Daniel 12:5 - Meaning and Application

Daniel had been shown the great changes that would shake kingdoms and states, as far as they affected God’s people. In those visions, he saw hard times ahead for the church, and the sight deeply troubled him. So here, at the close of the book, two natural questions are brought forward: When will the end come? And what will the end be? These questions are asked and answered here for fuller comfort, even after the encouragement already given in the verses before.

The question, “When will the end come?” is asked by an angel in Daniel 12:5-6. We should notice first who asks it. Daniel had already seen Christ in glory, the man clothed in linen (Daniel 10:5), but he had been speaking with the angel Gabriel. Now he looks again and sees two other angels, one standing on each side of the river. They stand apart so they will not whisper to each other, but so all can hear what they say. Christ stood on the waters of the river, between the banks of Ulai, so it was fitting for his attendants to stand on either side, ready to go where he ordered them.

These angels appeared to make the vision more glorious and to add to the honor of the Son of Man (Hebrews 1:6). Daniel had not noticed them before, though they were likely there all along. But when they began to speak, he looked up and saw them. The more we look into God’s things and live with them, the more we will see. Those who already know much, if they use it well, will learn more.

They also appeared to confirm the message. Out of the mouth of two or three witnesses, the word may be established. Angels had also appeared to Abraham. They also came to learn and ask questions, because the mysteries of God’s kingdom are things angels long to look into (1 Peter 1:12), and they are made known to the church (Ephesians 3:10). One of these two angels said, “How long?” Perhaps both asked, one after the other, but Daniel heard only one of them.

This question was put to the man clothed in linen, the Christ whom we read of earlier (Daniel 10:5), our great high priest. He was standing above the waters of the river, and Gabriel had been his messenger and interpreter throughout. The river was Hiddekel (Daniel 10:4), the same as the Tigris, near where many of the foretold events would take place, so the vision is set there. Hiddekel was one of the rivers that watered Eden (Genesis 2:14), and Christ fittingly stands by that river, because by him the trees in God’s paradise are watered. Waters often mean peoples, so his standing on the waters shows his rule over all. He sits over the flood (Psalm 29:10), and he walks on the waves of the sea (Job 9:8). To show plainly that he was the same one, he later walked on the water in the days of his flesh (Matthew 14:25).

The question itself was, “How long will it be to the end of these wonders?” Daniel did not ask it himself, because he would not pry into hidden things or appear eager about times and seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority (Acts 1:7). But, so he might still hear the answer, the angel asked it aloud. Our Lord Jesus sometimes answered questions his disciples were too afraid or too shy to ask (John 16:19). The angel asked as one deeply concerned, “How long will it be?” How long until these wonders, these suffering and testing times for God’s people, come to an end?

We learn from this that the troubles of the church are a wonder to angels. They are amazed that God allows his church to be so afflicted, and they want to know what good he will bring from it. Good angels know nothing about the future except what God chooses to show them, and evil angels know even less. The holy angels in heaven care about the church on earth and feel its suffering. How much more should we care, since we are more closely joined to it and much of our peace depends on its peace?

The answer comes from him who numbers secrets and knows the future. The troubles would last for “a time, times, and a half,” meaning a year, two years, and half a year, as had already been hinted (Daniel 7:25). It is the half of a prophetic week. Some take the phrase more loosely, as a set but unclear period, a time that is long but still limited. It begins as “a time,” grows into “times,” and yet ends as only “half a time.” When it is over, it will seem far less terrible than it had seemed before. But it is better taken as a definite period, since the same kind of language appears in Revelation, sometimes as three days and a half, meaning three years and a half, sometimes as forty-two months, and sometimes as 1,260 days.

This set time is confirmed by an oath. The man clothed in linen lifted both his hands to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever that it would be so. In Revelation, the mighty angel shown to John is described in language that clearly points back to this vision, standing with one foot on the sea and one on the land, and raising his hand to heaven to swear that there would be no more delay (Revelation 10:5-6). Daniel’s vision shows the same Mighty One standing with both feet on the water and swearing with both hands raised. An oath serves to confirm a matter. God alone is the one to swear by, because he is the proper Judge to whom we appeal. Raising the hand is a fitting and meaningful sign in a solemn oath.

The answer is also explained by a reason. God will let the enemy go on until he has finished scattering the power of the holy people. God will allow him to do his worst and push to the limit, and then all these things will be finished. God’s time to help and rescue his people is often when their situation has become the most desperate. On the mountain of the Lord, it will be seen that Isaac is saved just when he seems ready to be offered up.

The event matched the prediction. Josephus says plainly in his history of the Jewish war that Antiochus Epiphanes took Jerusalem by force and held it for three years and six months, and that he was afterward driven out of the country by the Asmoneans, or Maccabees.

Christ’s public ministry lasted three and a half years. During that time, he endured the hostility of sinners and lived in poverty and shame. Then, when his power seemed to be broken at his death and his enemies seemed to win, he gained the most glorious victory and said, “It is finished.”

There is also more detail about how long those troubles would last, in Daniel 12:11-12. First, the time is counted from the point when Antiochus took away the daily sacrifice and set up an image of Jupiter on the altar, which was the abomination that brought desolation. They were to count their troubles from the loss of public worship, because that was the real beginning of their sorrow. That was what they felt most deeply.

Second, the trouble would last 1,290 days, about three years and seven months, or perhaps three years, six months, and fifteen days. Then, it is likely, the daily sacrifice was restored and the abomination removed. In memory of that, the feast of dedication was observed even in our Savior’s time (John 10:22). The history does not clearly show that it lasted exactly that long to the day, but it does show that the trouble began in the 145th year of the Seleucids and ended in the 148th. Either the restoring of the sacrifice and the removal of the idol happened exactly that many days later, or some earlier event of importance, not recorded, marked the time. Scripture sometimes fixes exact times in prophecy, even when no known history seems to match them, and yet they were surely fulfilled exactly.

Third, their deliverance, or at least a further step toward it, comes forty-five days later. Some think this points to the death of Antiochus, 1,335 days after he defiled the temple. “Blessed is he who waits and reaches that time.” It is said that the Maccabees, under God’s guidance, recovered the temple and the city (1 Macc. 9:28; 10:1). Many good interpreters take these as prophetic days, meaning years, and count them from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. But they do not agree on what events those years describe. Others count them from the corruption of gospel worship by Antichrist, whose rule in Revelation is limited to 1,260 days, meaning years. At the end of that time, he will begin to fall, then thirty years later he will be fully brought down, at 1,290 days. Whoever lives forty years longer, to 1,335 days, will see very glorious times.

I cannot tell whether this points so far ahead or not. But we can still learn three things. First, the church’s troubles have a fixed end, and God will bring deliverance at the exact time, down to the day. Second, that time must be awaited with faith and patience. Third, when it comes, it will more than repay all the long waiting. Blessed is the one who waits and reaches it at last, for then he will say, “Look, this is our God, and we have waited for him.”

Daniel then asks, “What will the end be?” and he receives an answer. He asked because, even though he heard what was said to the angel, he did not understand it (Daniel 12:8). Daniel was a very wise man and had spent time with visions and prophecies, yet he was still puzzled. He did not fully understand the meaning of “time, times, and half a time,” at least not with the clarity he wanted. Even the best people are often at a loss when they try to understand divine things. The better they are, the more they feel their own weakness and ignorance.

Daniel’s question was, “O my Lord, what will be the end of these things?” He directed his question not to the angel speaking with him, but to Christ himself, for who else should we bring our questions to? He wanted to know the final outcome of these events, what they were leading to, and where they would end. When we look at the world and the church, we may also ask, “What will be the end of these things?” We see things moving as if they might end in the ruin of God’s kingdom among people. When we see sin and godlessness spreading, religion weakening, the righteous suffering, and the wicked seeming to triumph, it is natural to ask, “O my Lord, what will be the end of these things?” Yet this much should satisfy us for now, all will end well in the end. Truth is great, and in the long run it will prevail. Every opposing rule, authority, and power will be brought down, and holiness and love will triumph forever.

The answer Daniel receives includes the time already mentioned in Daniel 12:11-12, but it also gives him general instruction before he is dismissed from further attendance. First, he must be content with what has already been shown to him and ask no more. “Go your way, Daniel,” as if to say, it is enough that you have been allowed this far into the future. Stop here. Return to your work again, as in Daniel 8:27. Go and write down what you have seen and heard for later generations, and do not long for more revelation right now. Communion with God is not our constant feast in this world. Sometimes we are taken up to see Christ’s glory and say, “It is good to be here,” but we must come down from the mountain, and we do not have a lasting city here. Those who know the most still know only in part, and they still see how much is hidden from them. That will remain so until the veil is taken away. So Daniel is told, “Go your way, and be satisfied with what you have.”

Second, he must not expect full understanding until the prophecy is fulfilled. The words are shut up and sealed. They are wrapped in things that are hard to sort out, and they will likely remain that way until the time of the end, until these events reach their finish, and even until the end of all things. Daniel had already been told to seal the book until the time of the end (Daniel 12:4). The Jews used to say that when Elijah comes, he will tell them everything. The point here is that the message is settled and complete. Nothing is to be added or removed, for it is shut up and sealed. So do not keep asking for more. It is true wisdom to be willing to stay ignorant of what the great Teacher does not choose to reveal.

As long as this world lasts, we must expect to see the same mixture of good and bad people that we see now (Daniel 12:10). We long for a field with only wheat and no weeds, or a threshing floor with only grain and no chaff. But that will not happen until the time of gathering and the day of winnowing. Wheat and weeds must grow together until harvest.

So it has been, so it is, and so it will be. The wicked will keep doing wicked things, but the wise will understand. In this, as in other things, the book of Revelation ends as Daniel does: “Let the evil person keep on being evil, and let the holy person keep on being holy” (Revelation 22:11). There is no cure for the fact that wicked people will do wicked things, and such people will remain in the world until the end of time.

The old saying was true: wickedness comes from the wicked (Sa1 24:13). Modern experience says the same thing. Bad people do bad deeds, and a corrupt tree never bears good fruit. Do people gather grapes from thornbushes, or good things from a heart filled with evil? No. Wicked actions naturally grow out of wicked hearts and habits. So do not be surprised at it (Ecc 5:8).

This is true in another way too. “None of the wicked shall understand.” That may mean, first, that their blindness is part of their sin. They will not understand because they refuse the light. No one is so blind as the person who will not see. They are wicked because they will not understand. If they truly knew God’s truth, they would gladly obey God’s law (Psa 82:5). Willful sin grows out of willful ignorance. They hate the light and do not come to it because their deeds are evil (Joh 3:19).

Or it may mean, second, that their blindness is part of their punishment. They will do wickedly, and so God gives them over to a blind mind. He says about them that they will not understand, nor turn and be healed (Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15). God will not give them eyes to see, because they choose to do evil (Deu 29:4).

Yet, bad as the world is, God will still keep a remnant, a faithful group, for himself. There will still be some, indeed many, to whom God’s works and God’s word are a means of life. The same things that bring death to others will bring life to them. First, God’s providences, his wise rule over events, will do them good. “Many shall be purified, made white, and refined” through their troubles, as in Daniel 11:35. The same troubles that make the wicked worse will stir up the hidden corruption in them and increase their sin.

The troubles of God’s people are meant to test them, but through those tests they are purified and made white. Their corruption is burned away, their graces shine more clearly, and their faith becomes both stronger and more visible, so that it results in praise, honor, and glory (Pe1 1:7). For those who are already made holy by God, every event is made holy too, and everything works for their good and helps make them better.

Second, God’s word will do them good. When the wicked do not understand and stumble over the word, the wise will understand. Those who are wise in practice will understand sound teaching. Those who live under God’s law and love will be given light from God. If anyone wants to do God’s will, he will know the truth (Joh 7:17). Teach a wise person, and he will become wiser still.

Daniel must also comfort himself with the sweet hope of his own happiness in death, in judgment, and forever after (Dan 12:13). Daniel was very old now, and he had spent a long life close to heaven and busy with public duties on earth. Now he had to think about leaving this present life: “Go your way until the end.”

It is good for all of us to think often about leaving this world. We are always on our way out of it, and we must soon be gone, as all people on earth are gone. That is the path appointed for us. Yet this is our comfort: we will not go until God calls us to another world and is finished with us in this one. Then he says, “Go your way. You have finished your witness, done your work, and completed your day’s labor. Now leave it to others to take your place.”

When a good person leaves this world, he enters rest. He rests from all present work and distress, and he will not see the evils that are coming on the next generation. A child of God can hardly say anything more fitting in his dying moments than, “Return to your rest, O my soul!”

Time and days will come to an end. Not only will our own time and days end very soon, but all times and days will end at last. In a little while, time will be no more, and all its changes will be counted and finished. Our rest in the grave will last only until the end of the days, and then that peaceful rest will be joyfully interrupted by the resurrection. Job looked toward this when he said of the dead, “Till the heavens are no more, they will not awake,” meaning that then they will awake and rise (Job 14:12).

Each of us must stand in our lot at the end of the days. At the judgment of the great day, we must receive our share according to what we were and what we did in the body, whether “Come, you blessed,” or “Go, you cursed.” We must stand in that lot forever. It was a comfort to Daniel, and it is a comfort to all the saints, that whatever lot they have in this life, they will have a happy lot at the end of the days. They will have their portion among the chosen. And it should be our great care to make sure we have a good lot at last, at the end of the days. Then we can be content with our present lot and welcome God’s will.

A believing hope of a blessed share in the heavenly land at the end of the days will support us when we leave this world. It will also give us living comfort in our dying moments.