13.4- Brief overview of Daniel Chapter 9

The subject of this chapter is continued confession and persistent intercession, and obtaining insight in God’s will by doing this. Here it concerns the spiritual battle for the salvation and future of Israel, and to understand its future.  There are two weapons in this battle: first the intense listening to God’ Word and Promises. (See verse 2:

”I was studying the sacred books and thinking about the seventy years that Jerusalem would be in ruins, according to what the Lord had told the prophet Jeremiah”).

This knowledge is the material for the second weapon: the prayer.

This is being used by Daniel intensely in humble confession and intercession for all of Israel, close by and far. (See verses 7 and 11: “……….This is true of all of us who live in Judea and in Jerusalem and of all the Israelites whom you scattered in countries near and far because they were unfaithful to you………… All Israel broke your laws and refused to listen to what you said……”.)

God’s answer to this humble intersession is to show His love for the intercessor. (See verse 23: “When you began to plead with God, he answered you. He loves you, and so I have come to tell you the answer. Now pay attention while I explain the vision”.)

Intercessors are friends of God. Examples are Abraham, Moses, David, Job (See Job 42 verse 10: “Then, after Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before”.) and Daniel. 

Daniel receives answer to his prayer: ¡There will be salvation and recovery! (See verse 24: “Sin will be forgiven and eternal justice established, so that the vision and the prophecy will come true, and the holy Temple will be rededicated”). 

13.3- Brief overview of Daniel Chapter 8

This chapter gives a view of the end time, (verse 17: “The vision has to do with the end of the world”) looking into the far future, (verse 26: “because it will be a long time before it does come true”).

Although it first speaks about the kingdoms of the Medians and Persians and of Greece, (539-175 BC) we see that the “small horn”, Antiochus Epiphanes, of verse 23, is projected onto the brutal and godless ruler at the end time: the antichrist.  We read that he will install a service of disobedience and blasphemy. See verse 12:

“It even defied the Prince of the heavenly army, stopped the daily sacrifices offered to him, and ruined the Temple. People sinned there instead of offering the proper daily sacrifices, and true religion was thrown to the ground. The horn was successful in everything it did”. However God protects his people, because, as it says in verse 25, “he will be destroyed without the use of any human power”. 

See also 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 8: “Then the Wicked One will be revealed, but when the Lord Jesus comes, he will kill him with the breath from his mouth and destroy him with his dazzling presence”.

13.2-  Brief overview of Daniel Chapter 7

The bible shows in this chapter a depiction of the rise, decline and fall of Satan's kingdom, but also the rise and eternal glory of God's kingdom.

In a nutshell, the whole world history is here being described, from Daniel's time until the end time, culminating in eternity. God's spirit (the four winds) drives this all. He himself brings the nations (the great sea) into uproar and calls on the world powers (the four large animals) to the judgment over their wickedness and rebellion against Him. This big Day of Judgment will mean the restoration of God's Kingship, and that of his people, which includes all the twelve tribes of Israel.  See Revelation 7 verse 1-12: “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds so that no wind should blow on the earth or the sea or against any tree. And I saw another angel coming up from the east with the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels to whom God had given the power to damage the earth and the sea.   The angel said, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we mark the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.” And I was told that the number of those who were marked with God's seal on their foreheads was 144,000. They were from the twelve tribes of Israel, twelve thousand from each tribe: Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, and Benjamin.

After this I looked, and there was an enormous crowd—no one could count all the people! They were from every race, tribe, nation, and language, and they stood in front of the throne and of the Lamb, dressed in white robes and holding palm branches in their hands.  They called out in a loud voice: “Salvation comes from our God, who sits on the throne, and from the Lamb!”  All the angels stood around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures. Then they threw themselves face downward in front of the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Praise, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might belong to our God forever and ever! Amen!”

¡What a promise and comfort to God's people! 

13.0- Additional notes.

13.1- General note

This "Revelation to Daniel" we should read together with the "Revelation to John."

Together they give us a more clear understanding of the time we live in namely: “the End Times”, in which we now find ourselves.

After Daniel, - and especially during the last centuries -, many people (including Pablo, already in the first century) have thought that the "time of the end of the world", and / or the return of Christ was near. Until 1948 all of them had made their calculations and predictions without realizing that the Bible clearly says that Jesus will return amongst his people and He will descend on the Mount of Olives.. See Zechariah 14: 1-4: “The day when the Lord will sit in judgment is near. Then Jerusalem will be looted, (This indicates that the people of Israel must have returned to Jerusalem) and the loot will be divided up before your eyes. The Lord will bring all the nations together to make war on Jerusalem. The city will be taken, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half of the people will go into exile, but the rest of them will not be taken away from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he has fought in times past. At that time he will stand on the Mount of Olives, to the east of Jerusalem. Then the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west by a large valley. Half of the mountain will move northward and half of it southward”…. We know that, - since the siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD -, the Israelites possessed their country again for the first time in 1948, when the state of Israel was officially recognized internationally. By not having returned the Israelites in their promised land before this date, the time of the second coming of Jesus Christ could not be until after 1948. And more precisely after 1967, when the Israelites conquered Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives became part of its territory.

12.5 - Discussion of Daniel 12, verse 11-13

>>> Verses 11 and 12: The timescale about the 1260 days is as, for example, given in Daniel 7 verse 25: “He will try to change their religious laws and festivals, and God's people will be under his power for three and a half years”= 1260 days.

We arrive at “1290 days” taking the time without offering and 30 days for the restoration of worship; this is 1260 + 30= 1290 days. The restoration of worship will take time, see Ezequiel 39 verse 7:

 “I will make sure that my people Israel know my holy name, and I will not let my name be disgraced any more. Then the nations will know that I, the Lord, am the holy God of Israel”. The 30 days represent this restoration time.

1335 days is 1260 days + 75 days for purification of the land. See Ezequiel 39 verse 12: “It will take the Israelites seven months to bury all the corpses and make the land clean again”. … Also the return and reunification of Judah with the ten tribes of Israel will need time before the full and complete worshipping can start again.  See Ezequiel 37: 15-28, where it talks about Judah and Israel in One Kingdom: “…...“Mortal man,” he said, “take a wooden stick and write on it the words, ‘The kingdom of Judah.’ Then take another stick and write on it the words, ‘The kingdom of Israel……”.

Also see Zechariah 10 verses 6-10: “…….I will call my people and gather them together….” And in addition see Zechariah 14: 8-21.

At the end of verse 12 of Daniel 12 it says that we have to remain faithful until the 1,335 days are over. See also Matthew 25 verses

1-13, where we read about the Parable of the Ten Young Women: “……Watch out, then, because you do not know the day or the hour”. 

>>> Verse 13: This verse mentions that at the end Daniel will die, but he will rise again. This rest of Daniel is only for his body, but not for his Spirit, because for the Lord we all are alive. See Luke 20 verse 38: “He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive”. 

12.4 - Discussion of Daniel 12, verse 5-10

>>> Verses 5 and 6: This situation is similar to the one described in Genesis 18 verses 1 and 2 where we read: “The Lord appeared to Abraham at the sacred trees of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the hottest part of the day,   he looked up and saw three men standing there. As soon as he saw them, he ran out to meet them”. Also here in Genesis we see three men, one of them being the Lord Himself. In the vision of Daniel there is also the appearance of the Angel, (the Lord Himself?), with the two men standing by a river, one on each bank. Daniel and Abraham have many things in common: namely their tremendous faith and their intercession for others in their prayers; Daniel for his people Israel and Abraham pleading for Sodom and for Lot.

>>> Verse 7: For a discussion of the three and a half years, when the persecution of God's people ends, see under chapter 8.3 of this blog and its discussion of Daniel 9, verse 27.  At the end of those three and a half years, also the total of the seventy “yearweeks” of Daniel 9 verse 24 will be ended.

>>> Verses 8 and 9: In verse 8 we read that Daniel asks: “But, sir, how will it all end”.  The question: “how will it all end”, is not answered, see under verse 4: The book was to be closed.  However Daniel receives the promise that he will be there at the end of time and receive his reward. 

>>> Verse 10: In this verse it says that many people will be purified. It is because through all this, God acts causing purification, also in today’s Israel. See John 15 verse 3: “You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you”: Purification through suffering.  But those who fear God will see the Lord’s hand in all of this and receive strength. See Matthew 5 verse 8: “Happy are the pure in heart; they will see God!” and Mathew 24 verse 13: “But whoever holds out to the end will be saved”.  Also 1 John 3 verse 3: “Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure”. 

12.3 - Discussion of Daniel 12, verse 3 and 4

>>> Verse 3: This verse begins to say that the wise leaders will shine with all the brightness of the sky. The question here is: Who is wise, who is intelligent?  We read in Proverbs 1 verse 7; “To have knowledge, you must first have reverence for the Lord.  Stupid people have no respect for wisdom and refuse to learn”. This means that, to be wise or to have knowledge, you must first fear the Lord. The same we read in Proverbs 9 verse 10: “To be wise you must first have reverence for the Lord. If you know the Holy One, you have understanding”. Also see Proverbs 15:33, Psalms 111:10, Psalms 112: 1….. ¡ What a consolation for simple people like us!...

Such “simple”,- wise -, people will “shine like stars lighting up the sky”, it says in Philippians2 verse 15: “… so that you may be innocent and pure as God's perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and sinful people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky”.  Very similar words as the words used in this verse 3 of Daniel 12: “The wise leaders will shine with all the brightness of the sky” 

>>> Verse 4: It says in this verse: “close the book and put a seal on it until the end of the world”. In other words, it was hidden for Israel at that time, because it reached too far and it was to be hidden until the end comes …see verses 8 and 9. For us counts however Revelation 20 verse10, where it says: “And he said to me, do not keep the prophetic words of this book a secret, because the time is near when all this will happen”. We live in that time now: the end times. Therefore “many will study and the understanding will increase”.