Daniel 12:3

HOMILETICS

SECT. XLVII.—THE WISE AND THE WINNERS OF SOULS, WITH THEIR GLORIOUS REWARD. (Chap. Daniel 12:3.)

This verse stands in close connection with the preceding one. It describes the character and blessedness of those who, at the resurrection of the just, shall awake out of the sleep of death to the enjoyment of eternal life. Perseverance in a life of faith and good-doing, whatever suffering and trial it may have involved, is at length crowned with a glorious and an everlasting reward. The verse partakes of the nature of Hebrew poetry, consisting of two members, each of which contains both a character and the blessedness promised to it.

I. The characters mentioned. These are given in two expressions; they are “wise,” and “they turn many to righteousness.” The first is probably to be regarded as the general description, embracing the whole; the second as a more special one, applying more particularly to some. The first expresses the character as viewed with reference to the individuals themselves; the second, the same character, but in its relation to others. All here spoken of are “wise,” with the wisdom more or less developed. One natural and necessary effect of that wisdom is that it acts more or less beneficially upon others, leading them also to the possession and practice of righteousness. But in some this fruit and effect of wisdom in relation to others is more abundant and extensive than in the case of the rest. There are those who, being wise themselves, as a fruit and effect of that wisdom, turn not only others but many others to righteousness. The wisdom is a thing in ourselves, but its influence and action are to be upon others, who are to receive the benefit of it. The wisdom possessed by ourselves will evince and manifest its existence by leading us to seek, and enabling us to promote, the welfare of others, by turning them to righteousness; while to do this requires the possession and exercise of wisdom in ourselves, “He that winneth souls is wise” (Proverbs 11:30). To win souls requires wisdom, while it is the evidence and manifestation of it. Accordingly, the wisdom that is from above is described by the Apostle as “full of mercy and of good fruits,” leading us to sow the fruit of righteousness in peace, and so enabling us to make peace (James 3:17). Notice—

1. The wise. “They that are wise.” [355] Wisdom has been defined as that which chooses the best ends and pursues them by the best means. The best ends are

(1) the glory of God our Maker, who has created all things, and for whose pleasure all “things are and were created;” who has made all things for Himself, and whose glory it is both our duty and happiness, as His rational creatures, to seek in every competent way to promote. Next to this is

(2) the present and eternal happiness of ourselves and others in the enjoyment of their Maker’s favour and friendship, the possession of His character, and obedience to His will. To confine our aims to lower ends than these is unworthy of intelligent and immortal natures, and marks us as unwise. The Scriptures accordingly declare wisdom to consist in the true fear of God, and describe ungodliness and wickedness as at the same time fully and madness. This wisdom is that which “comes from above,” and of which God, the only Wise, is the Author; and is described as “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and of good fruits, without partiality or wrangling, and without hypocrisy” (James 3:17). Any wisdom which is not this is described by the same inspired writer as “earthly, sensual, devilish;” allying us less to the only wise God, than to him who is the prince of darkness, though able to transform himself into what he originally was, an angel of light.

[355] “They that be wise.” הַמַּשְׁכִּילִים (hammashkilim), the wise or understanding. The margin has “teachers.” The same word used in chap. Daniel 11:33; Daniel 11:35, and rendered “they that understand,” and “them of understanding.” Keil observes that the term is here, as there, not limited to the teachers, but denotes the intelligent, who, by instructing their contemporaries by means of word and deed, have awakened them to steadfastness and fidelity to their confession in the times of tribulation, and have strengthened their faith.

2. The soul-winners. “They that turn many to righteousness.” [356] Literally, “that make many righteous.” Righteousness has reference both to character and standing. In its relation to character, it is conformity in heart and life to the law of God, that law which is a transcript of His own character, and which is summarily described as love, even as God is love. In relation to standing, it is a state of acceptance and approval with God, as of those against whom His law has no charges, a freedom from condemnation, or, as the Scriptures often speak of it, a state of justification, which is simply that of one who is declared righteous or innocent in the eye of the law. How is a man made righteous in this sense? How can a man be just with God? or how can he that is a sinner be righteous with his Maker? To be a sinner is to be a transgressor of the law of God; which appears to be the opposite of righteousness both in character and standing. For a transgressor of the law to be righteous before God seems a contradiction in terms. It is the scheme of divine wisdom and mercy in the provision of a Saviour that reconciles this contradiction, and shows how the thing that appeared impossible is actually effected, while truth is strictly maintained and justice retains its rights. It is this provision that constitutes the Gospel, whose object it is to reveal it. It is by the substitution of a righteous person, who while He is man is at the same time God, in the place of the unrighteous, that the latter, on their acceptance of Him as their Surety, are regarded in the eye of the law as righteous, being viewed as one person with Him, and entitled to the same standing which He Himself occupies as righteous before God. This divine plan of making sinners righteous before God by substitution, suretyship, or representation, corresponds with the way in which the race has become guilty. Just as in and by the first Adam, or head of the human race, men were made sinners, so in and by the second Adam, God’s Son made flesh, as the second Head of the race, they that accept of and trust in Him are made righteous (Romans 5.) They stand righteous before God because He who is their Head and Surety does so, and they are, in the eye of the law, one with Him. With this righteousness in state or standing, believing sinners, at the same time and by the same means, obtain righteousness of character. A new inward spiritual life, or principle of righteousness and holiness, is infused in or imparted to them by the Spirit of God, in virtue of and in connection with that same union with the second Adam, or divine Surety, which takes place on their acceptance of and trust in Him; just as a graft partakes not only of the fortunes of the tree but of its life and sap. Accordingly the Word of God declares that “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ is made to those who are thus in Him not only righteousness, for their righteous standing before God, but sanctification for their righteous, holy character. In the Lord they have both “righteousness and strength,”—righteousness for their accepted standing before God, and strength for a holy character and life of new obedience. Thus actually to make persons righteous, as it is of God’s providing, is also of God’s effecting; for it is He that, by His Spirit disposing and enabling us to accept of and trust in Christ as sinners, makes us legally one with Him. Accordingly we read: “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). How, then, do the persons mentioned in the text make others righteous? Instrumentally. He that makes them one with Christ, or grafts them into Him by giving them to accept of and trust in Him as sinners, is the Holy Spirit. But in doing this He employs, as the means of effecting it, the testimony concerning Christ, whether conveyed in the written word or uttered by human lips. For Christ to be accepted of or trusted in, He must be known. “Who is He, Lord, that I should believe on Him?” “How shall they believe on Him of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14.) It is for this especially that the Spirit employs human instrumentality. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” “It hath pleased God by the foolishness of preaching”—by the preaching of the glad tidings of salvation, which appears foolishness to the world—“to save them that believe.” By this testimony concerning Jesus, and God’s way of making men righteous through Him, whether brought to the eye or the ear, the Spirit persuades and enables men to accept of and trust in Him as their Surety and Saviour, and so be made righteous. To bear this testimony, and so instrumentally to turn others to righteousness, is the privilege and duty of those who have themselves been made personally and experimentally acquainted with it. Accordingly, this is by no means confined to those who are in an official sense teachers or preachers, though especially incumbent on such. It is, in one way or other, within the ability of all who know Christ themselves to tell others of Him, and is accordingly made their duty and privilege. “The Spirit and the Bride—all believing and renewed souls—say, Come: and let him that heareth say, Come.” Even those who do so officially must first have approved themselves by doing so unofficially. “Without doubt,” says Calvin, “the angel here specially denotes the teachers of the truth; but in my opinion he embraces also all the pious worshippers of God. No one of God’s children ought to confine himself privately to himself; but as far as possible, every one ought to interest himself in the welfare of his brethren. God has deposited the doctrine of His salvation with us, not for the purpose of our privately keeping it to ourselves, but of our pointing out the way of salvation to all mankind. This therefore is the common duty of the children of God, to promote the salvation of their brethren.”

[356] “They that turn many to righteousness.” מַצְדִּיקֵי הָרַבִּים (matsdiqé harabbim), “they that make the many righteous.” Brightman has, “they that justify others, by teaching, admonishing, exhorting, reproving, and comforting, which are parts and duties of the teachers, and those who enjoy public office in the church.” According to Keil, the word here signifies to assist in obtaining, or to lead to, righteousness; and is here to be read in this general interpretation, and not to be identified with the Pauline δικαιοῦσθαι (justification). The persons here intended, he says, are those who by their fidelity to the law led others to צִדְקָה (Isidhqah, righteousness),—showed them by their example and teaching the way to righteousness. The same word used in Isaiah 53:11 of Christ as God’s Righteous Servant; who by the knowledge of Himself as their sin-bearer should “justify many.” The only way of being made righteous is by the same knowledge, for the communication of which His people are made His witnesses (Acts 1:8).

The angel says, “They that turn many to righteousness.” While all who know Christ themselves are bound to aim at making Him known to others, and so turning them to righteousness, all who do so are not equally successful. The extent to which souls are actually won or turned to righteousness depends, under God, on many things. This will especially depend on the measure in which the requisite wisdom is possessed, the faithfulness and diligence with which it is exercised, and the prayer of faith with which it is accompanied. While Paul plants and Apollos waters, it is God that gives the increase. But there must be the planting and the watering; and ordinarily in proportion to the wisdom, diligence, and prayer in doing this, will the increase be given. “They so spake that many believed.” “In so doing thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.” To catch men with the Gospel net we require both the skill and the diligence of successful fishermen. “Being crafty, I caught you with guile. I am made all things to all men, if by any means I may save some.” Among the things requisite for turning many to righteousness, whether in a public or private capacity, must be mentioned—love, that both gains the ear and moves the heart, earnestness, that shows the speaker to believe his own words, and so makes others earnest; perseverance, that after toiling all night and taking nothing, will yet again and again let down the net; judgment, to speak the word in season, and to deal with each case as occasion and circumstances require; faith, including both assurance of God’s promised blessing, certainty regarding the truths stated, and the realisation of things unseen; knowledge, so as to give clear and correct direction as to the way of truth and peace; singleness of aim, so as to seek the glory of God in the salvation of men as our one object in all our labour; prayerfulness, seeking continually His aid, blessing, and power, without which we can neither work aright nor work to any effect,—imitating the resolve of the apostles, “We will give ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word;” finally, consistency of life, both as regards our spirit and conduct, the testimony of the lips being seconded by the concurring testimony of the life.

II. The reward. This also is exhibited in a twofold manner, a simile being employed in each member of the verse, corresponding with the twofold description of the character. The wise shall “shine as the brightness of the firmament;” [357] they that turn many to righteousness “shall be, or shine, as the stars for ever and ever.” [358] The former, like the character with which it is associated, is a glory of a more general kind, that of the celestial expanse lighted up with the splendour of the noonday sun. The latter is the brilliancy of the stars as they sparkle in the nocturnal sky, especially as seen in a southern or oriental country like Syria or Chaldea, with a radiance all the more glorious from the dark ground in which, like diamonds, they appear to be set. The former comparison, though not to the body of the sun but to the brightness which emanates from it, yet connects itself with that made by the Saviour probably with reference to it: “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matthew 13:43).

[357] “As the brightness of the firmament.” Keil observes that the splendour of the vault of heaven (Exodus 24:10) is a figure of the glory which Christ designates as a light like the sun, in Matthew 13:43, referring to the passage before us. He refers also to Revelation 2:28 and 1 Corinthians 15:40, &c., as examples of the figure. Brightman remarks: “The firmament itself, whither no cloud aspireth, nor any earthly pollution ascendeth, to cast any aspersion or blot thereupon: here, not as it often seemeth to us, covered all over with thick clouds, but as it is in itself.” He thinks, however, that this is a less reward than that which is laid up for the righteous at the last day, when they shall shine forth like the sun itself.

[358] “As the start.” Stars, says Bright-man, wherewith the firmament shall be beautified and adorned, themselves in the meantime enjoying the chiefest glory. So Revelation 1:10. More especially, he thinks, teachers of the Jews, being the precious stones of which the wall of the New Jerusalem is built (Revelation 21:19). Keil observes: “The salvation of the people, which the end shall bring in, consists in the consummation of the people of God, by the resurrection of the dead and the judgment dividing the pious from the godless, according to which the pious shall be raised to eternal life, and the godless shall be given up to everlasting shame and contempt. But the leaders of the people, who, amid the wars and conflicts of this life, have turned many to righteousness, shall shine in the imperishable glory of heaven.”

The comparisons, taken together, suggest, in relation to the promised reward,—

1. An external visible glory. Christ’s glorified body, which is said to shine as the sun as it appeared to the disciples on the mount, emitted a visible refulgence. But the bodies of His people when raised from the dead are to be “fashioned like to His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). As He shall appear, or be manifested, with a visible glory, they shall appear, or be manifested, in glory with Him (Colossians 3:4). As we have borne the image of the earthy, so even in body we who are His members shall also “bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:49). How poor in comparison with such a glory will appear the most gorgeous splendour of earth’s loftiest princes! It was probably a portion of this glory that made the face of Moses to shine as he came down from the mount, and that made that of Stephen appear to the Jewish council as the face of an angel.

2. Purity and moral excellence. There is a moral and spiritual glory as well as a visible external one, of which indeed the latter is but a symbol and outward expression. Light itself the symbol of moral purity and excellence. God is light; and goodness is the armour of light, as contrasted with sin, which is the work of darkness. The image of Christ’s perfect moral character believers at the resurrection shall also bear, and that in a perfect degree; as well those who shall be alive and remain at His coming, as those who shall be raised from the dead. For “we shall not all sleep (or die), but we shall all be changed, in a moment” (1 Corinthians 15:51). Even here, while we behold (or reflect) as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18). “It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when. He shall appear we shall be like Him,”—spiritually and visibly, in spirit and in character as well as in body,—“for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).

3. Dignity and honour. Sun and stars are employed in Scripture as symbols of dignity and lofty rank. Balaam, prophesying of Messiah, said: “A star shall come out of Jacob, and a sceptre out of Israel” (Numbers 24:17). Hence stars usually worn as decorations of princely honour. Christ redeemed His people to make them kings and priests unto God. Like Christ Himself, they are hidden for a time, and often appear mean and contemptible. But the time for the manifestation of their royal rank and princely dignity as the sons of God and brethren of the King of kings at length arrives. “When Christ who is our life shall be manifested, then shall ye also be manifested with Him in glory.” “He that over-cometh and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: and I will give him the morning star” (Revelation 2:26; Revelation 2:28). This dignity and princely rank will belong to each of the persons spoken of, though, doubtless, in different degrees, as “one star differeth from another star in glory.”

4. Joy and felicity. Light a standing emblem of joy and gladness. “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.” On the destruction of their enemies, the Jews “had light and gladness and joy and honour” (Esther 8:16). Clouds and darkness the emblems of sorrow. The future of God’s now tried and afflicted people one of unmingled joy, as well as purity and honour. Their experience after the resurrection like the brightness of a cloudless sky, or like the untarnished radiance of the stars in the midnight vault of heaven. No cloud of grief or care to bring a shadow over their happy spirits. The joy of their future experience heightened by the sorrow through which they had passed on their way to it, as the moon and stars appear most beautiful when the clouds that hid them have passed away. Much of their joy the very fruit of their sorrow, as they see around them those whom with tears and travail of soul they sought to turn to righteousness, and on whom they now look as the mother, after her pangs, looks on the child to whom she has given birth. “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy” (1 Thessalonians 2:19). “Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, for they do rest from their labours, and their works do follow them,”—the fruits of their labours in those radiant and happy beings, whom they were made the honoured instruments of turning to righteousness, and who now, as stars in their crown, enhance their own felicity.

5. Permanence. “As the stars for ever and ever.” The stars themselves appear the very emblem of permanence, appearing from year to year and from generation to generation, to occupy the same place and to shine with the same brilliancy that they did thousands of years before. This apparent permanence and unchangeableness pictures forth the real permanence and unchanging glory of the wise and those who turn many unto righteousness. They shall reign for ever and ever. Their life is an everlasting one; their crown one that fadeth not away. Their sun never goes down, neither does their moon withdraw itself. Their glory is necessarily abiding and unchanging, as the Lord Jehovah Himself is their everlasting light, and their God their glory. As one with Him who is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, their joy and felicity, their purity and dignity, must be as permanent as His own. Even the stars may lose their lustre, and the sun may cease to fill the firmament with brightness. It is said that during the last three hundred years thirteen fixed stars have disappeared, one of them after presenting a peculiar brilliancy as if on fire, then exhibiting a reddish yellow hue, and before its final disappearance becoming ashy pale, the time occupied by the change being about sixteen months. Philosophers also calculate that in the course of some seventeen millions of years the sun may have emitted all its rays and entirely lost its lustre. The Word of God does not teach that either sun or stars are everlasting, but, on the contrary, that they shall one day cease to be. They will have served their purpose of showing forth their Maker’s glory and ministering to others of His creatures, and then, like a worn-out garment, be laid aside (Psalms 102:25). Their Maker, however, remains the same, and so shall all who as His children partake of His nature. “Whatever possible changes may take place with the glorious fabric of the material heavens, though the sun should lose its splendour, or pale before more glorious suns, as the stars disappear before the orb of day; and though the stars, which are mostly only other suns, shall attract no more by their brightness and beauty;” yet those glorious children of the resurrection, who fulfilled on earth their day of labour in doing the will of their Creator and seeking to bring back to Him His banished ones, shall still shine on with unchanged and unchanging glory, like their glorious Head whom they are made to resemble. “In the lapse of millions of ages hence,” says Arthur Butler, “for aught we can tell, it may be the purpose of God that all this universe should gradually give place to some new creation; that other planets should circle around other suns; that unheard-of forms of animated existence should crowd all the chambers of the sensitive universe,—forms of life unlike all that we can dream of; that in slow progression, the immense cycle of our present system of nature shall at length expire; [359] but even then no decay shall dare to touch the universe of souls.” We may add, nor yet the glorified spiritual bodies of those who, having been “wise “in time, shall shine at the resurrection “as the brightness of the firmament,” and of those who, having laboured to turn many to righteousness, shall shine “as the stars for ever and ever.”

[359] It is well known that the stars owe their different degrees of size and splendour mainly to their different distances from us; and that the number of those which are visible to the eye even when aided by a powerful telescope, probably bear only a small proportion to those that are scattered through the boundless regions of space. Even the Milky Way, which is simply an immense cluster of countless stars to which our solar system belongs as a unit, is only one of innumerable such clusters.

Reader, believest thou this? They are the words of Him that cannot lie. How infinitely important then to make it our first business to secure a place among those who are “wise,” and then through the grace given to us to seek faithfully to do the Master’s work in turning others to righteousness by communicating, in every competent way and in whatever sphere we may move, the knowledge of Him whose name is the Lord our Righteousness! The day is hastening apace when everything else will appear as insignificant as the dust under our feet, and when all earth’s glory will burst and vanish as the empty soap-bubble. The harvest is approaching, when he that went forth bearing precious seed and weeping, shall come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him,—when “both he that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice together.” Hold on, brother, ready to faint in the sowing time under the burden and heat of the day. In due time you shall reap, if you faint not. “Harvest home” will soon be sung amid the acclamations of angels; when, after the throes of a dissolving world, the Lord of the harvest shall proclaim, “Behold, I make all things new.” Has the reader not yet begun to be a candidate for that glory? It is not yet too late. Begin now.