12:1 Michael. See notes on Daniel 10:13.

12:1 time of trouble. This is the “great tribulation,” the last half of Daniel’s seventieth week, following the placement of the “abomination of desolation” in the temple’s holy place (Matthew 24:15, Daniel 9:24-27).

12:1 thy people shall be delivered. During this terrible “time of Jacob’s trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), the true Israelites will be protected in the wilderness (Revelation 12:6,14), and prepared to receive Christ when He returns at the end of the great tribulation (Zechariah 12:10; Romans 11:25,26).

12:2 awake. This is an explicit promise of the future bodily resurrection of the dead, as recorded in one of the key prophetic books on the Old Testament. This is not, as some claim, a strictly New Testament doctrine. At this point (as in John 5:29), however, the thousand-year time interval between the resurrection of the saved and lost is not mentioned, since it is not relevant to the context and also (in view of the following verse) inconsequential in relation to eternity (Revelation 20:4-6).

12:2 everlasting contempt. Those who now look with contempt on the Bible and Biblical Christianity will eventually experience “everlasting contempt” on themselves—as well as “everlasting fire” (Matthew 25:41), and “everlasting destruction” (II Thessalonians 1:9).

12:3 stars for ever. The wise will live forever and, for the analogy to be meaningful, the stars also must shine forever (note also Psalm 148:3-6; etc.). The universal “curse” on God’s creation, which now causes everything to decay and entropy to increase, will have been removed (Revelation 22:3), so no stars will thenceforth die.

12:4 run to and fro. The word “run” actually means “race.” That is, at the time of the end, the world will see “many”—evidently all over the world—racing back and forth, and this phenomenon would help students of God’s promises begin to “unseal the book,” and see that His return is near. It is significant that until the past two centuries, riding on a swift horse was the fastest way to travel. Today we have moved from horses to railroads to autos to airplanes to space ships.

12:4 knowledge shall be increased. Knowledge (or “science”) has been tremendously increased—not only in the understanding of prophecy, but in practically every area of study and practice. Our modern scientific understanding and control of the world’s systems, processes and living creatures is in line with God’s primeval dominion mandate (Genesis 1:26-28), and is further indication of the near-approach of “the end.”

12:11 thousand two hundred and ninety days. There are evidently 1260 days from the setting of the image in the temple until the Beast is destroyed by the returning Christ (Revelation 13:5; 19:19,20). Possibly the additional thirty days is allowed for the multitudes living around the world to gather together to the judgment of the nations (the Gentiles), at the throne of Christ in Jerusalem (Matthew 25:31-32).

12:12 thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. An additional forty-five days is noted here, with blessing being promised only to those that are still there at the end of that period. Perhaps this forty-five days is occupied in the actual judgment of the nations. Those who are seen by Christ as “goats” during this great judgment time will be doomed “into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:33,41). To His sheep, however, He will say: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34), and they will be enabled to enter, still in their natural bodies, the great millennial kingdom of Christ, where they will serve as the initial generations inhabiting the earth during that glorious period. The resurrected saints will also be there, in teaching and governing capacities (Revelation 20:4, 6). Daniel himself will be there and “stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:13).