Daniel

The Certainty of Victory

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Millennial Studies

Genre: Speech

Lesson: 12

Track: 167

Dictation Name: RR128F12

Date: 1960s-1970s

Our scripture is the twelfth chapter of Daniel, “The Certainty of Victory,” Daniel 12:

“1And 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 everlasting 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.

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 forever that it shall be for a time, times, and an 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.

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.”

With this chapter, the prophecies of Daniel conclude. And because Daniel’s heart was fixed on the time of judgment for Israel, the concluding words spoke again concerning that time.

Daniel was deeply grieved at the message of judgment. He’d been told that with the coming of the Messiah, Israel would be judged and set aside. And in terms of this, his grief and sorrow were great. But now the Lord spoke again and said that that 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 unto that same time. And at that time, thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

These words were echoed by our Lord when He spoke concerning the fall of Jerusalem. The Fall of Jerusalem is depicted for us as the most fearful single event in all history. And when we read Josephus and other accounts, we can understand why it was so fearful an event. For Israel, having crucified the Son of God, bound unto itself the most fearful judgment of history. But in the same verse, Daniel is pointed to his people, for our Lord told the people of God, of his day; he told his followers that if they took heed of his words, none of them should perish. And we know from the records of Church history, the contemporary accounts that not a Christian died in the Jewish/Roman War. All of them took heed of the signs and fled Jerusalem, fled Judea, fled Galilee, so that not a believer was lost.

We know also they had prepared for that day. The Book of Acts has a passage which unbelievers cite as the communism of the Early Church because we are told that the believers in Jerusalem, those who had means sold their property and some of them placed it at the deposal of the Church that it might be used for the common good of all. And critics have said this is evidence of Communism in the Early Church. On the contrary. Nowhere else in scripture was any such step recorded. It was recorded in Jerusalem because they knew the Word of the Lord that Jerusalem was doomed, and had we been in Jerusalem, and the Lord told us, and we believing Him, that the entire city would be destroyed, that not one stone would be left standing upon another. It would be evidence of unbelief on our part if we did not dispose of our property and prepare to leave. This is precisely what the Church, what the believers in Jerusalem did. They disposed of their property. They lived in rented quarters. Some of those who were very wealthy placed a sizeable part (in some cases all of their funds because they had still a good income) at the disposal of the Church. Why? Because they had Communistic ideas? No. They wanted a witness made to their people before the end that all who were believers in Israel might be converted, might separate themselves unto Jesus Christ and be spared the judgment that was coming.

Now Daniel is told that those who are to be delivered are his people, not the physical Israel. At that time, ‘thy people shall be delivered.’ Who are ‘thy people’? Everyone that shall be found written in the book. Thus for Daniel, his people are defined and our family, our people are accordingly defined for us, not those who are ours by blood or by race, by family or by background, but those who by faith in Jesus Christ are one household of faith with us. They are our people.

The next verse, the second, perplexes many. “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 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.” [Daniel 12:2, 3] This speaks of the resurrection. And many people say this speaks of a general resurrection. How then can this come at this point in the chapter when it speaks of tribulation and other things later on? And the answer is a very simple one: we do not understand what the gospel teaches us unless we realize that the general resurrection of the dead began with the resurrection of Jesus Christ; that the resurrection era began with His resurrection. We live in the resurrection age. The scriptures tell us He was the first fruits of them that slept and to indicate that this was the beginning of a new age which culminated with His coming again.

During that awful weekend when all Jerusalem was in terror, from the time He cried “It is finished!” until Easter morning, we are told that the graves of many of the saints were opened and their bodies were missing and that later they entered into the city before going up to Heaven and visited their relatives and their descendants and witnessed to them, so St. Matthew declares. They were a witness to the fact that the resurrection age had begun, that Jesus Christ’s resurrection was not an isolated event, but the beginning, the first fruits of them that are asleep.

And so Daniel is told, “shut up the words,” this is the end of the revelation to you. Seal the book. Preserve it to guide men to the end. “Seal the book even to the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased,” [Daniel 12:4] or, as Young translates it, many shall run to and fro that knowledge may be increased. In other words, in the gospel age, we shall see progressively men running to and fro trying to increase knowledge, but trying to increase it apart from Christ. Therefore, seal up the book; preserve it for the time of the end because it is in your words that men will find wisdom and fill find knowledge.

Then in verses 5 through 7, Daniel says that he looked up and he saw, standing on either side of the bank of the river, angelic creatures. And they “…sware by him that liveth forever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.” [Verse 7] What is the significance of this passage? Well the river, of course, has a special significance in scripture. Whenever we find a reference simply to the river, it very often means the Nile and refers to the Egyptian captivity. It also refers to the Babylonian captivity, to the Tigris River and to the Euphrates [sneeze]. It refers, in other words, to the place of captivity. And so he is reminded that there is captivity now for the people of God and there is captivity in the future in the gospel age for the people of God, but that both sides of the river are possessed by God and His appointed ones, His angelic hosts so that every captivity of the elect of the people of God, whether to Egypt, to Babylon, or other powers will be overthrown by God and used to further His kingdom. The time thereof is appointed by God and its purpose is ultimately the destruction of the enemies of God.

And Daniel says I heard but I understood not. “8Then 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. 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.” [Daniel 12:8-10] The meaning of the times shall be a closed book to the ungodly. And the more deeply they go into sin, the more they shall be blinded, for as God told Isaiah, lest hearing they hear and seeing, they see and understanding, they understand and turn and be converted. But the wise shall understand and the more they walk by faith, the more the words of wisdom will be open to them.

Then in verses 11 and 12, as he speaks of the time of tribulation, of the problems of the chosen of God, he describes them as twelve hundred and ninety days, a thousand, two hundred and ninety days. And he compares this, he uses as a type, the time of Antiochus Epiphanes, the little horn of the Old Testament era. When Antiochus Epiphanes attempted to destroy all true worship, when he set up his image in the temple, when he persecuted and attempted to wipe out the people of God, and there shall be such a time in the gospel age. But “blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.” [Verse 12] There will be, however, also a time of blessing. And the time of blessing is called thirteen hundred and thirty-five days.

Now these figures are symbolic. They are taken as typical from the experience of Israel under Antiochus Epiphanes and they are for us to understand comparatively, how to evaluate the tribulation of the saints of God as compared to the blessing and the prosperity of the saints of God. And a thousand three hundred thirty-five days are greater than a thousand two hundred ninety days. So that the time of blessing that awaits us is greater than the time of tribulation. It is significant also that in the second verse, when it speaks of the resurrection era, it says many shall awake to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt so that when the totality of history is summed up, when the resurrection era ends, as compared to those who are eternally lost, the number of the redeemed shall be greater, so that God speaks of the many who are resurrected to everlasting life as against the some to everlasting shame and contempt.

In the concluding verse, the word of the Lord to Daniel is, go on as thou art until the end of life, as Dr. Young translate is. “Go thy way until the end be.” Continue in faith. Walk in faith until the end, “…for thou shalt rest and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” As our Lord says, he that endureth to the end shall be saved. The concluding word of Daniel, therefore, is victory. It declares unto us that tribulation is real. Persecution is real, that history is a battle and the work of the “little horn” is to attempt to wipe out the Church of God, the true Church, to destroy the people of God. Yet while the period of tribulation is real, period of blessing is greater. And the number of the redeemed shall exceed the number of the reprobate; the many as against the some.

The Lord is God. And all creation is in His hands. And therefore it is inescapable; it is inevitable that history end in His triumph. For the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we give thanks unto Thee for the certainty of victory. We thank Thee that this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Teach us therefore to walk in this confidence and the boldness of faith, knowing our God, that Thou wilt never leave us nor forsake us so that we may boldly say the Lord is my helper; I shall not fear what man may do unto me. Our God, we thank Thee. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Are there any questions now?

Yes…

[Audience] {?} … have people … {?}

[Rushdoony] No, quite the contrary. When men truly understand, they stand in terms of the faith, so that the testing only brings it out more surely. If there is something there, the testing refines us by fire and brings out the faith all the more strongly.

Another question?

Yes…

[Audience] {?} …. At what point does…. {?}

[Rushdoony] I didn’t’ hear that. At what point does what?

[Audience] At what point the … {?} state… {?} and become … {?}

[Rushdoony] That’s hard to define because it depends on a condition of the heart and therefore there is no external standard. A man with ten dollars can be greedy and covetous sometimes as surely is a man who’s amassed a million and sometimes moreso. It’s all a matter of the condition of the heart which determines where we are, because covetousness is an internal condition. So there’s no external standard whereby we can judge these things.

Another question?

Yes…

[Audience] What… {?}

[Rushdoony] I didn’t hear all of that.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Oh. Daniel was among the first captives to be taken in the Fall of Jerusalem. He was therefore, a young boy of the nobility or perhaps royalty who was taken at an early age to be trained in the college of the administrators. He lived to see the end of the captivity. He lived to serve as an administrator also under the Medo-Persian rulers, so that he lived to an advanced age. Since the captivity was seventy years, let us assume Daniel was ten years old when it began. We know he lived at least for our five years afterwards. He lived at least to about eighty-five, possibly ninety. He had, in some respects, a lonely life because he was taken from his family and his relatives at an early age, brought up in an exclusively Babylonian atmosphere, but he rose to great power to become the outstanding administrator under Nebuchadnezzar and then again under the Medo-Persian emperors, was restored to his position. So his was a long life, and an extremely useful life since, if we assume he began service in his late teens and early twenties, you have to assume he had a good sixty years or better of the highest kind of rank in public service.

Yes…

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] The fall of what?

[Audience] Of {?}

[Rushdoony] His dates are the 6th century B.C., possibly about 535, 534, thereabouts, in the 530s that the concluding chapters of Daniel were written, so that he is 5½ centuries approximately prior to the birth of our Lord and more than that, before the resurrection and the Fall of Jerusalem.

[Audience] So {?} was…. {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. Right. A good figure comparison.

Any other questions?

Yes…

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] I… I can’t hear you.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] It is an apriori assumption. First they say prophecy is by definition impossible. No one can predict the future because this is impossible. Therefore since it is by definition impossible, Daniel could not have done it. So it’s based upon this kind of reasoning. If I say by definition radio is impossible, then by definition there is no such thing as radio. It’s that simple a means they use of disposing of it. They refuse to accept anything that is supernatural, and predictive prophecy is supernatural.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, in that both deal with the future to a certain extent. But Daniel is more specific in many respects than Revelation is. We shall be studying Revelation beginning next week, and as we shall see, in some respects it continues that which Daniel has begun. In some respects it is [tape disruption] respects than Revelation is. We shall be studying Revelation beginning next week, and as we shall see in some respects, it continues that which Daniel has begun. In some respect, it is more general. It is much more pertinent for Christians. It speaks more definitely in terms of things that we are interested in, and yet its scope is far broader. That’s a rather poor answer, which we’ll deal with that specifically beginning next Sunday.

Yes…

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes. The—

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] The Dead Sea Scrolls were a major blow to those who were challenging, for example, the authenticity of Isaiah. It did not affect their basic thinking and what they tried to do is to use the various Dead Sea Scrolls to attack the Bible further. They have, for example, written about a so-called teacher of righteousness who was supposedly imitated by Jesus. Well, the reality is this so-called teacher of righteousness they talk about is 99% myth and the leader of the Dead Sea Colony has no connection whatsoever with the New Testament or with Jesus Christ. But the most damaging evidence to themselves, they attempt to convert into an attack on the faith. This is a consistent attempt.

Yes…

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] No, the resurrection is the resurrection and it’s the beginning of the general resurrection in that He is the first fruits of them that sleep. We will deal with Matthew 24 at the conclusion of our study of Revelation. So we will come to that.

Now with regard to the, those who were resurrected at the time of our Lord, Matthew 27:52 following says, “52And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” This is a very important passage because it declares first that our Lord’s resurrection was a witness, that it was the beginning of the general resurrection, so that a number of the Old Testament saints arose at the same time, and they left their graves at the very time that Jesus yielded up the ghost and the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom and the earth did quake and the rocks rent. And the same sentence says and the graves were opened. Now, consider what a terrifying sight it was as they left Golgotha and went past the graveyard and saw the opened graves and the bodies missing. And you can understand why they spent the rest of that Friday night and all day Saturday in terror. What was happening? And then Sunday morning, Jesus Christ rose from the dead and many, many of the Old Testament saints, those who had died long before and those who had died recently went into the city and appeared unto many. Now Jesus Christ in His resurrection appearance appeared only apart from the moment of resurrection when they fell like dead, those who were surrounding the grave, appeared to His disciples. But the unbelievers are not left without a witness, in that we are told specifically, these went into the city and appeared unto many. And you can imagine the terrifying sight as people saw their father and grandfather and others whom they had buried a year or ten years before, and others who were historic figures in Israel appearing in the city to testify to them and against them. The terror must have been great and they ascended then into Heaven.

Yes….

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, at the time of our Lord’s resurrection. It doesn’t mean that everyone who had died previously had a bodily resurrection. But as a witness, to his age, a number of them arose from the dead in the vicinity of Jerusalem to witness to the people in the capital. But the rest of course, their physical resurrection awaits the end of the world. They are spiritually now in Heaven however, so that when we die we go to be with the Lord. Our souls are with Him. At the end of the world, we are resurrected physically and have an eternal and a glorious physical body. But at the time of the general resurrection a number of the saints—many we are told—arose. Previously there were only two who had entered into Heaven physically. Does anyone know who the two were?

Enoch and Elijah. Yes. Enoch and Elijah.

Yes…

[Audience] {?} … Did you say… {?}

[Rushdoony] No, I didn’t.

[Audience] Alright … {?} … told me … {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, Um-hm.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] There are two things I’d like to share with you at this time which I think are of interest.

One, which I thought was quite delightful, from The New American Opinion, an article on Governor Wallace by Tom Anderson, who describes the interview in which many foreign journalists from all over the world, Ethiopia, India, Japan, Scotland, {?}, India, were questioning Wallace and badgering him about the question of race. After two hours in which he handled each question masterfully, an African reporter asked in an angry and sarcastic tone, “Mr. Wallace, do you think Negroes are human?” “Yes, I believe there is a God and He made all of us. Of course I think they are human. But do you folks? You eat them!” [Laughter]

Then I was interested also in The Washington Report of Allen and Scott for Friday, August 11, 1967 which states that negro gang leaders in the various cities are getting federal jobs supposedly to train other gang leaders. But as one Chicago community leader told the Congressional investigators, you can’t solve the negro gang problem by putting their leaders on the federal pay roll to train other gang members. All the government is doing is giving these gang leaders new prestige, increasing their influence and admitting that crime pays. The report goes on to say that even more radical anti-poverty proposals are currently being planned, but are being kept secret.

Then, I was interested in this report on the recent rioting by Don Bell, and I quote, “Despite all the evidence submitted by local and state authorities who have investigated the many riots, J. Edgar Hoover insists there is no national conspiracy. If we could know how he defines ‘national’ and how he defines ‘conspiracy’ and how he defines ‘national conspiracy’ when he puts the two words together, perhaps we could find a way to believe him. But let us look at some of the evidence.

“At the time of the Black Power Conference in Newark, New Jersey, which in itself was a conspiracy, Dr. Nathan Wright, Jr., who carries the strange title of Chairman of the Committee of Racial Rioting, Diocese of Newark, the Episcopal Church, is credited as having made the following statement. ‘Fifty major American corporations helped finance the recent national conference on black power.’

“Does this not suggest conspiracy? It is an established fact that, save in a few cities of the southland where riots have occurred, the local police have been ordered not to perform their duties in normal manner. They have been told not to break up riots and prevent looting, not to shoot at rioters, not even to arrest them but to contain them, confine them to some special area, such as {?} and let them run wild in that area. Does it not suggest conspiracy when police are ordered not to do their duty in protecting life and property?

Listen to the statement made by Carl Hardel, president of the Detroit Police Officer’s Association, an independent association as he was quoted in the current August 7 issue of U.S. News and World Report. ‘Our men, Detroit police officers were given shotguns and told don’t load them up. Put them in the trunks of your cars, because if these people see them, they might get excited and nasty. After the first night we were told to take containing action to hold the riots within a 100-block area. We were told don’t go in. Don’t do anything. Don’t shoot. Looting seemed no longer to be a crime. One white Cadillac made five trips to Saks Fifth Avenue department store, carrying away loads of stuff. People just walked in and out of the broken windows with their arms full and the police were ordered to do nothing about it. Does this not suggest conspiracy?’ “

Of course the local police could not cope with the situation because they were ordered not to cope with it; no national conspiracy?

Then, I thought it was interesting too to read a statement by Ralph Brown recently in Jacksonville, Florida, “You Got Pennies and You Know What to do With Them.” Do you know what they’ll buy? Do you know what a penny buys? From the quiet {?} prize of matches. Now, this is interesting because a hundred years ago, during the so-called Reconstruction in the South, the slogan of the Laurel League was “matches only cost five cents a box.” And they had battle cries similar to “burn, baby burn.” The Laurel League then was supported by the Union League, the power in the Republican Party, radicals and revolutionaries, but very wealthy.

And in my Nature of the American System I point out how as late as the 20s they boasted that no one had been nominated to the presidency in their party apart from their control. It’s interesting that A Review of the News cites, for August 16, 1967 on page 5, “Negro Comic Dick Gregory, commenting on the recent riots said, “If you check the riots in 16 cities in the country, you can see a pattern. The cities that have blown up in revolt are Democratic-controlled cities. This means that a Democrat can spend poverty money more loosely than a Republican.” He further charges that the Democrats use anti-poverty money to support their spoils system instead of spending it where it is needed. I’m inclined to be suspicious when Dick Gregory comes out approving of the Republicans. It makes me afraid with regard to the next election.

Interesting too, I have mentioned previously the Cargo Cult which is very, very powerful in the South Pacific Islands among the natives and The National Observer for Monday, July 3, 1967 has a long article on the Cargo Cult. On many, many of these islands the people believe that one of these days, ships are going to come loaded with cargo, giving them everything their heart desires, and they will have a paradise on earth. Their ancestors would return to life, the positions of whites and blacks would be reversed and everyone would spend eternity in feasting and sexual indulging. The old would be made young again, the men would be perpetually virile and the women would be perpetually restored to their virginity. Best of all, the storehouses would be crammed with white man’s goods. There would be an endless stream of thinned meat, uncounted bolts of {?} calico, and an unending current of whiskey and beer. And this is taking hold more and more in the South Pacific.

Then, another item of interest, from Time of June 9, 1967, on the attitudes of students on the campuses, and a book publishing the statements of various students, and here are a few that are standard statements.

“I am prepared for the unexpected. I lunge toward it with hunger, even though I’ve seen so much I seldom encounter surprise. However, I am most near death when I begin believing I’ve seen it all, so I continuously doubt the future. My faith is behind me, not out in front. I am not drawn ahead by the apron strings of Heaven. I am pushing at crashing speed into the unknown. I’ve made no contract with God. His promises and threats do not interest or frighten me. My power is in me, in all of us. Life is this power.”

On another student said a pacifist living with a woman who takes a stand against what war does can reach a higher state of moral consciousness than say a businessman who is faithful to his wife yet never thinks about his nation’s right to inflict cruelties against the Viet Cong.

On religion, another student says the only one left to believe in is man, so I figure we’ve got to prepare him for the responsibility of being god.

And so on, along the same lines.

Then finally, we have discussed Environmentalism. Last Sunday’s Herald Examiner had a series of interviews with small school children of age 9, 10, 12, on their dreams for the year 2000. Every one of them talked about a machine that would change the world. Some of them were childish; a compact homework machine that would be cheap enough to be purchased from a child’s allowance, and so on. But every one of them talked about a pill, for example, that creates genius intelligence in 24 hours, a machine to change your face (dials and buttons; no plastic surgery), and so on, a collection of human life organisms in test tubes {?} if the human race is annihilated, it could be resumed with these preserved cells, and here from a plump girl, chemical to take calories out of food without destroying the flavor.

But all these children can think about (because this is what they think about in terms of salvation) is something to change the environment and make this a perfect world to live in, or so they think. This is their religion. This is what the schools teach them.

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Of course. It would be a sub-human world if it were possible. Man would not really be man. But this is their dream of salvation.

Yes…

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes…

[Audience] {?}

[Rushdoony] Yes, I’m glad you reminded me. This Wednesday evening at 8:15 again at the Maxwell’s, we will have our final film strip, “The World Council of Churches and Revolution.” You will find this an especially interesting film strip prepared by Dr. Parks and Jotham Publications. That’s 8:15 this Wednesday.

Well, with that we stand adjourned.