1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:…
“At that time” means at the end of that time, or shortly after these events.
Michael (Michael = “who is like God”- Strong's Concordance) otherwise known as Jesus, appeared as His church’s protector.
Though Syria no longer had the power to persecute the Jews, from this time on they had to deal with Rome and its many campaigns in the area. Also, this is the time the Pharisees came to power. They persecuted anyone who truly believed God instead of them.
Christ is that Great Prince, the King of Kings. He stood up for our salvation and still stands as an intercessor for us today.
…and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: …
This is the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, which Christ refers to in Matthew 24. This event resulted in women eating their own children because the hunger was so bad.
… thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
“Thy People” are those that love God as much as Daniel does. We are delivered through Calvary; all of us that are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
Also, those that listened to Christ and His Sermon on the Mount of Olives knew to leave the Jerusalem when the Roman army surrounded the city and were spared the great persecution of that time.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
Ezekiel, in chapter 37, compares Israel’s return from Babylon to a resurrection of dry bones. Here, it means resurrection to salvation, the Second Birth.
Those “resurrected to everlasting life” are the many Jews that accepted Christ in the first decade or so of the Church Age; those wise enough to recognize Messiah and teach others about Him.
Those resurrected to shame and contempt are those that rejected Christ.
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end (of the Jewish nation; the subject of all these prophecies): many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
This prophecy wouldn’t be understood or of much use to those alive in Daniel’s time, so he was told to seal it up for the future. It would be about 200 years until these writings would help anyone. At that time they were opened and searched for knowledge and help. They were a great comfort to those in Antiochus IV’s time, and many people began to read the other parts of the Bible, learning about God at the same time.
There were many who were expecting Christ at the proper time because of these prophecies of Daniel. In fact, anyone who wanted to do the math knew it was time for Jesus, since he was baptized 483 years (69 “weeks”) after Cyrus gave the command to go back to Jerusalem.
5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.
6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?”
7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half;
A time here is a year, so this is a year, two years, and half a year. Josephus tells us in his “Book of the Wars of the Jews,” that Antiochus IV Epiphanes surprised Jerusalem by force, and held it three and a half years, and then had to leave his army.
8 And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things (prophesies) shall be finished (fulfilled).
God allowed Antiochus IV to win until he had scattered the power of Israel. God would allow him to do his worst and then Israel’s time of punishment and refinement is done.
9 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, “O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?”
10 And he said, “Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end (of the time of the Jews, the time these writings will be needed).
11 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.
12 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days .
From the time Antiochus entered the city until the end of his rule over the city was 1290 days, or three years and seven months. This is when Antiochus left to fight in the north-east and the idol was destroyed, the temple cleansed and the sacrifices resumed. This is the event that was being celebrated in John 10:22, the Feast of (Re) Dedication.
It is believed Antiochus died about forty-five days after leaving Jerusalem, or 1335 days after he profaned the temple.
13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
“Don’t you worry about all this Daniel. You will die before it happens and will stand before God on judgment day.”
Conclusion
Many take verses out of Daniel to prove the futurist/dispensationalist interpretation of prophecy. In order to do this they must take a few verses here and put them with a few verses elsewhere that were never meant to go together.
The whole book of Daniel speaks of the end of the Israelite time frame, the Old Covenant; from the Babylonian captivity to AD70. I have shown the historical fulfillment of each of these scriptures.
If you wrote me a letter telling me you would give me $20 and then you gave me $20, it would not be right for my children to come to you twenty years from now and demand another $20.Yet this is just what the futurist view does. All these promises to Israel were fulfilled by AD70.
The covenant with Israel was a conditional covenant. God only agreed to favor Israel as long as they worshiped Him as their God; as long as she was a faithful wife. Israel repeatedly rejected God and He divorced her (Jeremiah 3:8, Isaiah 50:1, Jeremiah 3:1, Hosea 2:2.) He then married the Christian Church at Calvary, ushering in His Kingdom (Revelations 21:2, 9, Matthew 22:2-9, Matthew 25,).
It would be a violation of His own scripture for God to go back to His first “wife” (Duet 24:3-4). It simply does not make sense for God to go backwards. His relationship with Israel, the Temple and sacrifices, etc., was a shadow of the coming Church Age and our personal relationship with Jesus.
Why would God go back to shadows when we now have the real thing? What would be the point?
This does not mean we won’t face persecutions. Paul assured us we would. It simply means these exact persecutions talked about in Daniel won’t happen again. They are done.
We can learn from them how to prevent God’s judgment on our society and us personally and how to handle persecutions when they do come. We cannot use them to predict the future, though, since they have already been fulfilled.
Anything you read referencing “seven years,” the abomination of desolation,” “a country to the north attacking Israel,” or anything else mentioned in Daniel has already happened, either at the time of Antiochus, the time of Christ, or AD 70. The scripture makes no mention of a second fulfilling of these same events. There is no reason to believe that they will happen again. To put them in the future or to say they will happen again is not dividing the Word of God correctly.
Why does it matter?
When we Christians keep telling everyone that the “great seven year tribulation” spoken of in the Bible is coming, (such as every time a new war starts in the Middle East) and then it doesn’t happen, our word, and by extension, the Word of God is made to look like fools and totally unreliable.Just since I have been an adult there have been at least a dozen different events that triggered “The sky is falling” type hysteria among the Christians.
Brothers and Sisters, the world is laughing at us! The fact is that if we show the prophecies given in the 500’s BC and then show the fulfillment of those same scriptures in the 300’s BC, AD 30’s, and AD 70, then we show the prophecies that are still ahead of us, our words carry much more weight. It is important that we get this right. Other people’s salvation depends on it.
Mrs. Betty Tracy