Found Written in the Book: Daniel's Sleepers and the Dead Before the Throne
Old Testament: Daniel 12:1-2
But at that time shall Michael rise up, the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people: and a time shall come such as never was from the time that nations began even until that time. And at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach, to see it always.
Old Testament, also: Daniel 7:10
A swift stream of fire issued forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before him: the judgment sat, and the books were opened.
New Testament: Apocalypse 20:12-13, 15; John 5:28-29
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up their dead that were in them; and they were judged every one according to their works. ... And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire. ... Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.
The connection
At the end of Daniel's last vision Michael rises, "and at that time shall thy people be saved, every one that shall be found written in the book. And many of those that sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake: some unto life everlasting, and others unto reproach" (Daniel 12:1-2). Daniel had already seen the court sit: "the judgment sat, and the books were opened" (7:10). John sees the court sit again, and this time the sleepers are standing. "I saw the dead, great and small, standing in the presence of the throne, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life" (Apocalypse 20:12). The sea, and death and hell, give up their dead (20:13), and the sentence turns on Daniel's own condition: "whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the pool of fire" (Apocalypse 20:15). Daniel's book is the book of life, and the dust gives back those who slept in it. Christ takes Daniel's two awakenings into His own mouth: "all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29). Daniel's Michael returns in St Paul: the Lord comes "with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead who are in Christ, shall rise first" (1 Thessalonians 4:15), and the one archangel Scripture names is Michael (Jude 1:9). St Cyril of Jerusalem quotes Daniel's "every one that shall be found written in the book" and adds, "manifestly, the book of life" (Catechetical Lectures XV.17). The Catechism teaches, in the words of John 5:28-29, that all the dead, just and unjust, will rise before the Last Judgment (CCC 1038).
Moral sense
The books that will be opened are being written now, one day at a time. The dead are judged "according to their works" (Apocalypse 20:12). The book of life is another matter. Whose names stand in it is God's knowledge, not ours, and the Council of Trent teaches that no one can be certain of it without a special revelation (Session VI, chapter 12). Christ speaks of names that can be blotted out, and promises the one who overcomes, "I will not blot out his name out of the book of life" (Apocalypse 3:5). So the disciples are told to "rejoice in this, that your names are written in heaven" (Luke 10:20), in hope and not in presumption.
Anagogical sense
The dust, the sea, death and hell all give up their dead, and then "hell and death were cast into the pool of fire" (Apocalypse 20:13-14). Those written in the book walk into the City, where there enter only "they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb" (21:27). Daniel was told to sleep and wait: "thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot unto the end of the days" (Daniel 12:13).
The Fathers
St Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures XV.17: "according to that which Daniel says, And at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book (manifestly, the book of life)". St John Damascene, Exposition of the Orthodox Faith IV.27: "The words, many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, clearly shew that there will be a resurrection of bodies. For no one surely would say that the souls sleep in the dust of the earth."
Warrant
Patristic. The Apocalypse does not name Daniel, but St Cyril of Jerusalem identifies Daniel's book with the book of life in so many words (Catechetical Lectures XV.17), and St John Damascene, St Augustine and Origen all read Daniel 12:2 as the general resurrection. John 5:28-29 and Matthew 25:46 are Christ's own echoes of the verse. Checked in the Greek, Latin and Hebrew: the books opened are biblioi eneochthesan at Daniel 7:10 and biblia enoichthesan at Apocalypse 20:12. Found written in the book stands in the Hebrew of Daniel 12:1 (kol hannimtsa katuv basefer) and in the Vulgate (omnis qui inventus fuerit scriptus in libro), sharing inventus, scriptus and in libro with the Vulgate of Apocalypse 20:15 (qui non inventus est in libro vitae scriptus); the Greek of Daniel printed here keeps written in the book but lacks found, which the Greek of the Apocalypse has (heurethe). Daniel's eis zoen aionion, unto life everlasting, is the phrase of Matthew 25:46, and John 5:29 turns it into the resurrection of life. The resurrection verses were gathered by Dunk, who set 1 Thessalonians 4:15 and Apocalypse 20 beside Daniel 12:2. The false rumour that John the Baptist had risen (Matthew 14:2) and the verses on Christ's own Resurrection are left to other entries.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1038.
The verses
Daniel 12:1 · Daniel 12:2 · Daniel 7:10 · Apocalypse 20:12 · Apocalypse 20:13 · Apocalypse 20:15 · John 5:28 · John 5:29
