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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.

The thing that established Daniel’s influence among the foreign kings during the Exile in Babylon was his God-given ability to interpret their dreams.  Now, in the second half of the book, Daniel himself is the one who is given the visions!

In his first vision he sees four fearsome beasts.  He is told that they represent a succession of powerful, earthly kingdoms (17).  [They are not identified specifically in history – and it is therefore always dangerous to be dogmatic – but it is likely that, at least in the first instance, they refer to the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires.  In this regard we need to remember that Pharisaical Judaism had worked out from the prophecies they had what their Messiah would be like, and two things happened: Jesus, when he came, didn’t fit their ‘imagined picture’ and so they rejected him; and, after the Resurrection, it was obvious that the One they had crucified actually fitted the OT prophecies perfectly!]

What IS important, and specific, and unambiguous and non-negotiable in this prophecy given to Daniel is that every earthly power in history, regardless of what devastation it might cause for a time, is totally subject to God’s sovereign rule and will only ever achieve HIS purposes.  Daniel is shown that this absolute power of the ‘Ancient of Days’ is vested in a single, historical figure whom he identifies as ‘a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven’.  Any doubt as to WHO this individual might be in human history is removed by Jesus’ own claim at his trial before Pilate: “Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’  And the high priest tore his garments and said, ‘What further witnesses do we need?  You have heard his blasphemy.  What is your decision?’  And they all condemned him as deserving death.” (Mark 14:61b-64)  The fact that he actually made this statement, and that the Jewish authorities interpreted it as a clear Messianic claim, is confirmed by the subsequent event of his crucifixion.

Even if we can’t be sure about the historical specifics of Daniel’s ‘beasts’ we can see today, that throughout our world God’s people, the ’saints’, are being mercilessly persecuted by barbaric, arrogant forces in different guises, and we can be thankful for Daniel’s vision with God’s assurance that every nation will one day be forced to bow before King Jesus, and that “his dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”

– Bruce Christian