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Sermon – "The Everlasting Kingdom" – Daniel 7:1-14
August 30, 2020
Chris Coon, PBPC
A couple of years ago a friend of mine shared a story: he and a group of friends were getting together to watch a big football game for their favorite team. The time of the game conflicted with their regular time of flag football that many of them were involved in, so they decided to tape the game on television and watch it later in the afternoon together. They promised each other not to watch or find out the results of the game so that they could experience is as if it was live. My friend, though, accidentally heard the results of the game when he turned on his radio. But he acted as if he didn't know what would happen. At least he tried to. As they were watching the game and their team was losing, his friends were getting more and more upset, but my friend remained calm. Finally, one of the other guys looked at him and began to suspect: "You know something, don't you?" My friend had to admit that he knew the outcome of the game – and their team was going to win.
Sometimes, knowing how things will end up can change the way that we deal with things. And when things are difficult and the future looks dark, knowing that there is going to be a good ending to the story can give us the hope that we need to keep going. That hope is the focus of our passage in Daniel today.
Daniel 7:1-14
In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream: 2 I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, 3 and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. 4 The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings. Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a human being; and a human mind was given to it. 5 Another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks in its mouth among its teeth and was told, "Arise, devour many bodies!" 6 After this, as I watched, another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7 After this I saw in the visions by night a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns. 8 I was considering the horns, when another horn appeared, a little one coming up among them; to make room for it, three of the earlier horns were plucked up by the roots. There were eyes like human eyes in this horn, and a mouth speaking arrogantly.
9 As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
and an Ancient One took his throne,
his clothing was white as snow,
and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
and its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued
and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousands served him,
and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgment,
and the books were opened.
11 I watched then because of the noise of the arrogant words that the horn was speaking. And as I watched, the beast was put to death, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. 13 As I watched in the night visions,
I saw one like a human being
coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
and was presented before him.
14 To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
Today we take a brief venture into the second half of the book of Daniel. This part of the book is very different from the first part. It turns out that Daniel not only interprets dreams, but he also has dreams and visions of his own. And the dreams that he has are filled with incredible imagery. This is an example of apocalyptic literature, which features fantastic beasts, incredible natural disasters, and prominent sequences of numbers. There is also a focus on the connection between current and future events and the final judgment day or the end of the world.
We are not going to get into the details of Daniel's dreams, partly because to do so would require a great deal of speculation for very little edifying return, and partly because this section of the book departs from our theme of God's People in Exile and is a topic for another time. But I will say this here, that the fantastic imagery of the book (in the same way as the book of Revelation in the New Testament) is meant to convey a message of hope to a people in the midst of hardship and oppression. In this case, it is the Jews who are being oppressed by a series of conquest-minded empires and having to hold on for their very existence.
The Four Beasts
Daniel's vision begins with four beasts rising up out of the waters. These are fantastic beasts, and the images are described as terrifying. It's helpful to use our imaginations here and to remember that dreams are fluid, rather than static, so the details of the appearance of each animal is constantly changing and unfolding in Daniel's eyes. Much attention has been given to the details of each beast's appearance, but for us it is more helpful to stick with general observations.
The four beasts appear to represent a sequence of four empires, in the same way that the statue in chapter 2 did. We cannot say for sure exactly which empires are represented, whether it be Babylon/Medes/Persians/Greeks, or Babylon/Persians/Greeks/Rome, or something else. The sequence of four is meant to tell us that one conquering empire after another comes along, each with its own particular brand of violence and oppression, with the fourth being the most violent and oppressive of all. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left with its feet.
The horns imply power (the number 10 is the power number), with individual horns possibly representing kings. The little horn that speaks arrogantly (an interesting and disturbing image) is one particularly violent king who is exceptional in the way he presents himself, possibly as against God and God's people. There is a consensus among scholars that this fourth beast represents Greece, and that this "arrogant horn" is likely symbolic of the Greek Seleucid king Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled over Jerusalem and Palestine in the early second century BC and sought to stamp out Jewish identity by converting the Jewish Temple into a place of worship for the Greek god Zeus. Daniel describes this as the abomination of desolation.
But we see echoes and examples of the four beasts throughout history, and as human ability has increased with knowledge and technology, the scope and scale of oppression and devastation wreaked by these human empires and rulers has only increased. The 20th century witnessed atrocities on a scale never imagined and difficult for us to comprehend, from the Armenian genocide and trench warfare of World War I, to the holocaust and mass extermination of peoples in World War II, in which 60 million people lost their lives, to totalitarian regimes and religious extremism that have used both violence as well as famine as tools of control and oppression, to economic systems that concentrate wealth and power in the hands of a few while the many suffer in poverty and languish with few options and little hope. The beasts of Daniel, with their inhuman capacity for destruction and evil, seem alive and well in today's world.
The Ancient of Days & the Son of Man
But it turns out that the beasts have limited time. The scene in Daniel's vision shifts from that of the disturbing and violent beasts to an impressive courtroom. One described as an Ancient One appears and takes his throne. His appearance is described as dressed in clothes white as snow with the hair of his head like white wool – not only is he ancient, but he is pure and unblemished. His throne is described as being made of fire, and fire issues from him – judging and purifying. The numbers who attend and serve him are beyond number – is power is immeasurable. And court is now in session.
The fourth beast and the arrogant little horn are brought before the Ancient Ones, and we can assume that in the judgment of the court, they were found wanting. The beast is put to death, its body destroyed and burned with fire.
At this point, someone else enters the scene: one like a human being, or literally, like a Son of Man. He comes with the clouds of heaven and is presented to the Ancient One. Why is he described as a Son of Man? This is in comparison to the empires and rulers that have preceded. Each of them has been presented and described as a strange and perverse and violent manifestation of power. Their corruption and injustice has created inhuman monsters. This one, in contrast, appears in human form, or in other words, one created in the image of God. Whereas previous earthly rulers have become distorted images of God, this ruler fulfills the promise and potential of God's good creation and is a true and real reflection of the Ancient One.
This is the most clear and vivid messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. By messianic prophecy, I mean that the Old Testament contains references to the king who will someday come and restore righteousness and justice in Israel and the world. This passage presents this messiah, or savior, as one who is both divine (coming on the clouds of heaven) and human, a king uniquely qualified to rule over an everlasting kingdom.
The Everlasting Kingdom
And that is the place where we arrive in our series on God's people in exile. Like Daniel and his friends, we look around and find ourselves as strangers in a strange land, a fallen world where everything is not as it is intended to be. Sin and injustice are prevalent, around us but also within us. We are tempted to conform and become comfortable with the values of this world that so often are in opposition to the Ancient One who has created us. It can seem overwhelming to us to figure out how to be God's faithful people in a world where so much is not as it should be and where the beasts of not only oppressive governments but of cultural influences and systemic powers seem to follow one after another, with no end in sight.
The message of Daniel to God's people in exile is that ultimately God's righteousness and justice will prevail. No matter how bad things get, we know how the story ends. This is not to deny the present reality, however. Daniel, and the rest of the Bible, presents the difficult truth that the world is in a fallen state, that there are forces that are against God and his good creation, and that God's people will experience the suffering of the world. In fact, at times God's people will suffer simply for being God's people.
But the message of Daniel is intended to be a message of hope to God's people in exile, that history is moving in a particular direction, that God has good plans for us and for this world, and that no matter how bad things seem to get, God is ultimately in control. And what was promised in Daniel is what we know came to pass in the gospels – that one in human form (the Son of Man) came into the world, that he lived and died and took the sins of the world upon himself, that he rose from the dead and achieved victory over death. This is Jesus, our Messiah.
To him was given dominion
and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
that shall never be destroyed.
Jesus explicitly claimed the title of Son of Man for himself in the gospels, quoting this very passage in Mark 14:62. Jesus is the king through whom God will rule, the fulfillment of God's good plans for his creation. In contrast to the earthly kingdoms and powers, his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom and his kingship will never be destroyed.
The kingdom of God is what Jesus was all about: he came announcing that God's kingdom was available to all people now through the presence of Jesus. The kingdom of God is not what people expected, but it is better news than any of us had any right to expect or hope for: God so loved the world that he gave his only Son to save us. And God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should have life through his Son. So the kingdom of God, the kingdom that we are a part of, is the good work of God in the world today. And each of us has a part in that good kingdom work, which is why we continue to be God's people in exile. But the kingdom is real, and the kingdom will be fulfilled under the kingship of Jesus, and the kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom.
So as God's people in exile, may the hope that comes from knowing that the Ancient of Days is sovereign over all things and that he will judge the kingdoms of the earth with righteousness bring us great courage to carry on. And may the truth that Jesus is our king, God's chosen Messiah, bring us great comfort and joy as we continue to live faithfully in the time and situation where he has placed us.