Tagged: book of life
Some to Eternal Life …
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.
In previous posts [Read #1; Read #2], we began to examine Daniel 12:1-3, breaking down the elements of these verses so we can better understand “the book” to which Daniel refers. We complete our observations here.
Daniel sees that people are resurrected one day. But what then?
… some to eternal life, and some to disgrace and eternal contempt.
Notice first that everyone’s resurrection results in “eternal” existence somewhere. The Hebrew phrase hayye olam (eternal life) appears here for the first time in the Old Testament. Its Greek counterpart (zoe aionios) occurs numerous times in the New Testament, perhaps most notably in John 3:16: “For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life” (emphasis added).
While followers of Jesus possess eternal life, those who reject him are neither annihilated nor sent to temporary punishment until their sin debt is paid. The wicked possess eternal existence in hell – Daniel depicts it as “eternal contempt” – but not eternal life. Jesus makes this clear in the parable of the sheep and goats, who symbolize the righteous and the wicked.
Continue reading There Will Be a Time of Distress
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.
In the previous post, we began to examine Daniel 12:1-3, breaking down the elements of these verses so we can better understand “the book” to which Daniel refers. We continue our observations here.
There will be a time of distress such as never has occurred since nations came into being until that time.
The focus of this “time of distress” is the nation of Israel, although the raging conflicts that mark this unparalleled period in history spill over her borders. This is a time many premillennialists refer to as “the great tribulation,” the final three and a half years of a seven-year tribulation that precedes the return of Christ (Dan. 12:7, 11-12; Rev. 12:6, 14). Others see this series of events as a natural descent into wickedness in the days leading up to the return of Jesus, but they don’t limit it to a specific period of time.
In any case, before this terrible time is revealed, the angel assures Daniel that Michael the archangel is dispatched to help God’s people. Michael’s aid is essential because Satan energizes the antichrist, resulting in the death of perhaps two thirds of the Israelites (Zech. 13:8; cf. 2 Thess. 2:9; Rev. 13:2).
Continue reading All Found Written in the Book Will Escape: Daniel 12:1-3
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.
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.
Continue reading Seven Observations about the Unnamed Books of Daniel 7
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 9: The Books Were Opened: Daniel 7:9-10.
In the previous post, we examined the opening of unnamed books in Daniel 7. Now, here are seven observations about these books.
First, final judgment is certain. While God judges people and nations in various ways throughout human history, a day is coming when every person stands before God and gives an account of his or her life (John 5:28-29). Final judgment also is set for Satan and rebellious angels (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10).
Second, God is the judge. In the case of Daniel 7, the Ancient of Days sits as magistrate, because he’s judging the antichrist and his counterfeit work against the Son of God. Jesus does not judge here in his own cause; rather, the Father brings the gavel of justice down on the one who presumes to take the Son’s place. Ultimately, however, Jesus is the judge, for the Father has entrusted all judgment to him (John 5:22). Whether it’s the judgment of sheep and goats, the judgment seat of Christ, or the judgment of the great white throne, Jesus sits as the final arbiter of justice over all people.
Continue reading The Books Were Opened: Daniel 7:9-10
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 9: The Books Were Opened: Daniel 7:9-10.
As I kept watching, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white like snow, and the hair of his head like whitest wool. His throne was flaming fire; its wheels were blazing fire. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from his presence. Thousands upon thousands served him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was convened, and the books were opened (Dan. 7:9-10).
Daniel’s vision of the Ancient of Days expands our study of the book of life. That’s because Daniel sees, not a single book, but “books” opened in judgment. This foreshadows what John witnesses centuries later in his vision of the great white throne:
I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books (Rev. 20:12, emphasis added).
In final judgment, books are opened. Daniel doesn’t identify these books by name, tell us the quantity of the books opened, or even reveal who opens the books. But this much seems clear from the whole counsel of Scripture: while the redeemed are recorded in the book of life, other books evidently expose every person’s thoughts, deeds, and actions, resulting in various rewards for the saved and degrees of punishment for the lost.
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