Chapter 12 begins with “When that time comes …” referring to the final verse in Daniel 11:45: “Finally, when he pitches the tents of his palace between the seas and the mountain of the holy Glory, he will come to his end, with no one to help him.” Some compare Daniel chapter 12 with Revelation chapter 11 beginning the final judgment and the resurrection. When Micha’el rises up, there will be a time of distress unparalleled between the time they became a nation and that moment.
Chapter 11 – Empires, Politics, and Powers
\This chapter begins in the third year of Darius, the Mede, or Cyrus, King of Persia only a few years before Daniel’s death. According to Ezra 2:64, 42,360 Jews had had already returned to Jerusalem after the decree by King Cyrus.
Everything written in this chapter, like the rest of prophecy, affects the Jews first and then the rest of the world. As Daniel was told in chapter 10, this is “what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come” (Daniel 10:14).
Chapter 10 – Spiritual Battles Revealed
Chapters 10, 11, and 12 make up one last vision for Daniel. Though Daniel prayed three times a day toward the city of Jerusalem, he only had intermittent dreams and vision. This chapter reveals intense spiritual warfare surrounding prayer and waiting for answers to prayer.
Chapter 9 – The 70-Week Vision
This vision in Daniel has been interpreted over the centuries by many people, though until the restoration of Israel and Jerusalem in our day, many interpretations have been faulty because they were centered not on Israel, but on the church, Rome, and everything other pagan nation. Daniel 9:24 clarifies that the 70 weeks are about God dealing with His people, the Jewish people, not the world, church or Rome, unless what is happening to the Jewish people affects these other entities.