God’s Word for You

Daniel 12:5-7 How long

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Sunday, February 1, 2026

5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and two others appeared, one standing on this bank of the river and one on the other. 6 One of them 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?”

Daniel is apparently still at the Tigris. Two more beings appear, angels, on the near and far banks of the river (the bridges over the Tigris in central Bagdad are all between 500-600 meters or yards long). A third man “dressed in linen” is also present. Translations often place him “upstream,” but the usual word for “upstream” (milma’alah, Joshua 3:16) is not the word in this verse. Here we have the phrase mimma’al lemeymey ha-yor, “above the waters of the river.” Was he simply upstream, perhaps at a significant bend in the river as it rushes south, such as at the sudden oxbow at Jadariyah Lake with its dramatic jutting peaks? Or was he “above” the water, hovering there, as we would only expect from the pre-incarnate Christ? There is simply not enough detail in the text, and there is more to wonder about in the next verse. But first, why were there two angels when only one of them speaks? Is this something like the appearance of the two angels at the tomb of Christ (John 20:12), yet only one of them speaks? It is perhaps enough to remember that all things should be done before two or three witnesses, and the pairs of angels here and there in the Bible (Genesis 19:1; Zechariah 5:9) remind us of this.

The question is natural: “How long until the end of these wonders?” Or more literally, “When is the end of the wonders?” I have translated so that the question sounds more like the way we speak in English. The question proves Peter’s point: “Even angels long to look into these things” (1 Peter 1:12). All of God’s creation, after all, “has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22) as it waits for the end to come. Women, men, angels, mountains, rivers, trees, tortoises, whales, kittens, sparrows—we all want to know when the end of this world will come, and the next, eternal world, will begin.

7 The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, raised his right hand and also his left hand toward heaven. And I heard him swear by the one who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that at the end of the pulverizing of the holy people, all these things would be accomplished.

The man in linen is surely Christ, the pre-incarnate Christ, as we say, the Son of God appearing to be seen and heard in the Old Testament. From his place above the water he raised both his hands. Raising one hand was and is the usual way of taking an oath (Genesis 14:22; Exodus 6:8; Ezekiel 20:5; and all 262 episodes of Perry Mason, not to mention my own appearance in court as a witness a number of years ago). Here it is not one hand but both that are raised: the oath is certain and true; what is being sworn will certainly take place exactly as presented and as witnessed.

He swears “by the one who lives forever,” which is an oath using the name of God the Father or the Triune God. Aren’t we forbidden from using God’s name in an oath? No, we are forbidden from falsely swearing or frivolously swearing by God’s name, especially from misrepresenting what God’s holy word says (false preaching or teaching). But there are times when we must take an oath, and this is acceptable as long as it is done with a sincere heart and intention to not mislead. We swear when we take our wedding vows, or in court, or in joining the military. In the United States, our federal officials swear to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Pastors and teachers in our church swear to teach according to God’s holy word and as explained in the Lutheran Confessions because they correctly explain the Word of God—this is known as a “quia” oath rather than the frivolous “quatenas” oath that is sometimes cited by other church bodies. “Quia” is Latin for “because,” and indicates the Confessions are believed and upheld “because they correctly explain God’s Word,” whereas “quatenas,” which means “insofar as,” only means that the Confessions are observed “insofar as” they explain God’s Word, which is not really an oath at all since it leaves everything open for debate. Anybody would take a “quatenas” oath to our Lutheran confessions—even an atheist.

The enigmatic “time, times, and half a time” reappears (see Daniel 7:25). It is the time of the New Testament, the “42 months” of Revelation 11:2. It is clearly the time of the oppression of God’s people by the enemies of God’s people, and it will last for a specific, measured time, which will (from man’s point of view) increase and become so successful that the destruction of Christianity itself, the Church and all of its believers, seems inevitable (“times”). Then its ferocity, fury, and success will suddenly come to an end (“half a time”), when all opposition to God comes to an end, and Judgment Day dawns.

Why not give us a more precise date? Why not give mankind the ability to calculate when the end will come? Anyone with even a limited maturity must understand that children who know how long before their parents come home will misbehave right up to the last possible moment, but that they will almost always forget the time and be caught in their naughty behavior. If we know that God will not appear for another ten years, we will be tempted to be careless about our spiritual condition; we will fail to repent of our sins. Paul warns: “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16). He was writing to one pastor, but his words are for us all to take to heart.

We cannot predict the time of the end. Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. If anyone says to you then, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect—if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time” (Matthew 24:22-25).

But we won’t miss it. Everyone will see him coming. “For the way lightning out of the east is visible even in the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 24:27). And again, “Right after the misery of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken’” (Matthew 24:29). So the misery of those days, when the people of God seem to be pulverized by the enemies of the church, God’s will is that it will be enough, the end, and Christ will come like lightning out of the clouds, the world will be unmade, and the end will come.

From that moment we will be drawn by the loving hands of our Redeemer into Paradise, and that day will continue on into our eternity of heavenly bliss. Here is the Law and the Gospel of our verse.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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