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Daniel 12:1-3
"At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince
who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of
trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at
that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in
the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those
who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
There are three specific points
that I would like to look at from the opening words of this chapter. The
first is, 'And at that time'. When is 'that time'? Secondly, who is
Michael? and thirdly, how does Michael stand up?
At a first reading this
prophecy might appear to be confined to the time of the Second Advent of Christ,
linked as it is to the theme of the resurrection and judgment. However,
there were no chapters in the original manuscript of Daniel's prophecy, these
were added much later by the translators. So, to understand what is meant
by the phrase AT THAT TIME we must go back to the eleventh chapter and the
fortieth
verse:
Daniel 11:40
"AT THE TIME OF THE END the king of the South shall
attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a
whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall
enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through.
This expression is understood
by many students of Bible Prophecy, to refer to a brief period of three and a
half, or seven years, at the end of this age; but this is not necessarily so.
John wrote these words just before 100 A.D.
1 John 2:18
Little children, it is THE LAST TIME; and as you have heard
that the Anti-Christ. is coming, EVEN NOW many antichrists have come, by which
we know that it is THE LAST TIME. (emphasis added by author)
So John says THE LAST TIME or
TIME OF THE END had already commenced nineteen hundred years ago, around the
time of the Siege of Jerusalem. The Godly expositor of the Protestant
Historsist interpretation of prophecy, Bishop Newton maintained that the
expression THE TIME OF THE END was the same period referred to by the Apostle
Paul when he wrote these words to Timothy:
1 Timothy 4:1
Now the Spirit expressly says that in LATTER TIMES some will
depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
The majority of commentators
are agreed that the expressions LATTER TIMES, LATTER DAYS and TIME OF THE END,
all refer to the self same period, the Christian era of prophecy, from the days
of the New Testament writers, around the period of the Siege of Jerusalem in 70
A.D. until the present day. Having discovered this we need to now ask
ourselves -
It has generally been assumed
that this refers to some Archangel leading the angelic hosts in intervention on
behalf of Israel at the very end of the age. To be consistent however with
our belief that the Tribulation is not confined to the period of the Second
Advent, but has stretched across the Christian era from 70 A.D. until the
present time, then we must admit that Michael, whoever he may be, has been
standing for quite some time. In searching the various Bible Commentaries
and Dictionaries, I found the following information which supplies the
explanation as to Michael's true identity.
1. DR. WILLIAM SMITH'S
BIBLE DICTIONARY
"The Rabbinical traditions
about Michael oppose him constantly to the accuser and the enemy of Israel ...
they give the title of "the great High Priest in Heaven" as well as
that of "the great prince and conqueror". It is clear that the
sounder reasons amongst them intended to personify the Divine power and typify
the Messiah."
2.
DR. J. COMING - 19th CENTURY PROPHETIC COMMENTATOR
"I accept the generally
received opinion of commentators that Michael the Prince which standeth for the
ancient people of God, is not a created angel but our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ."
3. DR. ADAM CLARK'S BIBLE
COMMENTARY
"Of this personage
(Michael) many things are spoken in the Jewish writings. Rabbi Judah
Hakkodesh says `Wherever Michael is said to appear the glory of the Divine
Majesty is always to be understood.' So it seems as if they considered Michael
in sort as we do, the Messiah manifested in the flesh."
In a further note on the use of
the title 'Archangel' for Michael in Jude v9, Clarke states that:-
"There can be properly
only one Archangel, one chief or head of all the angelic host. Nor is the
word devil, as applied to the great enemy of mankind ever found in the plural;
there can be but one monarch of all fallen spirits. Michael is this
Archangel and head of the angelic orders; the Devil, Great Dragon or Satan is
head of all the diabolic orders. When these two hosts are opposed to
each other, they are said to act under these two chiefs as leaders, hence in
Revelation 12:7, it is said, Michael and his angels fought against the Dragon
and his angels. The word MICHAEL (in Hebrew) seems to be compounded of MI
(WHO), KI (LIKE), EL (GOD) - HE WHO IS LIKE GOD. Hence by this personage
many understand to be the Lord Jesus."
Now when we look at the
different pre-Bethlehem manifestations of Jesus, (the theophanies,) and He being
referred to as the angel of the Lord, makes a lot more sense. As such He
announced the impending judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah to Abraham. As such
He gave Joshua the battle plan for Jericho. As such He announced the birth
of Samson to Manoah and his wife. This is to give just a few examples.
It comes as no surprise to us now that Jesus should be referred to as Michael or
'He who is like God', for Paul the Apostle wrote:-
Colossians 2:9
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;
1 Timothy 3:16
And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God
was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached
among the gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory.
2 Corinthians 5:19
that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word
of reconciliation.
Jesus Himself declared:-
John 14:9
" ... He who has seen Me has seen the Father; ..."
Having established that Michael
represents the Lord Jesus, and that the period when he stands is the 'last days'
or 'time of the end' which we discovered is the Christian era of prophecy, we
also note that the people to be delivered are described as:-
Daniel 12:1
"... And at that time your people shall be delivered,
Every one who is found written in the book.
The book is undoubtedly the
Lamb's Book of Life, and the people are Christian Israelites. The Lord
Jesus, our great Michael has been standing up to deliver from sin and death by
the power of His atoning Blood ever since Calvary. He Himself declared:-
John 12:32,33
"And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all
peoples to Myself." This He said, signifying by what death He
would die.
Also the prophet Isaiah had
foretold:-
Isaiah 59:20
"The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn
from transgression in Jacob," Says the LORD.
The Apostle Paul expands on
this when he states:-
Romans 11:26,27
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The
DELIVERER will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
The words 'stand up' in
Daniel's prophecy actually mean 'to arise' and we find that the prophet Malachi
describing the Tribulation period as being a day that 'will burn as an oven'
goes on to declare:-
Malachi 4:2
But to you who fear My name The Sun of Righteousness shall
arise with healing in His wings; And you shall go out and grow fat like
stall-fed calves.
The Hebrew word translated
'arise' means 'to appear' which brings us to the Olivet Discourse in which Jesus
stated:-
Matthew 24:29,30
"Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun
will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son
of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will
mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with
power and great glory.
So whilst Jesus by His atoning
death and High Priestly ministry has been delivering throughout the Christian
dispensation, the climax of the work of delivering will be His physical return
in power and glory to save the creation from self destruction and to set up His
righteous Kingdom on earth. Whilst the primary deliverance is spiritual,
it is always followed by physical deliverance. Note these amazing
examples.
1. The great spiritual awakening known as the Protestant Reformation was
followed by physical deliverance from Spain and France.
2.
The Wesleyan Revival and Evangelical Awakening of the 18th Century was
followed by physical deliverance from Napoleon.
3.
The Pentecostal Revival spearheaded by George and Stephen Jeffreys in
the 1920s and 1930s was followed by physical deliverance from the Rome - Tokyo -
Berlin Axis
So at the end of this age in
like manner will the nations of re-gathered Israel be delivered from all their
adversaries through the Lord Jesus Christ, the Horn of Salvation raised up in
the House of David by whom Zachariah foretold that we would be:-
Luke 1:74
"DELIVERED FROM THE HAND OF OUR ENEMIES, THAT WE MIGHT
SERVE HIM WITHOUT FEAR"
Let's now take a look at the
last part of verse 1, where we read, ' ...and at that time thy people shall be
delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book of life'.
This sentence puts us into the time frame of the Second Advent. We know
that the people whose names are written in The Book will be delivered finally at
the coming of Jesus.
Revelation 21:24-27
And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its
light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour into it. Its
gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they
shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it. But there shall by
no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but
only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Daniel 12:2
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake,
Where are the dead?
According to this verse and many more, if you are prepared to do an honest
study, the dead are asleep in the dust of the ground. They are waiting to
be awoken at the time of the second advent - not any earlier! some to
everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Daniel 12:3
Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the
firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and
ever.
Who are the wise? Have a
sneak preview of a verse we are yet to study.
Daniel 12:10
"Many shall be purified, made white, and refined, but the
wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise
shall understand.
The wise are the ones who
understand. Are you beginning to understand?
Daniel 12:4
"But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book
until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall
increase."
Daniel was told to shut up the
words and seal the book. This prophecy was for the time of the end.
No-one would fully comprehend and understand this prophecy until the time of
the end. Another identifying feature of the time of the end is spelt out
for us in this verse. "Many shall run to and fro, ..." If that
isn't a good description of travel today I don't know what is. From the days of
the Pharoah's right up to the 19th century the fastest form of travel has been
horseback. In the last hundred years we have gone from that to jet travel,
men flying around the earths atmosphere in space shuttles etc. There
was a time when if a family member left from England to live in Australia you
would say, "Good-by" knowing that you would never see them again, but
today you can make the same trip on the grounds of a one or two week holiday.
"...and knowledge shall be increased" - the last figure I heard on
this subject was that our worlds knowledge doubles every eight years! The
computer industry has advanced so quickly that when the first electronic digital
computer, ENIAC, was unveiled in 1946 it weighed 30 tons, filled the space of
two-car garage, and contained 18,000 vacuum tubes, which failed on average at
the rate of one every seven minutes. It cost half a million dollars at
1946 prices.
Today, the same amount of
computing power is contained in a pea-sized silicon chip. Almost any home
computer costing as little as a hundred dollars can outperform ENIAC. Put
another way, if the car and aeroplane businesses had developed like the computer
business, a Rolls Royce would cost $2.75 and run for 3 million miles on four
litres of petrol. And a Boeing 767 would cost just $500 and circle the
globe in twenty minutes on twenty litres of fuel.
Daniel 12:5-7
Then I, Daniel, looked; and there stood two others, one on
this riverbank and the other on that riverbank. And one said to the man clothed
in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long shall the
fulfilment of these wonders be?" Then I heard the man clothed in
linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and
his left hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it shall be
for a time, times, and half a time; and when the power of the holy people has
been completely shattered, all these things shall be finished.
When shall all these things
take place? When will people begin to see and understand the times and the
seasons?
The man said that it would be
after a time, times and half a time. From our previous study in Daniel we
now know that a time is equal to 360 years. Now we see that this period
shall be for 'a time' - 360 years, 'times' - the plural of 'time', or two lots
of 'time' 360+360=720, and then half a time - 180. Now we add these
figures together, time - 360 plus times 720 plus half a time 180 which equals
1260. The man held up his right hand and his left hand, we take this to
mean that we should double the 1260 years. Why? Because it fits into
prophecy. 2x1260 = 2520. The period of time that we have already
studied. In our study of chapter 4 we saw that this period began in 604
B.C. and finished in 1917 A.D.
Daniel 12:8
Although I heard, I did not understand. Then I said, "My
lord, what shall be the end of these things?"
Daniel couldn't understand.
The understanding would be for those who lived in the last days when the seal
would be broken. In the 1870's a man named Grattan Guiness wrote a book
where he had studied prophecy and worked out that the land of Palestine would
be freed from Turkish domination in 1917. Forty years before it happened!
When this event took place in 1917 just as the Bible had predicted it then it
became obvious that the seal of the prophecy had been broken. We could
begin to look , as Christians, for the signs of the times. Not only that,
but from those calculations, we could look back through history and see God's
Word fulfilling itself time after time after time.
Daniel 12:9,10
And he said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are
closed up and sealed till the time of the end. "Many shall be purified,
made white, and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the
wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.
Daniel 12:11
"And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken
away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand
two hundred and ninety days (1290).
The daily sacrifice at the time
of the end is not the sacrifice of lambs, turtle dove, etc. because there is no
need for these sacrifices today. Jesus' sacrifice replaced that old
sacrifice. So this verse is referring to Jesus. When was Jesus taken
away so that an abomination that makes desolate could be set up?
This verse tells us that it
would be after 1290 days. The first figure that we studied was 1260
and this number took us to 1917/18. Now if we take the difference between
1260 and 1290, that is 30 years, and add it to 1917/18 we come to 1948 - the
year that the Jews moved back into the land of Palestine and made it the
'State of Israel'. The Jews do not believe that Jesus is the Messiah.
In fact many fundamentalist Jews believe that the land is the Messiah.
This is how the daily sacrifice was taken away.
Daniel 12:12
"Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand
three hundred and thirty-five days.
We have always looked at this
verse and seen the figure 1335 fulfilled as being the same year as 1917\18.
This is quite true. The Muslim year, 1335, is equal to our year 1917.
This is a wonderful fulfilment but there is another perspective that should be
looked at. So far we have looked at the 1260 figure as being fulfilled in
1917. We then moved on 30 years to 1948. Now the difference between
1290 and 1335 is 45 years. Forty-five years added to 1948 brings us to
1993. We shall now read the same verse of scripture with a better
understanding.
BLESSED IS HE WHO WAITS AND COMES TO 1993. That's you and me! Let us
wait, watch, and wonder as we see the hand of our God upon the nations, peoples,
events and the physical planet itself. This is not a time to sit back and
relax. Remember that Daniel, even though he knew the kingdom of Babylon
would fall, still continued to work in the service of the king, at the same time
putting the King of kings first..
Daniel 12:13
"But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest,
and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days."
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