Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Are You Immortal? | The Writings | Daniel 12

Episode Date: April 24, 2024

What happens after you die? Do you believe in resurrection? What will the afterlife look like? In today's episode, Jensen uses Daniel 12 to navigate a conversation about what the end of the world looks like. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Daniel 12

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. C.S. Lewis famously wrote in his novel The Weight of Glory, There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, Mary, snub, and exploit, immortal horrors, or everlasting splendors. You have never talked to a mere mortal. See, what C.S. Lewis is doing here is drawing our eyes from the daily droll of life, the tasks and busyness and schedules and worries and anxieties we have,

and he's focusing us on the bigger story we and everyone we encounter is a part of. The barista you get your coffee from. The driver in front of you going 10 under. Your habitually late coworker. Your kids, your spouses, your parents, not a one of them is a mere mortal. Every single one is immortal, destined to become an everlasting splendor or immortal horror. Lewis's assertion suggests to us that this knowledge should change the way we see the people around us, change the way we see our lives, change the way we do everything.

But don't just take Lewis's word for it. Today, we're wrapping up the book of Daniel. We've read about the faithful life of Daniel living in exile, and we've read. waited through five chapters of prophetic visions he was given in his lifetime. And now we come to the 12th and final chapter of the book. And as I read this chapter, I had moments of questions, what exactly does this mean? Where does this number come from? How many years is that? But ultimately, what I saw woven throughout this chapter was a reminder given to Daniel, much like the one Lewis gives in the weight of glory. Let's begin with the first four verses. At that time, that is after a period of

suffering for God's people. 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. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. So what do we learn here? What is Daniel's vision telling him? Well, first,

We learn that after a period of suffering, God's people will be delivered. The deliverance seems to be even more than just a physical deliverance. See, we read that even those who are dead will awake, some to everlasting life and others to everlasting contempt. There seems to be a promise of resurrection here, a promise that all will live again, some in glory and some in shame. We learned that those who are resurrected to eternal life will shine like the heavens. Daniel is being given a picture of God's bigger story. He's being told, although he cannot fully understand

from his vantage point, of the coming resurrection of the dead. He's given insight into the future. But then, just as quickly, he's told to seal these words until the end of time. He's told that people will wonder and try to figure out exactly what this all means, but in time, the wise will see and understand its fulfillment. The passage continues with two men. One asking how long it will be until these things happen, and the other man, who symbolically represents God, answers almost in riddle. He says it will be for a time, times, and half a time. Daniel, not understanding what this means, asks what the outcome will be. And God replies with this. Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end.

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. From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days. Instead of answering Daniel's question directly and giving him full clarity, God tells Daniel to go on his way, to not be troubled or worried because these words are secure and for future time. Daniel can be sure that many will be purified and others will continue on in wickedness. The wicked will not understand, but eventually the wise, the purified, those who persevere will

understand. And then he speaks in riddles again, this time using numbers. Many people have come up with many different ideas and interpretations of these numbers. Some say it refers to a specific period of time, of three and a half years that was fulfilled with the king of the past. Some say that the difference between the numbers is important. Exactly 45 years, the time that the Israelites wandered in the wilderness before they got to the promised land. The call then is that those who wait and persevere through the wilderness will be blessed when they reach the promised land, the resurrection of their bodies that was spoken of in the first four verses. Now here's the thing. The Bible doesn't have an answer key. Daniel asked God for a clear answer and he wasn't really given one. See, God works in

mysterious ways and it seems that here God is asking Daniel to trust his timing, to trust that he knows when and how all of this will come to be. But for now, he reiterates his command to Daniel once more. Verse 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. So God is saying, go on your way. Persevere, trust me, put your hope in my promise. Daniel, you will die. But at the end of the days, a time that only I know, you will receive your inheritance. I will resurrect your body and you will live with me in the final promised land. The book of Daniel ends with a promise that raises Daniel's eyes upward. Daniel would die and he does, but he would die with hope, knowing that God would be

faithful to resurrect the faithful to everlasting life, and until his death, he would go on his way, living a faithful life, being refined and purified by the power of God. There is a greater story going on. Yes, Daniel lived in the exile. Yes, he lived under the rule and reign of many earthly kings. Yes, he would die, but he had a hope that outlast every king and kingdom and overrode even the curse of death. This final chapter of Daniel should do the same for you and me. Unlike Daniel, though, we're further along in God's bigger story. We haven't been given every answer, but we understand more of how this will all come to be because we have seen the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus tells us in John 5. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice

of the son of God and those who here will live. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. See, Jesus is filling in what we know Daniel has already prophetically seen. The time is now here when the dead will rise to life. And they will be able to do this because Jesus himself, the son of man, the messianic king, will be the first to resurrect from the den. Because Jesus did rise from the grave to new life, there is a time coming when all will be

resurrected, and those who have faithfully followed Jesus will find the everlasting life that Daniel was foretold of. We see echoes of this prophetic vision all throughout the New Testament writers. Paul in Philippians 3 says this, brothers, join in imitating me and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many of whom I have often told you and now tell you, even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction. Their God is their belly, and they glory in their shame with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven. And from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. So just like in

Daniel's vision, where the wise shine like the brightness of the heavens, we learn those resurrected to eternal life will be given a new and glorious body by the power of King Jesus, who has dominion over all things. The call for believers today is the same as it was for Daniel. Paul calls us to remain faithful, to keep persevering to imitate Christ. Because we have a greater hope. Our citizenship is in heaven. It's in the coming kingdom, the everlasting kingdom that Daniel saw. Jesus is our king. He rose from the dead into a new and glorious body and he has promised to do the same for those who give their trust, their hope, their whole lives over to him. No one you have ever talked to is a mere mortal. We are all destined to become immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.

Our future is resurrection. Will we take Jesus at His Word? Will we live in light of what we know to be true? Will we lift our eyes to the reality of the bigger story we're living in? May we go on our way until the end, just as Daniel did. May we allow our knowledge and understanding of God's promises of His everlasting kingdom and His good king to shape our priority. our actions, our lives. May we go on our way faithfully until the end, when we will stand before

our heavenly Father in resurrected bodies that shine with glory by the power of our eternally good king, Jesus. Amen.