The Mysterious 75 Days After the Tribulation — Daniel 12 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody in, and the first thing I always like to let our television audience understand is that we are a varied group. You're all from various churches and denominations, and some of you are from within Tulsa, some of you have driven a distance, and some of you are visiting. We've got a lady from California visiting, and we just appreciate every one of you coming in to be a part of this, because when we first talked about producing this program, that's the first thing I told the folks up here, I'll never be able to teach a camera. We have to have living people in front of us, and this is why I appreciate so much your effort in coming in for this afternoon of taping. Again, we like to let our folks out in television understand that all the past programs, now we've started way back in Genesis, and we're now clear up into Corinthians, and so all these past programs are available on video, and now we have them all also available on audio, and these are all in 12 program packages, six hours, and then this has all been transcribed into a little booklet that corresponds word for word with what comes off the video. We like to tell everybody that they are not doctored up, they're not edited, what you hear is what you get, and what you see is what you get. But we know we sometimes make some mistakes, but we usually catch them by virtue of our audience or something, and then we correct them later. But anyway, this is just an informal Bible study, and I always have to remind people when they call, they call me pastor, and they ask about my church and these things, and we do not pastor a church, I'm just a layman. I like to refer to myself more as a Sunday school teacher than anything else, but our whole ministry is to just reach people across the spectrum. All right, now I think that's enough of announcements, and for the last several programs of course we've been looking at the resurrection chapter, 1 Corinthians chapter 15. And so those of you in television, you take your Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians 15 and our various other Scriptures, but in the last several programs we were talking about first Christ and the firstfruits, as He was the first to be resurrected and those that came out of the graves after His resurrection in Matthew 27. And then we looked quite in depth at the resurrection of the body of Christ, the church-age believers, how that they will be separated from the rest, and we still had one group left that we didn't squeeze into our last four programs, and that of course would be the resurrection of the Old Testament believers. And the best place we can pick that up of course will be back in Daniel, but before we go there, let's read again this verse that we've been using as a jumping off place for the resurrection of the believers of all the ages, and that is in verse 22 of 1 Corinthians 15—no, I'm sorry, 23—but every man, that is every believer, every man in his own order or in his own group or his own company, and here it's reviewed again, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. Now here again the Scripture does not do it right here for us, but instead sends us back to other portions to dig out where then do the various groups of believers come into play when it comes to resurrection. Well, like I said in our last program, we looked how Paul lays it out in the later part of 1 Corinthians 15, and then going on in the 1 and 2 Thessalonians, how that the church age believers will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. But we did not have time to pick up the Old Testament believer, so now this afternoon we're going to go all the way back to Daniel chapter 12. Now in other remarks that I've made concerning the resurrection, the Old Testament certainly certainly alludes to it, and they certainly were believers of a resurrection, but there's not enough said about it in the Old Testament to build any real knowledge concerning it. But Daniel chapter 12 probably says the most of anything, although we know Job made reference to his resurrection life. We certainly know that David expected to be resurrected, but Daniel chapter 12 I think lays it out as clearly as any place, and we might as well start at verse 1. Every once in a while we hear from people who are blind, and they appreciate the fact that we read these verses, so we're trying to accommodate the whole spectrum of our viewing audience. Now verse 1 of Daniel 12, and at that time shall Michael stand up the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people, which of course would be for Israel, and there shall be a time of trouble such as never was, since there was a nation even to that same time. In other words, that's a reference to the tribulation. And at that time thy people, again the nation of Israel, shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book. So there we have the delineation that the unbelievers are not going to be resurrected at the same time as the believer. Now remember we pointed this out several programs back, that when Jesus spoke of resurrection in John chapter 5, He did not divide them either. He just said that at the last day there would be a resurrection of the just and the unjust, but He does not put a time frame around either one. Now we're going to find that Daniel here is speaking of a resurrection of only the believer element. None of the unbelievers are yet going to be resurrected according to Daniel 12. Now then verse 2, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And again that brings the two resurrections seemingly into the same event, but you know from other Scriptures that they are not. So we're going to have the resurrection of the believing Old Testament that will be totally separate from the resurrection of the unbelievers, which we will pick up later. Now then verse 3, They that be wise, in other words they were wise in faith. And you know I always have to, how shall I say, I always have to enlighten folk that regardless of where it was in human history, whether it was Adam and Eve, or whether it was Noah, or whether it was Abram, or Jacob, or Joseph, or any of those, David, Moses, they were all recipients of eternal life by virtue of faith. Oh I can't emphasize that enough. It has to be by faith. Sometimes Iris and I have heard whole sermons on salvation and never heard the word faith. I don't see how they can do that. But you have to incorporate faith into our salvation experience. It's all of faith. Hebrews says without faith it is impossible to please God. Then how in the world can they preach salvation and never use the word? Well it's beyond me, but they do. But here again we have to understand that these Old Testament believers were there in their position as saved people, as we would call it today, by virtue of their faith. And then of course reading on in verse 2, after the believing element are resurrected then the rest will go to shame and everlasting contempt. Verse 3, "...they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, they that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever." Now verse 4, now the Lord comes right down and He deals with Daniel in particular, and He says, "...but thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, this book of Daniel, even to the time of the end." In other words, Daniel is a book of prophecy that was almost just so much gobbledygook, if I may put it that way, to most of the scholars and the theologians down through history, because it contains so much end time scenarios that they couldn't comprehend, no way. And so it was a closed book. But Daniel is told now that it would be opened up at the time of the end, and we are certainly witnessing that today. And then verse 5, "...many shall run to and fro," that is in the end time, and of course there are various connotations to that, "...and knowledge shall be increased," and again I'm going to take that word to mean not just secular knowledge and the explosion of technology, which of course is certainly pertinent to the end time. In fact in our trip out to Ohio and Indiana we had a lovely time with a young couple out there, and he is involved in one of the larger banks in the country, and is in the very center of their computerization, and my what a thrilling time we had as he explained how all, as I've said so often in my classes, he just sort of put the frosting on the cake, that all of this amazing exploding technology is just bringing the whole world so rapidly to the scenario of the end time. And we know that all of the prophecies of this Book could never be fulfilled without the technology that is exploding. It just couldn't happen, and so it's necessary, and yet it's the very thing that tells us that the end is near. And so yes, there is that explosion of secular knowledge, but I think we're also seeing a greater understanding of the Scriptures in these last days than men were able to do before, because as I've always taught, God is the keeper of secrets. And I've used the verse Deuteronomy 29, 29 over and over, but the secret things belong unto the Lord our God. You've heard me say it. And so this is so true, that God has kept things secret, but is now revealing them as we approach the end of the age. So knowledge is not just limited to the secular world, but also into the area of the spiritual and the understanding of God's Word. Then verse 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. 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, in other words, these fantastic prophecies that Daniel has now written? Verse 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 to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever, that it shall be for, and here comes the tribulation now in a little different language, a time, one year, times, plural, or two years, and a time, another single year, for a total of three, and half a time, or a total of three and a half years. And when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. Well that�s right in accord with all the rest of our Old Testament prophecy, as well as what Paul writes in Thessalonians, and of course what John reveals then in the book of Revelation. This all speaks of these final seven years when Israel, of course, will come to the place where God is dealing with them again, on the basis of His covenant promises. Alright, then verse 8. I think this is such an appropriate verse for us to understand today, that Daniel wrote, and he looked at what he wrote, and he says, And I heard, but I understood not. Let me give you a comparison in the New Testament. Come back with me, I just happened to think of this. You know, I think people are beginning to catch on my style of teaching. I do not go by a particular format, and when something comes to mind, I�m going to go look at it. Luke chapter 18, and this happens throughout God�s dealing. How that He keeps things secret, even though we can�t understand, well how could it have been kept secret? Well, you see, God is sovereign, and He has a way of closing minds and ears that we know nothing of. Luke 18, beginning at verse 31, Luke 18, beginning at verse 31, and remember this is the setting at the end of the three years of His earthly ministry. They�re up there in northern Israel, up at the headwaters of the Jordan River, and they are about to go back down to Jerusalem for the final days before His crucifixion. Now let�s look at this carefully and compare it now with what we just saw in Daniel. Verse 31, And Jesus took unto Himself the twelve, and He said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, the Romans of course, and he shall be mocked and spitefully entreated, and spitted on. They shall scourge him, and put him to death, and the third day he shall rise again. Now do you suppose the Lord said that while the twelve were sleeping? Why no, they heard Him, they were listening intently. But look what the next verse says, And they understood none of these things, and they said, Hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. Now for goodness sakes, who hid it? Well God did, see? It wasn�t time for them to know. Have you ever stopped to think what the account would have been in the Gospels if the twelve would have known all this? It would just simply have been a whole apple cart upset, because then you see it had been recorded that the eleven were sitting there outside the tomb, waiting for the resurrection, and Mary and all the rest of them, because the twelve had fully understood just exactly what was going on. But they didn�t. They weren�t waiting at the tomb, you know that. And when they were told that He was alive, they couldn�t believe it. And you go into John chapter 20, and Peter and John race to the empty tomb, and when they saw the proof of resurrection, it says, And then they believed. And the next verse says, For as yet they understood not the Scriptures, that he should rise from the dead. Well you see, that�s God�s prerogative. He can hold things secret, and He did it with Daniel as well as He did with the twelve. All right, back to Daniel chapter 12 again, and reading once more verse 9, And he said, Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. In other words, God is not going to reveal these prophetic truths until the end time, and He�s ready for men to begin to put it all together. Verse 10, Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried, or tested, but the wicked shall do wickedly. My, we�re seeing it today. I read a lot even from the secular world, and I was reading a speech a gentleman made from the University of Georgetown in Washington, and he was decrying the fact that our whole society is falling apart because of the breakdown of the family, and he was trying to put out some positive indications that we�ve sort of turned the corner, that the pendulum is beginning to come back. Well let�s hope so, but see we have seen now for the last 20-30 years a complete destruction of the fabric of our society, absolute nihilism, absolute disregard for absolutes. In fact I was just listening to a tape as we came home from Ohio the other day, and he was giving this statistic that I think it was 40% now of the people that were polled in America believed that there were absolutes, 60% said there were none. Well no wonder we�re in trouble. And so this is what the prophecy said, that the wicked will do wickedly, absolutely, and the wise shall understand. You know I like to tell my class people here in Oklahoma, here we are in the Bible Belt. Most people go to church at least once in a while, and yet you bring up the fact that we�re in the end time, and even for most of these people here, they look at you with a blank look, they don�t know what you�re talking about. And it�s so sad that people do not comprehend how close we are to the end time. Now I�m not saying in 48 hours or anything like that, but in the relative term of the last 6,000 years we are certainly within the last moments of the age, whether it�s a few years or what. But whatever, we can understand because we know the Scripture. But now look at the verse 11, 12, and 13. This is the crux of the whole thing, so far as 1 Corinthians 15. And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, now remember that�s at the midpoint of the Tribulation, at the end of that first 3.5 years when the Antichrist will go into the Temple and defile it and turn on the nation of Israel like they�ve never been persecuted before. So from the time that that sacrifice shall be taken away, the abomination that maketh desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Now you have to be a little bit of a student of Scripture to realize that all of a sudden you�ve got a different number here. We�re used to 1,260 days as the length of the Tribulation. Seven years times 360 is a total of 2,520 days, but we split that in half, and each half then becomes 1,260 days, or 42 months. So now then, in verse 11 we have an extra 30 days thrown in. Is that a mistake? No. God knows what He�s doing, and so verse 12 says, Ephesians 1.12 �Blessed is he that� what�s the next word? Wait a minute. Now if you understand Daniel, and after reading about all of this, and he gets the picture of the great resurrection of the believers, what would they be prone to be? Impatient! Let�s hurry up! You know I�m getting that way myself. When I see the world falling apart, and I see the things that are implicating some horrible days ahead for the planet, I do. I get in a hurry, and I think a lot of believers do, that the Lord would come quickly. And so Daniel is told to be patient, wait, and come to the 1,335 days. Now goodness, what have we got? We�ve got another 75 days, an extra 30 days, and an extra 45 days. We have an extra 75 days added to the end of the tribulation. Now here�s the secret in verse 13. Why did God reveal to Daniel that there would be an extra 75 days after He returns and sets up His Kingdom? Here it is, but go thou thy way, till the end be, for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot, now Paul uses the word �company� concerning the church, but the same connotation that within this particular group of believers that are separated from all the rest, these are the Old Testament saints, and Daniel and his fellow believers of the Old Testament economy, you will stand in your lot at the end of the days, well what days? The extra 75 days beyond the tribulation. Well now, what�s the picture? After the church has been raptured of course, and that company of believers is now in the presence of the Lord, in their resurrected state, then we go through the horrors of the seven years of the tribulation, and during the tribulation there are going to be multitudes of people believe and be martyred, and that�ll be Jew as well as many, many Gentiles. Now they are not members of the body of Christ, they have not missed it by not being here for the rapture, they simply will not be included in the body, they cannot be, so I�m in my own thinking going to put them back with the Old Testament believer, because the tribulation is the time of God dealing with Israel, the temple is operating, and it�s primarily a Jewish period of time, so I�m going to put the whole lot of the tribulation believers, the Old Testament believers into this particular time of resurrection of this group of just people. Now then, this completes the resurrections of all the believers of the age. We�ve already taken out all the church age believers, we�ve taken out the first fruits before that, and now we have the resurrection of all the Old Testament believers as well as the tribulation believers, and now we�re ready for the Kingdom. But since this resurrection of the Old Testament saints is 75 days into the Kingdom, there has to be a reason. Now I hope I have time, come back with me and Daniel to chapter 2, and I think this is my explanation for this extra 75 days. Now for God of course a lot can happen in 75 days, that�s a long time for Him to operate. Now in Daniel chapter 2 we have the recovery of Nebuchadnezzar�s dream concerning all the great empires of the world, and how they are pictured in that great image, the head of gold, and the chest of silver, and the belly of brass, and the legs of iron, and the feet of iron and clay, which are all pictures of course of the Gentile empires coming down through history. When the Lord returns then at the end of the tribulation, He will strike that image, that representative of all the empires, on the empire that is then functioning, which is the iron and clay of the Toas, or the revived Roman Empire, and He will crush everything that smacks of Gentile rule and empire. Then in verse 35, after He has returned and He has crushed the residue of all these Gentile empires, He has crushed the armies of the Antichrist in Armageddon, and He has totally destroyed the planet. I think every city on the planet is going to fall in a matter of hours. And then verse 35, with the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floor. Now even whether you are acquainted with agriculture or not, I think you all realize that chaff is light, and like a feather the wind can just blow it away, and it just dissipates. The residue then of these great Gentile empires will literally be blown away with the Second Coming of Christ, and will disappear like the chaff of the summer threshing floor, and the wind carried them away. And then after the next punctuation mark, the stone that smote the image, which is the returning Christ, the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. In other words, He sets up His Kingdom. Now before He brings in the Jewish resurrected believers, and of course Israel is going to have the fulfillment of all their Old Testament promises, you want to remember that these 75 days are no doubt going to be used to get everything ready for the oncoming of this Kingdom economy. This 75 days will be used to just cleanse the earth of all the residue, and it will be beautiful. I think by the time this 75 days have run their course, the earth will once again revert back as it was at the time of the Garden of Eden, and the curse will be lifted, and it�s just going to be beyond human comprehension. Now there�s one other reason I want to bring in for just a closing moment, and turn back quickly to Psalms 45, and drop down to verses 8-12. Now we may not have time to read them all, we only have less than a minute left, but here of course is the connotation of a Wedding Feast, and I feel that the Bride of Christ is the Body of Christ, and we will be united in that formal marriage after we�ve been caught up to be with Him in Heaven. But we can�t leave the Old Testament Saints out of the picture completely, so they�re going to come in I think as the Wedding Guests. We may not have time to read it all, but it�s in verses 8-12 of Psalms 45, and I�m going to drop down to verse 13. The King�s daughter is all glorious, and they�re going to be there for the Feast. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time, for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.