Daniel 12:1-3
1 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. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 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.”
In the Future, There Will Be…
What scares you? Getting sick? Losing your job or your house? Losing a loved one? How about something bigger, like the influence that the world has on your children, or the direction that the government and our society are going? There are so many things that can scare us.
Daniel was told some scary things by God. What we read today in Chapter 12 is actually the conclusion of a prophecy that began 2 chapters earlier. In it, God warned Daniel about the rise and fall of great kings and nations. He predicted wars and betrayals, bloodshed and slaughter. He even told Daniel about the antichrist – that great spiritual enemy of Christ and Christians whose power and influence will spread across the globe and get stronger and stronger as time goes on.
It was the stuff of nightmares – a vision, I’m sure, Daniel never forgot.
But then we get to the words of Daniel in Chapter 12, which is God’s last word on the subject. What will the future hold for people like Daniel and people like us? God tells us.
There Will Be Trouble
“There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then.”[1]
That’s a strong statement! There have been many distressing moments in the history of this world – plagues, famines, natural disasters that have wiped out entire cities and peoples, wars that spanned the world. But God tells Daniel that the trouble that is yet to come is going to be worse than them all.
Now, Daniel lived almost 3,000 years ago. God was prophesying something that would occur in Daniel’s future. Obviously, we are living in Daniel’s future. Do you think we’re living in this time of distress now?
We’re almost 2 full years into a global pandemic. You read the newspapers and doctors in the province to the West of us are making claims that people are dying of climate change. There are claims that within the next couple decades vast swaths of the planet will be uninhabitable. We hear reports of saber rattling in China and North Korea and the Middle East. We see anti-Christian social movements in our local government and schools. That’s distress on every level of life – from our personal bodies, to our interpersonal relationships, to the health of the planet!
Now, I don’t know that this is as bad as it can get, or that what we’re living through now is worse than even just 100 years ago, but we are seeing – if only partially – the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. God said that there will be trouble and there is.
There Will Be Deliverance
But God also promised that there would be deliverance:
“At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people will arise.”[2]
Michael is the archangel of God[3] – the chief of the cherubim, the superior of the seraphim. He is the leader of God’s most powerful creatures, and God says that he’s working for you – protecting you, as he says here to Daniel; guarding you, as he promises in the Psalms:
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.[4]
God promises you that you do not have to face the scary things of this life alone. The devil and his demons are at work in this world stirring up trouble and trying to steal your soul, but God commands his angels to watch over you and to guard you and protect you. God’s most powerful creatures are tasked with your care. God does not leave you alone or helpless. He gives you powerful allies in his guardian angels.
But as comforting as it may be to know that there are angels, like Michael, watching over you right now, God gives you an even greater promise to comfort you in these distressing times:
“But at that time, your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered.”[5]
We talked about this last week. That’s the book of life. That’s God’s family registry, and your name is in that book. You didn’t write it there. God did that for you when he adopted you into his family.
You weren’t born as a child of God. You were born into sin. You were born as a disciple of Satan. If you search your heart even now, you’ll still find that your natural instincts are to lie and deceive, just like the devil, to be proud and greedy and unforgiving, to be self-righteous and self-serving. You weren’t born as a child of God. You were born into sin, deserving God’s wrath and punishment.
But God made you his child by grace through faith, as Paul said to the Galatians:
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.[6]
God loved you so much that he sent his Son to save you from your sin, to rescue you from the assaults of Satan, to secure your soul for heaven. God loved you so much that he exposed his Son to the scariest things that we face in this world – rejection, oppression, persecution, execution, even death on a cross – so that you could have everlasting life in his name.
God wrote your name in his book of life – He added a branch to his family tree with your name on it – when you were baptized into his name, i.e. when a pastor made the sign of your Saviour’s cross on your head and on your heart, and spoke these words over you, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
You didn’t do that. God did that for you by grace through faith. And by writing your name into his book of life, God promised that you will be delivered.
There Will Be Resurrection
Not only that, but God also promises you that you will be raised from the dead. There is eternal life to look forward to:
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.[7]
We talked about Judgment last week. I don’t want to get into it again today because I want to focus on that everlasting life that God promises you and everyone who believes in him.
Think about all those people who died in faith, e.g. the patriarchs from the Old Testament, the apostles and prophets, the women who witnessed Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday, your ancestors who emigrated to this country, your wife, your father, your son, your grandfather. They didn’t waste their lives believing in Jesus. Even though they ultimately fell victim to the final distress that we will all face – even though they died – that wasn’t the end for them. They have entered into the everlasting life that God promises to all who believe in Jesus.
Because Jesus rose from the dead, you and I will also rise from the dead. Because you were baptized into his death, you will also be raised with him into eternal life, and into those heavenly mansions that Jesus is preparing for you even now, where you will live in a constant state of victory and triumph.
There Will Be Triumph
God said to Daniel:
“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.”[8]
The Bible is clear on this – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.[9] Do you believe that Jesus is your Saviour from sin? Then you will shine like the brightness of heaven. Have you led many to righteousness? Maybe more than you know. You don’t have to be a pastor who preaches from a pulpit once a week to lead others to righteousness. You just have to be a parent who told their children about Jesus, a friend who invited another friend to church, a fellow Christian who was there for another to encourage and support them. You will shine like the stars for ever and ever.
That’s how much God loves you. He will glorify you forever for the little things that you do to bring others to his glory now. That’s not your ticket into heaven; Jesus is and always will be the only way for you to be saved. But the unbelievable truth about the grace of our God is that his goodness extends beyond salvation. He also promises you glory in heaven based on what you do here on earth, not as an incentive but as a gift of his grace, his undeserved love that looks for ways to give you comfort and peace and encouragement even and especially during the trials and troubles we will face before the end.
God gave Daniel a glimpse into the future. He warned that there will be trouble. We’ve seen it. He promised that there will be deliverance. We’ve received it. He assured us that there will be resurrection. We believe it. And he promised us that there will be triumph. We rejoice in it. Like all the saints who have gone before us and who are living in triumph now, we say, “Come Lord Jesus; come quickly. Amen.”
[1] Daniel 12:1
[2] Ibid
[3] Jude 1:9
[4] Psalm 91:11-13
[5] Daniel 12:1
[6] Galatians 3:26,27
[7] Daniel 12:2
[8] Daniel 12:3
[9] Psalm 11:10; Proverbs 1:7; 9:10