Daniel 12: The Sealed Book

And turn in your Bibles once to the book of Daniel, the inspired word of God. Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time.

And at that time, your people, everyone who was found written in the book, will be rescued. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake. These to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.

Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven. And those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time.

Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing. One on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. And one said to the man dressed in linen who was above the waters of the river, how long will it be until the end of these wonders?

I heard the man dressed in linen who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and half a time.

And as soon as they finished shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. As for me, I heard, but could not understand. So I said, my Lord, what will the outcome of these events?

He said, go your way, Daniel. For these words are concealed and sealed up until the end of time. Many will be purged, purified, refined, but the wicked will act wickedly and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand.

From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there'll be 1 ,290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1 ,335 days. But as for you, go your way to the end and you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.

Let's pray. Father, we bow before you once again and our prayer is simple, that you would give us understanding, that you would teach us from your word and that learning the truth, that father, that we would apply it to our lives, that we would live godly lives and we would become more like our savior, Jesus Christ.

It's in his name we pray, amen. Please be seated. Well, we began our study in the book of Daniel on January 1st of this year. In the introduction to our study, I described Daniel as a unique book of the Bible.

I referred to it also as a fantastic book, not implying that the events of the book were fiction, just that they were fantastic. And I described some of the events that we would study. I described ahead of time, Daniel being thrown into the lion's den and surviving.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego being tossed into the furnace of the blazing fire and not even the smell of smoke on their garments when they came out. The handwriting at the wall at the Feast of Belshazzar is certainly an astonishing occurrence.

And then the dreams and the visions reported in his book. These and more are fantastic events. Many people would say that the book is shrouded in mystery. In that introduction, I put forth five reasons that we were going to study the book of Daniel at this particular time.

I'm gonna restate those reasons and I believe it will be evident whether or not we accomplished the goals that we had set before us back on January 1st. First, I stated that this book is a perfect follow-up to our study in the book of Hebrews, which we had just completed at that time.

And here's what I meant by that. Remember the purpose for the book of Hebrews is to show the superiority of the person and work of Jesus Christ, the superiority of the new covenant in his blood. Christ is superior to Moses, he's superior to the angels and he's superior to the whole Old Testament, the Aaronic priesthood.

After Christ offered himself as the once for all sacrifice, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet. Then he entered the holy place, not made with hands.

And if you remember, I told you at that time, keep that phrase in mind because we'll see it again, not made with hands. Hebrews shows us the passing away of the old covenant with its inferior sacrifices because of the arrival of the better than Moses, the better than the angels and the better than the old priesthood.

Daniel puts these events in the historical context of the breaking of the old covenant by the people of Israel and the need, the absolute need and necessity of the new covenant. And through visions interpreted by Daniel, God shows the historical context for the new covenant in Christ.

And he does this in several ways. Nebuchadnezzar's visions show the history of the world from Babylon through the Medes and Persians, to Greece, to Rome, culminating in the new covenant, superseding all those earthly kingdoms.

God's kingdom will outlast all of them because it is an eternal kingdom. That is the stone cut without hands that becomes a mountain. All of that was in the introduction. And that led to the second reason that we were going to study this book.

The second reason was eschatology. Daniel contains prophetic and apocalyptic sections that are important for the church to understand because your understanding of eschatology will affect not only your theology, but also the way you live your life day in and day out.

There are many Christians today who are living in abject fear based upon erroneous teaching on eschatology. And as part of the apologetic used for certain eschatological views, we see them refuted in the book of Daniel.

In Daniel, we see the several, in fact, the book is rife with it. Think of the vision of the statue, the 70 weeks, the abomination of desolation, which we spent several weeks on. And that's just to name a few.

You ever notice how people can get very dogmatic about their interpretations of Daniel? And how that fits in with the revelation of Jesus Christ written by the Apostle John. In fact, so much so that usually in any discussion leads to a dispute and can actually incur the wrath of your opponents.

The popular view of eschatology today leads to a pessimistic view of the future of the kingdom of God. And there are a number of hermeneutical errors which needed to be addressed. And that was another reason why we was going to study the book of Daniel.

Because Daniel is as relevant today as the day it was penned by Daniel himself. And I also back almost a year ago, told you to keep phrases like the end of times, the coming of Christ and other catchphrases.

Keep in mind that they must be interpreted in the context in which they are given. Third reason I gave you for studying the book of Daniel was Daniel is a case study in how a Christian should live in a pagan society.

And included in that is what is the Christian's responsibility to authorities in a corrupt society? Daniel through no fault of his own is taken captive from his home and transported to Babylon. He is one of the best and the brightest of the Israeli youth.

He's inducted into service. Actually, that's probably I could use a stronger word. He was forced into service for the King of Babylon. What does he do? What should he do? Can he serve God and obey godless leaders at the same time?

What are the similarities to our society today? What can we learn from the life of Daniel? These are all the questions that we explored throughout our study in Daniel. Fourth reason I put forward for our study in Daniel was the important theme, a recurring theme, and that is of death and resurrection.

We see this theme throughout Daniel. In fact, we liken Daniel to Joseph. Some theologians actually call Daniel a second Joseph. The similarities are striking. Daniel is brought into captivity in Babylon.

Joseph sold into slavery in Egypt. Both gain initial favor with their authorities. Both suffer a death-like experience. Joseph is forgotten in jail. Daniel's thrown in the lion's den. But both are resurrected, quotation mark, resurrected and returned to favor.

And that's only just one example. But as we work our way through the book, we will see this constant theme of death and resurrection. And that theme is important if we're going to understand the remaining visions in the second half of the book.

Fifth reason I gave for the importance of this study is that it is a book about the sovereignty of God. Many theologians have said if they had to pick one overriding theme, now there are many themes that run through Daniel, but if they had to pick one overriding theme, it would be the sovereignty of God.

From beginning to end, we see the hand of God moving all things according to his will. In fact, it's even evident in the opening sentences of the book. Daniel 1, 1 and 2. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

And then listen carefully how verse two is stated. The Lord gave Jehoiakim, King of Judah, into his hand, along with the vessels of the house of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of God and brought the vessels into the sanctuary of his God.

How was Nebuchadnezzar able to defeat Jehoiakim? The Lord gave him into his hand. How were Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego delivered from the fire? Daniel 3, 17 tells us, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire.

How was Daniel delivered from the lion's den? Daniel 6, 22. My God sent his angel and shut the lion's mouth. So the question then is, did we accomplish our goals? Did we answer those questions during our study?

It's been 11 months. I believe it's fair to say that those reasons were all on display through our study. So this morning, what I want to do is to recap the prophetic vision specifically and a couple of events from Daniel and show how they must be taken together to truly understand the message of this fantastic and mysterious book.

Having finished it, would you agree with me? It is mysterious. It is fantastic. We want to start the summary of the visions. The book opens with Judah being taken captive by Babylon. Daniel and his three friends, they're among the captives brought to serve the king's court and we see the sovereignty of God right at the very beginning.

In this captivity that brings Daniel, it is the captivity of Israel by Babylon that brings Daniel to the place where he becomes an advisor, not just to one king, but to a succession of kings. It's important to note that the series of visions from various kings and then those given to Daniel himself are all related.

They're not just individual. There's a logic and a cogency to what they prophesy and how they are interpreted. The first vision is the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. Remember the tall statue, the man made out of various metals, gold in the heads, silver across there, bronze around his girth, and iron and then the feet mixed with clay.

We learned from Daniel's interpretation that the various metals stand for four successive kingdoms, Babylon, the Medes and Persians, Greece, and finally Rome. Each of these kingdoms will reach world dominance to varying degrees.

But during the last kingdom in the vision, which is Rome, as we know now, something unusual happens. A stone that is cut without hands is thrown at the statue and completely destroys it. It falls apart and Daniel describes it.

It falls apart so completely that it's like the chaff that is blown by the wind on a threshing floor. The chaff is like just lighter than air. And then we saw that the stone made without hands grows into a mountain that fills the earth.

And that vision sets the stage for all the rest of the prophecies. It tells us in general terms when these things will take place. And we see the kingdom of God will come to earth at some time during the reign of the Roman Empire and will grow worldwide.

The next dream is found in chapter four, the vision of the tree. And this tree is also described in glowing terms. The description itself is very poetic. It's called a beautiful tree. Its foliage is magnificent.

It's so tall that it reaches the sky and it provides nourishment for the beast of the field. It's not only beautiful, but it's utilized and it's providing for the beast of the field. And the tree represents King Nebuchadnezzar.

This dream adds more details and picks up where the first dream left off. Nebuchadnezzar's rule is certainly blessed by Almighty God to a superlative degree until he forgets God. And he stands and he looks over his kingdom and takes credit for all the magnificence that he sees.

Look what I, and God humbles him by causing him to lose his mind and he wanders the fields like a beast. But in this vision, we also see something interesting. Nebuchadnezzar is restored. How is he restored?

By the grace of God and by the grace of God alone. Who says you don't see sola gratia in the Old Testament. And once again, we see this figure of speech, this analogy. When man moves away from God, he becomes beastly.

The image of God and man is what separates man from the rest of creation. Move away from God and you become beastly. And that's a fact that is necessary to understand in any study of theology. God is the difference.

The next vision, the next prophetic word comes in chapter five at the Feast of Belshazzar. Belshazzar, the successor to Nebuchadnezzar, should have learned his lessons from the previous king. If you remember, Nebuchadnezzar had his experience, his conversion experience, read to the whole empire.

That's significant. You talk about having a testimony. Think of having a platform to give your testimony to the whole known world. And that's what Nebuchadnezzar does. Belshazzar never heard it. And I mean, not audibly, but he didn't heed it because he learned nothing.

He was proud and haughty and reckless. He blasphemes God and profanes the use of the vessels captured from the Temple of Jerusalem. He's guilty of blasphemy. And then the other fantastic, mysterious occurrence, the hand writes on the wall, many, many teckle you farson.

The translation, God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and the Persians. In other words, the glory of Babylon is over.

The head of gold has been severed and the second kingdom of silver now rules. And though God has decreed the course of history, these prophecies show us how God providentially brings them about. Babylon was overthrown because of the evil actions of Belshazzar and God's prophetic word was coming to fruition in the sight of the Judeans living in captivity.

The next vision was the vision of the four beasts, the lion, the bear, the leopard, and the beast described only having iron jaws or iron teeth. As we worked our way through this prophecy, we saw how it dovetailed with the first vision of the statue.

Each of the beast Daniel sees corresponds to the sections of the statue of metal and this vision added important details, especially to the fourth kingdom. The vision tells us it was a mixed empire signified in the vision by the 10 horns and then another horn coming up afterwards.

And though Daniel gives no reference to a known beast, in other words, the first three, he says like a lion and a bear and a leopard, the last one, he doesn't correspond to a real known beast, but he describes it by what the beast does.

It devours, it crushes anything that stands in its way. What it doesn't devour, it tramples with its feet. The beast is so horrible that it lacks comparison even to our known animal kingdom. This is a very apt description of the Roman empire.

One of their own historians, Tacitus, is quoted speaking about the empire that he lived in. He says, they plunder, they butcher, they ravish and call it by the lying name of empire. They make a desert and call it peace.

Comparing the first vision and this one, we noticed something else. While each of the successive empires lost glory, each one symbolized by the metal from gold, silver, bronze, and iron, loses glory, but they each became more ruthless, more cruel in the expansion, how they expanded their empire.

We're also introduced at this point to the infighting within the Roman empire. We also notice that the remaining visions, interestingly enough, were no longer given to the kings, but the vision switches and now they're given to Daniel.

We see that in the vision of the ram and the goat in chapter eight. We see that the apostasy was to take place at the time of the end. And that phrase became more and more significant as we worked our way through.

And we were introduced to what is called the period of indignation, or some call it the great tribulation. We saw that being consistent with the text, this period called the time of the end was not the culmination of history at the second coming of Christ, but was the end of the old covenant age at the first advent of Jesus Christ.

We saw with the rise of a king within the confines of Israel, who magnified himself and was put down by God. But it's this period, but this period, which brought about chaos to the world stage and directly affected Israel, was divinely appointed by God.

We also saw that the time was fixed for these events to take place. The visions give us time texts that were helpful for us to see how faithful Israel would endure the time of tribulation that came upon the land.

And that's furthered by the text in chapter nine. Remember, one of the primary themes in this book was that Daniel was a man of prayer. And he should be an example to all of us to be praying people, especially when living in a godless society.

It's during one of Daniel's times of prayer. Remember, he prayed three times daily. But it was one of those times that Gabriel is sent to him with one of the most direct statements about the coming judgment.

Verse 24 of chapter nine. 70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place.

The message from God is crystal clear. It is a decree from Almighty God. The 70 weeks, which is 70 weeks of years, meaning 490 years. And the prophetic clock began to tick when the decree was issued to rebuild Jerusalem.

And most theologians agree that the 70 weeks of years brings us right up to the time of Christ. There are some theologians who try to separate the 70th week from the other 69. There are two major reasons why that cannot be.

First, there's nothing in the text that gives us warrant to separate that week from the other 69. So hermeneutically, it's a flawed argument. But the second reason is Daniel is told that 70 weeks, 490 years, has been decreed by God.

His decrees are irrevocable. So the 70-week prophecy fits perfectly with all the other prophecies in the book. The time of the end is the end of the old covenant age. Then we come to the last of the visions in the last three chapters of the book.

Chapters 10 to 11 detail the wars and the chaotic situation in the world at the time of Christ. And we spent several weeks going through just chapter 11. The apostolic period after his ascension was also a period of chaos and great tribulation.

And we examined both in the light of the historical record. And we found that the prophecies fulfilled during that time were fulfilled with precision and accuracy. We even have a view of the ascension of Jesus into heaven from a heavenly perspective in chapter seven of Daniel.

And that brings, it brought us to the concluding chapter, chapter 12. And it's fair to say that Daniel is not one of the easiest books to comprehend. The conclusions to the book are no different. This, I'm going to say it again.

I keep saying it, but it's fantastic. It's mysterious. I think that's why I'm so drawn to it. I love a good mystery. And now as we reach the end, we saw Daniel was told to seal up the book till the time of the end.

That adds more mystery to it, surrounding the book. He's told to seal, conceal this. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Verse one of chapter 12 is a fitting beginning to the conclusion. The time of the end is near as decreed by heaven.

The tribulation is coming and only the righteous will endure but fear not because the forces of heaven are guarding the people. And we see that in the picture of Michael standing guard over the people.

Verse two bears some explanation. I'll read verse two. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. Now that's one of the verses that caused people to say this is talking about the return of Christ at the end of history.

And it does seem to be that same language, does it not? But this cannot be because the general resurrection, all mankind will be, this is only many. So it cannot possibly be the general resurrection at the end of time.

This verse speaks only of many who will sleep in the dust. Well, if we take in context, this is figurative language speaking of a national resurrection of those who were dead in the old covenant system and have come to faith now in Jesus Christ.

The language is similar to Ezekiel. You were wondering why we read Ezekiel. Ezekiel 37, the vision of the dry bones. It's so similar, let me read what Ezekiel 37. This is the explanation that God gives.

Then he said to me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, our bones are dried up, our hope has perished, we are completely cut off. What's that explaining? The bones are dead, dead, dead.

I'm gonna say it, not mostly dead. You know I slip that in anytime I get a chance. So here we have a valley full of dead bones. Therefore prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come out of your graves, my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

He speaks to the bones. Then you will know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves and caused you to come out of your graves, my people. I will put my spirit within you and you will come to life and I will place you on your own land.

Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken and done it, declares the Lord. This was a picture of the national resurrection of Israel and God being merciful to them and putting them back on the land.

Israel at the time of Christ was spiritually dead. They needed to be revived because they were asleep in the dust of the ground. And that's what's being referred to in this chapter. Verse three of Daniel 12.

Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven and those who will lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. Those who are born again became the early church, the new covenant, and therefore they had the wisdom of God.

They were those who had insight and they led many to righteousness. They shone like the stars and as we know, the early church was extremely evangelistic and led many to Christ. In fact, in one of our lessons, we saw that the gospel went to the whole known world.

And then verse four. But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time. Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase. What exactly does that mean? Well, I'm gonna just quote a Reformed scholar who said it so well, I don't think I can improve upon it.

He said, the sealing of the book, however, does not mean that it cannot be understood, but rather that the angel has told Daniel that all he is going to say at this point in history. The book is unsealed in Revelation 5 and 6.

And in Revelation 22, 10, the completed book is left unsealed because there is no more to be said. So as we read the rest of the chapter, we find Daniel still questioning what happens at the end of time.

Interesting, he sounds almost like the disciples when Jesus was ascending to heaven. And in similar fashion to the response of Jesus when the disciples questioned him, Daniel is told, go your own way.

The words have been concealed. In other words, Daniel, Daniel is told things will be revealed in due time. And that is what we see in the Olivet Discourse and the book of the Revelation. That's why we pulled the Olivet Discourse into the book of Daniel.

Time is moving on the path that has been decreed by God. And God has revealed all that is necessary for the covenant people of God to repent and to follow him. Now, some of the prophecies we've studied in this book were difficult to understand, yet most of them were clear when we looked at them in the right context.

There's two other major events in the book that we haven't, we've mentioned, but they bear further comment. Firstly, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being saved from the furnace of blazing fire. Second one, of course, is Daniel being thrown into the lion's den.

Why are they significant? Not just because they were miracles. Yes, they were amazing miracles. And we love to tell our children these stories. And I hope you're sitting and telling your children these stories about Daniel being cast into the lion's den.

But tell it right. Daniel was not a 10-year-old boy when he was thrown. He was a fully grown man. Later in life, maybe not as old as me, but pretty close to it. And no, I did not talk to him personally.

These are significant, not just because they were miracles, but they demonstrate several important principles concerning the themes of Daniel. Once again, what do we see? The absolute sovereignty of God.

The enemies of God wanted these faithful servants of God dead. So in each instance, there's a conspiracy against them that from a human perspective seems foolproof. I mean, these conspirators were pretty sharp.

They knew how to conspire. From a human perspective, the conspiracies couldn't fail. Daniel is seen by witnesses violating the command of the king not to pray. And his three friends, well, they weren't even as discreet as Daniel.

They defy the order of the king in a public place. No, we're not gonna serve the golden idol. In each case, they are sentenced to death. And the punishment is carried out, but they live. There are several lessons for us in each of those events of history.

Obvious lessons concerning standing firm for Christ even in the face of death. We see the demonstration of God's faithfulness in the most severe cases. But we must not overlook what these events are saying in the context of the whole book of Daniel.

In the midst of God revealing the course of human events leading up to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, while he is relating the coming and the goings of kingdoms, and while he is showing us the role these kingdoms play in history, these two events snap our attention back to the fact that God is sovereign over history and over the affairs of men.

And as the hymn writer said, he is the Lord of love. He is the love of peace, the Lord of peace. He is the Lord of years. He is the potentate of time. And he raises up kingdoms and tears them down as he pleases.

And probably one of the most thrilling portions of the book of Daniel is when Nebuchadnezzar is saved and he comes to his senses, what he says is simply amazing. Because he says, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion.

His kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but he does according to his will in the host of heaven. And among all the inhabitants of the earth, no one can ward off his hand or say to him, what have you done?

So as we close, let's quickly review our reasons for studying this mysterious and fantastic book. And I ask you, were our reasons valid? Did we accomplish what we set out to accomplish? Was this study of book, was it a proper founding follow-up to the book of Hebrews?

Did it clarify points of eschatology? Did we learn from Daniel and his friends how to live in an ungodly society? Did we see the doctrine of death and resurrection in Daniel? Was the doctrine of the sovereignty of God clearly and plainly taught and displayed?

Those are the questions I have for the church. Feel free to talk to me afterwards. If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you have clearly seen that God is sovereign over history, over the affairs of men, salvation is by grace of God alone.

You can't work for it, you can't earn it. There's nothing you've done to merit it. Don't try, you'll only mess it up. Bow the knee to Jesus Christ, repent of your sin. Call upon the name of the Lord, confess him with your mouth, believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord and you will be saved.