Daniel 12:2; Resurrection ~ 20230212 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org
02/12_Daniel 12:2-3; Resurrection Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20230212_dan12_2.mp3
Necessity of Resurrection
The gospel, the good news, the message of our salvation is that Chrsit died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to many. This is the gospel we received, the base and foundation of our life, the reality we stand in, by which we are being saved, if we hold fast to it (1Cor.15:1-5)
According to Luke, Jesus:
Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Paul says:
1 Corinthians 15:12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. ... 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
The resurrection is essential to the gospel. Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we have assurance that Jesus is who he claimed to be. Because he was raised from the dead, we have confidence that we too will be raised.
It Will Get Worse, But It Will Be Worth It
Daniel 12 is the conclusion of the vision given to Daniel about a time of great trouble for God’s people. Daniel 11 records the conflict between the kings of the north and south from Daniel’s day, up to the time of Antiochus Ephiphanes, and on to the end times, with a final future persecutor of God’s people, the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction.
2 Thessalonians says:
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day [the day of the Lord] will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
...8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, 10 and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Daniel is told that persecution will continue against God’s people, in fact it will escalate, will get worse, but that it will be worth it.
Daniel 12:1 “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. 2 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. 3 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.
Physical Bodily Resurrection
Daniel 12 points ahead to the resurrection. Resurrection is something different than the fact that our souls or spirits will go on consciously after death. Paul says that for the believer to be away from the body is to be present with the Lord (2Cor.5:6-8), but our ultimate hope is not to be away from the body; ‘not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life’ (2Cor.5:4). When Jesus appeared after his resurrection, he made it clear to his disciples that he was not a disembodied spirit, but real, physical, tangible human. He invited them to touch him, he ate in front of them to demonstrate his reality (Lk.24:36-43).
Old Testament Teaching on the Resurrection
Daniel 12:2 is probably one of the clearest statements of the resurrection in the Old Testament. Because of this, some have thought that it is the only statement about the resurrection, and that the Old Testament really didn’t teach the resurrection. This is simply not true.
Job said:
Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, 27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!
Psalm 16 says:
Psalm 16:10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. 11 You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Both Peter and Paul (Acts 2:31; 13:34-35) apply this verse to Jesus, who rose on the third day, before his body began to decay.
Isaiah 25 says:
Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.
And Isaiah 26:
Isaiah 26:19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.
Ezekiel 37
Ezekiel 37:12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
Martha, when their brother Lazarus had died, affirmed her belief in the resurrection.
John 11:23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
Paul affirmed that the Jews of his day believed in the resurrection of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:14-15).
Daniel 12 would have been foundational to this understanding that ‘many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt’
Resurrection with Distinction; Some to Life, Others to Shame
Daniel was told that there will be distinctions in the resurrection; many, not necessarily all, will be raised to everlasting life. Others will be raised to shame and everlasting contempt.
He says those who sleep in the dusty earth shall awake. This is an echo of Genesis; we are told:
Genesis 2:7 then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
And after we rebelled, God said that we will ‘return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return’ (Gen.3:19)
We return to dust, but now Daniel is told we will awaken out of the dust. This awakening is the same for both groups; if it is literal, bodily physical for the one, then it is the same for the other. And the same word ‘everlasting’ is applied to both; if life is eternal, so is the shame and contempt.
The only other place this word ‘contempt’ appears is in Isaiah 66:24
Isaiah 66:24 “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”
This is a graphic image of the just condemnation of those who rebel against God. It is an image that Jesus uses in Mark 9 to warn us of the dangers of hell (Gehenna),
Mark 9:47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
Daniel used the word ‘shame’ in chapter 9 when he confessed that because of their sins, ‘Jerusalem and your people have become a byword (reproach or shame) among all who are around us (9:16).
We have acted shamefully and we deserve shame and everlasting contempt. But Psalm 69 uses this word ‘shame’ when points to Jesus:
Psalm 69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
Jesus offers to take our reproach, our shame on himself. Jesus bore our sins in his body on the tree. We either receive the gift he offers of the great exchange; our shame for his perfect righteousness, or we choose to bear our shame for eternity. This is glorious good news, but it is also a sobering reality.
Jesus; Resurrection of Life or of Judgment
Jesus himself in John 5 drew a contrast between the resurrection of life and the resurrection of judgment.
John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
This ought rightly to terrify us, because ‘none is righteous, no not one’ (Rom.3:10). Our only hope is to be clothed in the perfect righteouness of our Lord Jesus Christ (Is.61:10; Col.1:21-22). And this is offered to all who would belive.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
John 6:40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Two Resurrections in Revelation 20
Last time we looked in Revelation 12-13 at the war in heaven and the epic struggle between the dragon and the seed of the woman behind the earthly events. Once the dragon is thrown down from heaven he has great wrath because he knows his time is short. Now we pick up the story in Revelation 20.
Revelation 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while. 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
That time of trouble will be unequaled in history, but remaining true to the testimony of Jesus and the word of God whatever the cost will be worth it. Those beheaded souls came to life. They were resurrected. They will reign with Christ for a thousand years.
Revelation 20:5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
Revelation 20 separates the resurrection of life from the resurrection of judgment by a thousand years. The first resurrection here includes those followers of Jesus who died during that time of great trouble.
Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
The rest of the dead, those who did not have a part in the first resurrection, were judged according to what they had done, and all who are judged according to their deeds will be seen to have sinned and fall short. They died once, and they will be raised to experience the second death, the lake of fire. There are the books, and there is another book. Either your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life (Rev.13:8; 17:8) or you are judged based on the record of what you have done.
Those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life are accepted because the record of debt that stood against them was nailed to the cross, and they are clothed with the righteousness of Christ. They are blessed and holy, because they cast themselves on the mercy of Jesus, and their faith was counted to them as righteousness. They did not work but believed God who justifies the ungodly (Rom.4:4-5)
Daniel 12:2 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.
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2023.02.12 Sermon Notes
Daniel 12:2; Resurrection
The Gospel: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures; he was buried, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and he appeared...
1 Corinthians 15:1-5; Acts 1:3
The resurrection is essential to the gospel
1 Corinthians 15:12-19
A time of unequaled trouble, but it will be worth it
Daniel 11:36-45; 12:1-3
Physical bodily resurrection
2 Corinthians 5:1-10; Luke 24:37-42
Resurrection in the Old Testament
Job 19:25-27; Psalm 16:10-11; Acts 2:31; 13:34-35;
Isaiah 25:8; 26:18; Ezekiel 37:12; John 11:23-24; Acts 24:14-15
Resurrection from dust, to life or to shame
Genesis 2:7; 3:19; Isaiah 66:24; Mark 9:47; Psalm 69:8;
John 5:25-29; Romans 3:10; Isaiah 61:10; Colossians 1:21-22
The first resurrection and the second death
Revelation 20:4-6, 11-15
Revelation 13:8; 17:8; Colossians 2:13-14; Romans 4:4-5
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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org