AP

Daniel 12:1, 13   “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise.  There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people – everyone whose name is found written in the book – will be delivered. … … Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days.  As for you, go your way till the end.  You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.”

Many attempts have been made throughout history to determine the meaning of the ‘1,335 days’ given to Daniel as the time until ’The End’.  Predicted dates for the time of the Second Coming of Jesus when “the day of the Lord will come like a thief”, when “The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10), have all come and gone and the events described by the Apostle Peter have not yet occurred.

In all this, it is important that we take into account the words of Jesus himself: “No-one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.  Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come” (Mark 13:32), and make sure we are always ready in the light of them!

Regardless of the complex mathematics of the numbers in Daniel (and I’m confident we will see it all make sense and add up perfectly in hindsight!), the strong comforting messages that come to me from Daniel are that I can for the present “rest” in God’s sovereign power and control, and for the future be assured that when the Day does come, “[I] will rise to receive [my] allotted inheritance.”  I can ‘rest’ because, in spite of the unprecedented ‘distress’ that is going on all around me, the Angel Michael is appointed to ‘protect’ me in the midst of it.  I can be SURE of my ‘deliverance’, my ‘rising’ and ‘inheriting’, not because of my own merit or efforts, but because, by God’s grace alone, my “name is found written in the book”!

I love the way Augustus Montague Toplady expresses it:  “A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing; nor fear, with your righteousness on, my person and offering to bring.  The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do; my Saviour’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.  The work which his goodness began, the arm of His strength will complete; his promise is ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’, and never was forfeited yet.  Things future, nor things that are now, not all things below nor above can make him his purpose forego, or sever my soul from his love.  My name from the palms of His hands eternity will not erase; impressed on his heart it remains in marks of indelible grace.  Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the promise is given; more happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven.”
– Bruce Christian