Ad"dressing" the future Daniel 12

And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long will it be until the end of these wonders? I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right and and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time; and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. Daniel 12:6-7

We are human. And we as human, or at least I as human, ask God often what will be. I know it is an exercise in futility, for we do not know what today holds, let alone years in the future. We have the scriptures that tell us many things about the future, and Daniel even gets visions of some of these things, but we do not have every piece to the puzzle, and so we have questions. What is going to happen...He told Adam some things, Abraham some things, Daniel some, and David some. And all that really did was to put more questions in our minds. If it is any comfort, scriptures say that even angels and prophets want to look into the things of God, to see the results of this play that He has scripted. They were given the job of telling humans many things, not themselves knowing any more than what God told them to say.

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things” (I Peter 1:10-12).

So Daniel, having been told many things that troubled his mind, asked when. This was not unusual, and God is patient with us when we ask questions of which He is not volunteering the answers. Daniel had just been told about the end of the world, and how was he not supposed to wonder when such things would take place. I am sure he thought it would be imminent, within a generation. We tend to think of things happening in our lifetimes. The man did tell Daniel that he would not live to see those days, but would rise again to receive his allotted portion at the end of days. He could live out his days in peace without looking for these things to be fulfilled.
And that is how God works. He told Abraham, David, and multiple others of things that would happen far in the future, beyond their days. We are given reassurances that God holds the future and has the whole of the time of the world planned out for His people. He predicted the Exodus, the multiplications of Israel, the destruction of the temple...every last detail of the coming of Christ, the appearance of the anti-Christ. We see it all from afar. We see signs of fulfillment at times, but 99% of the time, we have hindsight instead of a whole lot of foresight. And we wonder, fret, stew, and beg for answers, only to realize that when we get the answers, we still will not understand very much of them. We want to see face to face, but we get a dim ancient mirror instead.
The man in linen gave Daniel the answer to his question, and what did Daniel do? Realized he still didn't understand, and asked another question. From when, to what will be the results. He was confused and thought that if this much had been revealed to him, surely he should understand that revelation. And he was told to get on with his life and that not everything would be told him. He was told that people would not change...good would be purged, purified, and refined, but that wicked people would remain wicked. He was given a little more information when of his first question, but reassured that he would not be around to experience it.

We are glad that Daniel asked these questions, for they tell us things that we can look at now and see the results of...the destruction of the temple after the coming of Christ, for one. But the comforting thing for us is that we know all God wants us to know. The additional information God gives us may answer our questions to a point, but those answers will not change anything that God has planned. We are told to go on our way, live our lives, and prepare to rest in death and rise to the reward of the godly ones at the end of it all. Life may be hard, but we will rest from all of its' woes. Be willing to be purified, though the process may be hard for the holy people, and await the reward from the Holy God. Ultimately it is not for us to know any more than God is in control and it is to our benefit that He is.