Purging, Wickedness, and Insight. Daniel 12:3-13 | Adult Sunday School

Good morning. Yeah. Long-suffering. Good morning. Welcome to Kootenai Community Church Adult Sunday School. Well, odds are, at least I'm going to do my best, we're going to try to finish Daniel today.

We've got more verses than we normally go through, but we'll see what happens. How many of you remember when we started, Daniel? More than that. December 22, 2019. I didn't have as much gray hair. You didn't have as much gray hair, yeah.

What I was doing is I was trying to stretch it out so that we would live part of the book, you know, but it didn't work. What's that? No, no, no, no. Okay, let's open in prayer. Father, we thank you for your Word.

It is delightful and precious. And this morning, as we look into it, we pray for your illumination. Give us wisdom to apply the things we hear, to understand, to be those who will shine brightly like the stars of the firmament, who lead others to Christ.

Might it be so, and we'll thank you for all you're going to accomplish through this body. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen. So yeah, we started Daniel in 2019, December of 2019. And there's, you know, because it's intermittent and because it gives way to other things that happen.

I haven't actually looked to see how many lessons there were. I'll do that just for giggles because I'm a nerd and I want to know. But so this morning I'd like to start by reading the entire, not the entire book, but the entire chapter, chapter 12.

And we'll get some context. I'm going to start with verse 43, verse 44 of chapter 11 because the break there is an unfortunate one. It actually is a carried through thought. So if you will with me, Daniel chapter 11, verse 44, when the antichrist is led away from where he was killing people.

Verse 44, but rumors from the east and from the north will disturb him and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful mountain, the beautiful holy mountain.

Yet he will come to his end and no one will help him. Now at that time, Michael, the great Prince, chapter 12, verse one, who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise and there will be a time of distress as has 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. And 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.

And 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 be increased 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? And 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 accomplished, will be completed. As for me, I heard, but could not understand. So I said, my Lord, what will be the outcome of these events?

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

And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days. But as for you, go your way to the end and you will enter into your rest and to rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.

So Daniel's going to find out that for many people, their best life now will be to lead others to Christ and then be murdered. And that's often what happens here on this desolate planet that abandoned God some 4 ,000, 6 ,000 years ago.

He has given us everything we need. He will continue to give us everything we need. He has given us every grace. He has given us every blessing. But the blessings in our lives sometimes come in the form of difficulties that turn us to him.

And Daniel's going to find that out. What prophet wants to ask God a question? He has the messenger of God in front of him, hovering over a river. And he says, I'm not understanding. Can you give me more information?

And the angel says, no, go your way. What prophet wants to hear that? The prophecy's done. This is what you get to know. And Daniel does in fact go his way and sealed up the book and left it prepared for future generations from the time that he lived on down through today.

And we're reading it today. Think about the fact that a man inspired by the Holy Spirit spent time, put these words to paper. God gave him the insight he needed to give us what we need if we are in the last time to have insight so we can lead others to Christ.

Because that's what the gospel is. And the gospel is the power of God. I don't want to get to rambling here. Just it was exciting to me this morning as I thought about this. We're in the last chapter.

And if I don't shut up and get busy, we're not going to finish it. But we're in the last chapter. And this whole book has been incredibly exciting. And God just ends it kind of on a, an even note. You know, there's no, no cavalry rides over the hill.

No disarming of the bomb happens and millions are saved. We have the information we need as Daniel had to go our way and be about the business of serving Christ. So with that, as we have started in chapter 12, we, we finished with verse two last week, two weeks ago.

Wasn't that a good conference? I got to listen to some of it online. What a testimony. Holy mackerel. You didn't know fishes were holy, did you? So let me grab the last slide. I remember when it vibrates, it's ready.

So many of those, it says in verse two, who sleep in the ground will awake there to have these two everlasting life, but others to grace and everlasting contempt. And we discussed the fact that that is talking about an actual bodily resurrection and that Daniel will be part of that in the end times.

We will be part of it. If we, if we if we die before the second coming of Christ, there will be a resurrection, a bodily resurrection in the end times. And this is one of the hopes that Daniel had. This is one of the hopes as we looked at many scriptures that all the old Testament saints and everyone later from that, which would be from the beginning, have the same hope, a bodily resurrection to live in eternity with Christ, with the Father, with the Holy Spirit.

And then we look at verse three and it tells us some of the infrastructure of that happening, of that making. It says, 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.

So the same form, this same form of those who have insight appeared in Daniel 11 verse 33 and verse 35 and refers there to people who helped others wise up in opposition to the persecution levied against Israel by Antiochus Epiphanes.

Every tyrant will try to tell you what you want to hear for a while until they develop enough power to just take you, take it, take you, take you over. So in this case though, this verse, it's referring to those who will do the same thing.

They will help people in the end times wise up and understand the wiles and the lies of the Antichrist because, mark it, he's going to look authentic. It is going to be difficult to discern and only the people of God who have spent time in the Word and who have the Holy Spirit will understand and be able to discern and they will be the ones who will shine brightly, who will lead others to righteousness.

In the last chapter, the result of those imparting their insight was understanding to the many on the one hand, but it will also, as it did then, result in some being killed, which will result in the purification of the remnant.

There's nothing like purifying a group of people than having some of them who thought they were that group of people being killed. I don't know if I'm really signed on for this, a lot will say, and they will go out from us because they were not of us.

This is what it's talking about. The thought here is that the wise will shine brightly, causing many to come to righteousness. Many Jews will be persuaded by their wisdom, this group of people, by their wisdom to turn to their Messiah, to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ.

This will also result in the death of many, but the faithful will always do what God intended and designed them to do, which is to preach the gospel no matter the cost, no matter the cost. These are the people who will be able to see through the convincing signs that the Antichrist demonstrates.

They will be able to discern through scriptural truth the difference between the Antichrist and the Lord Jesus Christ, even though one, the former, closely mimics the Lord, the latter. Note also that in keeping with the fact that the righteous are resurrected at a different time than the unrighteous, this verse only speaks of the resurrection.

There are several resurrections. I think we looked at that last time. But one other thing, this entire, if you want it, this entire PowerPoint is available online, and it's like 225 slides or something like that.

So when you download it, it'll take about three weeks. The verse marks the end of the angel's soliloquy. So the angel's done. He's done giving Daniel information about the last days, which started in chapter 10.

What is to come is a response to specific questions from another messenger and from Daniel. Another messenger asked the question. Daniel asked the question. Verse 4, 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. So Daniel was instructed here to protect the information he was given. When a functionary of the government was done with a particular document, they would roll it up, they would seal it with wax.

Doesn't mean you don't get to read it. You can't open it. Doesn't mean it's going to be hidden. It means it's protected, that you can't violate this now. So Daniel's writing will be available throughout time, protected.

Who protects it? God protects it. Boy, did he do a great job. What would we expect? So he was not instructed to hide the words. The idea behind conceal was to protect for further use at the end of a writing project, as I mentioned, especially one that had legal import.

A scribe would place his cylinder seal on the bottom of the document and run it over the document, guaranteeing its authenticity. God, Yahweh, wanted these words to be protected and guarded throughout time.

This could have referred to the message just completed by the angel, or it could have been for all four of the revelations, or even the entire book of Daniel. That's my belief, that it covered the entire book.

In any event, it was to protect the information given, and God indeed did that for our benefit, for the benefit of all believers throughout history. The statement phrase, many will go back and forth, quote-unquote, is uniformly believed to correspond with the statement made by the prophet Amos in Amos, chapter 8, verse 12.

Contextually, in Amos, it is a declaration regarding those seeking knowledge who are unable to find it properly because a lack of understanding of God's words. So the information could have been right in front of them, but because they didn't understand Scripture, they couldn't understand what was given to them.

Amos 8, 11, and 12 says, Behold, the days are coming. No, excuse me. Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord.

Hearing, not finding, not seeing, not having it available, rather for hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and from north even to the east. They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.

The idea is that as time flows on, more and more information becomes available, especially historical information. A time would come when the preserved words of the book of Daniel would begin to make more sense.

And history revealed what had happened and does a number of things. It stamps approval, the approval of time, if you will, on the word of God. God said this would happen, and look, it happened. We know it's true because it's God's word, but isn't it comforting to see that all the things that he predicted up through chapter 11, verse 35 happened the way he predicted them exactly?

For example, from our perspective, we have a far better understanding of the book of Daniel than people from the fourth and fifth centuries B .C. A parallel understanding would be something like this.

When Jeremiah gave the prophecy of the 70-year exile, about 70 years before the exile ended, so for the next 69 years, people would look at Jeremiah's prophecy with hope. One year later, they would look at it as history.

It happened as he said. So for 69 years, it was a prophecy that they would hang on to, they would cling to, and then when it happened, they looked back and it was a confirmation that their God was true and righteous in everything he said.

So we have many of the occurrences of history that are fulfilled through verse 35 of chapter 11. From chapter 11, 36, believers today wait with bated breath to see how history will record those later prophecies of Daniel.

We know they will be accurate. We don't know exactly how they will play out. From this verse, it appears that as the final days approach, more and more understanding will result from the study of God's Word and application of that to the historical happenings so that those who occupy that time in history will have enough of an understanding to be able to resist the machinations of the Antichrist as verse 3 so eloquently describes.

So Leon Wood paraphrases this way in his commentary. He says, many shall run to and fro in their desire for knowledge of the last things and finding in Daniel's book, because it will have been preserved to this end, their knowledge shall be increased.

And that's how this works. And we don't want to run ahead of it and we don't want to run behind it. Don't chase after these fanciful science fiction interpretations of the book of Daniel. Stick to what the text says.

We know that one of the things we know is it's going to be a time like no other. It's going to be unbelievable persecution and destruction and all the other things that were revealed in the previous sections of this book.

And then when you're reading other scripture, let scripture comment upon scripture. It's fine to go to trusted commentators, but first let the scripture comment on scripture. When you're reading Revelation, work it through your mind, studying, thinking through Daniel and Amos and Zechariah and Hosea and Joel and the other prophets of the Old Testament and of the New Testament.

Paul talks about Israel, especially in the book of Romans. So scripture will comment on scripture and those who live in those times will, with the aid of the Holy Spirit in scripture, understand what is going on and they will shine like stars in the darkness, leading others to righteousness, preaching the gospel.

This is not to imply that the search for knowledge is relegated exclusively to the last days, for of course that is untrue. There will be a great increase in seeking the knowledge of the end times as the end times draw close.

Daniel's record would serve others at a later time in history. And this is what he's going to be told. We'll see that. Any questions about those first two verses? I got carried away. Okay, verse 5. Now he ends this, now the angel's soliloquy has ended and he says, then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing.

Two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. With the revelatory dissertation by the angel over, Daniel begins his narration again. He sees two more angelic beings.

One is standing on the far side of the river and one is standing closer to him. There is some speculation that these two might have been there all along, even conversing while the angel, the main angel was giving Daniel the revelation.

In any event, Daniel now has two more onlookers that he is aware of or that he comments on at least by now. It may be as simple as the fact that Peter revealed in the New Testament that angels are curious about the events on earth and the happenings among humans.

They were probably, they could have just been there listening, excited about what God was revealing to this prophet about what was to come because they don't know the future either. They serve God in the same, well, in many of the same ways we serve.

As time unfolds, they do what they're told by God. Peter revealed in the New Testament that angels are curious about the events on earth and the happenings among humans. The questions demonstrate that they heard what was being told to Daniel by the main angel, by the great angel.

In 1 Peter 1, 10, 12, we read, As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

So this may very well have been some of what this is referring to. These angels, this is interesting to them, and they're looking into it. They're the spirits that serve the people that God has created, and so it's interesting to them.

It could very well have been that, or it also could have been, well, I better not steal my own thunder. We'll get to that. So two angels and a third, the main angel and two other angels that were probably there listening for a while, and I don't know if Daniel was aware of them or not.

It's not material to the discussion here, but it's just interesting. Any questions or comments? Yes. So he asked if he wondered why they revealed themselves to Daniel if they were just standing there listening.

We don't know if that's what happened. We don't know if they revealed themselves or if they were there the whole time and then Daniel just addressed them or if they actually became apparent at some point.

But one of those things happened. So it doesn't say in the text, go your way, Rick. Seal up the book and do what you're told. You're heading for the river. So, and one said to the man dressed in linen, the other angel 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?

Likely the angel on the same side of the river as Daniel asked this question. He addressed the man dressed in linen, who was probably the same angel referred to in chapter 10, verse 5, where it says, I lifted my eyes and looked and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen whose waist was girded with a belt of the pure gold of Uphaz.

The angel was above the waters. Possibly he was there the entire time. He was speaking to Daniel, but we do not know. We do know that at some point he had been on the bank of the river because he was touching Daniel and strengthening him.

But at this point he's above the waters. And I don't like doing symbolism, but if any symbolism can be taken from this, it might be that the angel hovering over the water was higher in heavenly hierarchy than the two that had just been described by Daniel.

But it may or may not mean that. And this is where we get into trouble building doctrines on what may or may have happened. So just, the angel was above the water, and he was above probably the others.

Probably it also might have just been that he got up higher so more people could, the others could hear him. Who knows? But at any rate, he's above. It is noteworthy that the word used for river here, interestingly, is not the standard Hebrew word for river, which is Nehar, but rather it is Yeor, which is usually only used to describe the Nile River.

You should not, we should not overstate that significance, but it may be that since the ancients recognized the Nile as a mighty river, this would stress the authority of the grand angel standing in control over the tigress, and thus it was representative of Yahweh's sovereignty and control.

The answer the angel gives in verse 7, which we will look at next, creates a context for the question which is not the history recent related by the angel, but rather the end of time, the time of the end, that is the tribulation.

This is what we're focusing on here. This is what the angels are focusing on, and this is what Daniel is not really understanding, but kind of understanding, you'll see. Further context is given that the end in Daniel regularly refers to the tribulation week.

So the angel is asking the great angel, how long will the Antichrist be permitted to oppress Israel? That's essentially the content of that question. How long will Israel be oppressed by the Antichrist?

So verse 7 answers that question, and then I heard the man dressed in linen, Daniel says this, 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 finish shattering the power of the holy people, all of these ends will be completed. Did you get that? As soon as those who are in control or seeming control in the end times finish shattering the power of Israel, those ends will be completed, the time will be completed, the events will be completed, I should say.

So Israel is going to be shattered. It's going to be shattered. Not completely annihilated, but destroyed, killed, damaged, hurt. This is going to be as it says in Matthew 24, an unprecedented tribulation.

Tribulation at such a time as never. It's just more stress on that fact. It's kind of like we need to be reminded of that sometimes. No, it's going to be really bad, really bad. I said really bad. He's leaning over the angel, well I would have, but God didn't put me there because he knows nerds are not good angels.

This angel was trying to stress to Daniel that the holy people had to be shattered. It's hard for a prophet of Israel to hear that his people are going to be shattered, really hard. Daniel spent who knows how many days, years in prayer for his people, only to be told that there was going to have to come a time when in order for them to come to their Messiah, much of the holy people would have to be destroyed.

So it was common in ancient times for one speaking something very important to raise a hand to heaven as one was speaking. The angel here raises both hands, stressing the importance of the statements to come.

He also utters an oath invoking Yahweh, as he says, him who lives forever. We see that in Deuteronomy 32, chapter 32, verse 40 as well. The answer he gives further substantiates that the question and the answer are referring to the tribulation period.

The angel confirms that it will be the last half of the tribulation period, the tribulation week, a period of three and a half years, a time, times, and half a time. He is speaking of the Jews and of the fact that all of their power will be destroyed as the Antichrist persecutes them to break their power.

The Jews must come to this point so that they will have nowhere to go but to turn to Christ and to trust him and to repent and to receive him as their rightful king. It will take the Antichrist three and a half years to be used by God, to be used by God to bring the Jews to this point.

Daniel first made this point in chapter 7, verse 25. He said, he will speak out against the most high and wear down the saints of the highest one and he will intend to make alterations in times and law and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

It will be a continuation of him wearing down the Jews, destroying their traditions, and them being completely under his control. The second angel that Daniel saw does not seem to participate in the conversation so he was likely sent, this is some view, I like this view, as a second witness to confirm what the grand angel was saying.

And here's a set of scriptures that you can look into later on if you want to, but it talks about the three and a half years. And then, okay, so can you back me up because I don't seem to be, there we go, back to the three and a half years.

So there is some information on the three and a half years, the different perspectives you gain from it by looking at different scriptures, Daniel 12, Revelation 11, and Revelation 12. All of this corresponds, Daniel comments on Revelation, Revelation is given to John, the information given to John corresponds to the information given to Daniel.

So again, what I was saying was there are numerous scriptures that talk about the fact that important things have to be verified by witnesses. You couldn't bring accusations against people without a witness or two.

And so important declarations, it may very well be that the second angel and the third angel were sent by Yahweh to give Daniel the sense that this is confirmed by two or three witnesses. So now Daniel utters that cry that we often, I myself have uttered as I've read certain scriptures, I don't understand.

As for me, I heard but could not understand. So I said, my Lord, what will be the event, what will be the outcome of these events? Verse eight, the construction of this section in Hebrew indicates that Daniel was trying to understand, but was unable to.

I've put my mind to this, I'm not getting it, he said, not getting all of it. Literally, it is rendered as I was not understanding. He addresses the angels respectfully by using the term, my Lord, what does this mean?

Is the sense of what he is saying here, that's what the sense is. I want to, I want to understand, because sometimes when you're getting something from someone, have you been talking with someone and you weren't understanding what they were saying and you were kind of embarrassed that you didn't understand and you hated to say again, pardon me, what did you mean by that?

And the person, now this angel didn't do that fortunately, although he does put Daniel properly in his place, but you want to say to the person, you're not getting this, what is wrong with you? How many different ways do I have to say it?

The angel didn't do that, the angel was gracious. He says, in verse 9, he says, I need to finish what I was saying about verse 8, getting ahead of myself. Yeah, he is also very likely understood that Israel had to be broken to come to her Messiah, but most likely he was not understanding the severity of the persecution.

Now that's my view, that's not what scripture says, that's my view. I think one of the things he was not understanding was the severity of the persecution that would come, especially since he had been shown somewhat how it would happen.

This is a persecution that Jesus said was unheard of, that would be hard to understand, hard to perceive. And so Daniel needs to be forgiven for being unable to understand the severity of the persecution that's coming.

It's going to be a terrible time. So if we think we're living in the tribulation times now, as the angel said in the vernacular of the Appalachians, he ain't seen nothing yet. And here's what he said to Daniel.

Daniel says, I'm not understanding, what do these things mean? And he says, Daniel, go your way. Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. Now, the angel declines to give Daniel an answer to this specific question.

The idea that the words were concealed and sealed up until the end of time refers to preservation and safety of the record for history and for the future. Again, when the cylinder of the functionary was rolled over the document, it doesn't mean people couldn't read it, look at it, understand it.

It just meant that that had the official seal on it. Don't change what's in there. And so it's a finalized report. That's what Daniel is. It's a finalized report from Yahweh, if you will. I hate to put it in those human terms, but I'm not very good at metaphors or similes.

So finalized report, and it would be protected for all time for us to read. Isn't God good? All the time. Yes, sir. So the angel declines. At the time that it is necessary, more revelation would come and understanding would be granted to those who needed the information because they lived in the time that the information was needed, that the information impacted.

Daniel would have to rest content with the information he was given and for that which he could truly understand. And Daniel did that. He didn't slam down his stylus, close his roll or whatever you did back then and walk away and refused, took his toys from the sandbox.

I'm not writing anymore, Yahweh. He finished the recording for us. He was serving us those 2 ,600 years ago. And then verse 10, many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly.

Go figure. And none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. Did you get that? When we try to understand why some of the wicked people of this world are not getting it, there it is.

They're not given the insight. That doesn't mean we should stand, you know, I know more than you do. Why did God, you know, why did He confer that knowledge to us? We should be humble about that and thankful and do our best to spread the gospel, but the wicked will act wickedly because that's what wicked people do.

In a different order, this verse restates what Daniel was given in verse 35 of chapter 11. It says there, some of those who have insight will fall in order to refine, purge and make them pure. Here we have purge, refine, purge, purified and refine.

Refine, purge and make them pure, verse 35 says, until the end time because it is still to come at the appointed time. Again, sovereignty. Sovereignty of Jehovah, of Yahweh. This parallels what occurred during the time of Antiochus Epiphanes in that the righteous remnant was gathered, purified, purged and refined.

This parallels the prophecy of Zechariah as well. In Zechariah 13, 8 and 9, it says, it will come about in the land, in all the land, declares the Lord, that two parts in it will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in it.

And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested, and they will call on my name and I will answer them. I will say, they are my people, and they will say, the Lord is my God.

So they're going to be refined as silver is refined. Do you know something about how silver is refined? Do they put it in a refrigerator? Fire. Silver is refined by fire. Take that, Joel Osteen, sometimes.

Okay, I'm not going to get off on it. There's no soapboxes up here, so you're safe. So it's noteworthy here that the Hebrew construction is in what is called the reflexive, passive-reflexive. Yahweh will sovereignly effect this in the lives of the Israelites, and in so doing, it will be seen that they will cleanse, make white, and refine themselves in preparation for the coming of Messiah.

Jehovah God will do this to the Israelites, but as He is doing this to them, it will be seen that they are refining themselves. They are being refined and purged and purified, as God's people in the church do, and they will go out.

Those who are not refined and purified will be purged. They will go out so that only the remnant who will lift up Jesus Christ as Messiah will remain. Throughout time, this is God's program, whether it was Israel then or the church now.

God the Father continues His program of discipline, which includes teaching, reproof, correction, and training, and pain, so that the people of God will become righteous, live righteous, and prove that righteousness is God's only plan, is God's plan, as it says in Romans 12.

He must purify His church for His own glory. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, and righteousness, 2 Timothy 3 .16. But He knows the way I take.

When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold, Job 23 .10. I'm not going to read all of these. They're just wonderful, though. 1 Peter 1 .7, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 12 .10, for they disciplined us for a short time, as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. That's God's plan. He was using it then, and He will continue to use it.

So the wicked who are referred to here, too, are those Jews who do not turn to Messiah. They will continue in their wickedness, even as the 144 ,000 that Revelation speaks of are sealed by God at this time.

There is a difference of opinion as to whether the 144 ,000 is an actual number or simply a large number representative of the group of Israelites who will exercise true faith in God. I believe it's a number, and I believe there's 12 ,000 from each tribe, because that's what it says.