The Climax of History (Part 1 of 2)

Bob Lepine: What will happen at the end of the world? And will you and I be able to persevere? Alistair Begg looks at these questions today on Truth For Life. While apocalyptic prophecies can be alarming, the Bible teaches us that God has shared these visions so believers will be prepared and comforted, not taken by surprise. Let's see what assurance the Bible offers.
Alistair Begg: Daniel 12, reading from verse one: "At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, "How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?" And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these things would be finished. I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, "O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?" He said, "Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." Thanks be to God for His Word. Father, as we turn to the Bible, we earnestly ask for your help, so that as we look to these words and as we listen to the voice of a mere man, that in and through and beyond that, we might hear from you, the living God. This is our earnest expectation, this is our deep desire, and this is our only hope. And we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Some are visiting today, and here we are studying some ancient tome, namely Daniel in chapter 12. I hope that none of us have concluded that what we're doing is studying an ancient book that is somehow or another bearing very little relevance to our contemporary lives. If that is the case, then I have failed you, and we may have to start all over again. And I know you don't want that, and neither do I. I actually think that many of us have been compelled by the fact that the disparity in the time frame is more than compensated for by the immediate points of application. We should not be surprised by this because all that has been written in the past has been written, says Paul to the Roman Christians, for our endurance, for our encouragement, and so that we might find our hope in the things that the Bible provides for us. This is how J.B. Phillips paraphrases that, which is actually the fourth verse of Romans 15: "All those words that were written long ago are meant to teach us today; that when we read in the scriptures of the endurance of men and of all the help that God gave them in those days, we may be encouraged to go on hoping in our own time." So that as we read the historical facts of Daniel, as we are confronted by areas that are challenging, at the heart of it all is this notion that God has provided for His people in His Word that which is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. And it is as we pay attention to His Word that we discover who He is and His purposes for us. Daniel is instructed in verse four to shut up the words and to seal the book. And the reason for this is not in order that he might make it secret, but in order that he might preserve it because it's going to be an important message for people in another era. And here we are in the 21st century, and we are reading it. And if Christ does not return, then generations after us will continue to read it and benefit from it and be helped by it. And the emphasis to which we came last time in chapter 11, indeed since the beginning of chapter 10, is on the time of the end. So, for example, back in verse 40 of chapter 11: "At the time of the end, the king of the South shall attack him." And that little phrase comes a number of times. And what Daniel is being told is this: that he must keep on record for God's people these events, those that are future to him and past tense to us, and those that are future both to him and to us. The events of the end of time, so that when we come to the end of time, we will not be taken by surprise. Now, the vision that Daniel has been experiencing and recording for us is a vision that has come about as a result of the visit of this angelic character. And this angelic visitor has described in great detail, recorded for us in chapter 11, the wars that are going to be fought and were fought. And from our vantage point, we can take, as we said last time, a secular history, read it right alongside chapter 11, and see the way in which they fold into each other. Towards the end of chapter 11, around verse 36 and certainly in verse 40, we discover that the historical character of Antiochus Epiphanes, who has been given a central place—some 15 verses covering a relatively short period of time because he is such a crucial character in what happens—but eventually, his frame is no longer sufficient to hold the character who is then described. And this pushes us all the way forward to the Antichrist, to the man of lawlessness to whom Paul refers in 2 Thessalonians when he writes to encourage the people there. This individual at the end of chapter 11 transcends the wickedness of anything previously known. It is the very embodiment of evil. And as we saw, the actions of this individual are marked by a ferocity, by a kind of blasphemous inhumanity that is so compelling that it is almost inevitable that the people of God would be caused to wonder whether they would be able to survive the onslaught. In other words, if all hell is going to break loose against the people of God in this way, what is going to happen to them? Will they make it to the end? Will they persevere to the end? Will there be anybody left when it's all over? And here, in a surprising place and in a necessary spot, we're given the answer to that question. And staggering as it sounds to some of our ears this morning, what we have is a description of what will take place at the end of the world. At the end of the world. Every so often in our lifetime, people have talked about the end of the world. Barry McGuire wrote his song, "The Eve of Destruction." When the clouds grew dark in our school in Yorkshire at an unlikely time during the day, every so often you'd have one of those very strange days, and everything turned black and somebody in the back of the class would go, "It's probably the end of the world!" And somebody turned around and said, "No, it can't be the end of the world. We've got a football match this afternoon. We can't have the end of the world just yet. Or I'm going out with Molly here, and we can't have the end of the world." But we're not unfamiliar with apocalyptic visions and apocalyptic fears. It's expressed in art, it's expressed in poetry, it's expressed in film, and definitely in song. And depending on our era, we know this. For example, Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater after they sang "Proud Mary" gave us "Bad Moon Rising" as a follow-on. And when you read that song and listen to it, the allusions in it are interesting. "I think we're in for stormy weather or nasty weather." And you'd say it's a funny thing to be starting to write about the weather in the 60s. But then if you check it out, you discover, no, that Fogerty wrote this on the back of the death of Martin Luther King, after Robert F. Kennedy had been assassinated, after he had been recalling the movie "The Devil and Daniel Webster" where the character sells his soul to the devil. And in the hurricane scene, everything is blowing around: furniture, trees, houses—everything's blowing around. It's there at the end of the 60s that Fogerty sits down and he writes: "I hear hurricanes ablowing. I know the end is coming soon. I fear rivers overflowing. I hear the voice of rage and ruin." And later, "Hope you've got your things together. Hope you're quite prepared to die. Looks like we're in for nasty weather." One eye is taken for an eye. "Oh, don't go out tonight. Bound to take your life. There's a bad moon on the rise." Actually, many people think that that last line was "There's a bathroom on the right." And if you listen to it, you'll find I've destroyed the song for you if you've never thought that way. It's a great way to ruin your own illustration as well with such triviality. But no, in actual fact, people might want to think in those kind of trivial terms rather than face up to the apocalyptic challenge of it all: that there is actually an ultimate destination, that there is an end toward which we're moving. The Bible doesn't leave us to guess about these matters. That's the point I want you to understand. When you read the Old Testament, you discover that both truth and time is going somewhere. Truth and time is going somewhere. Read the Old Testament; you discover that everything has a beginning and everything has an end. There's a time to be born, there's a time to die. There's a time to reap, there's a time to sow, a time to plant, a time to pluck up what is planted, a time to gather stones, and so on. Everything moves towards its destination. And the overarching theme of this final chapter, chapter 12, is the fact of God's promise of everlasting life for His persecuted people who persevere to the end. Somebody asks, "What is chapter 12 all about?" That's what it's all about. It is God's promise of everlasting life for His persecuted people who persevere to the end. And the people will inevitably ask, "Are we going to make this? How does this story finish?" And here you have it. I want to make three observations. First of all, that here we're introduced to what is a time of fearful tribulation. A time of trouble you will notice in the second sentence of verse one: "And there shall be a time of trouble such as has never been," or a time of anguish. If you let your eye go up the page to verse 44, this one who comes will be the focus of alarm, and "he shall go out with great fury to destroy and devote many to destruction." And what Daniel is being told here is essentially that the punishment of the Jews under Antiochus or the people of Israel under Pharaoh will pale in comparison to the severity of persecution which will be unleashed in this way at the end. Now, you might be tempted to say, "Well, this is a bunch of Old Testament stuff, and it's somewhat alarming, and maybe we could go into the New Testament where it's a lot nicer." Well, this is Jesus, and I think Jesus is probably quoting from His own reading of the Bible: "For in these days, in those days," says Jesus, "there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of creation that God created until now and never will be." You go back and read Mark chapter 13 or Matthew chapter 24, and the allusions that are present in those passages to the Daniel passages show that Jesus knew His Bible and that any attempt to try and divide the scriptures in this unfolding story is a futile exercise. Remember when we studied 2 Timothy, we were made aware of the fact that "in these last days there will be terrible times." Remember seasons? History will be punctuated by these times of danger. And now we discover that this time of suffering prior to the return of Jesus will be more severe, more intense than was ever known in history. Now, that is very alarming, isn't it? But notice that I've gone immediately to the second sentence of the first verse. The first sentence and the sentence which follows provide the promise of help and deliverance to the people of God. At that time shall arise Michael. Here comes the great defender of the people of God. Yes, it is going to be unparalleled persecution, but the people of God may be absolutely secure in the promise of God's provision for them. Now, we could take time to go and look for Michael here, there, and everywhere. You're not going to find him in a lot of places, and I'll tell you where to look for him, and then you can do it on your own. Back in chapter 10 and verse 21, we met him. In the New Testament, you'll meet him in the book of Jude, and you will meet him in Revelation chapter 12. And this figure, this angelic figure, this great prince, is charged with the responsibility to protect the people of God who are described as those, the delivered ones—notice at the end of verse one—"whose names shall be found written in the book." If God has a book of life, as He does, is your name entered in it? So the description that is given here—and it's not unique to chapter 12—is that those whom God delivers, those whom He redeems, He enters in His book. Every so often, you may have made a reservation for somewhere, you show up, you give them your name, and the person gives you a blank stare in response. "What did you say your name was?" Begg. "Never heard of it." "Well, I made a reservation." "We have no record of it." Well, that's a bit of a minor inconvenience, but I do not want to stand before God one day and give Him my name and have Him say, "I have no record of your name." Loved ones, this is not a fiction. The real question is not whether your name is on the books at church; the real question is whether our names are entered in the Book of Life. He enters the names. Think about it. We were reading Lydia yesterday morning at our elders' meeting, Acts chapter 16. One of our elders had been mentioning it to me and said, "Let's read this." And we did. It was wonderfully helpful. And there in 16, you have this lady who's a nice lady, got a nice job, a nice house, a nice mentality, and very interested in God. And she goes to prayer times. But her name is not entered in the book. Nice lady, nice house, good at hospitality, but her name is not in the book—and very interested in God. What changed? Well, you can read it for yourself. Luke tells us that the Lord opened her heart and she believed. The Lord opened her heart and she believed. The same Lord who opens our hearts is the one who inscribes our name in the book. So the great security for the people of God when they face this tyranny, when they face this tribulation, is already born into the text itself and in this wonderful encouragement by this unseen and this angelic messenger. Now, we've noted this in passing, and one day I think we'll come back and study it properly, but we're reminded all the way through Daniel of angelic activity. Sing, choirs of angels! Sing, all ye citizens of heaven above! Who are they? They are dead people who are still alive, living in heaven. If that's not true, that's also a really silly line. No, you see, angelic activity stands behind more things than we know. The Hebrews says, you know, that you have entertained angels unawares. Unawares. So we've been unawares of granting them hospitality, and we may have been unawares of receiving help from them. Psalm 91: "He will give his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways." But that shouldn't cause us to call in question the reality of their presence or their power. In fact, one day we'll see things from such a perspective that the scope of angelic activity will actually become apparent, and we'll discover how much we were the beneficiaries of angelic activity about which we knew nothing. So the vastness of the tribulation is set within the protection and promise of deliverance. Spent longer on that than I wanted to. Second point: final separation. Fearful tribulation, final separation. Now, the Bible makes it clear, as we've said, that everything is going somewhere. But it makes it equally clear that everyone is going somewhere. Everyone is going somewhere. Look at the text, if you've got your Bible open: "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth"—which is a reminder, from dust you came, to dust you will return—"many of those who sleep in the dust," it's a metaphor, "shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." And it is a very, very important point because contemporary culture, imbibing chunks of New Age philosophy, Hinduism and so on, is increasingly pervaded with the notion that somehow or another, whatever happens in life, it will all be set to rights when you die. But when you read the Bible, it says, "No, I'm sorry, that's not the case." The things that separate us in time will separate us in eternity.
Bob Lepine: You're listening to Truth For Life. Alistair Begg explains more about the Book of Life tomorrow. You know, a message like the one we've heard today makes it clear why it's essential for us to understand God's Word. And that's why at Truth For Life, we teach the Bible with clarity every day in a way that applies the teaching to our lives. It's important to instill this pursuit of biblical truth in the next generation as well. So if you have children or grandchildren going off to college or joining the workforce, encourage them to keep trustworthy Bible teaching close at hand, right on their phone. They can follow Truth For Life on Instagram; they can simply search "Truth For Life" in the app. And if they've put their faith in Jesus, how about sending them off with a few copies of Alistair's book, *The Man on the Middle Cross*, that they can share with unbelieving friends? Or maybe a pack of the gospel tracts titled "Ever Wonder Why Your World Feels Broken?" These items are available for purchase at our cost in our online store at truthforlife.org/store. Now, before we wrap up today, let me remind you that the 2026 Basics Conference for pastors, church leaders, or men in ministry takes place September 29th and 30th in Southern California. Alistair has hosted this conference for more than 20 years, and if you lead God's people, Basics is an opportunity to learn from God's Word alongside other pastors and to enjoy a rich time of fellowship before you return to your home church, hopefully refreshed and renewed for the work of the gospel. Registration is still open at basicsconference.org. Discounts are available for ministry students. Alistair and I both hope to see you there. I'm Bob Lepine. Thanks for studying the Bible with us today. Did you know that death doesn't actually end human existence? That may sound strange, but tomorrow we'll flesh out the details. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth For Life, where the learning is for living.