Daniel 12:1

This final chapter of Daniel is interpreted in various ways by different schools of scholars. Practically all of the critics limit the application to the last days of Antiochus, supposing that Daniel was totally mistaken about the resurrection which he mentioned, there being no resurrection whatever that marked the closing of the Antiochus persecution. We must reject this in its entirety, because we cannot believe that Christ would have quoted part of this chapter, applying it to the destruction of Jerusalem with antitypical overtones in the final judgment itself unless there had been much more here than a blunder on the part of the prophet Daniel. Such interpretations we leave without comment to those who prefer to disbelieve the holy prophecies of the "end times."

The various premillennial views of this chapter we also reject on the basis that "the millennium" of Revelation 20 is nothing more nor less than the entire dispensation of the Gospel, embracing all of the time between the First Advent and the Second Advent of Christ. (See extensive studies on this in the Book of Revelation. Also, we have given a summary of it under Daniel 7:25, above.)

The really destructive heresy regarding this chapter is the error of seeing nothing in it except the conclusion of the persecutions under Antiochus Epiphanes. Keil pointed out that the critical application of the first few verses of Daniel 12 to the times of Antiochus could be true and correct, "Only if the premises from which it is drawn were allowed."[1] These premises were confidently contradicted by Keil; and, as we found in our studies of the last paragraph of Daniel 11, there is no reference whatever in those verses to Antiochus. That impressive gap between undeniable references to Antiochus earlier in chapter eleven, prior to Daniel 11:36, and the introduction of the resurrection of the dead in the first three verses of this chapter, make it absolutely imperative to understand that in this chapter the focus of the prophecy moves to the climax of the Messianic kingdom itself in the Final Judgment and Second Advent of Jesus Christ.

In this connection, Albert Barnes declared that: "The full meaning of the language (Daniel 12:1-3) is not met by the events of the times of the Maccabees. The passage looks forward and onward to a higher and more important event than any that occurred in the times of Antiochus."[2]

What then is the meaning of these first few verses in Daniel 12? Young summarized them as follows: "When these events take place, those who are found written in the book will be delivered. The reference is to the elect, those destined to receive eternal life."[3] We hold that analysis to be absolutely correct. We are also certain that the resurrection of the dead mentioned here is the general resurrection of all the dead at the time of the final judgment, as we shall more fully explain in the notes on the text itself.

Daniel 12:1

"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who standeth for the children of the people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as there never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."

Fortunately, this verse is crystal clear in its meaning, thanks to the direct comment of Jesus Christ himself regarding what is here prophesied.

"At that time ..." is a reference to Messianic times; and the fact of the final judgment and the Resurrection coming into view almost simultaneously should not be confusing. It is a thing common enough in the prophecies that "the last Days" is a reference to the whole times of the Messianic kingdom including the final judgment itself; and, since all of these events (first, and last, and in between) were in the same line of vision, they are often mentioned in the same passage. "The Lord himself coordinated the destruction of Jerusalem with the end of the world."[4] "It was no uncommon thing in the prophets to allow the eye to glance from one object to another lying in the same range of vision."[5] Even in astronomy today, two stars may appear in one photograph appearing to be almost touching each other, whereas in fact, they could be separated by thousands of millions of miles!

In understanding this prophecy it is imperative to understand that Daniel 10-12 are all one prophecy, not two or three. The chapter divisions here have been deplored by scholars ever since Cardinal Hugo butchered the job of dividing them in the 13th century; but to understand the passage before us, we must go back and read Daniel 10:14 -

"Now I am come to make thee understand

WHAT SHALL BEFALL THY PEOPLE IN THE LATTER DAYS, for the vision is yet for many days

(Daniel 10:14)."

In these verses, we have therefore come to that part of the prophecy that particularly deals with the TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD in the beginning of Messianic times. It is most important to separate this prophecy and its application from the APOSTATE ISRAEL; FROM THE DEGENERATE VINE; FROM THE HARDENED; SECULAR ISRAEL. After that Israel rejected and crucified the Son of God Himself, they lost forever their status as God's chosen people. That distinction now belongs only to the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ and to no other. Without seeing this vital fact, no one can understand this prophecy. This reference, therefore is not of what is going to happen to the Jews (racially) but to the Church of Jesus Christ.

Very well, what does this first verse say?

"At that time ... there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered ..." Now, when was that? Christ said it would occur at the destruction of Jerusalem, which we can definitely pinpoint as an event occurring in A.D. 70. In his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ said: "Then shall be great tribulation, such as there hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21). Thus the very terminology of Daniel's prophecy was used by the Lord and applied to the end of Jerusalem (with overtones of the final judgment also). But the people who cannot understand this verse have a stumbling block in the next clause, "And at that time, thy people shall be delivered." They say this cannot apply to the destruction of Jerusalem because that is when 1,100,000 Jews were put to the sword; and how could God have said, "Thy people shall be delivered?" They just don't understand WHO God's people were in that holocaust! They were the Church, the TRUE ISRAEL OF GOD; and it is history that they were indeed delivered, fleeing to Pella, as every student of history knows. The Jews at that time were not, nor have they ever since been, God's chosen people.

The study of this passage, together with the fact of Christ's having definitely applied it to the destruction of Jerusalem raises the possibility that Christ himself relied in part upon this promise of God regarding the safety of his church during the siege of Jerusalem when he warned the Christians to flee. One of the most important, and one of the most universally unknown, facts about the ISRAEL of GOD is that the true ISRAEL today is a far different group of people from what it was in the days of Daniel.

"Everyone that shall be found written in the book ..." Here is the definition of God's people who shall be saved from the horrible holocaust of the destruction of Jerusalem. Who are these? They are the Christians. This is a reference to the "Lamb's Book of Life," where the names of the redeemed are enrolled. "This is the book of life (Psalms 69:28; Revelation 3:5)."[6] The very idea that the racial Jews who had engineered the crucifixion of Christ and hounded the holy apostles all over Europe in their vicious efforts to prevent the spread of the Gospel all had their names written in the book of life because they were racially descended from Abraham is ridiculous.

It is absolutely certain, as Keil put it, that, "These verses do not treat of the times of Antiochus and the Maccabees."[7] The notion that the persecutions under Antiochus were of the dimensions of those which Christ associated with the end of the city of Jerusalem (which are the ones found in this verse) is contradicted by no less authority than Christ himself.