We are going to finish Daniel this week. Today we read Daniel 12:1-10

v1: ‘At that time’ – those last 7 years.

· Michael is the archangel who protects/guards/watches over the Jewish people (Daniel’s people).

· “Shall stand up’ – He will defend the Jewish people at this time.

· “A time of trouble” – This trouble (Jer 30:7) is experienced by the Jewish people because of their rejection of the antichrist (This is going to be like a second, worse, holocaust – happening after the rapture, but before the 2nd coming of Messiah Yeshua)

· ‘Your people shall be delivered’- the 1/3rd remnant who turn to Yeshua as their Messiah (Zech 13:8).

· This book is called the Lamb’s book of life (Rev 13:8)

v2: ‘Sleep in the dust’ is an idiom to die. When we sleep we expect to wake up. Same concept here. There has already been a resurrection of believers at the rapture (1 Cor 15:51-53, Rev 20:4-6) Those left in the ground after the rapture are unbelievers. At this time there is going to be a resurrection of everyone who has died. Depending on whether they chose to accept Yeshua or not, some of these people will experience eternal life, but others will experience eternal condemnation in the pit of hell.

v3: ‘Those who turn many to righteousness’: They proclaim the gospel and tell people the truth of how they find justification by faith.

· ‘Like the stars forever and ever’: They are forever going to show the glory of G-d.

v4 Much of what Daniel has said is not for us to understand the past but for us to understand the future. We will only be able to fully understand this book when we are living in the time of it being unsealed/fulfilled. Right now, we can only speak of it in a more general sense.

· ‘Run to and Fro’- people are going to wander around aimlessly.

· Knowledge shall increase – with absolute certainty I can say our generation has seen knowledge explode. This explosion, however, has not brought more revelation and more insight. In fact, we almost seem to be going in the reverse Roms 1:21-32

v5: Two others = Two other angels.

v6 Daniel could have asked this question, or one of the angels could have asked it.

· ‘These wonders’ – When is the establishment of the Kingdom going to take place?

v7: “Swore by Him” – swore by G-d.

· The majority of the prophecy in Daniel will take place in those final 3.5 years (time = 1 year, times = 2years, half a time = 1/2 a year.)

· The shattering of the power – as long as the Jewish people (anyone) are trying to save themselves, as long as they are trying to work out their salvation by their own means it will come to naught. This reliance on self has to be shattered/ destroyed. The people are going to learn to trust and depend on G-d at this time.

v8 Daniel wants to know what the end result of all these things are going to be. He is still struggling to comprehend what he has seen and what he has been told.

v9 These words are sealed until the end days. They will be made known and more clearly understood then.

v10 There are those, in the end, who are going to live in a way that is pleasing to G-d (‘purified, made white and refined”), and there will be those who continue on in their wickedness.

· During this time there are going to be people who are growing spiritually, maturing and who are going to be prepared for these events.

The book of Daniel is relevant for us as Believers. We are going to go through a portion of the suffering that the end time Jewish people are going to go through. We need to be prepared for this.