Daniel 12, Michael and the Final Days

Daniel has been describing a sequence of kings who battle each other for superiority in the ancient Middle East. As the kings come and go, they conquer and abuse the land promised to Israel.

Daniel 12:1-3, Distress and resurrection

"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.

This final battle involves a supernatural being, a "prince" named Michael, who watches over the people of Israel. At the end of these times, people who "sleep in the dust" will be resurrected. (The afterlife is rarely mentioned in the Old Testament. See Isaiah 26:19 for another statement on resurrection. See also Job 19:25-27 and possibly Psalm 17:15.)

At some point the prophecy that began in chapter 11 morphs into a statement about a future apocalyptic end-time. Scholars disagree on when that change occurs. Is it after verse 20 of chapter 11? Is it at the beginning of chapter 12? Or does the passage Daniel 11:21-45 contain both historical past events and simultaneously foreshadow future end-time events?

In the New Testament, Jesus describes end-time events in Matthew 24. In that teaching He quotes from both Daniel and Isaiah.

A "book of life" is described in Psalm 69:28-29 and a similar book is mentioned in Exodus 32:31-33. A "scroll of remembrance" is described in Malachi 3:16. In the New Testament, the Book of Life is described in the final judgment before the Great White Throne, Revelation 20:11-15.

Daniel 12:4, Seal up the words

But you, Daniel, close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge."

Daniel is told to "seal the words of the scroll", presumably not revealing some of the details of this prophecy. (A similar instruction is given in the prophecy in the book of Revelation in the New Testament; see Revelation 10:4.)

Daniel 12:5-7, Two others

Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. 

One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, "How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?"

The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever, saying, "It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people has been finally broken, all these things will be completed."

Two angelic beings stand on the opposite sides a river (the Tigris? Euphrates?) One angel asks "How long?", that is, for a timeline for these events. (Archer notes that not even angelic beings see the entire picture, see 1 Peter 1:12.) The answer to the "How long?" question is not particularly clarifying. The fulfillment will be after 3 1/2 times, presumably a 3 1/2 year period, half of a "week" of years. 

Daniel 12:8-13, Go your way

I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?"

He replied, "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. 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.

"From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.  Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.

"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, like the rest of us, does not understand. He is told not to worry. Some things will be sealed up, secure but hidden from human sight. There will be a time period (1290 days and 1335 days) after "the sacrifice is abolished."  (1290 days is 43 months of 30 days; 1335 days is one and-a-half months longer.)

Eventually the old prophet, Daniel, will die in Babylon but, like the others, will some day be resurrected. And so ends the story of this consistently dedicated servant of YHWH.