. The question in v 6 seems to be, not how long will it be before those events are fulfilled? but, how long will it take to fulfill them once they began to take place? The events meant seem to be those of Dan 11:35—12:1.⚜
7 📚And I heard the man dressed in linen speak, the one above the waters of the river, as he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it will be for a time, times, and half a time, 📖 and that when the power of the holy people 📖 has been fully shattered, all these things will be finished.
12:7 This taking of an oath indicates the man is referring to a very solemn and important matter. Compare Deut 32:40-41; Ps 110:4; Heb 6:13-18; Rev 10:5-6.⚜
8 📚And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “My Lord, what will be the result of these things?”
12:8 He did not understand the meaning of the words in v 7. He wanted to know the end result of the things of the prophecy given to him.⚜
9 📚And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. 10 📚Many will be purified, and made white, and refined 📖. But the wicked will behave wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.
12:9-10 It was not necessary for Daniel to understand anything further, and the Lord did not attempt to satisfy his curiosity. The heart of the prophecy related to the time of the end. Then the wise would be able to know all they would need to know. As the events unfold they will be able to understand what is happening. As for the wicked, their wickedness will blind them, and they will worship the antichrist.⚜
11 📚“And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12:11 The abolishing of sacrifices and the appearance of the abomination of desolation are referred to also in Dan 9:27; and 11:31. This verse does not say what will happen at the end of 1290 days. The persecutions by antichrist are said to be a time, times, and half a time (1260 days, 42 months). We are not told here what happens during these 30 extra days.⚜
12 📚Blessed is the one who waits, and comes to the end of the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.
12:12 The meaning of this too is now hidden from us. Those who reach the end of those days will understand the blessedness of it. If we do not understand now it should not trouble us. Let us remember in the study of prophecy an important matter or two – living a life of love for God and man is far more important than understanding all prophecy (1 Cor 13:2), and knowledge has a tendency to puff us up but love to build us up (1 Cor 8:1). But if we ask God in faith He will give us all the understanding we need to live lives of integrity and faithfulness in whatever time we may live. And to faithful believers who are living when prophecies of the end time at last have their fulfillment He will surely give all the understanding they will need to have.⚜
13 📚“But you, go your way until the end. For you will rest 📖, and rise 📖 to receive your allotted portion 📖 at the end of the days”.