The End Times

Michael rises at the decisive time, and a distress unlike any before it engulfs the nations, yet those whose names are written in the book are delivered. Daniel is then shown resurrection itself: some awake to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt, while the wise and those who turn many to righteousness shine with enduring splendor. The vision is therefore both sobering and hopeful, binding tribulation, deliverance, judgment, and glory into one final horizon while the words remain sealed until the end.

“¹At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning of nations until that time. But at that time your people — everyone whose name is found written in the book — will be delivered. ²And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt. ³Then the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever. ⁴But you, Daniel, shut up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will roam to and fro, and knowledge will increase.”

Daniel next sees heavenly witnesses standing over the river as the question is raised: how long until these wonders are fulfilled? The man clothed in linen swears by the eternal God that the appointed period will run its course until the holy people have been fully broken, and Daniel is told to go on his way because the words are sealed until the time of the end. The result is not full explanation but moral clarification: many will be purified and refined, the wicked will persist in wickedness, and true understanding will belong to the wise.

⁵Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing there, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. ⁶One of them said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long until the fulfillment of these wonders?” ⁷And the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, and times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people has finally been shattered, all these things will be completed.” ⁸I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?” ⁹“Go on your way, Daniel,” he replied, “for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. ¹⁰Many will be purified, made spotless, and refined, but the wicked will continue to act wickedly. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.

The closing verses attach specific day counts to the removal of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of the abomination, pronouncing blessing on the one who waits long enough to reach the further appointed milestone. Yet the final word is personal rather than technical: Daniel himself is told to continue faithfully to the end, to rest, and then to rise for his allotted inheritance. The book therefore ends by relocating hope from decoded schedules to the sure promise that God's servant will stand again at the end of the days.

¹¹And from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be 1,290 days. ¹²Blessed is he who waits and reaches the end of the 1,335 days. ¹³But as for you, go on your way until the end. You will rest, and then you will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.”