Resurrection

Date: Friday, July 10, 2026

Daniel 12 ends this extraordinary book with a prophecy that parallels Ezekiel 37 in describing the doctrine of bodily resurrection: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). In a world where death feels like the final word, this is a seismic announcement. History has an end. The dead will rise. And faithfulness, even unnoticed and unrewarded in this life, will be vindicated.

Daniel is told to “go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance” (Dan. 12:13). It is tender, but poingnant. After visions of beasts and tribulation and cosmic warfare, God essentially says to His weary servant: Rest. I’ve got this. You will rise.

This is exactly the trajectory the New Testament declares: the resurrection of Jesus is the down payment and guarantee of our own (1 Corinthians 15:20). The Book of Daniel, written in the shadow of exile, ends with its gaze fixed on a horizon that only the resurrection can bring into focus. Death is not the final chapter. Jesus says: Come to me. Rest. Follow me. And then you will rise.

Devotional Prompts:

How does the doctrine of bodily resurrection shape or change your view of Heaven and the life to come?
Is Heaven a place that you go to when you die? Or is Heaven the final state of God’s physical creation?
How does the idea of Heaven as a physical existence, not just a spiritual state, challenge your prior conceptions?

Prayer: God of resurrection, thank You that faithfulness is never truly hidden and death is not final. Anchor our hearts in the promise that what You have begun in us will be completed in the great rising to come. Give us grace to rest in You today. Amen.