Daniel 12:8,9

MAN’S RELATION TO DIVINE MYSTERIES

And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

Daniel 12:8

We are shut in on every side by mysteries, and move about like men in a mist, only partially discerning, and sometimes misinterpreting objects. This is an inevitable consequence of the limitation of our faculties. Bold strides beyond well-known boundaries bring us into difficulties, from which extrication is not easy, and sometimes impossible. There is much, and must be much, that we cannot understand. The true spirit in which grave difficulties are to be met and dealt with is that which ‘the man clothed in linen’ recommended to Daniel in the words of the text.

I. Divine mysteries.—These are (1) The mysteries of God’s Word. It is a revelation, but any revelation from God must, at points, touch on insoluble problems, and start unanswerable questions. This is the case with the Bible, but this can form no valid objection to it. (2) The mysteries of Divine Providence. We seek in vain to know ‘the end of these things.’ Daniel saw the development of Divine Providence in the rise and fall of empires, in the periods of affliction meted out to the Church, ‘time, the times, and the half-time’ in a series of visions, but could not see the end. There are mysteries in the development of our own lives. (3) The mysteries of the last things. Much is told but more remains in darkness.

II. Man’s relation to Divine mysteries.—(1) There is a natural curiosity with regard to them. This quenchless feeling is at the bottom of inquiry and speculation. (2) Practical action is the best check to an undue curiosity. ‘Action is the solution of doubt.’ ‘Go thy way.’ Live and do thy duty. ‘Do the duty that lies nearest the rest will become clear.’ (3) Patient waiting is the right attitude towards them. ‘Till the end be.’ Wait until the curtain is unrolled. It is vain to strain your vision to see through the impenetrable. ‘The words are closed up and sealed till the end of the time.’