THE WISE WILL BE ALL RIGHT—Daniel 10-12
***The 2010 movie, “The Kids Are All Right,” was about two women who married, with each having children by the same sperm donor. They raised their kids together. The plot takes crazy twists and turns, as one of the women has an affair with the sperm donor, who does his best to corrupt the kids. Yet true to Hollywood idealism, everyone is happy in the end. The kids are all right, it seems. Oh that that were always true in real life! (Note to pastor: movie was Rated R; I never saw it. Skip this if you want.)**
“Will we be all right?” We ask that question, because life can be confusing, even scary, sometimes.
Families struggle. There are financial challenges, emotional struggles, marital stress. Children make bad choices, and adults take painful detours along the paths of life. Carefully-laid plans don’t work out, and people we trust disappoint or betray.
Communities seem more dangerous than before, with more to fear: Drugs, gangs, violence. Danger in the streets, ungodly influences, unbridled immorality and greed. Online danger, in social media, violent videos, or hyper-sexualized media.
Our nation faces challenges: a pandemic, political turmoil, and the specter of overwhelming debt, along with economic and social inequality.
Throughout the world, there are wars, genocide, religious persecution, and daily crises.
Will we be all right?
THE WORLD OF DANIEL WAS NO LESS INTIMIDATING THAN OURS.
In chapter 1, Daniel was a young man, thrown into the pagan culture of Babylon. He was suddenly confronted with strange literature, religion, astrology and sorcery. He saw his friends thrown into a fiery furnace for their faith, and he himself was thrown into a den of lions. He was in the banquet hall when the Persians swept into Babylon, and he became a political figure in the mighty Persian Empire.
Now Daniel is old, and he is troubled. He says in Daniel 10:2-3, “At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.”
When Daniel prayed and fasted, God sent him a vision of a heavenly messenger—perhaps an angel—to settle his mind about what the future would hold.
What if you could see into the future? Would you want to? You could make a killing in the stock market, move somewhere “safe,” or warn your grandchildren. Perhaps knowing the future would be troubling, even toxic; you might panic or give up on life, or you might feel helpless to do anything about it.
The messenger in Daniel’s vision gave him a detailed and accurate outline of events in the future of the Jews. We are not going to read Daniel 11 (or this sermon would be like the sermon title a few weeks ago, “This May Take a While”). If you take the time to study it, with a good commentary or a pile of books at your side, you will find that the first 35 verses read like a history of 537-164 B.C. It summarizes the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great, which was divided into four parts, with 4 rulers. Then it describes the many decades of war and intrigue between the Seleucid dynasty of Syria and the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt.
The vision so closely matches history that some wonder whether it was written after 164 B.C. Few, if any, prophecies in the Bible are so detailed, and the literary method of placing words in the mouth of an historical figure was quite common in that time. On the other hand, Isaiah 46:10 points out that God can “make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.”
Someday, when we greet the saints from the second century B.C. in heaven, we may hear, “Wasn’t it amazing what God showed Daniel about the future? Too bad it was sealed up until we discovered it (in a cave or closet). By then it had all happened already.” Or, we might hear instead, “You didn’t know it was written after it happened? We all knew that. If Baruch ben Sirach had written about the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, he would have been tortured and crucified. By setting it in the time of Daniel, he gave us a perspective we needed in such terrible times.”
Either way, the message is the same:
GOD SEES HISTORY BEFORE IT HAPPENS; IT IS NEVER A SURPRISE TO HIM.
In Daniel 11:36-45, the vision continues with a vision of an arrogant and impious king. This part of the vision doesn’t describe any known historical events very well, causing some modern believers to speculate that the vision is a prediction of events still to come—events near the “end times.” The vision involves “the Beautiful Land”—certainly the land of Israel, which feeds their speculation about future wars in that area.
On the other hand, maybe the point of this part of the vision is simply that the future is not always revealed so clearly. It certainly is not clear to us, although history has shown that no matter how powerful evil kings or countries seem to be, the end is the same: (verse 45) “He will come to his end, and no one will help him.” That was true of Rome, Nazi Germany, Stalin, Saddam Hussein and many others, and it will be true of all who stand against God and his people.
At the beginning of chapter 12, the vision jumps from the “end” of the events of chapter 11 to the final “end”—the end of life on earth:
Daniel 12:1-3 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.”
Daniel speaks confidently of the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and our heavenly dwelling. Rarely is the Old Testament so clear about those things. Our immediate reaction is, “Tell me more.”
But the messenger shuts off the vision at that point: Daniel 12:4, “But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”
Instead, Daniel sees a new vision: Read Daniel 12:5-12.
When would this all be fulfilled? Would it be in the second century, or would it be at the end of time, when Christ returns to earth?
There is a hint in the phrase which appears in Daniel 12:11, “From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the ABOMINATION THAT CAUSES DESOLATION is set up, there will be 1,290 days.”
That reference matches an event in the reign of the cruel Greek ruler Antiochus Epiphanes, who also fits prophecies in Daniel 8 and 9. He defiled the temple, making it a temple to Zeus, and sacrificing unclean animals on the altar. (2 Maccabees 6:1-5) The defilement lasted about 3.5 years, which is about 1,290 days. His defeat and a subsequent miracle of lights is celebrated in the Jewish festivities of Hanukkah.
Yet almost 200 years after Antiochus defiled the temple, Jesus walked out of the temple, and told his disciples that it would be destroyed, with not one stone left on another. He went on to say in Matthew 24:15-16 “When you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” The initial fulfilment of his words came in 70 A.D.: Christians fled a Roman siege of Jerusalem, and the temple was leveled by the Romans.
Will there be other “abominations of desolation” in the future? I don’t know the future! Maybe if I were one of the people in China whose church was demolished by the government, I would see that as an abomination. Maybe if I saw churches in America destroyed by false teaching or political deception, I would see that as an abomination. Maybe if I saw trust destroyed by failure of leadership or hypocrisy, I would see that as an abomination. In Matthew 24, Jesus said there would be betrayal, false prophets, and wickedness in the temple of God, the church. Those certainly qualify as “abominations that cause desolation.”
HOW WILL THIS ALL END? What will happen to us, our children and grandchildren, and all the children of the world? Will we be ALL RIGHT?
Sometimes Bible study is as simple as paying attention when we read. Three times, the visions mention “the wise”:
Daniel 11:33-35, “THOSE WHO ARE WISE will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered…SOME OF THE WISE will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.” God’s people may suffer persecution of loss. When they stumble, they will be refined and purified. In the end, the wise will be spotless, blameless, and at peace with God. (See 2 Peter 3:14.)
Daniel 12:3, “THOSE WHO ARE WISE will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” Jesus said in Matthew 13:43, [At the end,] the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
Daniel 12:9-10, “Go your way, Daniel…Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but THOSE WHO ARE WISE will understand.” The wise understand that God is in control, and they walk in righteousness with God. They keep going, when times are uncertain or difficult, and they understand that God is able to save.
Who are THE WISE? Proverbs 9:10 tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” The wise trust God, count on God, and obey God, giving more weight to God than any person, circumstance, or power of darkness.
How do we end this series on the book of Daniel?
I can’t do much better than the last verse in the book of Daniel: “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” (Daniel 12:13)
Keep walking with God, and you will be all right—even ALL right. Our goal is not just to survive, but become RIGHT in every way, when Christ returns to bring us to glory.
Paul puts it this way in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”
