This is another in a series of excerpts from The Book of Life: What the Bible Says about God’s Registry of the Redeemed from High Street Press and available at Amazon. This except comes from Chapter 10: All Found Written in the Book Will Escape: Daniel 12:1-3.

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At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time. But at that time all your people who are found written in the book will escape. Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt. Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever (Dan. 12:1-3).

Many questions arise from these verses: What is the “time of distress” foretold in this passage? Who are “your people … written in the book”? What book is in view? From what do these people escape? Who are the “many” who sleep in the dust of the earth? Is their awakening the same resurrection and judgment to which Jesus refers in John 5:28-29? And in what ways do the righteous “shine like the stars forever and ever”? 

In seeking answers to these questions, we should examine this passage in the greater context of Daniel’s visions, in which God reveals his plans for the future (Dan. 7 – 12). Daniel 10 – 12 is a record of Daniel’s third and final vision, one that summarizes the previous visions of successive kingdoms that rise and fall: Babylon; Medo-Persia; Greece; and a beastly kingdom whose king invades Jerusalem, sets up idols in the temple, exalts himself above God, and then, astoundingly, comes to ruin. 

There’s considerable debate about the identity of this final king, identified as “the king of the North” (Dan. 11), and his exploits in Israel. Is Daniel foretelling the Syrian King Antiochus, who commits unspeakable horrors against the Israelites in the 160s BC? Does Daniel foresee the days of the Roman Empire’s siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple in AD 70? Does the vision look further down the corridors of time to the end of days, when the antichrist brings an unprecedented age of persecution upon Israel? Or could all these events be compressed into a single vision of the future, as if Daniel sees the future through a telescopic lens?

The problem, as Tim Mackie points out, is that the numbers and symbols in Daniel’s vision don’t match perfectly with any of these views. But it opens the possibility that, in a sense, they’re all correct:

The Book of Daniel has been designed to offer hope to all future generations of God’s people. It did so in the days of Antiochus’s empire. And it has ever since. This is why Jesus could use imagery from Daniel to describe and confront the oppressive leaders he confronted in Jerusalem. This is why John the visionary, who wrote the Revelation, could adapt Daniel’s visions and apply them to Rome of his day and also all future oppressive empires. 

And so the point of Daniel is that all generations of readers can find here a pattern and a promise. It’s a pattern that human beings and their kingdoms become violent beasts when they glorify their own power, when they redefine right and wrong, and don’t acknowledge God as their true king. But Daniel also holds out a promise: that one day God will confront the beast. He will rescue his world and his people by bringing his kingdom over all nations. And so, for every generation, this book speaks a message of hope that should motivate faithfulness.

While Bible interpreters differ in their understanding of these prophetic visions, there’s general agreement that the verses we’re exploring in this part of our study (Dan. 12:1-3) address, at least in part, the end of days, in which all people are resurrected and judged, and in which the Son of Man sets everything right.

Let’s break down the elements of these verses so we can better understand “the book” to which Daniel refers.

At that time …

This phrase alludes to the period just described in Daniel 11:36-45. It is the antichrist’s reign of terror. The violent campaigns of Antiochus in the second century BC and the Roman general Titus in AD 70 are, perhaps, prophetic thunderclaps that portend the approaching storm of the last days. But the warning that there will be “a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time” seems to indicate that an especially dark chapter for Israel is yet to be written (Dan. 12:1). 

Jewish authorities generally understand the phrase “at that time” to refer to the remote future that heralds the advent of the messianic era. Jesus refers to this horrible future time in the Olivet Discourse: “For at that time there will be great distress, the kind that hasn’t taken place from the beginning of the world until now and never will again” (Matt. 24:21). Jesus may be speaking of the destruction of the temple and the slaughter of 1.1 million Jews, which occur within a generation of this prophecy (see Matt. 24:34). He also may be looking beyond these looming dark days toward an even more horrifying period just prior to his return.

Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. 

God has assigned a powerful angel to watch over Daniel’s people. This is Michael, whom Jude calls “the archangel” (Jude 9). Michael must “rise up” to deliver Israel from the antichrist, who is both evil incarnate and a counterfeit messiah (cf. 2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 13:2). 

Michael is described in Daniel, Jude, and Revelation as a warrior angel who engages in spiritual combat on behalf of God’s people. In all three of these books, Michael fights against evil spirits (Dan. 10:13, 21; Jude 9; Rev. 12:7). He is called “one of the chief princes” (Dan. 10:13), “the great prince” (Dan. 12:1), and “the archangel” (Jude 9). He is  a special protector of Israel, and he battles in the unseen realm with fallen angels whom God has given charge over other nations. It’s possible Michael is the angel whom Paul says heralds the return of Christ (1 Thess. 4:13-18). 

Michael is seemingly more powerful than any other angelic being. Yet, he is a creature who submits to God’s authority. Though Michael and his fellow holy angels defeat Satan and his evil host of spirits in a cosmic battle (Rev. 12:7), Jude reminds us that rebuking Satan – and, ultimately, putting him in his place – is a task reserved for God alone (Jude 9; Rev. 20:10; cf. Matt. 25:41). Michael battles on our behalf in the unseen realm, under the authority of God and at the Lord’s behest.

Next: There will be a time of distress