The End of These Things

As the book of Daniel winds down to conclusion, one last prophecy is presented which sketches out the unfolding of events until the end of time. But unlike previous prophecies in the book of Daniel which contained remarkable specifics about future events, Daniel 12 is much more vague. In fact, after Daniel hears the sparse details about the future, he asks for more information. The Lord responds to Daniel with a simple admonition, “get to work!” The main message of Daniel 12 is that the church is to expect a yawning gap of time to transpire between the great tribulation and the end of history and in the meantime believers are to keep their hand to the plow and to get busy with life, setting the hope of bodily resurrection before them.