Daniel 12 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application
Daniel 12 Bible Study
TIMELINE:
The Book of Daniel opens in the 3rd year of the reign of King Jehoiakim, 606 BC. Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel in Babylon. Daniel was taken to Babylon about 14 years before Ezekiel was called by God to be a prophet (Ezekiel 1-2).
Daniel 1:21 informs us Daniel was in the palace of Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus (539 BC).
The vision recorded in Daniel 10-12 is dated to the third year of the reign of Cyrus. This likely refers to Cyrus’ third year after conquering Babylon, which would date the vision to 536 BC.
WHAT WE'VE STUDIED SO FAR IN DANIEL:
Daniel 1 – Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon and educated for 3 years to work in the king’s court. Daniel requests to be exempted from eating the king’s food in order to keep God’s dietary laws.
Daniel 2 – Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a great image made of 5 different materials. Daniel interprets the dream for him, telling him about an everlasting kingdom that God would set up in the latter days.
Daniel 3 – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold and were thrown into the fiery furnace. God miraculously saved them from the fire, and Nebuchadnezzar praised God and honored Him throughout the kingdom.
Daniel 4 – Nebuchadnezzar praised God as the Most High and the Eternal King. He recounted how God humbled him by turning him into an animal-like being that lived outside and ate grass like an ox.
Daniel 5 – The city of Babylon falls to the Medes and Persians after Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar’s drunken feast.
Daniel 6 – Daniel’s enemies hatch a plot to prevent him from being promoted in the kingdom. Daniel is thrown into a den of lions, but God protects him and keeps the lions from killing him.
Daniel 7 – Daniel had a vision of 4 beasts that represented 4 nations. The Ancient of Days (God) and “one like a son of man” (Jesus) defeated the beasts and established a kingdom that would last forever.
Daniel 8 – Daniel had a vision about a ram and a goat. God revealed that the two animals represented the Medo-Persian Empire (ram) and the Greek Empire (goat).
Daniel 9 – Daniel prayed to God and acknowledged that the Jews broke covenant with Him. He asked God to forgive them. In response to his prayer, God sent Gabriel to Daniel with a prophecy about future events outlined in 70 weeks.
Daniel 10 – A heavenly messenger appears to Daniel to inform him what will happen to his people in latter days. Chapter 10 explains how the vision described in Daniel 11 and 12 was delivered.
Daniel 11 – God, through Daniel, prophesied future events that would affect the Jews from the time of Cyrus (536 BC) through Antiochus Epiphanes (164 BC).
OUTLINE:
THE END OF DANIEL’S VISION (12:1-13):
Daniel was told that “at that time” Michael, the great prince, would arise to help God’s people.
It would be a time of great trouble, one incomparable to other events in Israel’s history, but God’s people, those “written in the book,” would be delivered.
“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever” (12:2-3).
Daniel was then told to “seal the book” until the “time of the end.”
Daniel was near the Tigris River when he saw this vision, and the heavenly messenger clothed in linen was above the river.
Daniel saw two other beings, one standing on one side of the river and the other on the opposite side, and one of the beings asked the heavenly messenger, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” (12:6).
The messenger clothed in linen lifted his hands towards heaven and replied, “that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished” (12:7).
Daniel heard this but didn’t understand it. He asked the messenger clothed in linen, “Oh my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” (12:8).
The heavenly messenger responded, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days” (12:9-13).
APPLICATIONS:
Don’t force an interpretation of a text when you don’t feel comfortable with it.
It’s better to study a text, walk away from it, and return to it later, rather than proposing a solution that doesn’t fit into your current understanding of the immediate context and the Bible at large.
Don’t adopt an interpretation that seems improbable to you just because it’s acceptable to your church or your religious tradition.
And definitely don’t teach a questionable interpretation with an air of authority just to make yourself look like you have all the answers. That will backfire on you because discerning people will see through it.
