It will be a time of intense persecution for the Jews. Little Judah will be dwarfed by the powers that are against her, and it seems that they are unrestrained and able to do all the evil that they wish against God’s people.
God had his people at this difficult time also, and this passage in Daniel would have been a great comfort to them. The identification of them as those that knew their God shows that there is only one source of strength for those who face such deep trials. The time limit for this suffering tells the faithful that they must set their hopes on the relief that God has promised to bring. They will not have to bear these things forever. God has not forgotten them in their trials, but is purifying them through suffering for his name’s sake, and they will come forth as gold. Mixed with faith, suffering becomes profitable.
All this is prophecy of events that would literally happen, and they did happen, and they are all part of Jewish history. But they are also typical, because you see the way the devil always works, always trying to bring down people who are members of the professing church of Christ and bring them to compromise and to abandon essentials of the faith. Maybe they are not really saved; maybe some of them are saved, but are very wayward. There will always be periodic purges of the church of Jesus Christ. Persecution and attacks will come. The Roman Catholic Church, and other false churches with false doctrine, will arise and carry many people away. Liberalism will arise. It started in the last quarter of the 19th century. When that comes, those who stand have to be sure of their doctrine and mount a defence, and it is a purging process.