Daniel Unlocked #91. God’s People Vindicated and Saved.
All through Daniel we see two things: God’s people persecuted, and God’s people ultimately vindicated and saved. The reality of this should help us to stay faithful, regardless of our immediate trials. The panorama of prophecy has presented a succession of events leading down to the opening of the judgment. But that part of his prophecy which related to the last days, Daniel was instructed to close up and seal ‘to the time of the end.’ Not till we reach this time could a message concerning the judgment be proclaimed, based on the fulfillment of these prophecies. But at the time of the end, says the prophet, ‘many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase..’ Daniel 12:4 NLT.
The apostle Paul warned the church not to look for the coming of Christ in his day.
‘For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.’ 2 Thessalonians 2:3NLT. Not till after the great apostasy, and the long period of the reign of the ‘man of lawlessness,’ can we look for the advent of our Lord. The ‘man of lawlessness,’ which also is called ‘the mystery of iniquity,’ ‘the son of perdition,’ and ‘that wicked one’ represents the papacy, which, as foretold in prophecy, was to maintain its supremacy for 1260 years. ‘lawlessness’ in the Greek literally means ‘against the law.’ This period ended in 1798. The coming of Christ could not take place before that time. Paul covers with his caution the whole of Christian history down to the year 1798. It is this side of that time that the message of Christ’s second coming is to be proclaimed.
There are no dates that can be set beyond the 2300 years of Daniel 8:14. To try and do so is both impossible and faith destroying. In 1844 we entered the judgment phase of this world’s history, and we should note that we are not at the beginning of that period but well advanced along the line. Daniel’s last prophecy, along with those in Revelation (our next study) should indicate to us that the end of all things is imminent. How imminent is not for me to speculate. Revelation calls the final period of earth’s history ‘Laodicea’, which means “Judgment of the people.”
Jesus gave a crucial prophetic principal John 14:29, “I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do happen, you will believe.” NLT. That should help us understand how to use prophecy to our spiritual advantage and avoid the trap of making or believing in false predictions.
Think of the time we live in now, with instant communication, impending cashlessness, as well as amazing industrial and scientific advances. It makes the idea of a “time of trouble such as never was” something not that hard to imagine happening. We could add to that a plethora of issues facing our planet – politically, socially, and environmentally.
Given that the God of Daniel is our God, and we are God’s people, the promises to Daniel are our promises too. Michael, namely Jesus Christ, is our representative in the heavenly sanctuary. He is the living God who drives history and watches over us. Thus, we can live in the present, and look into the future, with joy and confidence.