THE SOVEREIGN GOD IS IN CONTROL

The book of Daniel is one of the primary sources of end-time prophecy. Today’s One Year Bible reading in Daniel 11:36–12:13 has many details about what is yet to come at the end of this age. What I want to focus on, however, is not the details of the events, but on the truth of the “big picture.”

Daniel 11:36–45 focuses on a very wicked king, who will succeed, but “only until the time of wrath is completed. For what has been determined will surely take place.” In other words, God will allow this king to go only so far. Then what the Sovereign God has already decided will take place.

Verses 40–45 describe the warfare that follows, but again, the king is stopped, this time by Michael, the Archangel who protects Israel. A time of “anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence” will follow. But God’s people — those “whose name is written in the book” — will be rescued (12:1). By the end of this 3½-year period the Sovereign God will have accomplished His purposes, and “many will be purified, cleansed, and refined by these trials” (12:10).

God’s final word to Daniel in 12:13 was to “go your way until the end.” Daniel would die, but at the end of the age, he would “rise again to receive the inheritance set aside for you.” In other words, Daniel was to remain faithful to God’s calling, and would receive eternal rewards in Heaven.

God’s message in Daniel is that He, the Sovereign of the universe, is in control, even when things are bad; and we who trust in Him have ultimate and eternal hope.

Be encouraged!