John Calvin Commentary Daniel 11:35

"And some of them that are wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed." — Daniel 11:35 (ASV)

The angel pursues the same sentiment as before, showing us how the children of God, in their eagerness to defend the cause of piety, will be subject to many grievous persecutions. Some of the learned shall fall; meaning that calamity will not be for a single moment only, for those who earnestly desired to defend the true worship of God will perish by the sword, by fire, and by other methods of destruction, and their successors, too, will suffer the same calamities.

The phrase the learned should fall, implies the perishing of the very flower of the Church. There will always be much refuse among a people, and the greater part of it turns away and revolts when their religion requires them to sacrifice their lives. A few remain, here called intelligent, who, as we stated yesterday, are not wise according to the flesh.

Making provision for the flesh implies taking care of themselves and their own interests, running no risks, and avoiding all troubles; while those are called intelligent who, forgetful of their own lives, offer themselves in sacrifice to God. They do not hesitate to incur universal hatred and are prepared to meet death with fortitude.

The angel, therefore, predicts the perishing of the flower of the Church. For who could have expected the name of God to have existed upon earth when all His sincere worshippers were thus murdered with impunity? The severity of the despotism of Antiochus is notorious: no one dared to utter a word, all the sacred books were burnt, and he thought the worship of God entirely abolished.

Women with their children were indiscriminately seized for burning, and the henchmen of this tyrant did not spare the mothers with infants hanging on their breasts (1 Maccabees 1). During the progress of such atrocious cruelty, who would not have thought the whole seed of God to have been extinct?

But the angel here shows the true result to have been different, namely, that the sons of God should be purged, cleansed, and whitened. He signifies that these events would not prove so destructive, but would rather promote their salvation. This passage unfolds to us the nature of true prudence in the sight of God, for we ought to be prepared for death rather than be turned aside from the free and sincere profession of the heavenly doctrine and from the true worship of God.

For this necessity is imposed on the sons of God—to fall either by the sword or by fire, and to suffer the plundering of their goods and banishment from their homes. The angel points out from the result how persecutions, which seem to issue in the destruction of the Church, are yet profitable and salutary to the sons of God, as this is the method of their being purified, and cleansed, and whitened.

But we must always remember that some defiling dregs, which require clearing out, remain in the elect, indeed, even among the holy Martyrs. The angel does not here speak of hypocrites or of ordinary believers, but of whatever is most conspicuous and most perfect in the Church, and yet asserts their need of purification.

None, therefore, he concludes, possess such sanctity and purity as to be without some remnant of pollution that requires removal. Hence it becomes necessary for them to pass through the furnace and to be purified like gold and silver. This is extended to all God’s martyrs.

This reminds us of the great folly of the Papists in imagining the merits of saints to be transferred to us, as if they had more than they required for themselves. Indulgences, as they call them, depend upon this error, according to the following reasoning: if Peter had lived to the ordinary period of human life, he would have proved faithful to the end and then would have merited the crown of the heavenly kingdom. But when he went beyond this and poured out his blood in martyrdom, some merits were superabundant. These ought not to be lost, and hence the blood of Peter and Paul profits us to this day for the remission of sins.

This is the Papal theology, and these miserable sophists are not ashamed of these gross blasphemies, while they vomit forth such foul sacrilege. But the angel’s teaching is far different—the martyrs themselves are benefited by meeting death for their adherence to the truth, because God purges, and cleanses, and refines, and whitens them. The angel would not have said this unless some admixture of dross still defiled the purity of the saints.

But this doctrine ought to be more than enough to animate us to undergo all dangers, when we see ourselves stained and polluted with hidden dross. Besides this, we ought certainly to determine that death would be profitable in this sense, as God will then purge us from those vices by which we are both infected and defiled.

Hence the value of the repetition here; the angel does not simply say to purge them, but adds, to cleanse and whiten them. Whatever holiness may shine forth in the best of men, yet many stains and much defilement lie concealed within them; and thus, in consequence of their many failings, persecution was always useful to them.

The angel mitigates whatever might seem exceedingly bitter by saying, until the time of an end, meaning a fixed and definite time. These words imply the merciful character of God, who does not urge His people beyond their strength. Paul also states God’s faithfulness in granting them a happy issue out of their trials and in not pressing us beyond the measure of that strength and fortitude which He has conferred upon us (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The angel predicts an end to these evils and confirms this opinion by saying, even to a determined time. In the last clause, he signified the temporary nature of the persecutions of which he had spoken, for they would not cease immediately, nor even for two or three years.

By the words, as yet even to a time determined, he urges the sons of God to prepare themselves for new contests, as they would not reach the goal within a year. But if God wished to humble them for three, or ten, or a hundred years, they should not lose heart but wait for the time divinely predetermined, without depending on their own will.

This is the substance of the instruction conveyed. It now follows: