Daniel 12

...continued from Daniel 11:40-45
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Verse-By-Verse

We now see, for the first time, a king that will stand for God's people. The sweeping review of history through the lives of key rulers in Daniel 11, has shown countless struggles for power, mistreatment of God's people and violence against God's covenant. All of this now culminates in the arrival of a final ruler. Michael is the star of this entire prophecy, the same one shown in vision to Daniel in chapter 10. One final struggle is portrayed and then Jesus brings all strife to an end (see more on the identity of Michael).

The words "at that time" indicate that the King of the North will come to his end (Dan. 11:45) during the time of trouble.

Those who are delivered, are delivered because their names are found written in the book of life ("every one that shall be found written in the book"). This takes us back to Daniel 7 when the court scene was shown, judgment was set, and the books were examined. The judgment was the same event portrayed in Daniel 8 as the cleansing of the sanctuary, which began 2300 years after the decree to restore Jerusalem in 457 BC. This event began in 1844, when the court was seated, and now it ends when Michael stands up ("Michael stand up") after the names in the book are finalized.

This time of trouble is the worst the world has ever seen. It is the time of God's wrath when it is unmixed with mercy. The Spirit of God is finally withdrawn from the unrepentant and the earth descends into chaos and unrestrained evil activity. This is also the time of the seven last plagues. Christ protects His people during the plagues and He returns to earth during the 7th plague to rescue His people ("thy people shall be delivered"). The many that are resurrected refers to the 1st resurrection (Rev. 20:5-6). The righteous dead are raised to life (1 Thess. 4:16-17) to join the righteous living in ascending to meet God in the air. They are raised to "everlasting life". There is also a special resurrection for the unrepentant who pierced Him (had a hand in Christ's death on the cross), who will briefly live in order to see him coming in the clouds of glory (Rev. 1:7, Matt. 26:64, Mark 14:62). This latter group is raised to "shame and everlasting contempt". Christ and the saints ("wise") rule forever. The wise shine, reminding us of the bright white clothing that the righteous wear in Revelation, which means that Christ's righteousness is lived out within them. The righteous who spread the gospel are here portrayed as stars, just like in Daniel 8, Revelation 1 and elsewhere, where stars are messengers. Calculating the "Time of the End"

Full understanding of the prophecy would not occur ("seal the book") until sometime during the ("time of the end"). But then, many will study and search ("run to and fro") the Bible and knowledge of the prophecy will increase ("knowledge shall be increased"). Amos 8:12 "And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it."

One of the heavenly beings asks to know when the events in verse 4, the time of the end, would occur. The other being states that it will occur after the 1260 years of persecution of God's people. As seen in multiple other prophecies, that time period began in 538 and ended in 1798.

This time period of persecution is 1260 years ("time, times, and an half") (1 time = 1 year, 1 Jewish year = 360 days, 360 + 2x360 + 180 = 1260 days, 1260 prophetic days = 1260 literal years). The time period is repeated in various other prophecies as "forty and two months" (1260 days) and "thousand two hundred and threescore days" (1260 days) (Dan. 7:25, 12:7, Rev. 11:2, 11:3, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5) (see more about the 1260 Days in Bible Prophecy). They all portray the time when God's people, Jesus' ministry and His Word suffered as the church-state system of the Middle Ages ruled the realm ecclesiastically from 538 to 1798 AD (1260 years). When this "scatter[ing] of the power of the holy people" (12:7) for 1260 years was completed ("accomplished"), the "time of the end" would begin. So, from 1798 to the Second Coming of Jesus is the "time of the end". Daniel doesn't quite understand and asks the same question. The heavenly being then explains it again, describing the time of persecution, but this time, providing another time frame to help Daniel understand.

This time, the description is in relation to the 1290 days of the removal of the daily and the setup of the abomination of desolation. Earlier, in Daniel 11:31, we saw that the daily sacrifice was taken away in 544 AD when emperor Justinian conquered Italy, issued the Pragmatic Sanction, and his armies enforced his edicts in Italy including the integration of the papacy into the structure of government. By officially establishing the papacy, by law, as part of the structure of government, the Byzantines established the papacy's rebellion (placed the abomination that maketh desolate), which diverted souls away from Jesus' ministry (daily sacrifice), and instead pointed them to the papacy's substitute earthly system of priestly mediation, thus wounding the heavenly sanctuary (sanctuary of strength).

The date of 544 AD, plus 1290 years ("1290 days"), brings us to 1844 AD, the same date in which the 2300 years ended (Daniel 8:14) (see more info on comparing the 2300 days with the 1290 days).

Daniel's writings, portions of which were sealed until the time of the end, would be completely unsealed sometime after 1798 when Daniel's words were destined to bear his testimony ("stand in thy lot") and be preached throughout the entire world.

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