CHAPTER TWELVE

THEME "Last Things." 12:1-13. Divisional Words-Priority-Privacy-Privation. (a) PRIORITY. 12:1-3.

And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlastnig contempt.

3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever.

The eleventh chapter closes with the overthrow of the Anti-Christ. In the verses before us we are told that Michael the great prince fights for the children of God. In spite of the terrible condition prevailing during the time of "The Great Tribulation," many are awakened to everlasting life. In that day there will come a revelation of the things of earth. Priority will be given, not to those who have succeeded according to earth's standards, but to those who have turned the feet of many toward the kingdom of heaven. How we need to learn this lesson amidst the madness of twentieth century striving and lusting. Today the most important man in any community is he who is rich in the material things of earth. The influential man is not the one who seeks to serve but the one who by virtue of his acquisition of of wealth can control and command. In that day the wise man will be the man who won others to Christ.

Mr. Moody used to tell the following story concerning Doctor Duff:

Doctor Duff had been out in India as a missionary; he had spent twenty-five years there preaching

the Gospel and establishing schools. He came back with a broken-down constitution. He was permitted to address the General Assembly, in order to make an appeal for men to go into the mission field. After he had spoken for a considerable time, he became exhausted and fainted away. They carried him out of the hall into another room. The doctors worked over him for some time, and at last he began to recover. When he realized where he was, he roused himself and said: "I did not finish my speech; carry me back and let me finish it." They told him he could only do it at the peril of his life. Said he: "I will do it if I die." So they took him back to the hall. It was one of the most solemn scenes ever witnessed. They brought the whitehaired man into the Assembly Hall, and as he appeared at the door every person sprang to his feet; the tears flowed freely as they looked upon the grand old veteran. With a trembling voice, he said:

"Fathers and mothers of Scotland, is it true that you have no more sons to send to India to work for the Lord Jesus Christ? The call for help is growing louder and louder, but there are few coming forward to answer it. You have the money put away in the bank, but where are the laborers who shall go into the field? When Queen Victoria wants men to volunteer for her army in India, you freely give your sons. You do not talk about their losing their health, and about the trying climate. But when the Lord Jesus is calling for laborers, Scotland is saying: "We have no more sons to give.

Turning to the President of the Assembly, he said: "Mr. Moderator, if it is true that Scotland has no more sons to give to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ in India, although I have lost my health in that land and came home to die, if there are none who will go and tell those heathen of Christ, then I will be off to-morrow, to let them know that there is one old Scotchman who is ready to die for them. I will go back to the shores of the Ganges, and

there lay down my life as a witness for the Son of God."

After all, is not this the secret of possessing in the present, the real joy of living. How many there are today. who live for toys, for pleasure and for power, yet are never satisfied. We were put

into the world not to give our bodies a little sensual pleasure nor to furnish them mental work, but to live as in the light of eternity when earth's true valuation shall be revealed. Thank God the day will dawn when he who has served and given of his best through Christ will be granted the priority. (b) PRIVACY. 12:4-9.

4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

5 Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river.

6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?

7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.

8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

The great prophecy is now ended. The angel orders the prophet to shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end. In the ninth

verse Daniel is told to "go his way." This command was given in answer to the prophet's question, "O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?" His query reminds us of the question of the disciples

when they came to the Master upon Olivet saying, "Tell us, when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Jesus replied "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of God nor the Son, but my Father which is in heaven." There is much concerning the future that is sealed up in the privacy of God's counsel. What he has sealed let us not be presumptuous in trying to open. Prophetic teachers sometimes err in seeking to establish the imminent coming of the Lord by referring to the signs of war, apostasy, tribulation, and a multitude of other things. If one looks carefully enough he can virtually find such signs in almost every age of the world's history.

All along the Oker Thal, in the Hartz mountains there are huge rocks towering up among the fir-clad hills, to which the peasants have appended names according as they fancy them to bear resemblance to chairs, horses, cobblers, or cocked hats. The likeness in most cases is such as only fancy can make out when she is in her most vigorous mood, nevertheless this rock must needs be called a man, and that a church, and there has no doubt been many a quarrel between rival observers who have discovered each a different image in the one pile of rock; yet the stones are not churches, chairs, or cobblers, and the whole business is childish and nonsensical. Interpreters of prophecy during the last few years have been most of them in the same position; one of them sees in the sublimities of the Revelation the form of Louis Napoleon where two or three hundred years ago half Christendom saw the Pope, and the other half Martin Luther. The other day one of the seers saw the German Emperor in the prophecies, and now another detects a President of the United States, and we feel pretty sure that the League of Nations will soon be spied out in Daniel or Ezekiel. The fact is, when fancy is their guide men wander as in a maze. Spiritualistic interpreters see, like children gazing into the

fire, not what is really before them, but what is in their own heads. Great truths are in the Prophets and in the precious book of Revelation, but fanciful theologians turn these sublimities of truth into the toys of children.

Throw away your calendar, my brother, and remember that privacy is the restriction which Christ himself placed upon the disciples' desire to know the time of His coming, and of the end of the world.

10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.

11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.

13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.

No doubt many laughed and scoffed at Daniel. The truths he taught and the prophecies he gave concerning the Jews were very unpopular. His reward was isolation and privation. They who would live Godly must suffer persecution. As an aid to his faith he is assured that his preaching was not in vain, for many would be purified and made white. In addition he is advised to "Go thy way till the end be for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days." In a word, the hour was coming when the prophet of God would be justified. After tribulation, trial and persecution had done their worst, Israel would know that Daniel had prophesied truly. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord gives vision that he may see, "Last Things."

A diver was emerging from the waters of the East river. He had been down on the bottom arranging some of the foundation work for the or