Page 364 - Daniel

join those living in this period of restoration. Israelites who survive the
tribulation and who are the objects of the divine deliverance prophesied
in Romans 11:26 will be joined by the Old Testament saints who are
raised from the dead. This will occur after the great tribulation, at
Christ’s return. There is no passage in Scripture that teaches that the Old

Testament saints will be raised at the time the church is raptured, that is,
before the final tribulation. It is preferable, therefore, to consider their
resurrection as occurring at the same time as the restoration of the living
nation, with the result that both resurrected Israel and those still in their
natural bodies who are delivered at Christ’s return will join hands and

ministries in establishing Israel in the land in the millennial kingdom
that follows. Accordingly, the exegesis of this passage that interprets it
as revealing an actual resurrection at the time of Christ’s second coming
13
is preferable. At the same time, those who have died in the great
tribulation just preceding will also be raised (Rev. 20:4–6).

If this is a genuine resurrection, what is the timing of the event? Here
the distinction in interpretation arises from the differing points of view
of the amillennial and postmillennial interpretations. Amillenarians like
Leupold and Edward Young, with some qualification, consider this a
general resurrection preceding the eternal state. However, some
14
scholars not committed to premillennialism conclude that this is not a
general resurrection. Fuller considers this “not the last and general
resurrection, but a partial one which precedes that, and is confined to
15
Daniel’s nation.” Young, while holding that the ultimate meaning is a
general resurrection by implication, says, “… the Scripture at this point
is not speaking of a general resurrection….” 16

Premillenarians, however, believe that the hope of a thousand-year
kingdom on earth after the second coming of Christ is clearly taught in
many Old and New Testament passages, and that the resurrection of the

wicked is placed at the close of the millennium. How can the
premillennial point of view be harmonized with this verse?
Some help is afforded in understanding Daniel 12:2 by appealing to

more accurate translations. Actually the Hebrew seems to separate
sharply the two classes of resurrection. Tregelles, following earlier
Jewish commentators, translated verse 2, “And many from among the
sleepers of the dust of the earth shall awake; these shall be unto