Yesterday we looked at the importance of character for those waiting for the Second Coming. Today we will look more specifically at the importance of character for those who are alive at the second coming of Jesus.
Read Daniel 12:1-10. What is the context? What time in earth’s history is being referred to? Most important, what can we tell from these verses about the character of God’s people during these times? What characteristics are given them, in contrast to the wicked? See also Revelation 22:11.
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
Daniel is told that just before Jesus comes, there will be a time of distress unequaled at any other time of history. In Daniel 12:3, Daniel 12:10, we’re given a depiction of the righteous and the wicked during this time. Notice how the wicked “shall do wickedly” (Daniel 12:10, NKJV) in contrast to the righteous, who in verse 3 shine brightly, perhaps because they have been “purified, made spotless and refined” (Daniel 12:10, NIV) during this “time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time” (Daniel 12:1, NKJV). In contrast, too, the wicked do not understand, but the righteous are “wise” and do understand.
Understand what? Math, science, higher criticism? Proverbs says that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7, NKJV). Perhaps, in this context, the “wise” are wise because they have an understanding of these final events, the time of trouble, as it unfolds. They are not taken by surprise; from their study of the Word, they know it’s coming. And most important, they know enough to allow this time of trouble to purify and refine them; the wicked, on the other hand, are just made more obstinate in their rebellion and thus continue in their wickedness.
The crucial point is that here we are given a depiction of a people who have been through a refining and purifying process.
| Though we’ve looked at these verses in the context of the very last days, what principles do we see here that can help us now to understand better what the purifying and refining process is all about, even for us today? |
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