Daniel

Daniel Chapter 12

Daniel 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and 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, every one that shall be found written in the book.

Here is the time of Jacob's trouble. The seven year tribulation period that Revelation speaks of and Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24.

Michael is the angel that fights for Israel. This tribulation period deals mostly with Israel and their deliverance from the wicked kingdoms of the world. It is the trial of all trials. This does not involve the church. This is the time that Israel discovers who the real Messiah is. Israel finds salvation as a nation.

Just like the Gentiles before them though, the requirement for deliverance will be that their names were found written in the book. How do we get our names written in the book. We will let the bible speak for itself here:

Revelation 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Jesus is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the only way of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles.

1John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Not all Israel is saved at the same time. In Revelation we see that in the middle of the tribulation there are 144,000 who are sealed so that the plagues cannot harm them. They were sealed because they were the ones that were saved after the rest of the believers were taken to Heaven by way of the rapture. Any Jews that had previously came to Christ would have been raptured along with the church. We can assume then that the 144,000 were saved after the rapture. They are numbered and are part of the 12 tribes of Israel. These are not all of Israel so the rest of that nation have not yet repented of sin and turned to Jesus Christ.

The rest of Israel are not delivered or sealed because their names are not yet in that book of life. These are not Gentiles or any group or religious sect but are the tribes of Israel. When God says Israel He means Israel not the church. We see later this same group of 144,000 standing before the throne so that would indicate they were taken up or raptured at some point. They do not seem to be part of any who died first before being taken to heaven.

The reason so many people get confused between Israel and the church is simply because before 1948, there was no Israel and bible theologians, in trying to make the scriptures fit into the church age thinking put the church in places that it didn't belong. We are still having trouble coming out of that error even today. There are verses in Isaiah that many of these well meaning theologians think refers to the church. However, the sealing of these 144 thousand is clear. They are the tribes of Israel. We might not know where they all are but God does.

These are men that are saved at the beginning of the tribulation or in the middle of it and may be those that are used of God to reach the rest of Israel with the message of the gospel. These are the first fruits of Israel as a nation. It is clear that they are sealed in the middle of the tribulation but they could have been saved before that time. Other witnesses during this time are two witnesses that were taken years before in their natural bodies so that they could come back to guide Israel during the tribulation period. They are killed and resurrected after 3 days so that means it was two that didn't die. Some think it is Moses and Elijah although Moses died a natural death we assume. Some think it is Enoch and Elijah, two that we know didn't die before entering Heaven. Another theory is that one of them is John the apostle and Enoch since John the Baptist represented Elijah. So we don't know for sure. I sort of lean toward Enoch and Elijah, but I'm not going to say for sure. Tradition says the John died a natural death already but the bible says nothing about his death so we don't know that for sure either. Interesting stuff to think about though.

Another place in Revelation tells us that after the man child is removed which is probably the 144,000 (Others believe the man child is Jesus Christ), the antichrist goes after the rest of Israel to try to destroy them. This is symbolized in Revelation.

Revelation 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
2 And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.
4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.
6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.

A great many people believe the man child to be Christ but Jesus wasn't caught up to God's throne without suffering and dying on the cross for sin first. He didn't escape with his life. Those caught up in heaven here seem to escape death. Although we read that Mary and Joseph fled with Jesus to Egypt when Harod wanted all the babies killed in order to keep the Christ child from coming. He thought his reign as kind would be in jeopardy. Yet the woman could not be Mary but Israel as a nation.

The woman or Israel flees as Jesus warned them to do in Matthew 24. They go into Jordan, to escape the armies of the antichrist. Some mistakenly think this woman is the church. It is clearly Israel pictured as this woman. We can understand this clearly by remembering the dream of Joseph.

Genesis 37:9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

Jacob understood Joseph's dream about the sun, moon and stars to be He, Joseph's mother and his brethren are the eleven stars. So we see this as a prophecy that happened when Joseph became a ruler in Egypt but also a latter day prophecy concerning the end times.

If we realize the tribulation period is all about Israel and God bringing that nation back to Him, we will not get confused. This does not concern the church. Gentile believers may be saved during this period also but this prophecy concerns Israel. The whole book of Daniel concerns Israel for those are the people Daniel was praying for in chapter 9.

In the book of Revelation, the church is not mentioned after chapter 3. It is not seen again until all these terrible things have passed. There are saints in heaven that may represent the church but it is not seen on the earth at least in the book of Revelation.

Jesus also told Israel to flee when the abomination of desolation is set up in Matthew 24. Again this message is to Israel not the church. The church doesn't have to worry about fleeing Judea and going to the mountains and they certainly wouldn't worry about fleeing on the Sabbath Day. Israel will flee to to a place prepared for them. So after the 144 thousand are taken up to heaven, the others flee and leave Judea. The armies of the antichrist chase after them and an earthquake opens up and devours them. Some were delivered by being sealed like the 144 thousand and the others are delivered by fleeing.

Then the antichrist returns in anger and goes after the rest of Israel. Jesus Christ will deliver them at His coming.

Revelation 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

There will be many that are killed for refusing the mark of the beast, for refusing to go along with the false religious system set up before the rise of the antichrist and for just believing and trusting in Jesus as their Lord. But here is the results of being faithful.

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel is not told that 1000 years separates the first and second resurrection. We see that in the book of Revelation in more detail.

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Here is a comforting message for the church or believers that are Gentiles and Jews.

1Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

God never leaves us ignorant and in the dark if we study and ask for understanding. Yet more and more is revealed as we move closer to the time of the Lord's second coming so these things are never something we should argue and get upset about, just keep studying.

Daniel 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

Those that believe, turn away from sin and obey God by believing in the one He sent to save them, shall shine as stars forever.

Daniel 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

This describes this day and age where knowledge has increased more than any age before us.

Daniel 12:5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and swore by him that liveth forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

The whole time of Jacob's trouble is 7 years but the final part of it, the war on Israel by the antichrist is 3 1/2 years.

Daniel 12:8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

Tribulation and persecution actually is the best thing to discern the false from the real and bring out the worst or the best in us. When real persecution rises, we find out what we are really make of.

Daniel 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

This shows that Daniel the beloved will have his place in the latter days. Old Testament saints also will be among those the rule and reign with Jesus Christ.

Daniel 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Here we see the vision of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament years before even His first coming. Here we see what transpires at His second coming.

The words above in bold is actual scripture. The rest is my comments and are never to be taken above what the scriptures say. Everyone must read, pray and discern the truth as we all search and seek together for understanding from the real teacher which is the Holy Spirit. DC

Blessed be the name of the Lord.

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