Daniel Chapter 7 part 3
The happy ending of the vision
DAN.7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.
DAN.7:10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
While Daniel was watching the beasts he sees a throne room, and then God, the Ancient of Days, is seated on the throne, surrounded by multitudes of attendants. God is dressed in dazzling white robes and His hair also is pure white. This is one of the few descriptions of God in the entire Bible.
And if you multiply 10,000 by 10,000, as Daniel described the multitude before God in verse 10, you get 100 million. There was quite a crowd in this throne room! The apostle John also saw a similar vision in the Book of Revelation:
**REV.7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes…
DAN.7:12 As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion (their ruling power) taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.
During the Millennium, there will still be nations upon the Earth! “…yet their lives will be prolonged…” But they are not going to rule themselves; their power of being their own independent governments is going to be taken away from them, but God and Jesus Christ with the saints are going to be their rulers and their kings. There will still be nations! (See verses 14, 22, 27)
DAN.7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
And then in the clouds comes the Son of man. He's always coming in the clouds, went away in the clouds, coming in the clouds, always associated with clouds!
This is one of the few places where the distinct personalities of God and Jesus are shown to be separate. Two different specific personalities: the Son of man, who could only be Jesus Christ and the Ancient of Days, God the Father. We know this is Jesus because He referred to Himself as the “Son of Man” on numerous occasions in the Gospels in Matthew 8:20; 16:13, Mark 14:62, Luke 9:26, John 13:31 and about 80 more times.
The Jews were well versed in their Scriptures, and Jesus at that time was deliberately letting it be known to those listening to Him that He was the Son of Man of the Book of Daniel (Matthew 26:63-64). Just as He appears in the clouds in this vision, He will also appear in the clouds at His return at His second coming.
**REV.1:7 Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
**MAT.24:30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
**ACT.1:9, 11 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight…Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
DAN.7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
**DAN.2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.
**REV.11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
**LUK.1:32-33 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
DAN.7:15 I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.
DAN.7:16 I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.
DAN.7:17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.
DAN.7:18 But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
DAN.7:22 Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.
DAN.7:26 But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.
Then the Antichrist is “given to the burning flame” (7:11). Revelation also talks about this; the Antichrist is the big loser at the Battle of Armageddon, after which he gets thrown into the Lake of Fire.
**REV.19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
After that the Son of Man was given dominion and glory, and the kingdom, and all on the Earth will serve Him. And not only does Jesus receive the kingdom, but the saints possess it too. (See also Mt.19:28)
DAN.7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
**REV.20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (See also Psalm 96:10-13)
This glorious future will not see complete fulfillment until the millennium! At the end of the Battle of Armageddon, when we come down and the Kingdom is delivered, who takes it over? It is “given to the people of the saints of the Most High.” That’s you and me and the faithful followers of the Christ! What happens at the Battle of Armageddon? The King of kings takes over His Kingdom and gives it to us! Isn't that marvellous! He gives us the Kingdom!
We're always talking about God's Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God on Earth and Kingdom of Jesus Christ, the King of kings, etc., it is His Kingdom, but He gives it to us! And by doing so, humankind can learn how to govern the Earth in true righteousness, peace, justice, and love.
**LUK.12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
But many people get all theoretical and they get hazy ideas, dreamy ideas about His kingdom, thinking that after Jesus returns, we're all going to be way off somewhere in some place called Heaven. Well, Heaven is not going to be way off somewhere, it's going to be right here on Earth, a Heaven-on-Earth during the Millennium! We're going to rule and reign with Christ right here on Earth over the unsaved nations and people who are left, who were not destroyed by the judgements God heaps upon the Antichrist kingdom.
Every day, millions of Christians all over the world pray, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven!" But do most of us really appreciate the awesome reality of that statement in the Lord's Prayer and how literally it is going to come true and be fulfilled? It's actually going to be like Heaven, Heaven on Earth, with God's Will being done and His Kingdom come--on Earth as it is in Heaven! And we will be His officers, enforcing His Will as we rule and reign over the Earth with Him!
A short analysis on the ‘man of sin’: Harmony between the books of Daniel, Revelation and Thessalonians. (Taken from Lennox, John C. Against the Flow . Monarch Books. Kindle Edition, section “A vision of the future”)
Author John Lennox writes: “If we are right in thinking that the fourth beast corresponds to the iron kingdom of the dream image of Daniel chapter 2, the Roman Empire, then Daniel was, by definition, being given insight into events future to his time. What events? One way that I find helpful to proceed is to stand back for a moment and collect the leading concepts. They would appear to be the following:
We might reasonably ask then: is there anywhere else in the Bible that we read anything like this? There is! In the book of Revelation 13: 1- 8 we find the following description of an immensely powerful beast:
“And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority…and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with him?
And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
We note the many features that this beast has in common with Daniel’s beast:
These similarities are remarkable. Furthermore, the beast in Daniel is judged in the context of the coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven. The beast in Revelation is destroyed by the coming from heaven to earth of the Rider on the White Horse, who is said to be the Word of God, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Daniel and Revelation are surely describing the same thing, in very similar, highly symbolic language. The question arises: what is the reality of which the beast is a symbol? In order to answer this, we might ask if Scripture talks elsewhere about anything like this, in non-symbolic language. The passage that immediately springs to mind is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10 where Paul is writing about the coming of Christ:
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there comes a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
It would seem that Paul is here describing in plain language what Daniel and Revelation describe in symbolic form – the final form of world power that will be destroyed by the coming of Christ.” (End of the excerpts from John Lennox)
DAN.7:28 Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.
Although Daniel tells us that watching this whole ordeal troubled him to the point where he felt and looked very much the worse for it, we can read it and rejoice that the final victory is ours. There will be some very rough and trying times ahead, and for all intents and purposes it may look like we are losing the war much of the time, but in the end, we will be victorious!
Be ready for these events. You can receive Jesus at this very moment. It is a free gift of God. He says: “Behold, I stand at the door (of your heart), and knock: if any man hears my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
Please pray this simple prayer:
Jesus, please forgive all my faults. I want to know You personally, so I invite You to come into my life, into my heart. Thank you for giving Your life for me so I could be forgiven of my sins, find peace of heart and mind here and now and receive God’s gift of eternal life. Amen
Compiled and edited by Gaetan from multiple sources. gaetan.goye@gmail.com