Renald Showers cites Dan 12:7 to argue that the great tribulation mentioned by Jesus in his Olivet Discourse will last 3.5 years: “Then I heard the man clothed in linen who was over the waters of the river as he raised both his right and left hands to the sky and made an oath by the one who lives forever: ‘It is for a time, times, and half a time [3.5 years] Then, when the power of the one who shatters the holy people has been exhausted, all these things will be finished’” (Dan 12:7).[1]
Showers links the statement in Dan 12:1, “there will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time,” with the similar statement in Matt 24:21 “for then there will be great suffering unlike anything that has happened from the beginning of the world until now, or ever will happen” (Matt 24:21).
He is correct in linking these statements together in the sense that the Antichrist will cause this great suffering, but he fails to recognize that the Antichrist’s persecution is against two groups of people. Daniel 12:1 is in the context of unbelieving Israel, “your people,” while Matt 24:21 is in the context of the elect who are believers: “Then they will hand you over to be persecuted and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of my name” (Matt 24:9). It will be the worse period of tribulation for both groups.
It is a flawed assumption, then, for Showers to equate the 3.5 year period in Dan 12:7 (cf. Dan 7:25), and its unprecedented persecution in Dan 12:1, with the same length of the great tribulation mentioned in Matt 24:21. Indeed, it will be an unprecedented time of tribulation for both Israel and the church from the Antichrist, but for the church those days will be cut short before they reach the end of the 3.5 year period.
Further, as I will explain, Daniel 12:10 indicates that the resurrection will occur before the completion of the 3.5 year period, because the wicked are depicted as continuing to exist and practice their wickedness. Daniel 12:1–3 provides us with the most explicit resurrection passage in the Old Testament:
“At that time Michael, the great prince who watches over your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time. But at that time your own people, all those whose names are found written in the book, will escape. Many of those who sleep in the dusty ground will awake—some to everlasting life, and others to shame and everlasting abhorrence. But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever.”
First, notice that at the time of the resurrection there will be a separation between the nation of Israel in general, “your own people,” and the faithful Jewish remnant within the nation of Israel, “all those whose names are found written in the book.” The latter will be resurrected, while the former will be left behind. Interpreters have traditionally thought that the resurrection will occur at the end of the 3.5 years by assuming that Dan 12:7 is answering the question from verse 6, “When will the end of these wonderous events occur?” This is not referring to the timing of the resurrection, as wonderous of an event that will be. The immediate antecedent in this context shows that it refers to the general summary of all the prophecies in the visions given to Daniel: “But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end” (Dan 12:4). The “when” question in verse 6 refers back to this statement concerning all of the prophecies that were given to Daniel. They will come to an end no later than the completion of the 3.5 years. A few verses further, at the completion of the book of Daniel, this is qualified with the statement that there will be an extra 75 days that will follow the 3.5 years, which is divided up into a 30 day period followed by a 45 day period: “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. ‘How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!’” (Dan 12:11–12). It is a misinterpretation then to locate the resurrection at the end of the 3.5 years.
Second, the resurrection is described as taking place “at that time” during the distress (Dan 12:1). The wording indicates that will take place at some unknown point during the great tribulation, not after the 3.5 year period is completed.
Third, and more to the point, Dan 12:10 says, “Many will be purified, made clean, and refined [the resurrection], but the wicked will go on being wicked . . .” This statement makes sense in the prewrath framework and is consistent with Matt 24 and the book of Revelation. At some unknown point during within the 3.5 years (i.e. the second half of the 70th week), the great tribulation will be cut short with the return of Jesus for the resurrection and the rapture of the people of God followed by the eschatological day of the Lord’s wrath. After the wicked is left behind they will continue to act wickedly: “but the wicked will go on being wicked” (Dan 12:10). We see this most clearly during the eschatological wrath of God in the book of Revelation:
“The rest of humanity, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk about. Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing” (Rev 9:20–21).
For these reasons, the notion that the resurrection in Dan 12:1–3 takes place at the end of the 3.5 year period is not correct. Rather, it will take place before the completion of the 3.5 year period and thus before the completion of the 70th week of Daniel.
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[1] Renald Showers, Maranatha Our Lord. Comes!: A Definitive Study of the Rapture of the Church (Bellmawr, NJ: The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Inc, 1995), 45–46.
