A Prophetic Book
Today
I will talk a little bit about Daniel as a prophetic book. There are
two things in this chapter: one that bothers me as a human being but not as a
spiritual being and another one that I think is always worth
illustrating. So let’s start with the one that bothers me as a human
being.
Shut Up These Words
I
am always bothered when I read this passage and hear the words “shut up these
words until the end time.” As a human, I like to be in control. As
a math nerd, I like to have all the data out on the table so that I can put it
all together and come up with the correct conclusion. I’m just one
of those people who feels the most comfortable making decisions and teaching
theology when I have all the facts and can see all the relationships. So
it bothers me when I hear the words telling Daniel to keep this message private
for a time.
Now,
we know that currently we have access to these words – obviously, they are in
our Bible. But the reality is that this "veiled nature" is
a trait that God has. God knew about His ultimate plan to bring
Jesus Christ to the earth as He was creating the world. Had He
chosen to do so, He certainly could have clued us in a little more concretely
than He did before Jesus actually came. But the reality is that He
didn’t clue us in all the way. God left a few things – in reality a
lot of things – more ambiguous than clear. To be quite honest, that
really bothers me on a human level.
Of
course, on a spiritual level it doesn’t bother me at all. I can let
go of my human concerns and rest comfortably in God’s omnipotent wisdom and
know that His ways are better than my human ways anyway. The reality
is that we walked away from Him, therefore He does not owe us any amount of
“absolute clarity” anyway. When we approach what God has given us
with an attitude of honest faith, we do see what God is up to in this
world. It isn’t like we cannot see God’s hand, we just have to look
for it through eyes that are open to being spiritual. After all, hope in
something that is seen is really no hope at all. So don’t get me
wrong. In the end, I can readily move past the fact that I am
bothered when so often God seems to prefer working through a “veiled”
means. I simply have to remind myself that when we truly look at
what God is doing from a spiritual perspective, the veil is lifted. It is we who need to change, not God.
Many vs. All
The
other aspect of this passage is a piece of information that is always worth
remembering. Look at the words that the messenger of God’s Word
gives regarding people at the end – specifically verses 2 and 10. The
messenger uses the words “many.” The messenger does not use the
words “all.” There are people out there who have a false sense of
hope in the full redemption of all of Israel – Paul even struggles with this
concept in his writings in the New Testament. There are people out
there who in my opinion falsely believe in the full redemption of all of
Israel. For that matter, I think there are honest well-meaning Christians
who falsely believe in the full redemption all everyone who goes to a Christian
church. Worse yet, there are many who
believe in the redemption of all people regardless of their faith.
These
are all dangerous teachings – ones that should be fought against at every
turn. God’s Word here in Daniel 12 is clear. Many will rise to
everlasting life, but some will rise to shame and everlasting contempt. Many
shall purify themselves and make themselves white and refined, but the wicked
will still act wickedly. As much as I would love to think about
universal salvation for all people, it’s just not scripturally sound.
I
also think about the parable of the sheep and goats of Matthew 25, where a vast
number of well-intentioned people will realize only too late that they weren’t
really following Jesus Christ in spite of the fact that they might have
convinced themselves that they were doing so. Or what about the
passages where Jesus tells us that the harvest is plentiful but the laborers
are few. Or what about the passages where Jesus clearly tells us that wide
is the gate that leads to destruction and many shall find it – but narrow is
the gate that leads to eternal life and few shall find it.
I
think we need to take seriously these passages and put aside our false hope in
a universal salvation. God is a God who is quite capable of judging
between true faith and unbelief. We are fooling ourselves and
turning a blind eye to the breadth of God’s Word when we convince ourselves
that a separation of those who go into eternal life and those who go into
everlasting contempt is not part of the final judgment.
Of
course, it is also important for me to remember that the one who makes such a
distinction is God, not me. The only
person’s heart that I can truly look into with any sort of accuracy is my
own. Even there, I lie to myself and don’t
always see what I could see if I looked through God’s eyes. He is the only one capable of judging
salvation.
Well,
on that happy note … God’s peace to you!
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