House Divided

Bridging the Gap in Reformed Eschatology A Preterist Response to

When Shall These Things Be?

Chapter Seven

The Resurrection of the Dead 

Part 5 Daniel 12:1-3

David A. Green

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Strimple Argument #5: Daniel 12:1-3 says that “many of those who

sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to

shame and everlasting contempt.” This is obviously referring to a physical

resurrection of the dead. Additionally, God tells us that this prophecy

is to be fulfilled in “the time of the end” (Dan. 12:4), which is the end

of human history (295).

Answer: Daniel’s prediction of the resurrection of the dead begins

with these words: “And at that time . . . ” “That time” refers back to the

end of chapter 11. Philip Mauro in his book, The Seventy Weeks and

the Great Tribulation, argues convincingly that Daniel 11 ends with a

prophecy of Herod the Great.[1]

Herod, the first enemy of the incarnate Christ, died very shortly

after Christ was born. It was “at that time” that Christ (“Michael,” “the

Chief Messenger”) stood up for the saints. It was at that time that Christ

came into the world for His people and took on the body of sacrifice

that the Father had prepared for Him (Dan. 12:1; Heb. 10:5-7; Ps. 40:6;

cf. Rev. 12:7).

It was the “stand” for the elect that Christ made in His Incarnation

that led to the “war in heaven” (Matt. 11:12; Rev. 12:7), which in turn

led to fleshly Israel being overtaken in the death-throes of the Great

Tribulation (Dan. 12:1). Jesus promised that that time of distress was

going to take place within His own generation, and that it would be consummated

in the destruction of the city and the sanctuary (Dan. 9:26;

12:1; Matt. 24:1-2, 21, 34). That event took place in August-September

of AD 70.

According to the angel who spoke to Daniel, it was at that time that

the power of the holy people would be shattered (Dan. 12:7), that the

church would be delivered (Dan. 12:1), that the resurrection of the dead

would take place, and that the righteous would inherit the kingdom

 (Dan. 12:2). Jesus, in harmony with Daniel, promised that the kingdom

would be taken from the wicked and given to the righteous in the lifetime

of the chief priests and Pharisees (Mat. 21:43-45). Therefore, “the

time of the end” (not “the end of time,” as it is sometimes mistranslated)

in Daniel 12:4, 9 was not the end of human history; it was the end of

redemptive history in Christ’s generation.

It was in AD 70, therefore, that many who slept in “the earth’s dust”

awoke. To “sleep in dust” is a figure of speech. The dead were not literally

sleeping, nor were they literally in the dust. They were “in dust”

only insofar as, in their death, they had not ascended into God’s presence

in Christ. In terms of the righteousness and life of God, they were

earth-bound. From a literal standpoint, they were in Sheol/Hades (the

abode of the Adamic dead), and it was from out of Sheol that they were

raised to stand before the heavenly throne of God (Dan. 12:1-2).

Futurist James Jordan writes regarding Daniel 12:13:

What Daniel is promised is that after his rest in Abraham’s bosom,

he will stand up with all God’s saints and join Michael on

a throne in heaven, as described in Revelation 20, an event that

came after the Great Tribulation and in the year AD 70.[2]

Regarding the word “many” in Daniel 12:2: The word is not used

in contrast to “all” (as “the many” is used to limit the term “all men” in

Rom. 5:12, 15, 18-19) or in contrast to “a few.” The angel simply referred

to a large number of people; to multitudes (NIV). No inference can be

made from the context as to whether “many” referred to all or to only

a portion of the dead. Only subsequent scriptures revealed that the

“many” in Daniel 12:2 referred whole company of all the dead

from Adam to the Last Day.

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Mike Sullivan