THE SON OF MAN REIGNS (Daniel 7:1-14)

Prophecy is strange, but yields great riches to those who do not give up on it. Don't look at the monsters; look at your King.

Transcript

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Have you ever dreamed you're running from a monster? You know it's hard to run in dreams. It's like you're in three feet of water. You can be a track star, but still your legs ain't moving. And to imagine you can't outround a monster is terrifying. In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel has a nightmare about some monsters. Verse 1 says, In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Now it's important for us to get the timing here. This is the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon. That's 553 BC. So then, chapter 7 is a flashback. In Daniel chapter 5, Belshazzar is killed. That year is 539. This is 14 years earlier than chapter 5. So it is out of sequence, and Babylon is still in power. Now, something happens here in Daniel that it's important for us to grasp, and it can be confusing. And I want to encourage you to hang with me as we move into a very different part of this book. Daniel chapters 1 through 6 are narrative, they're story. Daniel chapters 7 through 12 are vision. Daniel 1 to 6 is about the prophet. Daniel 7 to 12 are about his prophecies. Daniel's a politician, but he's also a prophet, and prophets have visions. Visions are not fantasies, delusions, intuitions, or hope-induced sentiments of the imagination. They're dreams, but not natural. They're supernatural. These are pictures of the future given directly by God. What does Daniel do in response to the vision that he receives? Verse 1 continues to say, then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. In other words, Daniel gives up out of bed in the middle of the night, lights an oil lamp, takes a quill, and dips it in the ink that he has before him to write what we're about to read some 2,600 years later. The Spirit wants us to know the visions he gave to Daniel so many years ago. And so he has Daniel write down the main facts. And they're recorded as scripture to stand alongside all other written revelations that the Spirit, in his sovereign will, has chosen to disclose to us. What does Daniel see? I believe that Daniel sees no less than three visions in chapter 7. First of all, the vision one is kingdoms plural. This is verses 2 through 8. Vision 2 is the king, verses 9 through 12. And vision 3 is the kingdom, verses 13 and 14. I will look at each of these in order. First of all, vision one, kingdoms plural. Verse 2 says, Daniel declared, I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea, and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. So heavenly powers begin to churn up the great sea, this is probably the Mediterranean Sea, and four very hideous monsters come up out of the deep. Now, though Israel is flanked on the west side by the Mediterranean Sea, Israel itself is not a maritime people. In the Bible, the sea is a place of great uncertainty, darkness, and chaos. Bad things lurk in the sea. And that's why perhaps the new heavens and new earth will have no sea, according to Revelation chapter 21. What Daniel does now is he describes the beasts that are coming up out of the sea. So verse 4 says, The first beast was like a lion, and it had eagle's wings. Then as I looked, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it, and behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, and it was told, Rise, devour much flesh. After this, I looked and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back, and the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. Wow. Now this is very, very strange. These are obviously mutant beasts. They're hybrids. The first is like a lion with eagle's wings, but its wings are clipped. By the way, beasts in the Bible are mindless, they're driven by appetite, prowess, and instinct. And so the same is true with these beasts. But this beast here, this lion with eagle's wings, takes on human traits as well. Two legs, two feet, a mind of a human. It's given human likeness and human intellect. The second beast is like a bear devouring flesh. It has a grotesque and overpowering presence of a predator with a voracious appetite. Third, Daniel sees a four-winged, four-headed leopard. The leopards are fast, but this one has wings, so I guess you could say it's super fast. Each beast is the previous one on steroids, more horrific and more dangerous, more ominous. These are not sweet dreams. We are to feel terror, weakness, and vulnerability. But Daniel's dream is not over. Verse 7 goes on to say, After this, I saw in the night visions and behold a fourth beast terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broken pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by its roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth, speaking great things. Again, this is very strange. This fourth beast is more hideous. It has iron teeth, ten horns, crushing feet, and a little horn that saw and talked. It's not described as being similar to an animal. This is a monster. And Daniel will say more about these beasts later on in chapter 7 and as well, chapters 8 through 11. But for now, we simply need to know this: that these four beasts, these four monsters, are symbolizing successive empires, superpowers, kingdoms, plural. It's important to see and feel or not so much analyze. And no matter how ominous these are, they come and go. Things are not going to progress as we move forward. In fact, they're going to digress, and yet this is not the end of the story. So that segues us into vision number two, which is the king. Look at verse 9. Daniel continues. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames. Its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court sat in judgment, and the books were opened. I looked, and then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking, and as I looked, the beast was killed, and his body destroyed, and given over to the to be burned with fire. And as for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. Wow. The scene totally changes. Maybe this is a split screen, who knows? But this place is full of thrones, occupied by God's angelic consul, presumably. The Ancient of Days is there. This is a name for God. Because God is majestic and eternal. Ancient. God never had a beginning, he'll never have an end. Moses said in Psalm 90, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. In other words, God existed before your generation, and will exist when all who come after you have long gone. He existed in eternity before he created the world, and will exist in eternity after the world is gone. There's never been a time when God was not, nor will there be a time when God no longer is. He is the Ancient of Days. What does the Ancient of Days do here? He takes his seat. What does that mean? This is his bench. We are in God's courtroom, have you noticed? And there is order in his court. Presumably, here the beasts are there, because they certainly are judged. They do not know who they are up against. The judge also has a throne. The ancient of days, then, is both judge and king. There is a consolidation, concentration of power, and the king controls. The beasts can only comply. His books are opened. God's clothes are blinding to our eyes. They're white. His hair is white as wool, and around his throne are billions of angels. We are not alone. His throne has wheels, it's on fire, and from it flows a fire river. The little horn of the force beast is still yakking, and then the fourth beast is slaughtered. Its body is destroyed, it's thrown into the blazing fire. In other words, it's cast into hell. The other beasts are allowed to live, apparently, but their power is neutralized. And against the ancient of days, all these beasts become harmless. The picture here is that God dominates, and yet it's still not the end. Now we move to vision number three, which is the kingdom. Verse 13, Daniel continues. Did you see this? One comes like a son of man. Now the beasts visually are said to be like animals. This person, whoever he is, is like a human, son of man. The phrase is a prophetic reference to the Messiah. You know as well that Jesus constantly refers to himself as the Son of Man, to emphasize his physical lineage, but also to identify himself with the person that's described here. By the way, in the book of Ezekiel, 93 times the expression Son of Man occurs. Jesus would say to the priests in Matthew 26, 64, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. The Son of Man comes. He comes with his angels. He comes in the glory of God. He comes on the clouds. The beasts bubble up from below. But the Son of Man comes down from heaven because he sits on a glorious throne. Now there are three things that should be noted here. First, this Son of Man, or Christ, came to the ancient of days. The Ancient of Days being Yahweh, the Father. Now what's odd here is that one like a human is in the direct presence of God. Every other place in Scriptures, humans die in the presence of God, the direct presence of God. But this Son of Man is given access. How do you get direct access to God? Have you ever thought about this? It's easy to downplay this, to minimize it, to be dismissive of it. Can any of us do this? Do we just climb our way up? Where's the door? Where's the secret passage? How do we get to where God is? Jesus would say, Where I'm going, you cannot come. John 7 34. How dare we think this is easy, much less possible. But one like a Son of Man came. He came. Secondly, the Son of Man is also presented before him, the Him being the ancient of days. We think we can barge in on a king at any time, unannounced, casually dressed, entitled, demand to be heard, treated as an equal. It does not work that way, my friends. The Son of Man does not just barge in. He doesn't bust down the double doors. He is ushered in. This is highly orchestrated. It is ornately ceremonial. He has somehow earned the right to gain access and to be presented according to verse 13. Then what? Go on to verse 14. And to him was given. Given what? Dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. This dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. So, third, once the Son of Man is presented, he comes in, he is presented, he is now coronated. He's given dominion, a reign, he has power. His dominion extends to all. It's unending. Everyone worships him for all time. All kingdoms end, but this kingdom will never end. This king stays on the throne. The Son of Man reigns. Before Jesus ascended, do you remember he told his disciples, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Authority, glory, dominion, a reign. The Son of Man reigns. Your parents do not have all power. Nor does your spouse, nor does your boss, your peers, your sins, not your past, no kingdom, no dim demons, no power, no Satan. Stop giving them all power. The Son of Man has all power. The Son of Man reigns. You say, well, okay, so what? You've stayed with me wonderfully well to this point. Let me say what we're all thinking. You know what? Prophecy is just not my favorite kind of scripture. It's confusing. The images are weird. Sometimes the prophet jumps from one topic to the next. Sometimes pronouns change. He shifts gears without telling us. Prophecy often raises more questions than it answers. It does. But you know what? Maybe it's because we're asking the wrong questions. Do you remember Jesus' disciples ask him, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And Jesus says to them, It's not for you to know the time or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. In other words, you're asking the wrong question. We ask the wrong questions when we're asking when, we're asking what, we're asking how long. A better question is who? That's what's stressed in Daniel chapter 7. Daniel's three visions in chapter 7 give a sweeping panoramic look from his own day, number one, to his near future, number two, to his distant future, and number three, even beyond our future today. And yet it's still fuzzy, isn't it? Maybe it's helpful to think of prophecy in a different way. You can think of prophecy as a picture book, but with a God's eye look ahead. Or you can think of prophecy as a parade. You know, we are standing along the side of the parade, watching things only as they come, but God sees the whole parade from the beginning to the end all at once, and he's the parade orchestrator. God sees all that lies ahead, and occasionally he gives us a glimpse of what it looks like. Or maybe you can think of yourself as traveling out west and you're approaching the front range, the Rocky Mountains, and between us and in front of us are a range of endless mountain ranges, one followed by the other, followed by another until it's very distant. The Holy Spirit gives us a drone's eye view above it all. That's what prophecy does. And what the Spirit says in prophecy raises questions, but what the spirit says is not in question. The point is that the past, the present, and the future are not random. Events are not unrelated, though it seems so. You know, we're we are all like kids in the backseat chirping. Are we there yet? We want to know where we are in the grand scheme of things. We get lost in our own time. It does not look like things are going anywhere near where they should be, or we're like kids having a bad dream in a world full of beasts that crush, kill, and devour. But that's not the end. The future is set. God has it all planned out. He's not afraid. He knows where we're going. Our world is real, but it is not the ultimate reality. Please remember that. God not only knows the future, he knows how, or rather by whom he will bring it to pass. You know, I like having a look ahead. How about you? Prophecy is like that. It's a road map. Do you remember maps? Paper maps. Have you ever driven a car with an unfolded map in your lap or resting on the steering wheel? I've done that a number of times. And my wife Tani, she'll tell me about that. Of course, now we have GPS, it's a little bit different. But have you ever had a map that didn't show the details on the scale that it was printed? I think that's a little bit like God's roadmap. It doesn't give us all the details. And here's why that's good news. Because you can make a wrong turn, you can get off course, you can get lost. Because you're steering the car. But God makes the road. In Christ. In Christ, here's the good news. All your wrong turns will still get you home. Why? Because the Son of Man is king. He has dominion over your choices, he has power over your failures, over your wrong turns, and over your greatest disappointments. The Son of Man knows how to make a wrong turn into a shortcut. God knows how to get you home. That's what we need to hear in Daniel chapter 7. Jesus told his disciples he was going to prepare a place for them, and they knew the way there. And Thomas said, How can we know the way if we don't know where you're going? And Jesus said, I am the way, and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. You know, the Beatles sang a song back in the day called Golden Slumbers. It opens with the words, and I'll not sing it, but the words are beautiful. Once there was a way to get back homeward. Once there was a way to get back home. Sleep, pretty darling. Do not cry. And I will sing a lullaby. There's still a way to get back home. And it is not a when or a what. It is a who. The son of man reigns. The son of man who reigns is your way back home. Look at the throne, not the beasts. Wake up from the nightmare into a world that's ruled by a king who is good and powerful and wise and can never be destroyed or never be dethroned. A king who's better. Than anything you've ever dreamed of. And sleep on that.