The Lord instructed Daniel to safeguard the prophecies in a book, especially for the church of Christ until the end. Here you see what the effect of God’s words is on people. The effect of that same Word is different. There will be many who by God’s grace will pay attention to these words of God. They will purify themselves based on that Word. They want to change their sinful lives and be washed in the blood of Christ. They want to stand pure before the Lord based on the love of God. God’s will is for them above all else.
But people who follow their own heart will reject God’s words as incomprehensible. God’s words and his will are so far removed from them that they do not understand what this means either. They do not even want to really delve into it. The language of their own sinful heart makes them unwise. We read about this in 1 Corinthians 2:14: The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
Those who receive God’s Word as the highest wisdom are wise, enlightened. In their prayers they ask for the Holy Spirit to illuminate their eyes, their ears, and their hearts. They ask for a receptive heart for the gospel. Then you see how these words of God, too, as Daniel heard them, will bring separation. It will cause people to either grow more closely toward Christ, or for others to move further away from a life dedicated to God.
In this verse you see very clearly a parallel with Revelation 22:10–11. There, too, you realize that it is precisely the prophecy that the people on earth need to read and hear. We read there, And he said to me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.
It is about persevering in faith until the end, until Christ returns—in a life with Christ. When the Lord Jesus himself later speaks about the time of his return, he says, among other things: But the one who endures to the end will be saved
(Matthew 24:13).
10 Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand.