Daniel the Prophet and the Times of the Gentiles

By Edward Dennett

Chapter 12

IN reference to the question discussed at the close of the previous chapter as to whether or not the end of the king of the north in verse 45 is the final judgment upon the Assyrian, light is thrown upon it by the first verse of this chapter. The words, "And at that time shall Michael stand up," will refer to the period of the events described in Daniel 11: 36-45, because they are followed by the statement that "there shall be a time of trouble" — the period of unspeakable sorrow for the Jews in the land before the appearing of Christ. Then it is said, "At that time thy people shall be delivered," that is, as we know from other scriptures, at the close of the tribulation, and therefore after the destruction of both Antichrist and the Assyrian. There are three important things contained in this opening verse. The first is the action of Michael. We learned from Daniel 10: 21 that this exalted intelligence had a special connection with the Jews in the ordering of God's providential government, and that he was consequently termed by the angel, when speaking to Daniel, "Michael your prince." Now we gather, whatever his special functions up to this period, that, at the moment indicated by the first words of verse 1, he begins to act in a more energetic way, interposing with power on behalf of the nation entrusted to his care. Have we, any means of discovering what the particular action was, as signified by the words, "At that time shall Michael stand up"? Turning to Rev. 12 we read, "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon . . . was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him." And thereon there was a loud outburst of joy in heaven because "the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God night and day" (vv. 7-10). This we cannot doubt is the commencement of the activity of the archangel, when he shall stand up for Daniel's people.

This conclusion is sustained by the fact that the unparalleled time of trouble follows, and this harmonizes with what we find in Revelation: "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time." And in the very next verse we read: "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman [Israel] which brought forth the man child [Christ]." (Rev. 12: 12, 13) Remark, moreover, as having a distinct bearing on the subject, that the woman is endowed with power to escape from his enmity, and is "nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent"; and also that, when the dragon was foiled in his attempt to destroy the woman he was wroth with her, "and went to make wax with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Rev. 12: 14-17).

If this interpretation be correct, the next clause of the verse is at once understood. It says: "And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time," There are two other remarkable allusions to this same period of sorrow and tribulation. In Jeremiah we read, "For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness? Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; "but he shall be saved out of it" (Jer. 30: 5-7). And the next verse describes his deliverance by the Lord Himself, just as in Daniel the time of trouble is followed by deliverance. Our Lord has also spoken of this period as follows: "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (Matt. 24: 21, 22). To prevent all possibility of mistake as to the period of this tribulation, the Lord expressly connects it with the setting up of the "abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet . . . in the holy place." It will be remembered, from what was said of the seventieth week, when considering Daniel 9, that this occurrence takes place in the middle of that week.

This time of trouble therefore is its last half — the time and times and the dividing of time of Daniel 7: 25; the time, times, and an half of verse 7 of this chapter; and the 1,260 days, or forty-two months of Revelation. Satan is the instigator of the trouble; but his agents, as we learn elsewhere, will be the two great enemies of the faithful remnant among the Jews, the two beasts of Rev. 13, and their enemy from without, the Assyrian. But while Satan is the prime mover of all the sorrow through which Daniel's people will have to pass, it must be borne in mind that God uses it as His judicial rod to punish His people for their crowning sin in the rejection of their Messiah. Restored to their land, after the captivity in Babylon, Christ came in the fulness of time, and was born in Bethlehem, according to the prediction of their prophets, and His forerunner, John the Baptist, proclaimed His advent; but when He came to His own, His own received Him not; they refused and rejected Him, even going so far as to say, "We have no king but Caesar," and to accept the guilt of His death, crying, "His blood be on us, and on our children." God could not but chastise the guilty nation, and this "time of trouble" is the period during which His rod, whatever the instruments, will fall in successive and ever heavier strokes until "the indignation be accomplished."

But in the midst of wrath He will remember mercy, for unless those days should be shortened, as we have seen, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened; and hence it is that we read at the close of verse 1 "And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." The period indicated is, of course, at the close of the "time of trouble." As indeed we gather from other prophets, it will be at the moment when all hope will seem to have departed, just when the jaws of the roaring lion are about to close upon his prey, that the Lord will suddenly appear for the succour and rescue of His poor and afflicted people (see Zechariah 12 - 14; Isaiah 25, 26, etc.).

It is interesting to note the distinction here made between the mass of the nation and the elect remnant. It is not all who are delivered, but "every one that shall be found written in the book." It is very clear therefore that God has His elect amongst His earthly people, as well as that His heavenly people are the, objects of His eternal choice in Christ. They are mentioned, too, in Revelation, where, after the account of the blasphemous conduct of the first beast of Rev. 13, we read, "And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain¹ from the foundation of the world." God therefore from the foundation of the world, not before it as in the case of the heavenly saints Eph. 1: 4), had chosen this remnant, who should prove their election by refusing to worship the image of the beast (compare 1 Thess. 1: 4, 5); and it is of these the angel says that they shall be delivered. Some indeed may seal their fidelity with martyrdom, but, if so, they will obtain a better deliverance, for they will be reserved for heavenly blessing, participating in the first resurrection; but whether thus, or whether, like the 144,000 on Mount Zion, they are brought through the time of trouble, all alike will be redeemed from the hand of their enemies through the faithfulness and power of their God.

The next verse (2) is more comprehensive. "And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." It should be borne in mind that during the "time of trouble" only two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, are in the land; the remaining ten will be lost, as they are now, among the nations; and it is to these that this verse refers. After the Lord has appeared and succoured the faithful remnant in Judah and Jerusalem (Zechariah 12), He will establish His throne in Mount Zion, and thereafter He will recover His lost people, as we read in the prophet Ezekiel: "And I will bring you out from the people [peoples], and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered. . . . And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face. . . . And I will purge out from among you the rebels and them that transgress against me. . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers" (Ezek. 20: 33-42).

Now this passage treats entirely of Israel — that is, the ten tribes as distinguished from the Jews (the two tribes); and it will be seen, if it be attentively considered, that it speaks of two classes — one who will be brought back to the land for blessing, and the other who will be judged in the wilderness. It is of these same two classes that verse 2 speaks. Both alike are regarded as sleeping in the dust of the earth while lost and scattered among the nations; but when the Lord "shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet" to gather "His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matt. 24: 31), all alike will be awakened; some, as we here read, to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. The same contrast is found in the judgment of the living nations, of whom some shall go, away into everlasting punishment, and some into life eternal (Matt. 25: 31). This last scripture is important as showing that the saints during the millennium will enjoy eternal life, if not of the same character as that which Christians possess, yet according to the revelation God will make of Himself to His people of that dispensation. It will be the "life for evermore" of which David speaks in Psalm 133 as characterising millennial blessedness.

Some however may enquire whether this verse (v. 2) does not rather speak of resurrection. Two considerations will, we judge, show that it does not; and that the interpretation given is according to the teaching of scripture. In the first place, the figure of "awaking" is constantly employed in a moral sense in the Old Testament (see Isa. 51: 17, Isa. 52: 1, etc.); and even in the New it is used in a most striking way. The apostle, for example, writing to the Ephesians, says, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" Eph. 5: 14); and no one could doubt the figurative sense in this passage. Secondly the prophet Ezekiel uses the figure of resurrection plainly in the sense of a national revival. We say "plainly," because the application the prophet himself makes shows, beyond question, what was intended (see Ezekiel 37: 1-14).

What we gather therefore is, that God, in some special and extraordinary way, will arouse His scattered people from the lethargy into which they have fallen, and will kindle once more within their hearts the expectation of the fulfilment of the prophetic promises concerning their restoration and blessing under their Messiah. But, together with the re-awakening of their national hopes, God will purge out the rebels from among them, preparatory to their restoration, so that it will be literally true that some will awake to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

The third verse speaks of the class, we apprehend, mentioned in the previous chapter (v. 33); only here it may be that they are divided into two classes — those who are wise, and those who turn many to righteousness, or, as some prefer to render it, those who instruct the many in righteousness. Adopting this rendering, it will point back to the energetic testimony God raised up in the midst of the Jews during the last half week, when Satan's power was demonstrated without let or hindrance. Even then there will be those, chosen and sustained by God, who, undaunted by the terrors of the times, will courageously maintain the authority of God's word, and unweariedly seek to bring "the many" under its influence and power. In the establishment of the kingdom, whatever their sufferings, or even martyrdom, on account of their testimony, their past service will be recognised, and they will occupy a special place. Those that be wise having possessed God's mind, and having been endowed with divine wisdom, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; they will be conspicuously displayed as in the enjoyment of the special favour of God; and they that instruct the many in righteousness [shall shine] as the stars for ever and ever; they shall be assigned a place of authority and light-giving throughout the duration of the kingdom. (Compare Luke 19: 15-19.)

The revelation through Daniel's celestial visitant is now completed, and he receives the command: "But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased" (v. 4). It has often been, noticed, in contrast with this instruction to Daniel, that John, at the close of the book of Revelation, is directed not to seal "the sayings of the prophecy of this book," and the reason given is that "the time is at hand" (Rev. 22: 10). This explains the difference between the positions occupied by Daniel and John, The time was not at hand for Daniel, and thus his book was to be scaled to the time of the end. If it be asked how it is that we possess the means for the understanding of that which was to be sealed "to the time of the end," the answer is that this period has arrived for Christians. Paul speaks of the "last days," and John of the "last time" (2 Timothy 3: 1; 1 John 2: 18). The death of Christ indeed, which took place "in the consummation of the ages," inaugurated the time of the end; and hence for those who are Christians, possessing the Holy Ghost, there is nothing concealed (John 16: 13; 1 John 2: 20). Through the Spirit of God therefore, "the time of the end" having arrived, Daniel's book is unsealed; and if we fail to apprehend what was communicated, to him, it is either because we are not in the state of soul which gives the opened ear and entire subjection to the divine word (see Isaiah 50: 4, 5), or because we have not given serious attention to what has been revealed.

The statement that many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased, would seem to give the characteristics of the period from the days of Daniel until "the time of the end." How true it is of the present moment; and until the Lord comes it will be ever more fully exemplified.

From verse 5 we have the conclusion of Daniel's prophetic visions. He is still by the river Hiddekel; and he tells us, "Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?" (vv. 5, 6). The answer explains the question. The man clothed in fine linen "held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished" (v. 7). From the introduction of the familiar period, "time, times, and an half," that is, the last half week we understand that the question referred to the duration of the "time of trouble" mentioned in verse 1; and the answer states that it is limited to three years and a half, or 1,260 days. The latter part of the answer states also, that when God has collected His scattered people, having accomplished His purposes in their dispersion,² all these things shall be finished. Two things are thus revealed: that the period of tribulation shall not extend beyond the half-week; and that at the close of it having succoured His people already in the land, God will assemble His outcast people from all the quarters where they have been dispersed. These two things are confirmed by a divine oath — one of the two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, for a comparison of this scripture with Rev. 10: 5-7 will surely lead to the conclusion that He who utters this oath is more than man.

Daniel heard, and understood not; and then said, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" He is reminded that "the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end"; and then a further communication is made: "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand" (v. 10). It is evident that the reference is still to the "time of trouble" in the last half week; and what we learn is, that the Lord will take up the sorrows and trials of that time and use them as needful discipline for those that wait on Him — His faithful remnant amid the wickedness and apostasy by which they will be surrounded. Whatever their sufferings, therefore, "many shall be purified and made white and tried." It is on this principle God ever acts, even as the apostle teaches that God chastens us "for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness" (Heb. 12: 10). But if God thus purges His people from their dross, the wicked — the wicked, we apprehend, among the Jews — "shall do wickedly." They will, under the leadership of Antichrist, sin with a high hand, throw off all restraint, and fall into open and avowed apostasy.

The last part of the verse alludes to verse 8, where Daniel says he understood not; and in it we have a principle of abiding importance. It gives us the indispensable condition of understanding divine things as revealed in God's word. It says, "None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." There may be the plainest of testimonies. but if the heart, alienated from God, be bent upon wickedness, it will not comprehend it. What is purest light to God's people will be densest darkness to the sinners amongst the nation. The wise only will understand; and let it be for ever remembered that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, that Christ in this present time is the only wisdom of His people. It had been well if this had been remembered, especially now, when the Scriptures of truth are being assailed with persistency, not to say virulence, by men of learning and intellectual power. "The things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." And again, "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because "they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2: 11-14). None therefore but the wise, the spiritually wise, can in any dispensation enter into the mind of God, however plainly it may be revealed in His word.

It is on the basis of this principle, in answer to Daniel's question, "O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" (v. 8) that the "man clothed in linen" makes further revelations to the prophet. He now tells him in most express language that "from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days" (v. 11). It is this Scripture our Lord cites in Matt. 24 so far as the setting up of the abomination of desolation is concerned; and from Daniel 9: 27 we have gathered that these things will take place in the middle of the seventieth week; and if so, there will remain only 1,260 days for these prophetic weeks to run their course. But here we have an addition of thirty days. Is it possible to explain the reason of this? Nothing certain can be said; only it is clear, from many references both in this book and in Revelation, that the 1,260 days fix the duration of the "time of trouble," which will be ended by the appearing of Christ. At His coming in glory the beast and the false prophet are taken and cast alive into the lake of fire (Rev. 19), and He will go forth and fight against the nations that will at that time be besieging Jerusalem. There are several great events therefore to follow the termination of the last half week preparatory to the establishment of Messiah's throne in Zion; and it is possible that this is the reason for the additional thirty days. There is, however, in verse 12, a further forty-five days: "Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days." From the very form in which this extra period is introduced, it evidently points to the full establishment of blessing in the ordering of the kingdom. We may cite on this point the words of a well-known student of the Scriptures: "I have thought it possible that this computation may arise from this. An intercalary month to the 1,260 days, or three years and a half, and then 45 days, if the years were ecclesiastical years, would bring up to the feast of tabernacles; but I offer no judgment on it. At any rate, the statement is clear that when the sanctuary of God is cleansed in Jerusalem."³ If the reader will turn to Leviticus 23 he will understand, the purport of the remark as to the feast of tabernacles as he will perceive that it is the last of the cycle of feasts — a feast which was intended to celebrate Israel's rest, and possession of the land, after their wanderings in the wilderness; a feast, therefore, which as yet, according to the teaching of Heb. 3 and 4, has had no complete fulfilment. It awaits its realisation, according to the thoughts of God, until the true Solomon, after He has, as the true David, executed judgment upon His enemies, shall give rest to His people, when with joy they will draw water out of the wells of salvation (Isaiah 12: 3; compare John 7: 37).

But Daniel does not enter upon this scene of millennial joy. He is occupied with the times of the Gentiles up to the deliverance of his people. It was reserved for other prophets to speak of the establishment of the kingdom and of the blessings of Messiah's reign.⁴

And now with one last word to the prophet the book is ended. Vessel of the divine mind as to the times of the Gentiles, and the deliverance of his people, his work is done, and he is now bidden to retire from the scene: "Go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (v. 13). Rest was to follow on the completion of his labours, and he would have his own special place in the Kingdom at the end of the days. Our Lord Himself said, "Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 8: 11); and Daniel will share in the glories of that day. Now one of the spirits of just men made perfect, he will then participate in the first resurrection; and, returning with all the risen saints with Christ in glory, he will stand in his lot, occupy the special place assigned him, in the kingdom of Him, whom he had seen in the night visions as the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.

 

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Footnote 

1 This is better rendered "Whose names had not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the slain Lamb."

2 This, as we understand it, is the force of this somewhat difficult sentence.

3 It is clear, from Dan. 9: 24, that the period includes the anointing of the most Holy. If therefore the three years and a half, 1260 days, determine the duration of the time of trouble, there might he a further period for the introduction of the full blessing thus indicated.

4 It is remarkable how few are the scriptures that treat of the actual blessings of the reign of Christ. Among the Psalms, for example, it is only Psalms 72 and 145 that do so. There are many more that deal with His coming, and with the joy of His people in His reception, but they stop short of the millennial reign itself. Neither does Isaiah, who the most frequently alludes prophetically to the coming glories of Immanuel's rule, go much further.