Daniel 12:3 – And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
If I’m being honest, Daniel 12:3 is probably my favorite scripture. I read it more than any other scripture because I have it on my desk on a 3″X5″ index card along with John 3:16 and 2 Corinthians 5:18. I drink a pot of coffee very early every morning as I meditate on the magnitude and majesty of Almighty God. I’m so thankful to God for calling me and saving me unto eternal life in heaven. I show my gratitude to God daily by blessing the Lord for what he has done for me. I know God made me and put me here on earth to do something special. My whole life I’ve been searching for what it is I must do for God. Therefore, I’ve always focused on what comes next; what’s over the next horizon, over the next hill. I’m always trying to figure out the end game and how I get from here to there. How can I be the best I can possibly be with the talents I possess? What talents do I have exactly? What will I have accomplished at the end of my life? Will God be disappointed in me? What skills do I have that I can develop to help me in this life? I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve been told to stop and smell the roses instead of rushing through life. I admit I’ve never been a patient person. That’s just the way I’m wired. I’ve always been focused on the future a lot. I found all the answers to my questions in God’s word, our Holy Bible. I should have looked there first because it would have eliminated a lot of anxiety on my part.
Colossians 4:5 – Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside (nonbelievers), redeeming the time (witnessing for Christ).
I guess that’s one of the reasons I love Bible prophecy so much; because it tells me things about the future in general and the end times in particular. The prophetic book of Daniel is one of the greatest books in the Old Testament. A lot of what we know about the end time events comes from the book of Daniel. There are two things only God can do; tell the future and bring back the dead. We know for sure the Bible is God’s word because it tells the future. The Bible contains over 1000 prophecies, over 500 of which have already been fulfilled and documented as fact. Prophecy is just the future written in advance. All the other fake religions and false gods sponsored by Satan throughout history to hide the truth of God from man don’t even have one fulfilled prophecy between them. They stand mute before the true God of creation; convicted as the frauds they are.
Ephesians 5:15-16 – See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time (witnessing for Christ), because the days are evil.
In scripture God often uses a figure of speech called “parallelism.” There are usually two statements in a verse or sentence, separated by a comma, both with similar meanings but using different words. Or the sentences can have opposite meanings. The point is each sentence clarifies or defines each other so that the meaning of the verse is crystal clear. Let’s look at the first statement in Daniel 12:3:
“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament,” –
The word “wise” is defined as having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment. Wisdom is the quality of being wise. What good is it to be wise if you’re not using it to your advantage. That is wisdom. In the Bible God repeatedly refers to those who witness for Christ to save nonbelievers to the kingdom of heaven as being “wise.” God is saying those believers who save lost souls to heaven will shine in heaven because of the glory they receive from God for obeying the number one commandment of God which is to witness for Christ. I keep remembering the transfiguration of Jesus on Mount Tabor in front of his disciples (Peter, John and James). Jesus allowed some of his glory from heaven to show in his body, which caused him to glow brightly. Jesus did this as an example to the apostles so they could testify about it later. The word glory means great fame or honor by notable achievement. The more people we save the greater our glory will be in heaven.
Proverbs 4:18 – But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
The only notable achievement a believer can make in heaven is to save lost souls down here on earth. It’s the only way to accrue glory from God which will be given to us on the last day when we stand before the bema judgment seat of Jesus Christ. Whatever you do don’t go before Jesus empty-handed. I believe every saint in heaven will receive some glory from God causing them to glow brightly. I believe the more souls a believer saves to heaven the greater the glory received from God and the greater our “shine” is in heaven; even as bright as the stars in the night sky. The problem is we don’t know the number of people we need to save in order to shine that brightly. In the dictionary “shine” means to give out or reflect light. Shine also means to be very good at something. Both definitions apply in Daniel 12:3 because in order to save many people to heaven a believer has to be very good at witnessing for Christ. We know from scripture that the glory, or shine, of the believer increases based on the number of nonbelievers saved to heaven.
“And they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” –
The second statement in Daniel 12:3 says the same thing as the first but using different words. Turning many to righteousness is the same thing as witnessing for Christ to save many nonbelievers to heaven. God is saying the same thing in two different ways to emphasize his point and drive home the meaning. God does the same with stars and firmament because they are the same thing. In the first statement God says those who are “wise” shall shine. In the second statement God infers those who save “many” will shine. Hence, God considers those who save many people to the kingdom of heaven as being wise before the Lord. The number 1000 popped into my head as my ultimate goal and it sounded reasonable to me. It’s hard to save 1000 people to heaven but it’s not impossible. You must leverage your witness for Christ somehow. I “passively” witness for Christ through my two Christian blog sites and also by distributing gospel tracts free to prison chaplains to give to inmates.
Proverbs 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Did I come up with this number on my own or did the Holy Spirit suggest it to me? I wasn’t sure so I asked God for the answer in prayer. I needed to be sure. I continued to pray to God for a long time asking him if saving 1000 souls for heaven will qualify as “many” in the eyes of God. God often answers our prayers by using another man of God to convey the answer to us, which is what happened in my case. There is a fellow believer in Louisiana I keep in touch with because I sometimes send him Bibles and Christian tracts. He sends me a text with photo every time he saves someone to heaven. Out of the blue he texted me and says his personal goal is to save 1000 people to heaven before he dies. God gave me my answer. I let my brother in Christ know my goal was the same as his which was a blessing for us both.
Mark 1:17 – (Jesus) – Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.
God will accept 1000 saved souls to heaven by my hand as being “many” in the eyes of God which means I’ll shine in heaven like it says in Daniel 12:3. Now what that means exactly I don’t know but I know it’ll be good. God doesn’t give away junk! So when I read Daniel 12:3 I know that saving at least 1000 people for heaven is possible or God wouldn’t have mentioned it. We know from scripture that John the Baptist saved many thousands of people to heaven which was why Jesus said there’s no greater person in heaven that John. The ultimate achievement for any believer is to save at least 1000 nonbelievers to heaven. It’s the pot of gold at the end of the spiritual rainbow which is why I can’t stop rereading Daniel 12:3. I want it so badly I can’t stop thinking about it. You can’t achieve any goal without visualizing how to get there. I have a plan to get there and I’m working my plan with all diligence. What you have to remember is that only one out of every thousand people who have ever lived will wind up in heaven. And only one out of every 1000 believers in heaven will save 1000 or more people to heaven. I seek to be in the top tier of heaven and you should too. I don’t know how many people will be in that select group, but it won’t take long to call the roll. I’m thinking maybe John the Baptist, the Apostle Paul, and all the other disciples. From our day I’m thinking Billy Graham. The point is, if a believer can save at least a 1000 people to heaven he’ll be rubbing elbows with the greats of the Christian faith and he’ll belong there and he’ll be accepted among them as an equal.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
Why is this so important to God? You need to know that God’s salvation plan for man calls for believers saving nonbelievers. It’s how God plans to stock heaven. God gave up his son Jesus Christ for crucifixion so that our sins could be forgiven by a just and merciful God. Rejecting the sacrificial death of Jesus in our place is an affront to God; a slap in the face of Almighty God and a grievous sin against the Father of Glory. Woe unto that person because hell awaits him. You either choose to serve God or Satan and accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is how you choose to serve God. God is then glorified when we witness for Jesus Christ and save lost souls to heaven. Fully 90% of all the saints in heaven will be there through faith in Jesus alone, not having saved a single person to heaven by their witness for Christ. Heaven has a pecking order and our rank will correspond with how nonbelievers we save to heaven. Those saints who don’t save anyone will be the worker bees in heaven. Those who work for God receive wages to be paid on the last day (treasure) and those who don’t work for the Lord get what they deserve on the last day.
Ecclesiastes 12:13 – Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all.
Every soul is priceless to God so if you save at least one person to heaven God will be pleased with you. How could it be otherwise? Some believers who witness for Christ will save thirtyfold souls to heaven, some sixtyfold and some a hundredfold. In the Bible God refers to a hundredfold as a good harvest before the Lord. Make it your first goal to save one hundred nonbelievers to heaven. The thing is this: the good works we do on earth during our brief seventy years on this planet translate into honor, glory and riches in heaven that’ll last for all eternity. I don’t know about you but I’m motivated to save as “many” lost souls to heaven as I can by my witness for Christ. It’s really hard to save 1000 people with a one on one witness for Christ. Every person needs to figure out a way to leverage their witness for Christ that works for them. As I said earlier, I leverage my witness for Christ “passively” by using my two Christian blog sites and also by distributing Christian tracts containing the gospel message of Christ to my seven prison ministries.
Proverbs 11:30 – The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
God is generous to a fault and he equally rewards the reaper and the sower of each soul for heaven. The sower of the gospel seed is the believer who moves the nonbeliever along the path to salvation by his witness and that soul is eventually reaped by another servant of God. It’s rare for someone to hear the gospel message of Christ once and become saved. It usually takes someone hearing the gospel message of Christ multiple times, maybe even up to 25-30 times before they finally accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Only God can save someone to heaven. Our job is to share our witness of Christ to as many people as we can and let God save those whom he will. The key thing to do is to keep praying for God to use the gospel seed you cast before the Lord to save someone to heaven. Prayer works! God can save anyone and our prayers help with that. God is not looking to keep people out of heaven. God wants all of his creatures in heaven with him. God never made anyone with the express purpose of sending them to hell. God treats everyone equally. God gives everyone the free will choice to serve God or Satan.
Proverbs 14:25 – A true witness delivers souls, but a deceitful witness speaks lies.
Our job is simply to obey the commandments of God to the best of our ability. We are to read the Bible daily. We are to pray to God daily, as many times as we can spare. The more the better. We are to study God’s word for knowledge, understanding and wisdom. When we read the Bible God is talking to us and when we pray to God we’re talking to God. That’s what we call fellowship. That’s what we call abiding in the Lord our God; and God will abide in us in return. When that happens believers can produce much fruit (saved souls) for the kingdom of heaven. If you’re a believer God called you to salvation and saved you. As a believer you’re commanded to help save others. Someone once saved you and you owe it to God and the nonbeliever to help save one more for Jesus. You are the chosen of God and blessed above most men. Praise God for his love, mercy, and grace.
Proverbs 23:12 – Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.
In summary, as a disciple of Christ God put you here on this earth to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all nations and all people. This Great Commission that Jesus gave to his disciples before ascending back to heaven was meant not only for the original disciples of Christ but also for all believers who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. If you have been called by God and saved by God unto eternal life in heaven count yourself lucky. That’s the easy part. If you want a higher rank in heaven you have to earn it by doing God’s work on earth which is primarily witnessing for Christ to save nonbelievers to heaven. Whatever rank you earn in heaven lasts forever and your rank will be obvious to every saint you meet by the glory emanating from you. Don’t disappoint God. Go out and save all you can for as long as you can. God is watching and he will help you if you ask him. Good luck!
Matthew 4:19 – (Jesus) – Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men.
The more souls you save to heaven the higher your rank. If you save just one person you still please God. If you save 100 people God considers it a good harvest for you and God will be really pleased with you. If you save 1000 or more people to heaven you’ll be at the pinnacle of heaven with whatever honor, glory and responsibilities that go with that rank in heaven. God will be thrilled with you. Being a king or a president or a rich person means nothing in heaven. Death is the great equalizer and we are all judged equally before the Lord. In the end all we have to fall back on is our “good works” before the Lord during our lifetime. Those who redeemed their time wisely and were fruitful for the Lord will be richly rewarded and they will rule in heaven. That could be you if you’re willing to put in the work. I know I am. I hope to see all of you there in heaven in our select group of overachievers. This is my testimony of God and my intention to witness for Jesus Christ as long as I live, with all perseverance in order to reach my goal of 1000 saved souls for heaven. Come join me!
James 5:20 – He who turns a sinner from the error of his ways will save a soul from death (eternal death in hell).
1 Corinthians 15:58 – Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.