God’s Word for You
Daniel 12:8-10 Many will be purified
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Monday, February 2, 2026
8 I heard this without understanding, so I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?”
Daniel admits that he heard what the Lord said, but that he didn’t understand what it meant. It’s reasonable to infer that prophets normally understood what they were shown in visions, but when they didn’t it was within the scope of their role as prophets to ask for clarity. There are examples in the Old Testament of prophets who understood their material so well that they were inclined to use wordplay and even puns to help with the message (such as we find in Micah 1:10-15).
To Daniel’s credit, he recorded God’s words faithfully even though he did not fully understand what it meant. Paul says, “It is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful” (1 Corinthians 4:2). Since the Bible speaks with the authority of God, we must acknowledge that it, the Bible alone, is the source of all doctrine. Only the Word of God can establish an article of faith, and no one else (not even an angel of God) can do this. Human reason, which is given to us as a servant by God, cannot be an authority in establishing doctrine, because it has been corrupted by sin (2 Corinthians 2:9-14). The same is true of all human authorities in (and outside of) the church, whether a pastor, a teacher, a synod, a universal church council, or a pope. Only the Word of God can establish an article of faith. Private opinions and even private revelations must be rejected, since they are also prone to error or misunderstanding. God has spoken to us in the Bible. That is the publicly revealed word of God. More than this, no one part of the Bible is for our exclusive use as opposed to the others. “All Scripture is God-breathed,” Paul says, “and all Scripture is useful for teaching. All Scripture is useful for rebuking. All Scripture is useful for correcting. And all Scripture is useful for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
Yet there will be parts (such as this verse) where we flawed and fallible believers will be at a loss. It’s all right to confess this. Luther said (about Zechariah chapter 14), “Here, in this chapter, I give up. For I am not sure what the prophet is talking about… I want to add my thought too, even though it is not sufficiently certain either in many places, and ultimately I will yield the mastery to the Holy Spirit” (Luther’s Works, American Edition, 20:337).
9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.
There is almost no need for me to comment on this sentence. It’s clear as it stands: The meaning of what the Lord has told to the prophet is for future generations, but it won’t make any sense to him. Therefore, he should feel free and unburdened by it: “Don’t worry yourself, my dear servant. Do not spend sleepless nights wrestling with this vision. Just record it faithfully and preserve it in your book, and then go about your life.”
10 Many will be purified, made pure white, and refined, but the wicked will keep being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.
The Lord continued his proclamation, and this time the words were clear and direct. Many people would come to faith in the Lord God. These are those who would be purified, made pure white, and refined. The Bible often uses this language of refinement to describe the way we are sanctified after being justified.
Remember the difference: Justification is the forensic, court room declaration of God that we are not guilty of our sins, that the penalty for our sins was endured by Christ in our place, and we are freed from the burden of guilt for our transgressions. This happened historically on the cross, and personally it took place when we came to faith, which for most of us was at the moment of our baptism. Justification is to be declared righteous for the sake of Christ, once and for all our lives. Justification is not a process, but an instantaneous gift of God.
Sanctification, on the other hand, is indeed a process that takes a lifetime, and which is never complete. Sanctification is the continuous improvement of the Christian through the work of the Holy Spirit. We are set aside for a holy purpose—service in God’s kingdom—and it will of course involve many setbacks, pitfalls, and errors. The Holy Spirit refines us: “He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver” (Malachi 3:2-3). “You, O Lord, tested us. You refined us like silver” (Psalm 66:10). And God says of sinful men, “I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the sin of my people?” (Jeremiah 9:7).
The wicked, who are unbelievers of every kind, will go on being wicked. They will go on refusing to believe, and they will only grow more and more convinced that they are correct. This is where our verse, our chapter, and the book of Daniel, proclaims the Law most clearly. But it is followed by an equally great proclamation of the Gospel: “The wise will understand.” In heaven, we will be shown that everything we believed from the pages of the Holy Scriptures is correct. Our faith will be upheld. Our faith is credited by God as righteousness, not on account of any of our merits, but according to the divine, holy, and infinite merits of Jesus Christ who bled for us, died, and rose again, to clear the path by which he leads all of us out of this world into the next, and life eternal with him in heaven.
This is the end of the book apart from a last blessing and reminder that, for Daniel, the end was a long way off. But Daniel was entrusted with this only near the end of his life. Perhaps this was partly to help him avoid the temptation to live in unrepentance, but also so that this faithful prophet would keep the book safe, to share with God’s people as a portion of the Holy Scripture. Praise God for Daniel’s faith and work, for his life of faithfulness, enduring captivity, threats, lions, flames, and the turnover of empires. He is a shining example of faithfulness in adversity, and his message constantly points ahead to the coming of Christ our Savior, and the good news of the forgiveness of our sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.