"YOU WILL STAND UP"

The book of Daniel closes with one of the most beautiful promises God has ever made to a human. Jehovah's angel told Daniel:  "You will stand up for your lot at the end of the days."  What did the angel mean? Well, since the "rest" he had just referred to was death, the promise that Daniel would "stand up" at some later time could mean only one thing-resurrection! In fact, some scholars have asserted that Daniel chapter 12 contains the first explicit reference to resurrection to be found in the Hebrew Scriptures.  (Daniel 12:2) In this, though, they are wrong.  Daniel was very familiar with the resurrection hope.

For example, Daniel no doubt knew these words that Isaiah had recorded two centuries earlier:  "Your dead ones will live.  A corpse of mine-they will rise up. Awake and cry out joyfully,, you residents in the dust!  For . . .the earth itself will  let even those impotent in death drop in birth."  (Isaiah 26:19)  Long before that, Elijah and Elisha were empowered by Jehovah to perform actual resurrections. (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:32-37)   Even earlier, Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, acknowledged that Jehovah is able to raise people up from Sheol, the grave.  (1 Samuel 2:6)  Earlier still, faithful Job expressed his own hope with these words: "If an able-bodied man dies can he live again? All the days of my compulsory service I shall wait, until my relief comes.  You will call, and I myself shall answer you.  For the work of your hands you will have a yearning." Job 14:14, 15.

Like Job, Daniel had reason to be confident that Jehovah would actually yearn to bring him back to life one day in the future.  Still, it must have been deeply comforting to hear a mighty spirit creature confirm that hope. Yes, Daniel will stand up in  "the resurrection of the righteous ones,"  which will occur during Christ's Millennial Reign. (Luke 14:14)  What will that be like for Daniel?  God's Word tells us much about it. 

Jehovah is "a God, not of disorder, but of peace."  (1 Corinthians 14:33) It is evident, then, that the resurrection in Paradise will take place in an orderly way. Perhaps some time will have passed since Armageddon.  (Revelation 16:14, 16) All vestiges of the old system of things will have been cleared away, and preparations will no doubt have been made to welcome back the dead.  As to the order  in which the dead will return, the Bible offers this precedent:  "Each one in his own rank."  (1 Corinthians 15:23) It seems likely that when it comes to 'the resurrection  of the righteous and the unrighteous,' the righteous will be brought back first.  (Acts 24:15) In that way, faithful men of old, such as Daniel, will be able to help in the administration of earthly affairs, including the instructing of billions of "unrighteous" ones brought back to life. -Psalms 45:16. 

Before Daniel is ready to take on such responsibilities, he will surely have some questions to ask. After all, regarding some of the deep prophecies entrusted to him, he said:  "I heard, but I could not understand these divine mysteries at last! No doubt he will want to hear all about the Messiah. Daniel will learn with fascination about the  march of world powers from his day  down to our own, about the identity of the faithful "holy ones of the Supreme One"-who persevered despite persecution during  "the time of the end"-and about the final destruction of all human kingdoms by God's Messianic Kingdom. -Daniel 2:44; 7:22; 12:4. 

Next time: DANIEL'S LOT IN PARADISE-AND YOURS!

From the book: PAY ATTENTION TO DANIEL'S PROPHECY! 1999