Daniel's Story: The Judge in the Judgment
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Introduction
Introduction
So far in Daniel’s Story I’ve retold historical events. They have been stories that illustrate the relationship God has with His faithful people in times of crisis. There were stories that showed the grace of God in pursuing the hearts of pagan kings. They were stories that demonstrated God’s power, his ability to govern in the nations of earth, and God’s capacity to know and order the future of mankind.
Today we’re going to shift gears with Daniel as he begins telling us some of the strangest visions in the Bible. The kind of language in these next chapters is different than the language in the first six chapters. Instead of story-telling we shift to something called apocalyptic prophecy.
As we begin studying this chapter keep in mind that there is a little different purpose involved in this kind of prophecy:
God is revealing Himself in these visions. Watch out for the characteristics and actions of God. These visions are an extension of the truth that pervades Daniel’s Story — God is the Almighty God of Heaven that rules on earth.
God’s purpose is not to provide every details so we can plot out every future event. He gives us these prophecies so that we can look back at them and realize that God really does know the future.
Because we know that God’s Word has come true, we can look to the future with confidence, knowing that God is in control.
God wants us to know enough about the future to prepare our hearts and lives for His plans.
In the next three chapters of Daniel we’re going to explore time-sensitive prophecies. These apocalyptic prophecies require us to think and study carefully. Here are three good principles for interpreting this kind of prophecy:
Let the Bible tell you the meaning of the symbols
Apocalyptic prophecies are grounded in time that almost always begins in the time of the prophet and extends long ages into the future—usually to the time when God sets up His kingdom.
Time itself is symbolic — a day = a year
The Vision
The Vision
Let’s open up our Bibles to the book of Daniel, chapter 7.
Daniel 7:1 (NKJV)
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon...
This first statement gives us a strange timeline. Daniel 1-6 have been consecutive—each story following some time after the last ending in the time of Cyrus, king of Persia. But now in Daniel 7 we’re drawn back in time to the first year of Belshazzar, before the Persians took over.
I have a possible timeline on the screen. If you go online you’ll find most scholars would disagree with me, but it all comes down to who you think Belshazzar is. I won’t bore you with the details, so the short version goes like this. Some people think that Belshazzar is the son of Nebuchadnezzar, Evil Murdoch. But in the early 20th century that was disproven by documents discovered in Babylon that show that Belshazzar was Nebuchadnezzar’s grandson, and the son and co-regent with the last kind of Babylon, Nabonidus. With that bit of info, and the knowledge that at the beginning of Belshazzar’s 3rd year as co-regent, 539 BC, Babylon was conquered by the Persians, we can trace Daniel 7 to 541 BC. The year isn’t critical to the purpose of the chapter, but it does ground the prophecy in time and place. And it underscores the point we made earlier that the prophecy will usually begin in the time of the prophet.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.
Let’s look at these facts. What was this vision that Daniel saw?
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. The first was like a lion and had eagles’ 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.
There are a couple direction we could go as we try to figure out this prophecy. The first option is to dig in and try to dicipher every symbol and understand every possible detail. That’s a good idea, and something you should do at some point. Why a lion? What are the wings? What does it mean that it stands on its feet or has the mind of a man? All these are good questions, and the Bible has answers for each of those questions.
But today we’re going to go the other direction and look at the big picture rather than all the minutia. What is the overall theme and message of this prophecy? What direction does the interpreting angel take when he gives Daniel the interpretation?
Let’s keep reading and make sure we’ve got the whole picture before we jump to any conclusions:
“And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: ‘Arise, devour much flesh!’
“After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
“After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots. And there, in this horn, were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.
We almost have all the players now. Keep them in your mind—a lion, a bear, a leapard, a strange beast, 10 horns, a little horn, and then… The Ancient of Days:
“I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;
A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
And the books were opened.
You might find this little section in your Bible is formatted differently. Daniel wrote this section in a poetic style. It’s meant to be visually and audibly different because the scene has changed. We were first talking about an earthly scene with beasts, but now we look up and see the Ancient of Days — the beginning and the end — the first and the last. He sits down on a wild throne with flaming wheels. He has millions and hundreds of millions that serve Him.
Just so there is no doubt about who the ancient of days is, read Psalm 90:2
Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
Daniel is looking up at this heavenly courtroom scene with judges and the Ancient of Days and record books. And then his attention is diverted by some words that he hears down here on earth:
“I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
Notice how the words change again. They’re no longer in a poetic form. Now we’re back talking about the beasts and horns—specifically that final horn that speaks pompous words and harms the saints of God. But in the middle of this courtroom scene, he sees that BECAUSE of the words of this creature, it is destroyed and the other beasts are conquered and beaten down as well.
In verse 13 the scene changes back to heaven for the final scene of this vision:
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
That’s the vision. It ends with the character Daniel calls the “Son of Man” being introduced to the Ancient of Days in this courtroom scene. The conclusion of the court gives the Son of Man the authority to come to earth and take over the dominion of the whole earth. And the promise is that His reign will never end, and his kingdom will never be destroyed.
Interpretation
Interpretation
What does this all mean? We could brainstorm about these symbols and try to figure it out, but that’s not what Daniel did.
The Bible says that he was troubled and alarmed. You might say he was curious with a touch of dread. So, he stepped up to one of the angels who were showing him these things and asked, “what does this mean?”
The very first thing the angel told Daniel clears up the mystery quite a bit:
‘Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the earth.
Now, if you were to go to Revelation you’d discover in Revelation 17:15 that the sea or waters that the beast came from are peoples and nations and languages. But that’s not too difficult to grasp right here in Daniel. The Great Sea that Daniel talked about would have been the only sea Daniel was likely to have visited in his lifetime—the Mediterranean sea. And the nations that the angel describes as rising from the earth ruled the land around the Mediterranean Sea.
I like that the angel doesn’t immediately go to describe the nations, because that’s not really the point. We’ll find out what they represent, but before we do the Angel needs to show us what the point of this whole vision is:
But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
Daniel was a little worried. The stuff he saw in his vision was troubling him. And prophecy sometimes troubles us. Adventists, as well as many other Christian traditions, have a preocupation with prophecy. We pay attention to the details and we care about the minutia. We try to figure out how each piece fits into history. And that’s not bad. God intended for us to have prophecy so we could be prepared for what will come. But His point isn’t just preparation. His point in telling us the future is so that we’ll trust him.
“I’ve got you.” He says. “This future stuff may look scary, but don’t forget that I’m the one who overrules evil for the good of all those who love and trust me.”
But Daniel was a little like you and me, he wanted to know the details. So he pressed,
“Then I wished to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others, exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its nails of bronze, which devoured, broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; and the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, before which three fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.
What’s interesting about Daniel 7 is that it is part of the bigger story of the rise and fall of nations. The beasts are easily identified by comparing this progression of nations with the first progression of nations in Daniel 2.
I find this chart to be helpful in considering all the visions of Daniel.
The left column lists the broad strokes of world history that each of the prophecies in Daniel cover. The top row shows the different visions in Daniel by their chapter.
Early on in Daniel’s Story we heard about him interpreting the dram for Nebuchadnezzar. Each piece of metal on the image of DAniel 2 represented a new kingdom—Babylon, then Medo/Persia, then Greece, then Rome, then the divided Rome of wester Europe, then God’s final kingdom. But in chapter 2 we only saw the divided feet of iron and clay with its ten toes before the stone came from the mountain of God and crushed all the kingdoms of men and the kingdom of God spread throughout the whole earth.
Now in chapter 7 we get some more detail. Every piece of this story is expanded on with more details added at each stage. In Daniel 7 we find new features added before the kingdom of God comes—a little horn and a courtroom judgment.
Next time we’ll discover that Daniel 8 adds to the story and expands even more on the little horn and the judgment. Then Daniel 9 builds specific dates into the picture. Daniel 10-12 will add even more features about the little horn and the judgment. Each vision approaches the same period of time from a different angle.
With this knowledge we can look at the lion of Daniel 7 and connect it with the head of gold from Daniel 2 and confidently say, this is Babylon. It even looks like the winged lion carved into the gates of Babylon.
We can connect the Bear in Daniel 7 to the Chest and Arms of silver in Daniel 2 and conclude that the 2nd nation is the combined forces of the Medes and Persians who history tells us conquered Babylon. But the alliance was stronger on the persian side, and so the bear is pictures as higher on one side. And to become the greatest nation on earth, the Medo-Persian army had to plow through three nations—Lydia, Egypt and Babylon—thus the three ribs in its mouth.
Just as one nation followed another in Daniel 2, the third beast represents a third kingdom—Greece. Like Psalm 18:10 “He rode on a cherub and flew; he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.” Greece sped through the world with its army, conquering so much territory in such a little time the king is called Alexander the Great. And when he died he didn’t have any children, so he left his kingdom to his four generals. And thus the reason for the four heads—a word that the Bible uses repeatedly to symbolize authority or power.
These were all known to Daniel, and they line up perfectly with what God told him so many years ago when he was working for Nebuchadnezzar.
But the details this vision adds about the fourth beast make it very concerning. And so Daniel was naturally more curious about that beast than any of the others that already made sense to him.
Notice the words that the angel uses to describe this nations: exceedingly dreadful, iron teeth, devoured, broke in pieces, trampled. These words are intended to bring some concern. The nation that conquered Greece was just such a nation. Rome came in with their iron weapons and the decimated the armies of their opponents. It was so uneven a fight that it didn’t seem fair. And Rome devoured up the nations of the earth—packing them together under one law—the Roman Peace.
But the story isn’t over with just Rome. There was an end to Rome, but not a hard stop. It broke into factions—east and west—and the western faction broke up even more into ten waring tribes that each claimed their piece of what was the Roman pie.
This history lesson is all well and good, but what does this tell us about God?
That’s what the angel is wanting to get to.
The little horn that has eyes and a mouth that spoke pompous words is the key to understanding the issues at stake here. This history lesson isn’t just about world-dominating empires. This is about God’s people. How will God preserve His people. What are the great issues at stake in the battle between good and evil? And how will God bring an end to the problems of sin?
Keep reading from Daniel 7:21: a
“I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom.
The little horn, which the angel clarifies in verse 24 is a small nation that would dominate the world, is making war on and winning against God’s people.
Until...
And that’s the whole point of this prophecy. Until the Ancient of Days came with his court and judgment was passed.
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I was listening to an evangelical pastor teaching on Daniel 7, just so I had a clear idea of what most Christians believe about this chapter. He taught that these nations were exactly as I have described, until he came to the ten horns and this little horn and the judgment scene. He put the ten horns the little horn down at the end of time, just before the coming of Jesus. Then he said that the courtroom scene was the scene after the coming of Jesus. The vast majority of Christians say there is no judgment before the second coming of Jesus.
And the reason they don’t want there to be a judgment is the same reason you and I are often afraid of the judgment. It has been portrayed as a fearful scene where you and I stand before the judgment seat of the Almighty. Our lives are compared against the impeccable law of love. We know that all our hidden secrets would be exposed by those record books. We know that the comparison of our lives with the law of God would mean our ruin. Judgment would be passed and we would be condemned.
But that’s not the scene that Daniel 7 describes. Daniel’s angel tells about a religeous power that speaks blasphemous words against the Most High (see verse 25) and attempts to mess with God’s law. It’s a power that tortures and abuses God’s people for 3 1/2 prophetic years according to verse 25. Do the math on a 360 day Jewish year and you’ll find that’s 1,260 symbolic days, or 1,260 literal years.
If you’ve got 1,260 years of murders and tortures, surely the bloo of the martyrs would be calling up from the ground like the blood of Abel in Genesis. And yes, in Revelation 6:10 we read about the blood of the martyrs crying out from the altar of incense in the temple of heaven:
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
How long until you judge AND AVENGE? Do you see what this judgment is about? It’s about the horrors of this little horn power. What will God do to solve the problem? What will he do to bring an end to it?
The courtroom judgment scene in Daniel 7 is God’s answer. A divine courtroom is set up and the trial commences. The punishment may seem slow, but in the end justice will be served.
And Daniel 7:22 “ judgment was made in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.”
The angel repeats this point over an over again. Read it in verse 25 and 27
But the court shall sit in judgment,
and his dominion shall be taken away,
to be consumed and destroyed to the end.
And the kingdom and the dominion
and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High;
his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,
and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’
What a relief for Daniel as he listened to the horrors that would come on God’s people. The judgment of the Ancient of Days, the Most High God would one-day come, and God’s people would be delivered from every oppressor.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Let’s do a quick review:
God predicted four kingdoms would rise and fall.
Then the fourth kingdom, Rome, would break into the smaller, divided kingdoms of Western Europe. Then, from among them, a smaller kingdom would rise up. This one with strange features intent on blaspheming and taking the place of the Most High God.
That’s a scene we saw back in Daniel 3 and 4 and we found that God brought swift and yet merciful justice on those who harmed His people. Thankfully, God’s mercy was able to save a hardened, pagan, narcissistic king.
But this little horn nation will not turn to God like Nebuchadnezzar. In spite of all God attempts, this power overthrows three other nations, and rises to a strange religio-political sphere of influence. It manipulates the civil laws to enforce laws about worship and enforces those laws with the edge of a sword for 1,260 years.
We’ll come back to this subject again as we explore the next couple chapters, but there is no questions about what little nation this is. This is the Roman Catholic church that has ruled from its seat of power in the city of Rome over the nations of Western Europe and beyond. At its will the governments mobilized armies and established inquisitions. Under its tutelage millions and millions of Christians were led to buy grace with their money and their penance.
It ruled Europe with unbending control from 538 AD when Justinian handed the civil authority of Rome over to the Bishop of Rome until in 1798 when Napoleon yanked the pope off his throne and his cardinals and bishops out of the parliaments of Europe. 1,260 years in of persecution. Millions and millions of martyrs at their hands. Some say as many as 50 million.
But the reign of terror would not be forever. It was only until the Ancient of Days came and the judgment began.
We’ll talk more about the timing of the judgment when we get to Daniel 8, but for now let’s end with this thought from Daniel 7:13-14 —
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Up until this prophecy the title “Son of Man” was just a name given to human beings. There’s nothing special about it. But here in Daniel the title is given to an exalted, conquering king. Who is this son of man?
Jesus said,
even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He’s not just saying “I’m one of you—a human.” Jesus is pointing back to Daniel. And in case that doesn’t convince you he said this too:
For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”
When the little horn was changing times and laws and forcing Christians to abandon the Biblical Sabbath, Jesus, the son of man, said, “I am Lord of the Sabbath!” No government or religion can change God’s laws.
Here’s one last statement from Jesus:
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
and
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.
The Son of Man is coming. Riding on the clouds of His glory. Praise God we’re still in the judgment time—the end has not come yet. The Son of Man has stretched out his arms on the cross so that the judgment will end in something good for you and me. He has called us his children and literally promised us the world!
And because he came as the lamb the first time, the exalted Son of Man has the right to return in power and great glory and put an end to the evil perpetrated on humans from Abel to Armageddon.
The end will come.
Jesus, the king, will reign forever, and ever.
And all his children will finally live at peace.
That is the promise of apocalyptic prophecy.
And the opportunity this story gives me and you is to choose. Will we bend to the whims of human dictators who demand our worship and obedience, or will we hide under the shelter of the Almighty and trust in His never-failing plan?
Daniel ended his vision with this statement:
“This is the end of the account. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly troubled me, and my countenance changed; but I kept the matter in my heart.”
Whether you’ve made a commitment to Jesus or have yet to go all the way with Him, Daniel’s challenge to you is to keep these things in your heart. Let them tickle your conscience as you go about your day. Who is the Lord of your life? A replacement religion of convenience and ease, or the mighty Son of Man who gave Himself for you?
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Let’s stand together as we sing our closing hymn, Worthy Worthy is the Lamb, #246.