Those without hope of eternal life try to avoid the reality of death. They are, in fact, enslaved by the fear of death. Great amounts of money and effort are spent to conceal the ugly face of death.
Death prompts each of us to get to the “bottom line” of what life is all about and what comes after death. Daniel chapter 12 speaks of death and of the believer’s hope beyond the grave.
No doubt, those in the Old Testament who received promises of God and those who spoke the word of God must have struggled with the idea of a suffering and ultimately dying Messiah. How can the promised blessing of biblical prophecy bring hope to the believer who will die before they are fulfilled? There is only one way—resurrection. The promises of God which are not fulfilled in this life are fulfilled in the next. Resurrection is the means by which people pass from time to eternity.
Daniel 12 takes the believer to the high-water mark of Christian hope—the assurance of the resurrection of the dead.
Of Daniel’s own prophetic word, he would be agitated by none of these troubles – disturbed by none of these changes, for he would peacefully slumber in the hope of being awaken in the resurrection.
The hope of such a resurrection soothed the mind of Daniel in view of all the troubles which he then experienced, and of all the darkness which rested on the future, for what we most want in the troubles and in the darkness of the present life is the assurance that, after having “rested” in the grave – in the calm sleep of the righteous – we shall “awake” in the morning of the resurrection, and shall “stand in our lot” – or in our appropriate place, as the acknowledged children of God, “at the end of days” – when time shall be no more, and when the consummation of all things shall have arrived.
But you, go your way, and rest; you shall rise for your reward at the end of the days. Daniel 12:13
Abiding Hope 