There are two sides to the book of Daniel. First, there are the stories we all heard as kids and loved — the fiery furnace, the lion’s den — you get the picture. Then there are these prophecies and dream interpretations, full of weird, geopolitical stuff that’s easy to gloss over because it just doesn’t make any sense.
I used to try to avoid the prophecies, but last year, I led a small group at church where we went through the book of Daniel. Studying those prophecies in-depth gave me a much better appreciation for them.
Daniel 7 falls into the category of prophecy, but it’s a little less inscrutable than the other prophecy chapters. N.T. Wright calls this chapter the heart of the book of Daniel, and he likens Daniel’s visions to political cartoons that make their point in an exaggerated fashion.
These visions keep Daniel up at night. They involve beasts that destroy things — in particular, a beast with ten horns, including a small horn that talks smack! Later on, we learn that these beasts represent kingdoms that rule the earth at different times.
But what I want to draw your attention to is the middle of the chapter. In it, we meet two different “characters” that aren’t that hard to figure out: the Ancient of Days:
As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; 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 then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed, and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
And the Son of Man:
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.
Daniel 7:9-14 (ESV)
Guess who these two are? (And this time, Sunday School answers are okay.) Now I’m not really big on end-time prophecies because they’re so wide open to interpretation; besides, I tend to believe that most people get their eschatology wrong, present company included. For a deeper dive into eschatology, check out my two-part interview with scholar and podcaster Dr. Matthew Halstead.
But this one is pretty clear beyond the beasts and the wings and the legs and the trash-talking horns: at the end of it all, the Ancient of Days (God the Father) and the Son of Man (Jesus the Son, the Messiah) will rule over everything for eternity.
Barry Cooper explains that "when Jesus refers to Himself as “the Son of Man,” He’s doing much more than drawing attention to His nature as a man. He is identifying Himself as the all-powerful figure described by Daniel, this awe-inspiring individual exalted to the right hand of the Ancient of Days, the One whose authority and kingdom is never-ending."
Related: Sunday Thoughts: Terrors!
We can try to interpret inscrutable prophecies and visions all day long. We can debate the hows and whens of the end of time all day long (and people do), but the fact that our God is sovereign and will always be sovereign is what’s most important. We can always trust in that fact no matter what else life throws at us.
Are you trusting in the sovereignty of the Ancient of Days today? If not, what’s holding you back from it?
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