Daniel’s prophecy ends with a foretelling of future events with warnings for the Jewish people and a call to remain steadfast in the face of suffering and hardship. Interestingly enough, the events of chapter 11 in Daniel are so perfectly predicted that critical bible scholars believe that these things must have been written after the fact![1] It’s certainly amazing to know that our omniscient and omnipotent God knew all that would happen and He brought all things to pass in accordance with His ultimate purpose. Just as He raised and lowered kings in Babylon and foretold much of His dealings through Daniel, there’s an incredible picture of world history given in this chapter that is known outside the Scripture. Amongst other things, the conquest of Alexander the Great, the division of his empire, and ultimately the greatest persecution of the Jews under Antiochus IV of the Seleucid empire is all recounted in advance in Daniel 11!
In response to coming hardship, both by Antiochus IV and possibly according to some scholars by the Antichrist, Daniel’s writing ends with a source of hope. There might be a time of incomparable trouble, but God says, “But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book” (12:1). Furthermore, there will be a resurrection of those who are “asleep” the common Jewish euphemism for death, with, “some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (12:2). This verse becomes one of the most clear-cut descriptions of the future resurrection in the Old Testament.
Christianity does not proclaim that we will eternally be bodiless spirits floating around in the life after death. While scholars might debate the “intermediate state” between the time of a believer’s death and that final resurrection, the end of the story is a new resurrected body. Christ is the first-fruits of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:20) and just as He was raised to life again, so we will be raised to life again. The Apostle Paul concludes, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor. 15:49). One day, the perishable bodies we have will put on immortality and at this time death will be finally defeated (see 1 Cor. 15:50-55). When Christ comes again, all those who have trusted in Him will rise, those who were dead will be resurrected and those who remain will be immediately transformed (see 1 Thess. 4:16-17; Rev. 20:4).
How do we know this to be so? Because the same God who perfectly predicted all of the events of Daniel 11 says it will be so. The same God who has given His word time after time, and who has never failed, His promise is sure. There is a day of resurrection coming for all those who have trusted in Christ and this should be a great source of hope for all who believe! There might be hardships, there might be persecution, there might be tribulation and all the rest, but let’s not lose sight of the end of the story. In the end, as Daniel predicted, as the Lord Jesus taught, as Paul the Apostle taught, and as John saw in the Revelation, there will be a final day of resurrection. There will be eternal joy and perfect peace for us in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, our hope should remain, as the Apostle Paul once concluded, “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:18).
[1] Michael Rydelnik, “Daniel,” in CSB Study Bible: Notes, ed. Edwin A. Blum and Trevin Wax (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1344.
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