“And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12:1-3
There’s a lot of attention paid to how everything ends. A famous
poet wrote the words, “This is the way the world ends, this is the way
the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper. In the play “Big Fish” the father sings the closing song entitled “How It Ends”.
Sometimes (Ok, all the time) when I watch a football game we taped I will look up the score before I watch the replay. Many can’t understand that. Why do I want to know the score before watching the game being played? One reason. There’s less stress on me and I can enjoy the game more if I know the end in advance. I watch a play and it doesn’t go well. I look at it and say, don’t worry, I know how it is going to end. (OK, I know that’s not everybody’s preferred way to watch a football game but it works for me!)
The end has a motivation to it that helps us as strive to endure for the Lord. It was a motivator when I went to Vietnam. The end was 365 days away. The end was home. One more day to get through to be another day closer to the end. It is interesting to note that in the Bible God makes the end clear. He doesn’t tell us all the details of the path to get there but He makes the end very clear.
God told Daniel great prophecies that described the rise and fall of nations. He told Daniel of four Gentile kingdoms that would reside on earth. In Daniel 12 He reassured Daniel that anti-God gentile kingdoms and even death in this life was not the end. God never forgets His children.
And at that time your people shall be delivered Christ returns at the end of the Tribulation and defeats the demonic forces of Satan and the Antichrist. Persecution is not the end for Israel (for us either)..
Every one who is found written in the book The Lord again refers to the books – this is the Book of Life, the one place a person’s name must be recorded to escape eternal separation from God in hell.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake Some will live through the Tribulations, most Old Testament saints (Israel) will experience a resurrection of their bodies like the church
did at its rapture.
Some to everlasting life The Lord again recounts one of the great truths of Scripture. There are only two eternal destinations. First there is everlasting life that exists in the presence of God. This is the end of earthly life that God promises to all who put their trust In His Son.
Some to shame and everlasting contempt There is a second end. Instead of life, light and joy there is death, darkness and shame. The word shame means reproach and disgrace. The word contempt means to abhor. It is only used one other time in Scripture. Isaiah 66:24 reads, ‘“And they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For
their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched. They shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament God says the wise are the one who follow Him.
Interestingly “wise” is what Satan promised Eve that disobeying God would make her – a liar from the beginning!
What can we learn? This life is all we know. God tells us, however, it is not the end. He describes the end of the two paths a person can choose. The issue then is wisdom. Are we wise enough to obey God by faith, accept His forgiveness of our sin through His Son and look forward to an eternity with all that He is or do we accept by faith the lie that Satan tells us? Robert Frost said it well, “I took the road less travelled by and that has made all the difference.” The difference is who is at the end to he path we choose waiting for us.