The Ending is the Beginning

The Ending is the Beginning

Daniel 12:1 “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 [Or who impart wisdom] 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, close up and seal the words of
the scroll
until the time of the end. Many will go here and
there to
increase knowledge.”

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me
stood two
others, one on this bank of the river and one on
the opposite bank.

6 One of them said to the man clothed in linen,
who was above
the waters of the river, “How long will it be
before these
astonishing things are fulfilled?”

7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the
waters of the
river, lifted his right hand and his left hand
towards heaven,
and I heard him swear by him who lives for ever,
saying, “It
will be for a time, times and half a time. [Or a
year, two years
and half a year] When the power of the holy
people has been
finally broken, all these things will be completed.”

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

9 He replied, “Go your way, Daniel, because the
words are
closed up and sealed until the time of the end.

10 Many will be purified, made spotless and
refined, but the
wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the
wicked will
understand, but those who are wise will understand.

11 “From the time that the daily sacrifice is
abolished and the
abomination that causes desolation is set up,
there will be 1,290 days.

12 Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches
the end of the 1,335 days.

13 “As for you, go your way till the end. You
will rest, and then
at the end of the days you will rise to receive
your allotted inheritance.”


One thing that a christian has to keep in mind at

all times as they consider the events leading up

to the end of time, what the end is for this

world, is actually the beginning of the eternal

world, the 'kingdom' of G-d. As I look around I

see all the fear, uncertainty and doom that

permeates the process of change in our times, I'm

reminded by scripture that there is a better

future for the believer. The apocalyptic ending,

described in scripture, is our beginning.


It seems that the chapter and verse as it's

structured in contemporary print, is misleading

or confusing. Verse one in chapter twelve seems

to be the end of the preceding passage. Then

12:2 begins the next passage, with the

resurrection of the dead and the final judgement.

The final passage, beginning with verse two,

seems to be a summary of the preceding prophetic

timeline, a statement by Daniel that he doesn't

comprehend the significance or at what time in

the future that these events will take place and

a conclusion as to Daniel's destiny. He is told

that the end time prophecy will 'be sealed' until

the time is at hand, and he will depart or 'rest'

until the conclusion of earth-time when he will

be resurrected with the righteous '...to receive

your allotted inheritance...'. The summary is a

repetition of the of the events and timeframe

leading up to the end of time and the beginning

of eternity, that apparently is going to be

intiated by the final resurrection event.


So, the resurrection is not something that was

invented by the Apostle's at the beginning of the

Christian Era and incorporated into the christian

gospel. As far back as this mention in the book

of Daniel, we are told about the resurrection of

the dead. And as I just looked it up, there are

numerous fragments from the book of Daniel found

among the dead sea scrolls, so that convincingly

dates the doctrine of the resurrection to at

least 200 years before the Christian Era.


Daniel was told that the time would come, but in

his time the meaning of the prophecy would remain

'sealed'. Given that we now have the book of the

Revelation, written some 600 or so years after

Daniel's time, to help fill in some more of the

details leading up to the end of time, we can

place Daniel's prophecy into a fuller prophetic

context. To Daniel, this was all new material,

and it passed down from one generation to the

next as another chapter in prophetic scripture,

whose meaning was not at all certain in the minds

of the writers, since it was 'sealed'.


It's not until the present time that we can

finally begin to piece together the significance

of the events recorded in this book. As we look

around we can see the trajectory that world

events are moving along. We can see the push

toward globalism; one world commerce and one

world government. We can see that in this

generation, the revival of the nation of Israel

is against all odds and yet very clearly a piece

of the prophecy outlined both in the book of

Daniel and in the book of the Revelation. As

christians, we should not find it upsetting at

all that these trends are in place as if there

was some sort of sinister conspiracy to destroy

the sovereignty of the US or Israel. No, it's

already been incorporated in prophetic scripture.

It is there to let us know, that as Daniel was

reminded of the sovereignty of G-d in the midst

of his hopeless situation as a slave in the

heathen kingdom of Babylon, we are to take hope

in the events that are coming upon the world as

also under the direction of Divine Providence.

Can you see that it is not reason for anxiety and

despair. It's just the opposite. It's the

thrill of being able to occupy a front row seat

as the prophecy of scripture unfolds across the

stage of history. As believers we are provided

with the script, and can watch as world events

take the shape of end time prophecy.


On the other hand, verse ten reminds us that for

unbelievers, it is an entirely different story;

'...None of the wicked will understand...'. We

have the priviledge of knowing the end from the

beginning, but for the unbeliever, I'd imagine

that there is likely a good deal of anxiety

surrounding the fearful changes that are coming

upon the world. They don't share the doctrine of

Providence. They can't find comfort in their

inability to understand, and the nagging

suspicion that destiny isn't under their control.

An inability to recognize the sovereignly

designed context of world events will likely lead

to increasingly more bizzare behavior on the part

of those whose dominant urge is to excercise

control. And that my friends is exactly what's

described in the apocalyptic visions, a tightly

controlled world political and commercial system

that is totally intolerant of every alternative.

It's not hard to imagine. On a small scale,

these systems already exist, and they clearly

don't recognize the consequences of their

activity. There is only a pathological pursuit

of what we call power. We already have a good

idea how that plays out, based on the record of

history. Kingdoms rise and fall without any

apparent real-time recognition of the reason for

the ascent or the decline. Daniel emphasizes the

point that behind the scenes, what the godless

fail to consider, there is the hand of Providence

that has designed the beginning and the ending

into the fabric of time.