Daniel 12

3. The distant future 11:36-12:4

In the revelation given to Daniel about the 70 sevens (Daniel 9:24-27), we observed that what Gabriel told the prophet in Daniel 11:24-26 has already happened. Those verses described what would happen in the first 69 sevens. Daniel 11:27 predicts things that have not happened yet. It reveals what will happen in the seventieth seven. There is a similar break between Daniel 11:35-36 of chapter 11. What was predicted in Daniel 11:2-35 has happened. What follows in this chapter has not happened. [Note: See Andrew E. Steinmann, "Is the Antichrist in Daniel 11?" Bibliotheca Sacra 162:646 (April-June 2005):195-209.] Young also believed that the preceding verses describe Antiochus Epiphanes, but with Daniel 11:36, Antichrist becomes the subject. [Note: Young, pp. 246-249.] Even liberal scholars, who believe that a second-century writer wrote the book as history rather than as prophecy, admit that all of what follows has had no literal fulfillment in the past. [Note: E.g., Montgomery, p. 465.] A few scholars, liberal and conservative, believe that Antiochus Epiphanes fulfilled some of these predictions, especially those in Daniel 11:36-39. [Note: E.g., ibid., p. 461; R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and D. Brown, Commentary Practical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, pp. 762-63; Goldingay, p. 304; Baldwin, p. 197; and Chisholm, p. 326.] However, I am not aware of anyone who believes that he fulfilled them all literally.

"No commentator claims to find precise fulfillment in the remainder of this chapter." [Note: Walvoord, Daniel . . ., p. 270.]

In view of later revelation, in the Olivet Discourse and in the Book of Revelation particularly, what the angel told Daniel in these verses must refer to the last one of Daniel’s seventy weeks. This is the last seven-year period before Jesus Christ returns to the earth to establish His kingdom. Jesus called the end of it a time of great tribulation (Matthew 24:21), and Daniel’s angel called it the worst period of distress that the Jews have ever seen (Daniel 12:1; cf. Jeremiah 30:7). Therefore it seems reasonable to conclude that what follows will occur in that seven-year period, the Tribulation. [Note: Culver, "Daniel," p. 797, gave seven reasons for believing that the prophecy shifts from Antiochus to Antichrist at Daniel 11:36.]