“But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.” – Daniel 12:13
We end our journey through the book of Daniel by looking at two more promises that God has for the future and things that can never get deleted from the Christian’s calendar.
- God Refines the Defiled (12:10-12)
A few verses earlier, the angel says, “Ok, Daniel, here’s how long it’ll be,” and Daniel says, “I don’t understand what that means.” Faith comes by hearing the Word of God, not by necessarily understanding it. Don’t feel bad if you don’t understand everything you read in the Bible; Daniel experienced and wrote it and still doesn’t get it all. Just because we don’t understand things doesn’t make them untrue; it just means one day they’ll occur and will make sense to us.
The thing I want to focus on here is how God makes dirty people clean. He uses the language of “purify,” “white,” and “refined,” and, if you’re a child of God, He’s also talking about you. When an assault victim is assaulted, they often say the first thing they want to do is take a shower. They want to be clean. That’s what sin does – defiles. Not only does the body need to be cleansed, so does the soul. There are many ways to cleanse your body, but only one way to cleanse your soul, and His name is Jesus.
1 John 1:8-9 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If we agree with God that we have done some things wrong, He will forgive us. This is really good news – all we have to do is ask for His forgiveness. If you’ve asked God for forgiveness, you’re clean, not dirty. This is the best news ever.
When you wash your hands, wash your car, wash your dishes, and wash your clothes, remember that Jesus makes you clean. Remind yourself of spiritual truths when you’re doing physical things.
- God Rewards the Faithful (12:13)
Here, God says through the angel, “Go your way till the end,” meaning “Go live your life; the future is in God’s hands; just be faithful with your responsibilities.” Daniel never wanted to be famous – though he is because Ezekiel twice named him one of the most famous men in the history of the world and Jesus talks about him – he just wanted to be faithful.
Daniel doesn’t see his longings fulfilled in his lifetime. He never got to go home to the Temple, never got to see the massive revival, didn’t get to see Jesus coming on the clouds, or see the resurrection of the dead. But God gave him a vision beyond the horizon of this life, and, as a result, all of his longings were fulfilled.
You cannot lose your salvation because Jesus Christ cannot lose a Christian, but you can lose your rewards. For God’s people, everything you’re enduring is not wasted; it’s invested. Everyone you’re loving, every dollar you’re giving to the cause of Jesus Christ, every person you’ve shared Jesus with, everything you’ve done for the love of God or people, God sees, knows, and accounts for this. When you pass into the eternal state, there will be rewards for you. This is an investment that can’t fall or be taken away, like the stock market. There’s an opportunity to take everything you go through in life and respond with faith and faithfulness, which goes into your eternal account from which you will reap an eternal reward. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
Daniel didn’t get his rewards in this life, but he got rewarded in his eternal life. I want that truth to encourage you to be faithful, to persevere through hardship, and to love people as Daniel did. What we go through in this life can be incredibly painful, but I want you to see into the future that God has for us because it’s incredibly hopeful.
What was your biggest takeaway from the book of Daniel?
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