First light over the flat plain beside the Tigris: pale gold low in the east, one bright morning star alone high in a clear deep-blue sky, date palms dark below.

The last vision

Daniel 12

Cyrus’s third year, about 536 BC. What do you expect to wake up to when your life is over?

13 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1Exiles at courtBabylon, 605 BC: four young men and the king’s food
2The king’s dreamAbout 603 BC: a statue, a stone, a kingdom forever
3The fiery furnaceThree men who would not bow
4The great treeNebuchadnezzar humbled, then praising God
5The writing on the wall539 BC: Belshazzar’s feast, Babylon’s last night
6The lions’ denDarius the Mede, and a man who kept praying
7Four beasts and the Son of ManBelshazzar’s first year: the kingdoms again
8The ram and the goatMedia and Persia, Greece, and a proud horn
9Seventy weeksDarius’s first year: Daniel’s prayer and Gabriel’s answer
10–12The last visionCyrus’s third year: kings, the end, and the risingChapter 12

The End Times

The angel

“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

The angel

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.

The angel

First light striking a limestone hillside of rock-cut tomb doorways, each closed by a squared block of stone, dew on the grass and small wild flowers in front, the sky brightening above.

And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.

The angel

Then 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.

Daniel 12:3

The angel

The angel

But 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.”

Question

Quick question

This is the plainest promise of the resurrection in the Old Testament.

What does 12:2 say will happen to many who sleep in the dust?

Daniel

Daniel

Then I, Daniel, looked and saw two others standing there, one on this bank of the river and one on the opposite bank. One 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?”

Daniel

And 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.”

Daniel

I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?”

The angel

“Go on your way, Daniel,” he replied, “for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. Many 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 angel

And from the time the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.

The angel

First light on a quiet path through date palms beside the Tigris, running on toward a brightening eastern sky, an old walking staff leaning against a palm trunk.

But 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.”

0:08

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Lord, my name is in Your book, and the dust will not have the last word. Make me wise, and use me to lead others to righteousness. Help me go on my way until the end, and then rest, and rise.

Daniel’s visions

Whiteboard

Four visions, one message: kingdoms rise and fall, God’s people suffer for a set time, and the end belongs to God and His King.

You’ve experienced

Daniel 12

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A verse to carry with you

Then 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.

Daniel 12:3

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