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Our evening gathering finished off it’s journey through the book of Daniel on Sunday night. At first reading, the last few chapters of Daniel are just plain weird - strange visions of strange men saying strange things!

Our focus was on Daniel 12 - the vision that talked about what would happen at the end of time. The “End Times” has been something that has fascinated me over the years I’ve been doing Bible College. One of my very first essays was on prophecy, and ways to interpret it. In doing so, I’ve been horrified by how dubious some supposedly ‘Bible based’ interpretations are and even more disturbed by the number of people that simply believe them without asking even the most basic of questions.

As it turns out, Daniel chapter 12 gives us some pretty good guidelines onhow to approach prophecy concerning the end times. Here’s a summary of what I said:

1. Acknowlege that nobdy knows what is going to happen or when.

Jesus says he doesn’t know (Matt 24:36), the angels that appear in Daniel’s vision don’t know and Daniel himself is totally confused. Every prediction that humans have ever made have been wrong (obviously!). There is value in studying the prophecies and debating the different theories/theologies, but at the end of the day, nobdoy can or does know. It’s simply the way it is.

2. Acknowlege that what you believe won’t change what happens.

Put another way, what you believe could well be wrong when it comes to the end times! The example I used was that of the push to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, for the thinking goes that Jesus can’t return until the temple is rebuilt. To me, this a bit too much like telling God what to do. We can’t speed things up. We can’t slow them down. What is going to happen, will happen.

3. Acknowlege that our calling is to live life to the full.

Jesus says thatthis is why he came (John 10:10). Daniel had lived a blameless life and the advice the angel gave him in the midst of his confusion was, “Go your way Daniel.” Keep living how you’ve been living and don’t worry about what will happen. You will rise at the end of time. That’s good advice for us to. Love God. Love our neighbours. Be ready for the end times, but don’t really worry about it too much. After all, it could be another 2000 years before it happens.

So, we come to the end of Daniel. Personally I’ve found it great, and complementing it with some brief looks at other OT characters has been really helpful.

Next we look at the Kingdom of God.