September 16 (Daily reading: Daniel 10-12) Daniel continued to have visions concerning the future. Different interpretations are offered by biblical commentators, with some saying Daniel’s visions reveal how things will happen in the end times, and others believing that Daniel’s prophecies were mostly fulfilled during the intertestamental period.
Daniel 10:13 gives us insight into the reality of the spirit world that we do not see with our eyes. In his vision, Daniel saw an angel described as a man dressed in linen and wearing a belt of pure gold. He told Daniel that he had tried to come to explain to him what would happen in the future. He added, “But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days.” The angel explained that the angel Michael had come to help him so he could continue his journey. This happened while Daniel was praying and seeking God, and it must make us wonder what is going on behind the scenes when we are praying!
Daniel’s experience will help us in our deliberations on the end times. In a vision, he heard a man pose a question to “the man dressed in linen:” “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” (12:6, NIV). An answer was given, and Daniel wrote: “I heard but could not understand” (12:8). Not surprising! Daniel then asked a better question because it was more concerned with “what” than with “when.” He asked, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?” Daniel was told: “As for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age” (12:13). We too must go our way, live our lives, knowing that at the end, we will participate in the resurrection and receive what God has prepared for us!
– Al Gary
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