1. The book of Daniel is a prophetic book, and chapter 12, the last chapter, serves as a kind of appendix to the book of Daniel. Here the emphasis is on the coming tribulation.
2. Note the repetition, “at that time,” “a time of trouble,” “at that time” (12:1), “to the time of the end” (12:5), “the end of these wonders” (12:6), “a time, times, and a half” (12:7), “the end of these things” (12:8), “the time of the end” (12:8), “till the end be” and “the end of the days” (12:13).
3. These all have reference to the coming tribulation period, which will begin after the rapture and conclude with the Lord Jesus Christ returning at the battle of Armageddon to defeat the Antichrist.
4. Our Lord said we can expect wars and rumors of war, famines and pestilences, earthquakes in divers places, “fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven” (Luke 21:11), and yet Daniel 12:10 says, “Many shall be purified, and made white…”
5. In the midst of the terrible tribulation, "many" will be saved by the grace of God.
6. But the rest of this verse is troubling. The wicked will continue on in their wickedness. The words "wicked" and "wickedly" are found three times in Daniel 12:10.
7. This is Webster's 1828 Dictionary definition of "wicked" -- "Evil in principle or practice; deviating from the divine law; addicted to vice; sinful; immoral. This is a word of comprehensive signification, extending to every thing that is contrary to the moral law, and both to persons and actions. We say, a wicked man, a wicked deed, wicked ways, wicked lives, a wicked heart, wicked designs, wicked works.
   No man was ever wicked without secret discontent; Cursed; baneful; pernicious; as wicked words, words pernicious in their efforts. The wicked, in Scripture, are persons who live in sin; transgressors of the divine law; all who are unreconciled to God, unsanctified or impenitent."
8. The very first time we see the word "wicked" in Scripture, it is in Genesis 13:13, "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly."
9. In hermeneutics, the art and science of interpreting the Bible, there is a law of first mention, the principle that requires one to go to that portion of the Scriptures where a word or a doctrine is first mentioned, and to study this first occurrence in order to get the fundamental inherent meaning of that doctrine.
10. The first time the word "wicked" is used is in reference to the wickedness of Sodom. They "were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly."

1. THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE WICKED (12:10)
2. THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WICKED (12:10)
3. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED (12:2)

I. THE BEHAVIOUR OF THE WICKED (12:10).

1. Just pick up a newspaper or watch a news broadcast on television and you will be overwhelmed and disgusted by all of the wickedness.
2. Anthony Hennis, 22, the father who refused to cooperate with police after his 16-month-old son was shot to death as he wheeled the boy in his stroller on Sept. 1 in Brownsville, is now wanted for a subway robbery. He robbed a 19-year-old man on a No. 3 train in Brooklyn Thursday, stealing his watch, and punching him in the face. He even threatened to slap the victim’s pregnant sister.
3. There was an article about a thug who killed two policemen. He fathered a baby with a prison guard and he is trying to get visitation rights and a say in how the child is raised.
4. Then there is the woman from Montana who confessed to pushing her husband off a cliff just one week after they were married.
5. Then there are the reports about the thugs on motorcycles who beat up the man driving with his wife and two-year-old baby.
6. And there are numerous other stories about murder and mayhem, rape, stealing, pornography, homosexuality, drugs, drunk drivers running people over, etc.
7. Surely there is no fear of God in America today.
8. This wicked behaviour we are seeing on every hand is nothing new.
9. Three thousand years ago, David said, “As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked” (I Sam. 24:13).
10. David was saying that this was an old saying, "the proverb of the ancients."
11. Matthew Henry said, "The wisdom of the ancients is transmitted to posterity by their proverbial sayings...Men’s own iniquity will ruin them at last, so some understand it. Forward furious men will cut their own throats with their own knives. Give them rope enough, and they will hang themselves."
12. Though wickedness has been around ever since the serpent slid into the Garden of Eden, we are seeing a great increase in wickedness as we draw nearer and nearer to the second coming of Christ.
13. The apostle Paul said, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come…But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse” (II Tim. 3:1, 13).
14. Daniel 12:10 says, “The wicked shall do wickedly," and it is referring specifically to the wickedness of sinners during the coming tribulation (cf. Rev. 9:20, 21; 16:10, 11).
15. We are rushing quickly to the fulfillment of these prophecies. God is giving America many warnings. But like the stubborn sinners described in the book of Revelation, and like the people of ancient Israel, America will not repent (cf. Amos 4:6-13).

II. THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE WICKED (12:10).

1. Daniel 12:10 says, "But the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."
2. This means there will be some who will be wicked and they will be fixed in their wickedness.
3. We see the very same idea in the very last chapter in the book of Revelation -- "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still" (Rev. 22:11).
4. Fixed in their filthiness, and fixed in their wickedness!
5. Referring to the wicked, Ephesians 4:18 and 19 says, “Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.”
6. These Scriptures do not mean all wicked sinners are stupid or uneducated. It means they have no spiritual understanding. They lack spiritual discernment because they have never been born again.
7. “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. 2:14).
8. This is why sinners do not understand the new birth. All they can understand is what pleases their flesh.
9. The wicked do not understand the things of God – salvation by God’s grace, heaven and hell, the judgment to come, and in the context of the book of Daniel, they do not understand Bible prophecy.
10. John Walvoord said, "The understanding of prophecy peculiarly requires spiritual insight and the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Even though the Scriptures describe in great detail the time of the end, it is obvious that the wicked will not avail themselves of this divine revelation; but it will be a source of comfort and direction to those who are true believers in God. Divine revelation is often given in such a way that it is hid to the wicked even though it is understandable by those spiritually minded" (Daniel).
11. Here is an important principle: First the wicked will not understand; then they cannot understand. It is the judgment of God upon them.
12. When God's warnings are repeatedly ignored, the wicked continue in their wicked way and will be judged by the Lord when He comes.
13. They have shut their eyes against the light, and none is so blind as those that will not see. Matthew Henry rightly said, “Willful sin is the effect of willful ignorance; they will not understand because they are wicked; they hate the light, and come not to the light, because their deeds are evil.”
14. John 3:19 says, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
15. Second Corinthians 3:14 says, “But their minds were blinded…” But who has blinded their minds? (Cf. II Cor. 4:3, 4).
16. This is the judgment of God upon the wicked who love their sin and will not let go of their sin. They refuse to repent.

III. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED (12:2).

1. From the earliest pages of the book of Genesis to the final pages of the book of Revelation, the Bible warns of the judgment of the wicked.
2. Psalm 9:17 says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
3. Here in Daniel 12 in verse 2 we read of two resurrections -- there is no such thing as a "general resurrection," though some people teach that.
4. Here in Daniel 12 in verse 2 we read of two separate resurrections: the first is a resurrection “to everlasting life.” This is the first reference to “everlasting life” in the Old Testament. It means the very same thing as it does in the New Testament.
5. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
6. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36).
7. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (5:24).
8. In other words, this first resurrection is only for those who are saved. Our Lord referred to this as “the resurrection of life” in John 5:29.
9. But there will be a second resurrection. Jesus called it “the resurrection of damnation” in John 5:29. Daniel 12:2 referred to this second resurrection as the resurrection “to shame and everlasting contempt.”
10. Those who now look with contempt on the Bible and Bible preaching and churches where people believe the Bible will eventually experience “everlasting contempt” on themselves.
11. Furthermore, they will be cast into “everlasting fire.” Our Lord said in Matthew 25:41, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels."
12. Our Lord also called hell "everlasting fire" in Matthew 18:8.
13. Second Thessalonians 1:9 says the wicked "shall be punished with everlasting destruction."
14. There are many such warnings in Scripture. In Mark 3:29, our Lord warned of the "danger of eternal damnation."
15. Hebrews 6:2 warns of "eternal judgment."
16. Jude 7 warns of "the vengeance of eternal fire."
17. "Shame and everlasting contempt... everlasting fire... everlasting destruction... eternal damnation... eternal judgment... eternal fire!"
18. What a startling contrast! It is either “everlasting life” or “everlasting contempt.”
19. It is either salvation or damnation.
20. It is either Christ or Antichrist.
21. It is either God or the devil.
22. It is either heaven or hell.
23. Which side are you on?
24. The book of Daniel gives us many important details concerning God’s prophetic plan, but the book of Revelation gives us the last word (cf. Rev. 20:5, 6, 11-15).
25. Here we see the final judgment of the wicked (Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8).

CONCLUSION:

1. Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman, senator, and orator during the period leading up to the Civil War.
2. A Unitarian once asked Daniel Webster how a man of his intellect could believe in the Trinity. Daniel Webster responded by saying, "I do not pretend fully to understand the arithmetic of heaven now."
3. Another man once asked Daniel Webster, "What is the greatest thought that you have ever had?"
4. He said, "I've thought about many things, but the most awesome, the most terrifying, the most shattering thought I've ever had, is my personal accountability to God one day."
5. Yes, we shall all give an account to God some day.