Daniel 12:11 Commentary and Bible Study

All admit the words are very obscure. ‘And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away’ – what time is that? We have already come across a somewhat similar expression in chapter 9:27, but there we have interpreted it in a positive way, and the expression here is not quite the same. Daniel 9:27 is about the work of Messiah in fulfilling the ceremonial law by his death on the cross, and thus making the sacrifice in the temple redundant. Here however, both occurrences – the taking away of the daily sacrifice, and the setting up of the abomination that makes desolate – are represented as bringing trouble upon the people of God, because the visions says that comfort will be found in waiting for a future time of blessing when all these troubles will be passed. The expression also occurs in Daniel 8:11 and 11:31 which matches better. Chapter 11:31 is part of the same vision and one would naturally assume that this verse refers back to the last use of this expression there. That referred to the blasphemous intervention of Antiochus Epiphanes when he stopped the daily sacrifice in Jerusalem and set up a pagan altar in the temple to make offerings to pagan gods (see notes on Daniel 8:11 and 11:31). Some interpreters therefore try to relate these words to the historical events of the days of Antiochus, and treat this as further detail being given about the time before Christ. But the prophecy has already advanced beyond this point to tell us about the final antichrist. Why would we then go backwards in time? A length of time is given us: one thousand two hundred and ninety days. This is very similar to the one thousand two hundred and sixty days found in the Book of Revelation, and which we have argued is the same as the time, times, and half a time, or three and a half years found in verse 7 of this chapter and in Daniel 7:25. But here there are an extra thirty days added, and in the next verse there are a further forty five days added on top of that. Why? It should be clear that these are not all completely different times. The one thousand two hundred and ninety days is the same one thousand two hundred and sixty days with another thirty days added to it. We have argued that the one thousand two hundred and sixty days, amounting to half of seven years represents the gospel age, with the entire history of man approximately divided into two by the coming of Christ. This interpretation is supported by what takes place during this period both in the visions of Daniel and in the Book of Revelation (see notes on Dainel 12:7). It is not a literal period of time but a symbolic period, although various commentators struggle to justify a literal interpretation of the numbers.If then it is a symbolic period of time, when does it start and when does it end? If the period does not start with the violation of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, nor with the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, did it then begin with what the Romans did when they took Jerusalem in AD 70? The daily sacrifice was taken away by God's judgment through the instrumentality of the Romans in A.D. 70, when the temple was laid waste. At that time all offering of sacrifices was forced to stop. Even though Christ’s death theologically brought to an end all to the Old Testament sacrifices – by fulfilling all the types and shadows of the law – unbelieving Jews had continued to use the temple and offer up sacrifices during the period between Calvary and the fall of Jerusalem. But when Titus destroyed the temple, that could no longer continue, so perhaps the start of this symbolic period dates from the destruction of the temple. ‘And the abomination that maketh desolate set up.’ That is surely not the abomination of Antiochus Epiphanies; it is what happened when the temple and altar were destroyed by the Romans. It is this that Christ refers to when, speaking of future events, he directs converted Jews at that time: ‘When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) ¹⁶ Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains’ (Matthew 24:15-16). So if the one thousand two hundred and sixty days represent the church age, the gospel age, what are the extra thirty days, and then the further forty-five days? An extra short period is added on the end. There are any number of answers we could possibly give to this. It is just possible that that this is the period, this extra added period, of the most intense persecution, Satan's little season, added on the very end. So there is a distinction made between the gospel age and this final period. The final intensive persecution and all-out attempt of Satan through antichrist to destroy the church. Some similar distinction may be seen in Revelation 20 where a different symbol is used. The thousand years also represent the gospel age, the church age, but that comes to an end, and yet there is a further period of trouble. ‘And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, ⁸ And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. ⁹ And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them’ (Revelation 20:7-9). These extra days seem to represent that same period when Satan is released, though we will need to get closer to the events themselves to fully understand what this means.‘Blessed is he that waiteth’ – throughout the ages, and particularly from the time of Christ to his second coming: the churches in the gospel age. ‘Blessed is he that waiteth’, knowing that things will get worse, particularly at the end. But Christ will come and redeem all his people, and come to that final point.