“But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:13).
Thus the beloved Daniel is told that the communications are at an end. With the conclusion of the disclosures regarding the strange and eventful times and the mysterious but significant chronological predictions, the highly favored Prophet is dismissed by the angel of the Lord from his life-work, with the consoling testimony that all is well with him and that he will stand in his own lot in the “end of the days.”
The words “go thy way,” contain no thought of disrespect; they do not signify, “go hence,” that is, “depart, die”; nor do they mean “go away, instead of standing here waiting for an answer.” Rather the words are the angel’s choice manner of conveying to Daniel’s mind the fact that there is nothing more to be revealed, no further communications on the great and momentous matters that had been under discussion. The words are quieting and restful, as if to say, “be at peace, rest the matter now.” “Go thou thy way till the end,” we understand with the noted Theodoret, and most interpreters, to mean, “go thy way to the end of thy life”; not the “end of the days” mentioned just subsequently, when he would stand in his lot; for he could not live on through all the centuries intervening till the “end of the days.” Daniel was then a very old man, and as there was nothing more to be communicated to him he was told to rest the matter and go on his way, that is, fulfil the remainder of the course of his natural life without expecting the fulfilment of the prophecies in the present lifetime; he must wait for the disclosures of future times.
“When that should occur which is here called ‘the end of the days,’ he would understand this more fully and perfectly. The language implies, also, that he would be present at the development which is here called ‘the end,’ and that then he would comprehend clearly what was meant by these revelations. This is such language as would be used on the supposition that the reference was to far distant times, and to the scenes of the resurrection and the final judgment, when Daniel would be present.”
Daniel was told that he would “rest.” Undoubtedly the meaning is that he would rest in the sleep of death. The messenger had already mentioned those who “sleep in the dust of the earth” coming forth, and the allusion here would seem to be the same as applied to Daniel. The fact that he would thus rest and sleep implies a waiting period — indeed waiting for the long promised morning. “The end of the days,” when he would stand in his lot, was manifestly far distant from that time; significant developments were to intervene and the long list of predictions that had been recounted in Chapter Eleven, were all to find their fulfilment, which would mean an extended period of strife, revolution, and momentous changes before that consummation would be reached. But Daniel’s peaceful sleep would not be disturbed by any of these changes or events; he would rest through it all.
“This also is such language [says Mr. Barnes] as would be employed by one who believed in the doctrine of the resurrection, and who meant to say that he with whom he was conversing would repose in the tomb, while the affairs of the world would move on in the long period that would intervene between the time when he was then speaking, and the ‘end’ or consummation of all things — the final resurrection. I do not see that it is possible to explain the language on any other supposition than this. The word rendered ‘shalt rest’ would be well applied to the rest in the grave. So it is used in Job 3:13, ‘Then had I been at rest’; Job 3:17, ‘There the weary be at rest.’ ”
It is then obvious that the word “rest” is applied to the waiting period in death, just as the word sleep is used. This place of rest was not pointed to by the angel as the desirable goal for Daniel, neither is there any intimation given that it was a place of pain and suffering. Since he had pleased Jehovah throughout his lifetime as a faithful and obedient servant, his portion at death could not in any event be one of punishment. Neither would he be resting in heaven during all this time, for the angel made no reference whatever to such being in prospect for Daniel. Not only so, but our Lord, who gave His message more than five hundred years later, declared that “no man hath ascended up to heaven,” thus precluding the possibility of Daniel resting in heaven at death. Besides, “in death there is no remembrance of Thee.” We are left to the one and only conclusion, namely that Daniel fell asleep and has rested with all his forefathers, with all the holy Prophets preceding him, in the sense of waiting in death for the due time, waiting for the dawn of the Millennial morning of the resurrection. For this morning time all humanity are waiting in the “rest” of the deathsleep. They have neither pain nor pleasure, sorrow nor joy, for “the dead know not anything” (Ecclesiastes 9:5).
It is recalled that death itself is the wages of sin originally pronounced upon our race; but because of redeeming love providing the ransom price represented in the Lamb of God, who by His death cancels the claims of justice against our race, the sentence is set aside so far as Adam and all his posterity are concerned; and they now have hope of coming out of the tomb. In view of this fact, going into death, the grave, now merely means a temporary suspension of existence; or figuratively speaking it means sleep, in the sense that the death state is to be broken by the awakening time, the morning, the resurrection.
It was in view of the Divine Plan to bring all humanity out of the tomb, even from the time the curse was pronounced, that throughout the Old Testament times it became the custom to speak of all the world, both of the good and the bad, as falling asleep in death. Daniel and all the holy Prophets of ancient time saw sufficiently of the great scheme of redemption to recognize that the resurrection of the dead was planned. St. Paul, in addressing the Hebrews and recounting the sufferings of holy men of old, tells us whence they derived the inspiration that enabled them to serve God obediently in the face of every kind of suffering. He says that they:
“Through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life again; and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection” (Hebrews 11:33-35).
In concluding the prophecy to Daniel the angel had said, “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (verse 2). This, without doubt, is a reference to the same thing mentioned by Jesus, “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5:28,29). Again, St. Paul says: “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). And last of all, St. John relating what he saw and heard on Patmos, says: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:6,12).
It was therefore manifestly the great and stupendous redemptive work of Christ, culminating in the resurrection of the dead that was communicated to Daniel — this which truly constitutes the very heart of the Christian religion and center of the Divine Plan. Not only so, but he saw what is most distinctly explained in the revelation of the New Testament times, namely that there was to be a division or distinction in the great awakening time — “some to life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” In a previous vision the venerable Prophet had been given an insight into this future period wherein he saw that “the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High” (Daniel 7:27). Here then a special saintly class is pointed out as given decided precedence in the resurrection.
As the Scriptures clearly set forth, the Church called, chosen, and faithful, in the Gospel Age, between the two Advents of the Redeemer, is now on trial. They are tempted and proved in all points as was their Master. They walk in his footsteps, bearing the cross after him. They are disciplined and chastened and developed in character that they may be qualified to be joint-heirs with Christ in his Kingdom — “kings and priests unto God”; and to be judges with him of the vast multitudes of humanity during his great triumphal reign of one thou- sand years. These then are most surely among those who are referred to by the angel as coming forth to life, having passed successfully their trial during the present time.
Additionally there may be included with these another class of righteous ones who will also have precedence over humanity in general, because in a previous Age they were faithful to God, having trusted, suffered, and obeyed; and who likewise under his supervising providence developed character and therefore are prepared for a better resurrection than the masses of mankind. Such faithful ones are to be found during all the long stretch of the four thousand years from faithful Abel to our Lord’s First Advent. These were not called to be joint-heirs with Christ and to be his Bride; this heavenly prize was not then open to any. The sacrifice for sin not yet having been made, no actual justification to life, nor complete freedom from the original condemnation could be granted any. Nevertheless certain promises were made to these faithful ones of ancient time, looking toward the great era of the resurrection, and they were given to under- stand that a more blessed resurrection would be theirs than the others of the race (Hebrews 11:35).
As for the other class coming forth “to shame and everlasting contempt,” these may be understood in a general way to include all humanity who have not in the present life come to know God, and who have not been freed from death’s condemnation. While some have interpreted the angel’s words to mean that these come forth to a hopeless state of shame and condemnation and that they will without further opportunity or trial be consigned to a state of endless torture or to complete destruction, yet to our understanding this is not the thought and is far from the truth.1 The facts to the contrary are that all having gone down into sin, degradation, and death, will come forth in more or less a state of shame and contempt, since there is no possibility of change in the tomb; some more and some less, owing to the degree of wickedness and degeneracy during the present life. Since they are all members of Adam’s race for whom Christ died, they accordingly share in the great redemption which he has wrought (1 Corinthians 15:22, Romans 5:17-19).
They will come forth to times of refreshing and restitution which will be administered under the rule of the Kingdom of God for their uplift and restoration to paradise. The word “everlasting” used in this text does not mean without end; rather the original conveys the idea of age-lasting or an indefinite time, the thought being that the shame and contempt will last as long as the shameful and contemptible state of mind continues in the individual. Wholesome chastisements and stripes, all in the nature of reformatory punishment, will be administered to each one according to his requirements; and as they respond to these disciplinary measures and yield to the commands of earth’s new King and to the principles of righteousness, their shame and contempt will gradually pass away and they will feel the reviving effects of the restitution processes lifting them out of weakness and degradation back to perfect life, which will mean to them back to eternal life (Isaiah 26:9). Such as will not yield to the blessed influences after full knowledge and opportunity will come under a second death sentence; and from this there is no recovery promised, no second redemption.
One thousand years is the time allotted to this coming dispensation, during which time those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake and come forth (Revelation 20:2,3). Indeed, this is the great thousand-year judgment day during which Satan will be bound and evil and sin of every description will be restrained and temptation removed, when a full and impartial trial will be given to all of the awakened ones not having had such an opportunity in the present life.¹
How the heart of the beloved Daniel must have been stirred as he heard the angel assuring that he would “stand in his lot.” The words would surely signify that there was a place reserved for him. When that due time should come, Daniel would be remembered. He would be found in his place.
“The language is derived from the lot or portion which falls to one — as when a lot is cast, or anything is determined by lot. (Compare Judges 1:3, Isaiah 57:6, Psalms 125:3, 16:5). Gesenius renders this, ‘and arise to thy lot in the end of days’; that is in the Messiah’s Kingdom.”
The evident meaning to be drawn then is that Daniel need have no apprehension for himself as to the future; that was not now revealed to him, and the subject was left in designed obscurity.
“He would ‘rest,’ perhaps a long time, in the grave. But in the far distant future he would occupy his appropriate place; he would rise from his rest; he would appear again on the stage of action; he would have the lot and rank which properly belonged to him.”
Just what conception the words would convey to Daniel’s mind we may not fully determine, for he gives us no statement on that point. But it is clear that it is such language as would be appropriately employed by one who believed in the resurrection of the dead and who purposed to direct the mind onward to “those far distant and glorious scenes when the dead would all arise, and when each one of the righteous would stand up in his appropriate place, or lot.”
A Goodly Heritage for Daniel
In the light of further revelations made to the children of God since Daniel’s day we are privileged to understand much more clearly about what Daniel’s “lot” will be than he himself could then apprehend. Daniel’s faith and piety are indirectly referred to in the grand review that St. Paul gives of the worthy ones of ancient time (Hebrews 11:33). As has just been noted foregoing, though there was no calling before the First Advent to become joint-heirs with Christ, no offer of the Divine or heavenly nature to any prior to the great sin-offering made by Christ, yet during those long centuries while the world waited for the Redeemer, the record is clear that there was a class of faithful ones developed, of whom we read that on account of their faith and loyalty to God they were privileged to enjoy certain special blessings and to have advantages above the masses of humanity in the way of Divine communications being made to them and promises given, the substance of which was that they would not only experience a resurrection from the dead, but would be given positions of honor and dignity in connection with Messiah’s glorious reign. The Apostle Paul finally concludes his eulogy of these holy ones, telling us that “these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us [the Gospel Church], that they without us should not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:39,40).
More than this, we now see that there will evidently be two phases to the Kingdom of God when it is inaugurated here on earth — a spiritual, invisible, or heavenly phase, and an earthly, visible, or material phase. The inference seems to be clear and strong that while the Church of this Gospel Age will occupy the former — the heavenly, the other class of faithful ones will constitute the latter — the visible phase, as our Lord said to the unbelieving Jews who were rejecting Him, “Ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the Prophets in the Kingdom of God.” It should be observed that the Savior does not state that He or the Apostles will be seen with Abraham. Since Abraham and other ancient worthies will be upon the earthly plane, as members of the human family, they will not be spirit beings; humanity will see and mingle with them as members of the earthly phase of the Kingdom.
“We are not given explicit information as to the exact manner in which these two phases of the heavenly Kingdom will harmoniously operate; but we have an illustration of the manner in which they may operate, in God’s dealings with Israel through their representatives, Moses, Aaron, Joshua, the Prophets, etc. — though the coming manifestations of Divine power will far exceed those of that typical Age; for the work of the coming Age comprises the awakening of all the dead and the restoration of the obedient to perfection. This work will necessitate the establishment of a perfect government among men, with perfect men in positions of control, that they may rightly order the affairs of state. It will necessitate the appointment of proper educational facilities of every character, as well as philanthropic measures of various kinds. And this noble work of thus elevating the race by sure and steady steps (under the direction of the unseen spiritual members of the same Kingdom) is the high honor to which the ancient worthies are appointed, and for which they will come forth prepared soon after the final wreck of the kingdoms of this world and the binding of Satan, their prince. And as the divinely honored representatives of the heavenly Kingdom, they will soon receive the honor and cooperation of all men.”
It is then as we consider various Scriptures and facts together that we are given a strong hint of what Daniel’s “lot” will be and where he will “stand” as one of the highly favored worthies occupying a position as one of the earthly rulers or “princes in all the earth” (Psalms 45:16).
Daniel would stand in his lot “at the end of the days,” that is at the close of the period that had been mentioned by the angel, when the consummation of all things should take place. “It is impossible,” says Mr. Barnes, “not to regard this as applicable to a resurrection from the dead; and there is every reason to suppose that Daniel would so understand it.”
As we have seen foregoing there are those who have claimed that the chronological predictions contained in verses 7, 11 and 12 of Chapter Twelve, refer to literal days, and that all three of the periods mentioned — 1260, 1290, and 1335 days have their endings somewhere in connection with the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes. Even if the words “stand in his lot at the end of the days,” be interpreted to mean the ending of those periods as literal days in connection with the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, we would still be compelled to understand that a resurrection would be implied.
“The interval between the prophecy and that event was 370 years. It is impossible to believe that it was meant by the angel that Daniel would continue to live during all that time so that he should then ‘stand in his lot,’ not having died, or that he did continue to live during all that period, and that at the end of it he ‘stood in his lot,’ or occupied the post of distinction and honor which is referred to in this language. But if this had been the meaning, it would have implied that he would, at that time, rise from the dead. If it be referred, as Gesenius explains it, to the times of the Messiah, the same thing would follow — for that time was still more remote; and, if it be supposed that Daniel understood it as relating to those times, it must also be admitted that he believed that there would be a resurrection, and that he would then appear in his proper place.
“There is only one other supposition, and that directly involves the idea, that the allusion is to the general resurrection, as referred to in verse 3, and that Daniel would have part in that. This is admitted by Lengerke, by Maurer, and even by Bertholdt, to be the meaning — though he applies it to the reign of the Messiah. No other interpretation, therefore, can be affixed to this than that it implies the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, and that the mind of Daniel is left at the close of all the Divine communications to him, looking into the far distant future. His attention is directed onward. Fragments of great truths had been thrown out, with little apparent connection, by the angel; hints of momentous import had been suggested respecting great doctrines to be made clearer in future ages. A time was to occur, perhaps in the far distant future, when the dead were to be raised; when all that slept in the dust of the earth should awake; when the righteous should shine as the brightness of the firmament; and when he himself should ‘stand in his lot’ — sharing the joys of the blessed, and occupying the position which would be appropriate to him. With this cheering prospect the communications of the angel to him are closed. Nothing could be better fitted to comfort his heart in a land of exile; nothing better fitted to elevate his thoughts.”
How appropriate that the book of this sacred prophecy closes with a definite statement concerning the sublime and glorious doctrine of the resurrection of the dead! The resurrection hope was fitted to soothe and console the mind of Daniel as nothing else could, in view of all the troubles which he then experienced and of all the darkness which rested upon the future; for what all most want “in the troubles and in the darkness of the present life is the assurance that after having rested in the grave, in the calm sleep of the righteous, we shall ‘awake’ in the morning of the resurrection and stand in our lot, in our appropriate place, as the acknowledged children of God ‘at the end of the days.’
Though we are now far removed from Daniel on the stream of time, and have approached nigh unto the “end of the days,” in the early dawn of the new dispensation (in a lapping period of the two Ages), yet we are still in the nighttime of the old dispensation, and therefore like Daniel, it is eminently proper that we should look onward for the fulfilment of all our blessed hopes and expectations. Indeed, all the revelations of God terminate in this manner, leaving the faithful believer to look beyond. All the Divine communications given through the Prophets, our Lord, and the Apostles are thus adapted to direct the mind forward to those most blessed and happy scenes connected with the great consummation.
Today we have all that Daniel had and far more; we have what Daniel had not— a clear revelation of the entire Plan of God, embracing all the ages required to consummate all His holy purposes. In those many luminous communications of the Spirit made since the Redeemer’s Advent there is afforded us in a still clearer manner, a knowledge of those glorious truths respecting the termination of the reign of sin and death and the ushering in of the Kingdom of God — truths that are fitted to cheer and sustain us in the time of trouble, to elevate our minds amidst the dark scenes of earth, and to comfort and uphold us as we approach the mystical river. Verily, with much more distinctness than Daniel beheld them we are permitted to contemplate the truths respecting the state of the dead, the resurrection hope for all, the scenes connected with the rapture of the Church and the restitution of all the willing and obedient to paradise.
And still further, we now have through the special dispensation of knowledge and light shining upon our pathway, an understanding of the work and offices of the great Redeemer himself — his advent, his nature and mission while in the days of his flesh, thence his glorious resurrection to the unspeakable heights of the Divine nature, and the fulfilment of his blessed, “Lo, I am with you always.” We behold through him the assurance that all his faithful cross-bearing, footstep followers will be raised up together with him to share his honor and glory preparatory to entering with him upon those blessed offices of delivering and uplifting the human family, recovering for all the righteous and obedient, all that was lost of life and home in paradise. Though there are various details associated with the resurrection of both the Church and the world still obscure to our eyes, there is afforded us in these latter days all that is essential to give inspiration and courage in fighting the good fight of faith, in the endeavor to secure the crown of life, while we onward press in the valley of shadows — “till the morning breaks, and the shadows flee away.”
(1) For a clear explanation of the subject of the penalty for sin, the reader is referred to a special issue of The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, which gives an examination of every text in the Bible in which the word “hell” is found, and presents in a convincing manner what is the Divine testimony regarding the state of the dead.
(1) For a more exhaustive treatment of the subject of the resurrection, the future hope of the world, the day of judgment, etc., we refer the reader to The Divine Plan of the Ages.