One of the things you notice as you read Daniel 12 is how many elements of his prophecy are incorporated into New Testament prophecy. Even for a biblical prophet, Daniel was pretty prophetic!
In verse 1, we get a hint of something that we often refer to as the Great Tribulation: "There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence." Sound familiar? We hear this from Jesus in Mark 13:19: "For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be." Sounds like they are describing the same thing!
"But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book" (vs. 1). This image, too, is repeated later in the Bible. "Also, another book was opened, the book of life...and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire" (Revelation 20:12 and 15).
Daniel also speaks of the resurrection of the righteous and the wicked in verse 2. "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." Jesus echoes this when He says, "Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and will come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28 and 29).
Other prophetic themes that emerge in Daniel 12 that will be later repeated include the idea of a "sealing up" of the prophecy (vs. 4 and Revelation 10:4), the calculation of "a time, times, and a half time" (vs. 7 and Revelation 12:14), and the increase of evil in the end times (vs. 4 and 10, and II Timothy 3:1 and 3:13). In many ways, Daniel's prophetic look forward is reiterated and amplified by other prophets who appeared later. They used his themes and expounded upon them to describe what will come upon the earth.
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