turn back to Daniel chapter 12. I've entitled this message, the
time of the end, the time of the end. And let me say this
at the very outset of Daniel 11, 27 says the end shall be
at the time appointed. Whatever the time of the end
is, it's the time that has been appointed by God. Now, This is
the last chapter of the book of Daniel, and while Daniel is
the gospel of Daniel. Just like every other Old Testament
scripture is, it's the gospel of Daniel, and it's given to
teach us of Jesus Christ and him crucified. There is also
more prophecy of what will take place in the book of Daniel than
in any other Old Testament prophecy. As a matter of fact, there are
very many similarities between the book of Daniel and the book
of Revelation. And if you would read the book
of Revelation, you would see that many of the things that
he got came out of the book of Daniel. And I know this, they
both have this as their summary, Jesus Christ is going to win.
That's the summary of both books. Now, Daniel had been brought
into Babylon when he was a teenager. And at the time of the writing
of this 12th chapter, he is somewhere between 85 and 90 years old. And early in this book, we've
seen that Daniel can give what's going to take place in the future.
That's what prophecy means in that sense. You remember early
in chapter two, how Nebuchadnezzar had that dream. And he couldn't
remember what the dream was, but he knew he was troubled.
And he got all the wise men and the astrologers of Babylon and
said, tell me what the dream is and give me the interpretation
of it. And they said, we can't do that. If you give us the dream,
we'll give you the interpretation of it. He said, I know you. You'll
come up with something. You tell me what the dream was,
then I'll believe your interpretation. None of them could do it. So
he said, let's kill them all. But he was pretty, he was what he
was. And Daniel said, I can interpret
the dream. And he did that image of gold and silver and brass
and clay. And that image, he said, are
the four different kingdoms, the kingdom of the Babylonians,
the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, it's going to take
them over the Greeks, it's going to take them over Rome. And then
that stone cut out of the mountain that ends up filling the whole
earth, speaking of that kingdom that shall not cease, the kingdom
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in chapter four, Nebuchadnezzar
had another dream. And Daniel told him what was
going to take place. You're going to spend seven years
as a beast. It happened. And that is where he learned
that what Daniel said actually took place. He had some idea
of it in the second chapter, but in the fourth chapter, he
now knows. This man sees what is going to take place. And you
can remember Belshazzar in chapter five, he told him, you've been
weighed in the balances and found one of you are going to be killed
this very night. And he was killed that very night. I mean, everything
he prophesied took place. Chapter 7 through 12 is about
everything that's going to take place up to the coming of Christ.
In chapter 9, he tells when Christ will come. Remember that 70 times
7, 490 years? He gives the time that Christ
would appear. And then in chapter 11, I love
that chapter, you have 120 shalls. This shall take place, that shall
take place. 120 times in that one chapter,
he talks about 120 events that shall take place between that
time and the coming of Christ and every one of these things
can be historically documented as having taken place. He never
missed. He never missed. He gives so
much prophecy concerning what will take place. And then in this 12th chapter,
he talks about the end time. Now we've been in the last days
ever since the ascension of our Lord. The writer to the Hebrews
spoke of these being the last days, but this is what he's going
to say about the end of the last days. the end time. But before we look at this chapter
in that light, aren't you thankful that the Lord does according
to his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay his hand and say unto him, what
are you doing? I'm so thankful that our God
really is God in control. I don't think there's anybody
that brings out out more clearly than the prophet Daniel. Now,
let's begin reading in verse one. And at that time shall Michael
stand up. Now that's not a created angel,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. The great prince which standeth
for the people, the children of thy people. And there shall
be a time of trouble. It says at this end time, such
as never was since there was a nation even to that same time,
Now, at the end time, I know this is going to be a time of
great trouble. I mentioned the other day something
about pre-tribulation, pre-revelation, and opposite. Don't use language
like that. Okay, I won't. But there's a lot of people who
believe in what they call pre-tribulation, where the church will be raptured
up and they won't have to deal with all these troubles. And
a lot of that comes out of the book of Daniel, and it's not
there. And I know this. Things are going to be so bad
and there's going to be a great falling away of people who profess
to be believers that the Lord said, when the son of man cometh,
will he find faith on the earth? That's how bad things will be
at this time of trouble. But Daniel, who had been sitting,
representing what he had accomplished, now stands for his people, and
he represents everybody written in the book. Daniel makes sure
we know that the Lord Jesus represents those whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life. Verse two, and many of them that
sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake. Talking about the
resurrection. Some to everlasting life and
some to shame and everlasting contempt. 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. We
considered that verse last week. But thou, O Daniel, shut up the
word, seal them, close them, seal the book even to the time
of the end. He's going to be talking about
that in a moment, even to the time of the end. Many shall run
to and fro and shall increase, knowledge shall be increased.
Now that's not a good thing, is running to and fro and never
being settled on anything. Knowledge shall increase like
in the last days perilous times shall come and it talks about
ever learning. ever learning, never able to come to the knowledge
of the truth. It's not a good thing when he
says everybody's gonna be running back to and fro and people are
gonna be learning more and more. And you know, as far as that
goes, think of it, the information explosion of the internet right
now, talking about knowledge being increased. Verse five,
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. 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. In these wonders, he's talking
about the trouble that the church is going through, and he even
speaks more of it a couple of verses down, how bad things will
be. And this one says to the other,
how long is this going to take place? Verse seven, 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,
He swear by him that liveth forever that it shall be for a time,
times, and a half. That's one plus two plus a half. That's three and a half. He doesn't
tell us if it's three and a half days. He doesn't tell us if it's
three and a half weeks. He doesn't tell us if it's three
and a half months. But what is three and a half
half of? Seven. Seven is the number of
perfect completion. It's a glorious number. And what this is telling us,
and we don't know whether he's talking about days, weeks, or
months, it really doesn't matter. He's telling us this is not going
to continue. This trouble is time, it's not going to continue. That's what the significance
of that three and a half is. It's half of perfection. If it
was seven, it would go on and on, but because it's three and
a half, the Lord is going to put an end to these terrible
days. And look what Daniel says, I
like this. Daniel says, and I heard, but
I understood not. Daniel says, I don't get it.
I don't really know what this is. I heard and I understood
not that I said, Oh, my Lord, when shall be the end of these
things? Verse nine. And he said, Go that way, Daniel,
for the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end.
Now, what exactly does that mean? Well, prophecy is always obscure
until it happens. And once it happens, you can
say, I see now. I see now. For instance, in Matthew
chapter 24, the Lord is speaking so much about the ransacking
of Jerusalem. in 70 A.D. And he makes many
references to what's going to take place in 70 A.D. But before 70 A.D., you would
read that passage of scripture and think he's talking strictly
about the end times. But when you find out what happened
in 70 A.D., you see what the Lord was talking about in that
prophecy. Prophecy is always obscure until
it happens. And he tells Daniel, go your
way and don't worry about it. Daniel says, I don't understand
this, I don't get it. And the Lord says, go your way and don't
worry about it. It's not going to be understood
and seen until the end time. Somebody once asked John Calvin,
what would you do differently if you knew the Lord was coming
back tomorrow? He said, nothing, nothing. You go your way. This
is not going to be really understood until the end time. Now look at this verse. The gospel
is so powerful here. Many shall be purified and made
white and tried. Now I like the word many. Many. Many will be purified. Many will be made white. Many will be tried. I realize
that on any given time on the earth, God's people are only
a few. And the Lord said that so clearly. He said, wide is the gate and
broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there be
that shall go therein thereat. But straight is the gate and
narrow is the way that leads to life, and few there be that
find it. So at any given time on the earth
throughout the centuries, God's people have always been a remnant,
a small number. But when you combine them at
this time, The time of the end when you have that great heavenly
choir made of 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands singing
worthy is the lamb that was slain. It's a large, big group. Many. Don't you want to be part
of that heavenly choir? Many. Now what about this many? They're going to be purified. they're going to be purified.
The New American Standard Version says they will be purged, and
that's what the word means. Purged. Hold your finger there
and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 1. God who at sundry times and in diverse
manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken to us. See, we're in the last
days now, they were then. Daniel's going to be talking
about the end of the last days. But he has in these last days
spoken to us by his son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds. who being the brightness
of his glory and the express image of his person and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged, purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on God. The previous statements before
it says, when he by himself purged our sins, tells us that this
one is able to do this. He's the brightness of God's
glory. He's the express image of his person. He upholds all
things by the word of his power. And he by himself purged our
sins. Cleansed, put away. That's what the cleansing means.
They're gone, they're purged, they're put away. Now once in
the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. Now, this purging of sins is
not something he offers me and you. You know, I hate it when
preachers present the gospel as an offer. I hate that. Like
it's, here it is, it's up to you to accept it or reject it.
That's not the gospel. The gospel is not him offering
me anything. It's what he does for me. He purged my sins. He put them away. They're washed
away. I have no sin. He was manifested
to take away our sins. And him is no sin. Now, the death of Christ was
for a particular people. The elect. and he purged their
sins away. They are gone. What he did is
successful. All that he died for have been
purged, have been purified. That's what you are right now
in God's sight. Your sin has been purged away. It's been washed
away. You have no sin purified. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin, not in part, but the whole, has been
nailed to the cross. And I, right now, as I'm speaking
to you, bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord,
O my soul. Now, the teaching of universal
redemption that Jesus Christ shed his blood for everybody
and purified everybody is blasphemous. It is another gospel. Somebody that believes that,
well, they've taken away the success of the Savior. If he
can die for somebody and they end up being damned, he failed
in what he intended to do. And that also takes away the
only hope that the believer has. Here's my hope that his death
is sufficient to save me. His life, death, his work is
sufficient. I need no other argument. I need
no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died
and that he died for me. Now, somebody that doesn't preach
the particular successful redeeming death of Christ does not preach
the gospel. It's that simple. He purified. Look back at our text in Hebrews
chapter 12. Here's the result of his purifying
work. Verse 10, many shall be purified.
And here's the result of his purification and made white. That's that fine linen, clean
and white, the righteousness of the saints. Made white, made
pure, made holy. This is what justification is. I stand, everybody Christ died
for stands without guilt, present tense before God. You know that
sin that you feel bad about that you committed this very day?
You are without guilt before a thrice holy God. You're white. That's true of every believer.
You are white. You are perfect. You are holy
in his sight. Well, what about my sins? They're
very real. What about my sins? You say I'm
white. You say I've been purified. And
because of that, I'm white. What about my sins? Well, that's
explained in the triune. They're going to be tried. What
that means is they're going to be refined. They're going to be refined.
Now, what happens in the process of refining? And that's what
the word means. Refining silver. What happens in the process of
refining? The dross is removed and taken away. And all you have
left is that which is pure. And my dear friend, one of these
days when you die, all the dross is going to be removed. And you
have it now, and you mourn over it, and you hate it, and you
wish it wasn't there, and you have such a tendency to look
at yourself and think, well, how can I be saved with all this
sin? Easy. Not easy to him, but easy to
you. He took it all away. He took
it all away. And that very sin that's left
remaining in you, there's no excuse for it. It's wicked. But
think how you'd be if you didn't have it. You'd be looking at
yourself, wouldn't you? You wouldn't understand that
the righteousness of Christ is the only righteousness there
is. Now there's no excuse for sin under any circumstances.
These things write unto you that you sin not. But I know this.
That I know I stand justified before God, and I know that by
faith, not by experience. I know I stand white before God.
I know that by faith, not by experience. But when I die, the
refining process will be over, and all that dross will be removed
from me, and I'm going to be nothing. All of my flesh is going
to be gone, and I'm going to stand pure and holy and righteous
before God. Every believer purified. made white, refined. Many shall be purified
and made white and tried, but the wicked shall do wickedly. They're going to be what they
always are at this end time. The wicked shall do wickedly
and none of the wicked shall understand. Now a wicked man,
he's going to do wickedly. That's what he does. He does wickedly. That's all
he knows. He has no understanding in the
gospel and he cannot understand the gospel because he can't understand
what sin is or a sinner is. That's why. He doesn't have the
discernment to understand the gospel. If he hears a priest
as clear as it could be preached, he still doesn't understand.
Because he's not a sinner. He doesn't see his need of Christ.
He doesn't see the holiness of God. He doesn't see the majesty
and the righteousness of God. He doesn't see his own need of
Christ. So it's a song to him. He doesn't understand. He does
wickedly. He dies wickedly. And he's raised
again wickedly. He's raised to shame and everlasting
contempt. He hated God when he died. And
he's going to hate God when he's raised from the dead. Nobody
in hell is gonna love Christ. They're all going to hate him
and they're all going to blaspheme as if they're scorched with heat
and they won't give glory to God and everyone in there will
hate Jesus Christ. That's what everybody in hell
has in common. They hate Jesus Christ. They've been raised to
everlasting contempt and there's no way they can understand the
gospel, but the wise, that's every believer. at every believer. There's the foolish and the wise. Every believer is wise, and this
is their wisdom. They will not look anywhere but
Christ alone as everything in their salvation. They won't look
anywhere else. They're afraid to look anywhere else. They know
the only righteousness they have is the righteousness and merits
of Jesus Christ. Now, the wise will understand
because they have this discernment. And what is this discernment?
They know who God is. They know who they are. It's
that simple. They know something of God and
His holiness and His majesty and His sovereignty. And they
know something of themselves and their sinfulness and their
finiteness and their weakness and their inability. And they
know The only place to look is Christ. The only righteousness
there is, is Christ. They've been given these eyes
to see that the wicked do not have. They're never going to
understand, but the wise God's people understand. Now, this
is so true. I've made this statement many
times over the years. Some philosopher, I can't remember what his name
was, made it first a couple of centuries ago, but it's so true.
All the righteous, without exception, believe themselves to be wicked. And all the wicked, without exception,
believe themselves to be righteous or at least have the potential
to be. And as long as I believe that,
I'm unable to hear the gospel. Verse 11. And from the time that the daily
sacrifice shall be taken, this is talking about the last time,
the abomination of desolation. I didn't comment on this while
I'm on this. Look up back at verse seven.
That this time and time and times and a half, when he shall accomplish
to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall
be finished. Now, what that's talking about
is the destruction during the time and reign of Antichrist,
it'll seem like there's not any believers. All the holy people
will be scattered and destroyed. And like the Lord said, when
the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? And
this is talking about the reign of Antichrist in verse 11. And
from that time that the daily sacrifice should be taken away
and the abomination maketh desolate, set up. There shall be 1,290
days. The reign of Antichrist has this
as its key. The daily sacrifice is taken
away. Now, what's the significance
of the daily sacrifice? At all times, every day, every
hour, every second, the sacrifice of Christ is everything in my
salvation. His obedience, his sacrifice
every day. It's the beginning, it's the
middle, it's the end, and everything else. The sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And what does Antichrist seek
to do? He seeks to diminish that sacrifice. He takes away the daily sacrifice. Now, I wish I knew how to put
the proper emphasis on the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
just sang about it. What can wash away my sin at
all times? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my righteousness? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That's all. It's that way every day. This isn't a one-time experience.
When I was first saved, It's that way every day. An anti-Christ
religion will always seek to diminish the power and the importance
and the completeness of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, that
daily sacrifice. At all times, when I see the
blood, this is the way it is all the time. When I see the
blood, I will pass over you. And Antichrist seeks to take
that away. And we know that this and we
saw in a couple of chapters back in like 170 A.D. there was a
fellow. Antiochus, I can't remember how
to pronounce his name now, I don't have my notes, but he actually
came into the temple and took away the daily sacrifice and
caused it to cease. And he typified what Antichrist
will do in the end when there's that great falling away. Now, from that time, the daily
sacrifice, verse 11, shall be taken away, and the abomination
that maketh desolate set up, and there shall be 1,290 days. Now, what's that mean? I don't
know. I don't know. Find out one of these days during
that time, we'll know what it is. It's not happened yet, but
this is talking about the end of the end. Look what verse 12
says. Blessed is he that waiteth and
cometh to the 1,305 and 30 days. Blessed is that man who endures
to the end. Blessed is that man that doesn't
stop. He that endureth to the end,
the same shall be saved. We are made partakers of Christ
if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. If I leave the being of my confidence,
I will not be saved. Blessed are those people. And
this is what makes me cry out, Lord, keep me, preserve me, cause
me to persevere in the faith, cause me to continue grounded
and settled, me not move from the hope of the gospel. Because
if I leave, I'm not saved. The only persons that are saved
are those who endure to the end. I like this. I like this. What
is the evidence of salvation? Perseverance. You keep looking
to Christ. You look to Christ all the way
to the end. You're not knocked away from
that. That is the evidence that God elected you, that Christ
died for you, and God the Holy Spirit calls you. You keep looking
to Christ. You hold the beginning of the
confidence. I tell you what, I know when
I first looked to Christ, I didn't have anywhere else to look. I
didn't have anything to look to. All I had was Him. And it's
no different. It's no different. That's what
it is to persevere in the faith. Blessed is he that waiteth and
cometh to the thousand, three hundred, five and thirty days,
but go, he says to Daniel. Daniel, remember, says, I don't
know what you're talking about right now. I don't get it. He
says once again, go thou thy way till thy end be, to the end
be, for thou shalt rest and shall stand in thy lot at the end of
the days. Now he says, go your way. And
this is what I love about the gospel. You know when Christ
says I am the way, that's my way. That's my way. That's the way I want to go. His way is my way. Remember when
he said to Bartimaeus after he'd given him his sight, he said,
go thy way. And what did he do? He followed
Jesus in the way. Go thy way. Well, I'm going the
way of Christ. That's the only way I want to
go. That's my way. The way of righteousness, the way of peace,
the way of Christ, the straight and narrow way. That's my way. I don't want to go any other
way. That's my way. However, when Christ said, I
am the way, that's my way. He said, go thy way till the
end be, this end time, For thou shalt rest. Now, I realize that
that could be speaking of the rest of faith. Don't think it
is. He's been talking about the rest
of faith. I think it's talking about the rest of death. You're
gonna die. You're gonna die. And I love
the way the death of the believer is described as rest, sleep. You see, if you're a believer,
you have no reason to fear death at all. Because the only reason
you would fear death is because you're afraid your sins will
be brought up. But if your sins are put away, you have no reason
to fear death. It's nothing but arrest. Somebody
says, well, do we have spirits in heaven that are separated
from the bodies? I guess, you know, I think. You
know, he did say to the thief, today thou shalt be with me in
paradise. Today. So I guess somehow in
heaven before the resurrection, we have, I don't know if it's
disembodied spirits or some kind of house. I don't know what it
is, but it's all good. It's all good. Don't have to
understand that. But one of these days, I'm going to rest. You know, people have celebrations
of life for their funerals now. And I think, well, you're going
to hang on to something all the way to the end, aren't you? Celebration
of life. No, it's not a celebration of life. But when a believer dies, what
a reason to rejoice. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord, that they may have rest from their labors." No more
struggle with sin, no more struggle with sorrow, no more struggle
with unbelief. He says, go your way to the NB
for thou shalt rest and stand. I mean, God's talking about the
resurrection. You're going to stand. Look once again in verse
three or verse two. And many of them that sleep in
the dust of the earth, their bodies are nothing but a pile
of dirt. They shall awake some to everlasting life and some
to shame and everlasting contempt. But he's telling. Daniel, you're
going to stand. You're going to be resurrected. You're going to stand perfect
in Christ Jesus. You're going to stand accepted. You're going to hear, well done
thou good and faithful servant. You're going to stand. And I
love that passage of scripture in Romans chapter 14. He says,
why do you judge your brother? Why do you set it, not your brother?
For all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. He's going to
stand that when you're judging, he's going to stand accepted.
You're going to stand accepted. Every believer is going to stand
accepted and glorious and beautiful in the sight of God through Christ. You're going to stand in thy
lot. Now that word is very important. You're going to stand in the
place allotted to you. The place allotted to you by
the divine appointment. That's what that means. Allotment
by appointment. Here's every believer's lot. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate. to be conformed to the image
of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. That many that's in heaven, he's
the firstborn. That doesn't mean he was born
in time. That means he's eternally the only begotten son of the
Father, eternally. And you're going to stand in
the lot, Daniel is, every believer in perfect conformity to the
image of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the days. Now, we earnestly anticipate
the end of the days. Behold, I come quickly. What's our response? Even so,
come, Lord Jesus. Let's pray together. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel that purifies us and purges our sins and makes us white and
causes our sins to depart from us. How we thank you for the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, as we consider that
end of time when things will be so bleak and dark, Lord, give
us the grace to remain faithful to thy gospel. For we know that
if you don't do it, we will not do it. So we ask that you would
be pleased to enable us to be faithful, enduring to the end,
not being moved from the sole hope of the gospel. We thank
you for your word and we thank you for the encouragement and
comfort it gives. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.