Strathalbyn Church of Christ

Daniel 7. Cloud Rider. Sermon by David Williams. Strathalbyn Church of Christ. 14 Jan 2024.

Apocalyptic

Up until now, the stories in Daniel had all been about Israel’s God, Yahweh, stepping in to rescue his people. With Chapter 7 we shift gears. We go from stories of rescue in Daniel’s day to visions of the future. From evil kings to evil spiritual powers. From deliverance from lions to the defeat of death itself. With this gear shift, the writing also changes – from stories about what goes on in royal courts to what is called Apocalyptic writing. When reading the Bible – as with any writing – we need to understand what sort of writing it is – what is its genre. The way you read a poem, or a fairy story, is very different to the way you read a parking fine. Treating the parking fine as a fairy story would be a rather costly exercise!

Apocalyptic language is found in these last chapters of Daniel, and in Revelation, and other scriptures (e.g., Isa 24-27; Ezek 37-39; Joel; Mk 13; 2 Thes 2).

Common features include:

• Symbolic numbers and mystifying time periods;
• Images that defy explanation
• Weird dreams of hybrid beasts
• Cosmic battles

Some of you may be questioning your pastor’s sanity at this point. David, why do we need to even go here? Because we are told, all scripture is inspired by God; all scripture trains us to be godly 2 Tim 3:16-17 Here are four guidelines when reading apocalyptic.

1. How images communicate. Apocalyptic is rich in images. Images do communicate truth – but they do so without precision. It was never intended to be taken literally – it is different to factual or historical writing. It uses the tools of poetry, like metaphors and similes. God is a rock – is a metaphor (Ps 18:2). No-one thinks God is literally a hard chunk of compressed earth. An image takes something beyond our understanding – such as God – and compares this to something we know about – rocks. God is immovable and reliable – like a big hunk of granite.

But we can’t stretch the comparison too far. We would stray into hazardous territory if we tried to draw out other rocky comparisons – to suggest that God is brittle, or heavy, or rough like a rock. So, images communicate truth, but without precision.

2. Use caution It can be hard to know where the point of comparison stops, so that brings us to the second guideline: use caution in interpreting apocalyptic. Being so rich in images, it is easy to let your imagination run riot. You can insert whatever threats are in the headlines into these images: Hamas, Israel, Putin, etc. While many Christians ignore apocalyptic, others become so obsessed with it that they fail to read anything else. This is the danger of books like Hal Lindsay’s The Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind series.

3. It made some sense to them Remember, Daniel wrote to encourage his fellow Jews in exile, not to mystify them. So it must have made some sense to them. The images are often taken from other bible passages as well as stories and customs that were familiar to these first readers. So it pays to know the background and context so that we read it with their eyes.

   1. The big picture These prophecies can sound terrifying. So it is vitally important to know why these books were written and ask, what is the big picture, the theme? Both Daniel and Revelation were written to comfort the persecuted, to give them hope. Daniel’s theme – repeated in every chapter – is that despite appearances, God is in control and he will rescue his people. And in Daniel 1 to 6, God stepped in every time to rescue. But what happens when God doesn’t rescue from the lions? What happens when faithful people suffer and die? Has God lost the plot? This is the issue that the rest of Daniel is tackling. And what about us? What do you say to comfort someone who has just lost home and family in a bomb blast? I guess the last thing you might think of is sending them a story of a dream. Yet that is just what God sends through his prophet Daniel. Because dreams and visions can bring out the truth in a way that nothing else can. Perhaps you are asking this question too? Where is God in your life? In all its messiness. Well, stay tuned. Outline: 1.Chaos 1-8 2.Control 9-12 3.Rescuer 13-14 4.The spiritual battle 15-28

      1.Chaos! Dan 7:1-8 Daniel was appalled at his vision. At the evil and chaos in that vision. 15 … the visions of my head alarmed me. This chaos had 3 sides to it. a) Chaotic boundaries His alarm came not just because these were powerful and evil beasts. They were unnatural, mutants – perversions from God’s good creation. Three of the four were hybrid beasts. The Jews knew that God made everything to be distinct. The idea of separation is critical to understanding God’s creation (Gen 1:4, 6, 7, 14, 17). God created animals and plants ‘according to their kinds’. Each kind was separate and unique. Each kind was good for its role in God’s ecology. Even the earth, sea and sky were separated and allotted their God-given places. Separation is vital to creation. Separation appears in their law too. So, they were not to plant two kinds of seed together, or wear wool and linen together (Dt 22:9-11)..
      So, these hybrid beasts are perverse because they destroy this God-given separation. They confuse God’s order by mixing radically different species, like a lion and an eagle. This separation extends to male and female. Jesus declared humanity to be binary – From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female, Mk 10:6. And yet evil seeks to overturn God’s good creation. Evil seeks to return creation to its original state – a watery chaos: an earth without form and void (Gen 1:2). Don’t we see this in today’s world? The clear boundaries are blurred. Many are challenging God’s created order. Even the boundaries between good and evil, truth and falsehood are blurred in our post-modern world. Professor Snape in Harry Potter is one of many examples of ambivalent characters in fiction. But this ambivalence is working itself out in real life where morality and truth are left to individual whims. b) Chaotic sea 2 … behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up out of the sea … These unnatural beasts came from the sea. It is a chaotic sea, stirred up from every side at once by the four winds. Often, the sea is the source of chaos and evil. It stands against God and his good order. It is a useful image as water, by its nature, has no boundaries. But God both created and controls the sea. Yahweh’s battle with evil is portrayed as a battle with sea monsters, and Yahweh victory is shown as he treads on the sea: You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. Hab 3:15 This is why Jesus’ act of walking on the water was so profound, showing him to be God himself conquering evil. c) Earthly or demonic powers? These beasts move from earthly powers to demonic ones. So the first beast represents King Nebuchadnezzar. To explain, I need to skip between Daniel 2, 4 and 7. In Daniel 4, Nebuchadnezzar the man became like a beast – with hair like eagle’s feathers. In Daniel 7, the hybrid beast became like a man – this beast also had eagle’s feathers. 4 … like a lion and had eagles’ wings… it stood on two feet like a man… Lion and eagle – king of the animals and king of the air. A proud beast. King Nebuchadnezzar too became a proud beast in his arrogant defiance of God, so was made to live like an actual beast. The four beasts represent kingdoms. 17 These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth Four kingdoms are also spoken of in the vision of the statue in Daniel 2. We are told in Daniel 2 that the first kingdom was Babylon. The head was Nebuchadnezzar himself. So there is a clear historic connection. But then it gets harder to connect historic kingdoms to the images of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7. And the fourth kingdom takes us into the spiritual realm with demonic forces defying God.

We could spend a lot of time trying to work out who these other three kingdoms are. What we can safely say about the other three beasts is that the bear had a voracious appetite for flesh. The leopard is the fastest animal, and it was then turbo charged with the addition of wings and heads, so it can move rapidly in any direction – a cosmic Blitzkrieg. The fourth beast we will come to later. So, we are dealing with very powerful forces here. As I said, getting the precise details right is not always possible or helpful and not as important as the big picture. So, let’s take a step back. Here we have four successive powers of evil and chaos. And don’t we see this repeatedly in history? Tyrants and evil empires resisting God and persecuting his people. Such empires will come and go – as one topples the previous one. Like the sea, these nations also seem uncontrollable. But remember our theme song? Despite appearances, God is in control. And God’s control is dramatically revealed in the next scene.

2. Control Dan 7:9-12. What a contrast we see here. When evil seemed triumphant and out of control, Thrones were set in place – ready for divine judgment. God is fully in control. Instead of the chaos – of wind, waves and furious beasts – there was order and dignity. God has a course set for history. He will bring evil to an end.

Yet even in the very throne room of heaven, Daniel continued to hear the boastful little horn. 11 “I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking.

Evil will continue till the end. The comfort for God’s people is that evil will be conquered. A time has been set by God for their end. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

A season and a time – God has decided when this will be. Indeed, he has judged, for the books have already been opened. 10 the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.

How will God end evil? How has he judged evil? Enter one like a Son of Man.

3. Rescuer Dan 7:13-14 Again, the contrasts continue: o Ones like beasts are replaced by one like a Son of Man. o Temporary kingdoms are replaced by an eternal kingdom. o Instead of power seized, all authority is given. o Defiance of God is replaced by submission to God. Son of Man, Son of God One like a son of man – of course, we know him to be Jesus. Yet not everyone does. For many, Jesus was simply a good man. But if that is all, then they deny both who he is and what he did. For if you deny who Jesus is, you also destroy what he did: his work of rescue on the cross. If I was elected mayor but it came out that my application had been forged, this might invalidate anything that I’d done as mayor. If Jesus was not who he claimed to be, then everything he claimed to do is false; it’s a fraud. The question of who is Jesus is not some academic question that only interests theologians. It is hugely important. It goes to the very heart of whether he can and did rescue us. Who then is Jesus? We learn three vital lessons about this Son of Man. a) Jesus is God This Son of Man has divine power and authority. For God alone rides the clouds of heaven. As the Psalmist sings, he makes the clouds his chariot he rides on the wings of the wind Ps 104:3

Clouds are very powerful images of divinity in scripture. But there are other indicators of his divinity here too. Only God can be worshipped (Ex 20:3-5). No mere man can look on God and survive (Ex 3:20, 23). Only God is eternal (1 Tim 6:16). Only God has the right to judge and rule with absolute power (Jas 4:12). Yet the Son of Man in this passage has all these divine qualities.

b) Jesus is Man Jesus often called himself the Son of Man. It was an obscure saying meant for those with ears to hear. Jesus was saying– I am human, the son of Mary. But I am also the Son of Man – Daniel’s divine Son of Man. So, Jesus is fully God and fully Man.

c) God is one in three Cults object that the Trinity is not in the Bible. True, the word was not invented until the 2nd century – but the idea of the Trinity occurs many times. The Spirit is not mentioned here, but God the Father and God the Son clearly are. And this is the one we worship – the Son of God who rides the clouds of heaven; the Son of man who bore our shame on that cross.

4. The spiritual battle Dan 7:23-27 The fourth beast and the little horn – they represent supreme pride and evil. There are three take-home messages from today: a. Evil is at work in our world. Well, that is hardly news David. And yet consider. The world is blind to the nature of evil. Many consider humans to be basically good. Evil is blamed on poverty or society. Many assume that the world is getting better. Hence, many were stunned at the invasion of Ukraine. Most assumed that another European war would not happen. We are more civilised now. We have learnt how to solve disputes. Progress has put an end to such wars. But Christians should not be at all surprised, for the scriptures teach us about evil. And evil is not just ‘out there’. Romans 3 reminds us that all are sinners. The beast is in the heart of each of us. b. God’s people will suffer. God’s people won’t always be victorious on earth. Don’t fall for the lie that God will always rescue his people here. That he will always heal. For innocent people suffer while evildoers prosper. Dictators get away with mass murder. Daniel knew this reality. Three times he speaks of evil powers having the upper hand, going from bad to worse. First, evil overpowers God’s people: 20 the horn … spoke great things, and … made war with the saints and prevailed over them … Next, evil devours the whole of God’s creation. 23 … the fourth beast … shall devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it to pieces. Finally, evil even opposes God himself: 25 [The horn] shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, … and they shall be given into his hand… But God has not failed. He has not forgotten. c. He will rescue his people. God knows the time of their end for he controls history: 25 [The horn] shall wear out the saints of the Most High, … and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time. What is this riddle: a time, times, and half a time? The point is not to guess when the end will come. For that is not important. What is important is that the outcome is already known. That is far more important than the date. God is in control. He will rescue his people. Anything else is a distraction. This is not a battle of Yin and Yang – not a battle between equals, for God’s victory is never in doubt. 21 … this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High… This victory comes through the Son of Man. He is the one who judged evil, death and Satan. His judgment seat was the cross. Jesus was thinking of Daniel’s words when he said to the high priest, … you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Matt 26:64 For the high priest and all who oppose Jesus, this is a terrifying vision. For when they see this Son of Man, he will be the Cloud Rider who comes as judge. Another suffering Christian drew comfort from this same passage. When Stephen was being stoned, he cried out to the Son of Man standing as judge Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God Ac 7:56 For God’s people, our reward is not simply release from beastly rulers. God will appoint humanity to rule just as we were meant to rule under him as his overseers in his Garden. Our reward is that we will share in this eternal rule: 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. Friends, is the life of faith hard? Isn’t it just easier to let go; go with the flow. Stop obeying God and do what everyone else is doing? That is what Satan wants. But think of the reward that awaits you. An eternal kingdom – where there is no longer conflict or evil. That is the heavenly prize that we must keep pursuing. As our real world is falling apart, movies are a way to escape, to dream. Films of impossible super-heroes saving the world. Friends, we have a super-hero who is no dream, no movie picture. He is the Cloud Rider. He came and defeated our most powerful enemies: sin, Satan and death. Picture the Son of Man riding on the clouds of heaven. The Son of Man standing before the Ancient of Days. The Son of Man taking his seat surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand of mighty angels. The Son of Man declaring that evil, Satan, death itself have been judged and destroyed. The Son of Man raising his people to live and reign with him in his eternal kingdom. Keep that vision before your eyes. This vision is no mirage, no dream. It is God’s true word. One day we will see that reality for ourselves. Thankyou Lord that you rescued us from death by your own death. Thankyou that we can now stand before you as free from sin and guilt and fear. Help us live each day as your faithful servants. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Sources: o Longman T. (1999). Daniel. Zondervan. o Reid A. (1993). Daniel : kingdoms in conflict. Aquila Press.

Tags: o Daniel, Apocalyptic, Evil, Spiritual warfare, Son of God, Son of Man, Suffering

Series: Daniel

Topics: #Daniel , #Apocalyptic , #Evil , #Spiritual warfare , #Son of God , #Son of Man , #Suffering