Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
40And in [the] time of [the] end, the king of the south will make war with him, and the king of the north will storm upon him in chariot and in horsemen and in many ships. He will come in lands and he will overflow and he will pass over. 41And he will come to the glorious land and many will be stumbled and these will be escaped from his hand: Edom and Moab and the first of the sons of Ammon, 42and he will send his hand in lands and the land of Egypt will not be [one] to escape. 43And he will rule in [the] treasures of gold and silver and in the all of the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Ethiopians in his steps. 44And news will trouble him from [the] east and north, and he will go out in great fury to exterminate and to destroy many. 45And he will plant the tents of his palace between seas to [the] glorious holy mountain, and he will go out upon his end and no one helping him.
Chapter 12
1And in that time will stand Michael the great prince, the one standing for the sons of your people, and it will be a time of distress which has not been from the existence of a nation from that time, and in that time your people will be delivered, the all of a one being found written in the book.
As I said in the last post, I believe that, from 11:40 on, we have morphed from Antiochus Epiphanes to the Antichrist. It is a bit challenging and certainly debatable where one stops and the other begins, but that is because they are both fractals of Satan’s perfect man. The pattern is the same. It’s just a matter of how thoroughly they express that pattern. Antiochus went a long way toward perfecting it. However, just as Jesus is “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being,” even so the Antichrist will be in every way “like his father the devil and the lust of his father he will do.” Jesus is love and grace and truth incarnate, while the Antichrist will absolutely personify his father’s lying and stealing and murder.
Many writers debate whether, in fact, Daniel’s prophecy here ends in Antiochus or the Antichrist, but, in my [absolutely convinced] opinion, we have morphed into the time of the end. Throughout the book of Daniel, practically every prophecy given was clearly tracing human history to the end of time. Beginning with Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2, prophecies have run until “the rock struck the statue and became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth.” Daniel prophesied “seventy weeks” upon “his people and the holy city.” The 69th week ended when “the Anointed One was cut off,” and there yet remains that 70th week to be accomplished – the “Day of Jacob’s Trouble,” the “time of great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again,” what we call “The Great Tribulation.”
I believe, as I’m reading the text before us, that is what we are currently observing in our Bible. As for these verses 36-45, someone may ask, “What does all this mean?” My answer is, “Beats me.” I’ve expressed some opinions earlier for the section of verses 36-39, but I find, the further I wander along, the more cryptic it all becomes. I suspect that is because, as Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that, when they happen, you will believe.” “When they happen.” The obvious fact here is that the Lord is speaking of a time yet future. I don’t need to understand every word of it. When it does happen, these words will be a great comfort to believers watching events unfold exactly as Daniel predicted. Just as with John, I don’t need to understand what “666” means, but the people who live under the Antichrist will undoubtedly see it flashing like a neon sign.
Having said that, I am personally satisfied to have studied it, to know what it says, to admit I don’t know what it all means, and move on. That said, however, I still feel there is much to learn from what we read here.
First of all, may we all observe, the Lord knows. Daniel’s grand lesson throughout this book has been “the Most High rules in the nations of men.” Here we are reading about the end of the world as we know it, reading about a “time of great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again,” the horrifying “Great Tribulation,” …and being told exactly how those events will unfold. The Lord knows. Even when He momentarily allows evil to seemingly triumph in this world, He will still be absolutely in control. As for even the AntiChrist himself, we’re told, “Yet, he will come to his end, and no one will help him.” As the song says, “Our God reigns!”
Then consider as we spill on over into chapter 12. What do we read? “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise.” We’re back to angels. We’re back to seeing what no eye can see, except by faith – the great cosmic spiritual battle that is raging “behind the scenes.” Here we are again. This time, what people’s eyes will see is “a time of great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again.” However, what do they not see? “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise.” Only believers will read or remember these words and take heart because of them – they’ll “see” by faith that “more are they that are for us, than they that are against us!”
We saw in chapter 10, how an angel fought against “the prince of Persia” for three weeks until Michael came to his aid. We see in Revelation how there was war in heaven and Michael and his angels fought against Satan and threw him and his demons out of heaven. It has always been true, still is, and always will be that “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world” (I Jn. 4:4). What we’re seeing here in Daniel is perhaps the greatest display of God’s power ever to protect His people. Even in the Great Tribulation, our Lord raises up Michael to defend His people. “Fear not,” He says, “for I am with you!” (Isa. 41:10). You and I may not have to face that “Great Tribulation,” but the same God can raise up whatever power is needed to protect you and me, no matter how small or great our fears and troubles!
Then notice it says that Michael is “the great prince who protects your people.” When the angel speaks to Daniel and says, “Your people,” to whom is he referring? Back in 10:14, he said to him, “Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future…” In 9:24, Gabriel had told him, “Seventy ‘weeks’ are decreed upon your people and your holy city…” To whom is the angel clearly referring? “To the Jewish people,” you correctly observe.
I am belaboring this point, since many very fine Christian writers believe the Church today is Israel, that the Jewish people were rejected and the Lord turned to the Church – that it is the Church which has inherited all the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament. One of the first rules of hermeneutics when studying Scripture is to ask the questions, “Who is speaking, and who’s he speaking to?” In my opinion, if words mean anything, when angels speak to Daniel and refer to “your people,” and especially when they add “and your holy city,” they are clearly referring to the Jewish people.
In passage after passage of the Old Testament, the prophecies are given not to the Church, but very specifically to the people of Israel. The “Seventy Weeks” refer to Jewish history, not the Church’s. The “Seventieth Week of Daniel,” yet to come, concerns Jewish history. That is precisely why that last seven-year period, that “time of great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world,” is called “the Day of Jacob’s Trouble” (Jer. 30:7).
As important as the Church may be, we must all appreciate that we live today in “the Times of the Gentiles,” (Luke 21:24-28). This is why it says, “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you [Gentiles]” (Col. 1:27). This “time of the Gentiles,” the Church age, was a mystery to the Jewish people and their prophets.
When we turn to the book of Revelation, beginning in chapter 4, as we read the prophecies of the Seventieth Week, we are reading about the completion of Jewish history. It is their Seventieth Week, not ours. We must humbly admit that this “Times of the Gentiles” is but a parenthesis in God’s plan for Israel. As wonderful as this Church Age may be for us, the “Great Tribulation,” the “time of great distress” is for them, not us. If we would understand our Bibles, if we would understand prophecy, it is very important to distinguish when the Lord is speaking to and of the Church and when to Israel. Here in Daniel 12:1, when Michael is called “the great prince who protects your people,” we should understand it is specifically the Jewish people for whom Michael is the great protector.
At this point, you and I don’t need to somehow feel deprived. Back in 10:13, Michael was called, “one of the chief princes.” Notice the “one of…” I am quite sure we all really do have “guardian angels.” Michael is specifically assigned to protect the people of Israel, and the Lord has other angels assigned to protect us all.
Once again, Daniel calls us to see with the eyes of faith – to read the Word of God – and from it to “see” that the events of this world (which we see with our eyes) are only the visible expressions of a much greater world, the spirit world. Although that world may express itself here even as a “Great Tribulation,” yet our God is in total control and even has angels assigned to protect you and me. Speaking of that terrible time, the angel can assure Daniel, “…everyone written in the book – will be delivered.”
Although you and I will be no part of that “time of great distress,” we all face daily myriads of times which to us are frightening. May we, in those times, even minute by minute at work, at home, at church, strive to see the BIG picture, and fall into “the Everlasting Arms” of our Savior God Jesus who rules it all, and enjoy “the peace that passes understanding!”
