7-8-10

DANIEL 7

Chronologically, the events in this chapter actually occur before chapter 5, as we are back to the king being Belshazzar. No worries.

We now begin to see some of the apocalyptic prophecies of Daniel, some pictures of the end times, and as you read, it should be easy to pick up on Daniel’s concern, his troubled spirit, as he gets a glimpse of God’s judgment of His enemies.

The dream and vision Daniels has of the four beasts here closely parallels the king’s dream in chapter 2. I am not going to delve into what each of the four beasts represents; the “interpreter”, perhaps an angel, does so beginning in verse 16, after Daniel asks. I will, however, point out that the “little horn” in this chapter, which emerges from the fourth beast, is the anti-Christ that will appear at the beginning of the Tribulation. He wages war with the saints, speaks boastful words. And the fourth beast with its 10 horns likely represents a new-world order that will be in place by the time anti-Christ is revealed. The goal of this order is to completely secularize the world, and I dare say that movement has been in motion for some time now.

Rather, focus on two passages, verses 9-10, and 13-15. Look as the description given to the two. First, the Ancient of Days, God Himself, seated on the throne, prepared to judge. We don’t grasp the power of this image, a few highlights:

His vesture was like white snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.
A river of fire was flowing
And coming out from before Him…
…The court sat,
And the books were opened.

If this were a film, the suspense would be killing me. The Judge of all the universe is seated, books are open, and He is ready to enact His verdict. The beast, this anti-Christ, speaking boastfully, blaspheming this Judge, is destroyed, and then we might wonder where the real Christ is.

Then, as if on cue, His Son is presented in verse 13 and 14, with such descriptions:

And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed.

Prophetically, Daniel got to see the Millennial Kingdom, over which Christ will rule and reign, and the beginning of the eternal rule Christ will have at the end of our days. To us, this is encouraging. To Daniel, it was awe-inspiring, exhausting, and frightening. And he kept the matter to himself; there is conjecture that by now his three friends may have died and he had nobody to share this with. Others believe that it may have just been too much to share, after all, who would understand this? Even Daniel, with his gifts, was sickened by this revelation.

SO WHAT…?

So, I must be encouraged by the return and the reign of Christ over all the universe. Judgment will be severe for His enemies, and as the old hymn goes, “We are on the Lord’s side!”

So, just as God revealed His plan to Daniel, so He has done so for me. I have His completed Word. And just like God trusted His Word to Daniel, so He has done so to me, and you, to all the church. I must proclaim Christ and His imminent return.

So, verse 18 shows me the saints, the “holy ones” will receive the kingdom. It fits perfectly with the New Testament depiction of God’s people as heirs. So I will take heart, in the midst of our world, God is in control.