We are spiritually raised now, and we shall be physically raised at Christ’s return. One way we can see the inauguration of this life is through Paul’s words in Philippians 2:14–15: “Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” Paul is alluding to Daniel 12:3, and he is telling us that the promise of Daniel 12:3 is not entirely reserved for the distant future.

Like an oak tree develops from an acorn, and like a vine comes from a grape seed, the hope of resurrection grows in the Old Testament. The culminating expression of such hope appears in Daniel 12:2–3: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

By the time careful readers of the Old Testament arrive at Daniel 12, they are not surprised by such language. The biblical authors have been leading toward this expression over much of God’s special revelation. In fact, Daniel himself has been guiding the reader toward such a climactic pronouncement.

The Immediate Context of Daniel 12:2–3

The book of Daniel is full of deliverances, and deliverances are pictures of resurrection. Figurative resurrections build expectation for bodily resurrection. Before Daniel 12, the wise men of Babylon are saved from death (Dan. 2), three faithful Hebrews are rescued from the fiery furnace (Dan. 3), and Daniel escapes a den of hungry lions (Dan. 6).

God knows how to rescue his people. Even when we die, his rescuing arm is not too short to save. According to Daniel 12:2–3, God will reach into death and deliver those who sleep in the dust.

The promise of future bodily resurrection is among the final words of the book’s final vision. This final vision (Dan. 10:1–12:3) foretells hard days for God’s covenant community. There would be much conflict, and in particular, a wicked and blasphemous king would cause great turmoil for God’s people (Dan. 11:2–35). Unfortunately, some Israelites would forsake the Lord and join the cause of this man (Dan. 11:32). Others would remain faithful to the Lord, though at the cost of persecution and martyrdom (Dan. 11:33–35).

But deliverance, not defeat, is the last word. God will raise the dead for his purposes of salvation and judgment. This promise in Daniel 12:2–3 will help the faithful to persevere, and it warns that the rebels are not on the right side of history. The Lord of history is the Lord of the grave, and he is propelling all of history toward the general resurrection of the dead.

Allusions in Daniel 12:2–3

The wording of Daniel 12:2–3 borrows earlier biblical expressions. Two examples will establish this point. First, describing the dead as “those who sleep in the dust” is to evoke Genesis 3:17–19. And second, to say that “those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake” is to recall Isaiah 26:19.

Genesis 3 reports God’s words to the serpent and to the two rebellious image-bearers. In Genesis 3:17–19, God speaks to Adam, and he tells the first man, “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The Lord said, “to dust you shall return.” Their future death would be a return to the dust, recalling that God had made Adam from the ground (Gen. 2:7). Human death would mean that the ground receives the bodies. But according to Daniel 12:2, those who sleep in the dust shall awake. The state of death is bodily sleep. The biblical authors do not teach that the soul is asleep—or unconscious, or nonexistent—after death. But bodily death is depicted as sleep, and thus resurrection is the body waking up.

Isaiah 26 is a prophecy of bodily resurrection, and the prophet lived earlier than Daniel. Isaiah said to the Lord, “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead” (Isa. 26:19). With overlapping concepts and terms, Daniel 12:2 prophesies that “those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake.” In Isaiah 26:19, the dead are dust-dwellers. Their bodies are asleep and shall awake. The earth possesses the dead, and the dead shall come forth by resurrection.

Two Groups

Long before readers get to Daniel 12, they have seen enough biblical revelation elsewhere to see that the future for believers is life (Ps. 71:20), and the future for unbelievers is judgment (Ps. 63:9–10). According to Isaiah 26:19, this future life for believers involves deliverance from death.

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