How do you imagine the end of the world to come? At the height of the cold war we might have imagine a big Russian finger on the button that would lead to the annihilation of the world. It is no wonder the American policy of nuclear weapons was called MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). The trouble was it wasn’t just America & Russia they were assuring the destruction of. Maybe we’re now seeing the same fears played out in different ways, with all the terror attacks of IS, or countries like North Korea threatening and proliferating nuclear weapons, or Iran’s sabre rattling. The End of time, the Apocalypse, can be just plain scary to think about. This is where we find ourselves today in Daniel, seeing the end in sight
what Daniel saw so impacted him he wrote his reaction down verse 28
28 "... I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself."
We’ve seen this time and time how again Daniel the wise man of God was given the ability to see and interpret dreams. Here Daniel hits a dream that stumps him, and simply recalling the dream was enough to drain the colour from his face. As we read in verse 1-2
1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. 2 Daniel said: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. 3 Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.
The winds are whipped up, the sea becomes a foaming surging wash, four horrible beasts come out of a chaotic sea. This is an evil, ugly image, where even the sea and all creation bent on destruction, where total chaos and evil running amok in the world. The first beast is a lion with eagles wings, this is a powerful beast that stands and acts like a man is torn apart. Maybe this beast looks like the reign of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, which fits with what happens to it, whoever this creature is here I would caution that’s where any sort of historical comparisons would need to stop. We don’t need to try and make each part of Daniel’s dream, fit with particular empires or particular parts of history, because then as now we are told that these wild beasts rule until the end. The thing is God does what he intends to do here, He gets our attention. The second beast is of a bear having a feed of ribs
. In strength bears are second only to lions ready to pounce again. The third beast is like a leopard with 4 wings and 4 heads. This is a beats of total domination. The forth beast is the most terrifying. This a 10 horned beast with iron teeth, trampling victims under foot. All 4 beasts are the image of chaos, violence, destruction & power. It is now we would like Daniel to spell it all out for us exactly as to who these beasts are when this calamity will come to an end. We would like Daniel to spell that out Like is the lion as Babylon? Or the bear the Medo Persians? Is the the leopard Greece? And the 4th beast Rome? It is not where this is taking us, as what Daniel writes, as this isn’t a wall calendar of events to tick off. This is a vision of apocalypse which looks very human. A reminder that despite the appearance of chaos & evil
God is in control and he will bring the day of evil to an end. This is where it all changes and when heaven’s power is unveiled and the ancient of days takes his throne. What we see is that amidst this nightmare, turmoil and horror comes peace, verse 9
9 "As I looked, "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
See that amongst the cacophony of chaos, calm is restored, order given. It is like a court room open for business with two distinct figures emerging: one called the Ancient of Days, the other “one like the Son of Man”. At this point in Daniel’s dream
he is overwhelmed by the chaos and uproar, and when human rule is at its most arrogant, without warning thrones were set in place ready for divine judgment. This is when Daniel looks up this time there is no horror, fear or chaos. The Ancient of days takes his seat and the heavenly court comes to session with the books opened in judgment. God calmed this dismay Daniel felt, just as God was still in control and he has set a course for history. Notice how out of that darkness and chaos, of everything Daniel saw, comes one like the Son of Man. A heavenly figure with an earthly body who is handed a kingdom to reign over with power and authority. Even though Daniel didn’t realise it, this Son of Man he dreamt of is the same son of man is Jesus. The same Jesus who we know cured every disease he came across, and took our place in his death on the cross, so we might know forgiveness and receive eternal life. The same Jesus who warned us of the coming day of his return the end to come just as he was ascended up into heaven. In response to the visions of the four beasts, along with the coming of the ancient of days, and the one like the son of man. Daniel reacts with fear and confusion, no wonder he’s shaken, as he looks into the abyss of human evil and is then is swept up before the throne room of God. As we read in verse 15-16
15 "I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. 16 I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. "So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things:
These beasts represent human kingdoms that wage war against the saints of God. They remind us this is not just an earthly struggle, this struggle is a cosmic one as well. As Paul puts it in Ephesians 6:12
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
There is the point at which God has said enough, as human evil is real, we know the struggles of our hearts and how we are complicated people who struggle. It is like the pictures of these beasts is something we see right throughout the Bible, in our hearts we are all self seeking rebels “every man and woman at heart is a self seeking rebel against God, and we would crawl over the bodies of our fellow human beings in order to seek some small advantage for ourselves.”[1] We are all sinners, and are warned here in Daniels vision about the activity of God. As Daniel saw it in verses 26-27
26 " `But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.'
Daniel vision of the end of time is something that leads us to the book of Revelation
where John also saw what he wrote in Revelation 21:1-4
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
Revelation means Jesus is going to win and we are not to miss the message that Christ the King is returning as a warrior to rescue his people from this present evil world. We don’t get a calendar mark on what the actual day is. What we get is the right thing that we need. So we are to see the pastoral care that comes to God’s people our comfort and encouragement is that Jesus will reign victorious[2]. The greatest impact we’re meant to take away from the view of God here is how he has ‘how things end’ in control. So our future is the sure victory of Jesus Christ. This allows us to be fully engaged in the present moment to we receive a beautiful gift from God. The encouragement to persevere in the face of opposition, suffering and persecution, because we are united to the one who overcomes it all. So take courage from God’s promises this present evil will soon end, all wickedness will be judged, and every evil act exposed for what it is. God is in control
Let’s pray…
David Hassan @ Tamworth Community Presbyterian Church 29-10-17
[1] NIVAC Daniel Tremper Longman
[2] Ideas taken from CCEF The School of Biblical Counseling “Biblical Interpretation” Course Notebook p29-30