The End was Near
Daniel 12:1-4
Daniel 12:1–4 (NIV): 12 “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people—everyone whose name is found written in the book—will be delivered. 2 Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever. 4 But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge.”
- Michael (Aramaic)- means “he who is like-El” or “he who is like God
- He is like God but is NOT GOD
- Michael is the guardian of the Israelites
- This passage makes a huge transition of future demise. The author makes a reference in Daniel 10:12-14:
- Daniel 10:12–14 (NIV): 12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”
- Michael is not fighting the literal king of Persia, but an evil spirit of Persia. What was Michael fighting against?
- Embedded Racism- being persecuted for being a Jew
- Blind Consumerism- accumulating more and more, rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
- Wait, who’s talking to Daniel?
- Gabriel- means “God is my hero” or “God is my strength.
- Speaks for God- chief of public relations
- Look to the stars!
- We’ve read this somewhere else…
- Isaiah 25:7–8 (NIV): 7 On this mountain he will destroy
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
8he will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace
from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
- The Son of Man was Coming!
- Luke 1:26–28 (NIV): 26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
- Matthew 2:9–11 (NIV): 9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.
- Matthew 26:64 (NIV): 64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
- Matthew 27:50–53 (NIV): 50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. 51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split 52 and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. 53 They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.