2022 10 30 The Un-Anointed, The Finale. Last of the Daniel series by Rabbi Rod.

8The Un-Anointed One: The Finale — Daniel 11:36-45 & 12

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

A Sermon Series by Pastor Rod Meyers

BEYOND THE SERMON

Message Eight — Series Finale — The Un-Anointed One: The Finale (Daniel

11:36-45 & 12)

1. How to Use This Guide

The Book of Daniel closes by leaping from documented history into unfulfilled prophecy — and then, finally, into a personal promise for Daniel himself. This guide goes past Sunday's message into that transition and the book's closing vision. All Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (NIV) unless otherwise noted.

2. The Sermon in Brief

 

Something changes at Daniel 11:36. Where the previous fifteen verses tracked Antiochus IV's documented history with remarkable precision, this “he” outgrows anything Antiochus actually did: he “will do as he pleases,” “exalt and magnify himself above every god,” and “say unheard-of things against the God of gods” — language Paul later borrows directly for his “man of lawlessness” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4). This ruler honors “a god of fortresses,” wages a final series of campaigns, and finally comes “to his end, and no one will help him” (11:45) — a violent, decisive downfall that doesn't match Antiochus's actual death from illness in Persia.

Chapter 12 opens with Michael — Israel's angelic guardian from chapter 10 — rising to defend God's people through “a time of distress such as has not happened” since nations began (12:1), language Jesus later applies directly to the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21). Then comes one of the Old Testament's clearest statements of bodily resurrection: “multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (12:2). The wise “will shine like the brightness of the heavens” (12:3), the scroll is sealed “until the time of the end” (12:4), and the book's very last words are addressed to Daniel personally: a promise of rest, and of rising again to “receive your allotted inheritance” at the end of days.

“Go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” — Daniel 12:13

3. Word Studies

exalt and magnify himself  yitnasse v’yitgadel (Hebrew, יִתְנַשֵּׂא וְיִתְגַּדֵּל) self-elevation above every god

The exact posture 2 Thessalonians 2:4 describes of the future “man of lawlessness,” who “opposes and exalts himself over everything that is called God.” The verbal overlap is close enough that most interpreters read Daniel 11:36 and 2 Thessalonians 2 as describing the same final figure.

4. Historical Background — Where History Ends and Prophecy Begins

The interpretive turning point of the entire book sits at 11:36. Up through verse 35, everything can be matched, often verse by verse, to documented history — the Ptolemies, the Seleucids, Antiochus IV. But Antiochus IV died of illness in Persia in 164 BC, quietly and far from any battlefield, which doesn't match the dramatic military campaigns and violent, help-less end described in 11:40-45. This mismatch is the primary reason this series — following mainstream dispensational premillennial interpretation — reads verses 36-45 as leaping over the church age entirely, describing a still-future ruler rather than continuing Antiochus's biography.

Michael's reappearance in 12:1 deliberately calls back to Daniel 10, where he was introduced as Israel's angelic prince, helping break through demonic resistance to deliver Gabriel's message. Here, at the book's climax, he takes an active, protective role in the final crisis itself — a role Revelation 12:7 later expands into full angelic warfare against “the dragon.”

6. Reflection Questions

The book pivots from verifiable history to unfulfilled prophecy without any obvious seam in the text (11:35-36). How does knowing part of a prophecy has already come true exactly as written shape your confidence in the rest?

 

Daniel 12:1 promises Michael will stand up for God's people specifically “at that time” of greatest distress. Where do you need to trust unseen protection right now, even without evidence of it yet?

 

Daniel 12:3 promises those who are wise and who “lead many to righteousness” will shine forever. Who in your life has quietly pointed you toward righteousness, and have you told them what that meant to you?

 

The book's very last words are a deeply personal promise to Daniel alone: rest now, resurrection later (12:13). After eight messages across this entire book, what promise from Daniel's story do you most need to hold onto as your own?

 

7. Further Study

Passages that widen the picture beyond Daniel 11:36-12:13, for study on your own this week:

 

 

 

[1] . Antiochus and the Final Ruler, Side by Side