Wenstrom Bible Ministries Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom Thursday August 21, 2014 www.wenstrom.org Daniel: Daniel 12:1c-Regenerate Jews Will Be Delivered from the Tribulation of the Last Three and a Half Years of the Seventieth Week Please turn in your Bibles to Daniel 12:1. Lesson # 372 Daniel 12:1 Now, during this particular period of time, Michael, your great ruler, who stands watch over the citizens of your nation, will come to defend. Consequently, a vexatious period of time will occur which has never taken place since a nation has been in existence up to this particular period of time. However, during this particular period of time, your nation, each and every one whose name is found written in the scroll, will be delivered. The third prophetic statement in Daniel 12:1 stands in contrast with the second prophetic statement that the last three and a half years of the seventieth week will be an unprecedented time of distress among nations in human history. Therefore, the contrast is between the nations of the earth facing the terrible wrath of God during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week and those Jews who are regenerated being delivered from this awful period of God s wrath. This deliverance mentioned in the third prophetic statement in Daniel 12:1 is not only a physical deliverance from Satan, Antichrist and the Tribulation armies but also a spiritual deliverance. It is a physical deliverance since the prophetic statements in Daniel 12:1 are related to the prophetic events recorded in Daniel 11:36-45 which speak of Antichrist persecuting the Jewish people during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week. Those Jews who trust in Jesus Christ at His Second Advent to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist and the Tribulation armies will be delivered physically at that time from these enemies. 2014 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 1
This deliverance mentioned in the third prophetic statement in Daniel 12:1 is also spiritual since it is used in relation to the prophetic statements in Daniel 12:2 which speaks of many Jews being raised from the dead to everlasting life and also others being raised to everlasting disgrace and contempt. Those Jews who trust in Jesus Christ as Savior will also be delivered spiritually as a result of their faith in Him to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist and the Tribulation armies. This is indicated by the fact that this deliverance is mentioned in relation to the book or scroll of life which contains the names of those who are declared justified through faith alone in Jesus Christ or in other words it contains the names of all those who are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, those Jews who exercise faith in Jesus Christ to deliver them from Satan, Antichrist and the Tribulation armies will also be delivered spiritually from the wrath of God through this faith in Jesus Christ. So their faith not only saves them physically from these enemies but more importantly it saves them from their greatest enemy, namely God s wrath in the eternal lake of fire. These Jews are delivered from God s wrath during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week are mentioned in Revelation 7 and according to this passage will number 144,000. Revelation 7 teaches that 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel will be delivered from the wrath of God during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week and all of them will be saved through faith in Jesus Christ. Zechariah 13:8-9 reveals that during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week, one third of the citizens of Israel will be killed and the remaining third will be purified through the events of the tribulation and will exercise faith in the Lord who will deliver them from their enemies. This future salvation is predicted in both the Old and New Testaments (Isaiah 11:11; 27:12-13; Jeremiah 30:7; Ezekiel 37:21-28; Hosea 3:4-5; Amos 9:11-15; Romans 11:16-27). 2014 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 2
The apostle Paul in Romans 11 teaches that there will be a national regeneration and restoration of the nation of Israel at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ. Romans 11:26 And then, in the following way, all Israel will be delivered just as it stands written for all of eternity, The Deliverer will arrive out from Zion. He will remove totally and completely the godless ones from Jacob. (Author s translation) Romans 11:26 teaches that, at the Second Advent of Christ and immediately after the full number of Gentiles that have been elected by the Father in eternity past have been saved, there will be a national regeneration of Israel. All is the nominative masculine singular form of the adjective pas, which is modifying the proper name Israel and is not referring to each and every citizen of the nation of Israel but rather it refers to the nation as a whole. It is used to denote a large and representative number from a group and refers to the majority of the citizens of the nation of Israel at the time of Christ s Second Christ who will trust in Him as their Savior. So pas is referring to the national regeneration of Israel at the Second Advent of Christ in which at that time the majority of Jews in Israel will exercise faith in Christ so as to be saved in contrast to His First Advent when the majority of Jews rejected Him and only a remnant believed. We know that some in Israel at that time will reject Christ since the Scriptures teach that the Lord will judge Israel immediately after His Second Advent and will have His elect angels remove every unbeliever from the nation (Ezekiel 20:37-38; Zechariah 13:8-9; Malachi 3:2-3, 5; Matthew 25:1-30). So Paul is using pas here in Romans 11:26 much like we would say in America that the whole country watched the events of 911 transpire on television! Of course not each and every person would have done so but the idea behind the statement is that a good majority in the country did watch the events of 911. This prophecy in Romans 11:26 that there will be a national regeneration of Israel at Christ s Second Advent is taught throughout the Old Testament. 2014 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 3
Zechariah 12:10-14 records that at the Second Advent the nation of Israel will mourn as a nation over their rejection of Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah and will acknowledge as such and will turn to Him for deliverance from Antichrist and the Tribulational armies. On the Day of Atonement, at the Second Advent of Christ, Israel will as a nation trust in Jesus Christ as Savior (Ezekiel 37; Zechariah 12:10; 14:9-21). Paul s statement in Romans 11:26a that all Israel will be saved, which refers to the national regeneration of Israel at Christ s Second Advent is echoing Paul s previous statements in Romans 11:12 and 15. Romans 11:27 Furthermore, this is, as an eternal spiritual truth, the covenant established by Me for their benefit when I act on My promise and remove their sins. (Author s translation) Paul in Romans 11:27 quotes Isaiah 59:21 and 27:9 to teach that this national regeneration of Israel will involve the Lord fulfilling one of His promises in this covenant, namely removing the sins from those Jews who have faith in His Son Jesus Christ. The New covenant is related to the restoration of the nation during the Second Advent and His subsequent millennial reign. The blessings the nation of Israel will receive are based on the New Covenant (Isaiah 61:8-9; Hos. 2:18-20) and the greatest blessing in this covenant is that of being brought in close relationship with God (Jeremiah 30:22; 31:33; 32:38-41; Ezek. 11:20; 34:25-27; 37:27). The New Covenant with Israel was based upon the voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of the Jesus Christ (Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25) and thus He is the mediator of this New Covenant to Israel (Heb. 12:24). Therefore, a comparison of passages in both the Old and New Testament reveal that many Jews will be saved during the last three and a half years of the seventieth week and many will be saved at Christ s Second Advent. The question arises as to whether or not this scroll is or is not the book of life which is mentioned in Philippians 4:3 and Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8, 20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19? 2014 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 4
It would appear that this scroll is a reference to the book of life which is mentioned extensively in the above passages since in context and specifically in Daniel 12:2 the angel refers to the resurrection of those who are declared justified by faith in Jesus Christ and the resurrection of the unregenerate. Therefore, Daniel 12:2 would seem to indicate that this scroll in Daniel 12:1 that contains the names of those Jews who will be delivered from the tribulation period of the seventieth week is in fact the book of life mentioned in the New Testament. Further indicating this is that this deliverance of these Jews from God s wrath during the tribulation period will take place at the Second Advent of Jesus Christ who will at that time come to deliver from Satan, Antichrist and the Tribulation armies those Jews who trust in Him at that time. Now, in regards to the book of life, it is one thing in eternity past and one thing in time and something different in eternity future. In eternity past, the names of every person that will live in time are in the book of life. Those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior in time will have their name removed from the book of life at the moment of physical death. Only the names of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will have their names remain in the book of life in eternity future. The names of those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ in time will not only have their names removed from the book of life but will have them transferred to the book of works mentioned at the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20:12. Since all personal sins in human history were imputed to the impeccable humanity of Christ at the cross and judged, sin is not the issue in their condemnation (Rev. 20:13). So the book of life is the registry of all believers from every dispensation of history (Phlp. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 17:8, 20; 20:12, 15; 21:27; 22:19). The book of life means that you cannot lose your salvation. 2014 William E. Wenstrom, Jr. Bible Ministries 5