Hope in Daniel 7: The True Human vs. the Beasts

Scripture: Daniel 7:1-3, 13-18

 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head as he lay in bed. Then he wrote down the dream: ² I, Daniel, saw in my vision by night the four winds of heaven stirring up the great sea, ³ and four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

¹³ As I watched in the night visions,

I saw one like a human being
    coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
    and was presented before him.
¹⁴ To him was given dominion
    and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
    that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
    that shall never be destroyed.

¹⁵ As for me, Daniel, my spirit was troubled within me, and the visions of my head terrified me. ¹⁶ I approached one of the attendants to ask him the truth concerning all this. So he said that he would disclose to me the interpretation of the matter: ¹⁷ “As for these four great beasts, four kings shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸ But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever—forever and ever.”

Questions

1. What is the point of the vision of the four beasts in Daniel 7?
2. Why does Daniel describe the person in verse 13 as, “one like a human being” and not simply say “a human”?
3. What does it mean that this person gains a throne from the Ancient One and how does that give us hope for the future?

Background

Related Scriptures: Mark 13; Ephesians 1:11-23; Revelation 7

The vision in Daniel 7 is two parts—human attempts to gain power that led to destruction and God’s plan to undue this and give power to one who can truly wield it.

Notice the rulers who are trying to gain power are described like animals while the one who rules in God’s name is “like a human being”. This is meant to show that we are truly human when we act like God.

The sea in the Bible represents chaos the beasts coming up from the sea represents that human kingdoms are born out of and stir up conflict and chaos. While in contrast the kingdom of God is associated with the sky/air which is the subduing of chaos (Job 26:12-13)

Reflection

Daniel’s visions can be unsettling for some and confusing for others. But they can be important for us as we think about the world we live in. Daniel sees four beasts rise from the sea to conquer the world. And while so many people get hung up on timelines and trying to figure who these beasts are, Jesus warns us against such behavior. Instead of worrying about who these beasts represent, Jesus wants us to focus on what they represent. The reason Jesus wants us focused on what these beasts represent instead of who is because what they represent is a universal human temptation. In fact, this is one of the temptations that Jesus was faced with in the wilderness. The temptation is to take the world by force, to control others, and to reign through strength and fear rather than love. This is why the rulers are represented by animals, and not simply normal animals but monstrous predators. The vision is meant to show how the lust for power, conquest, and control dehumanizes people. When people seek this kind of domination they cease to be truly human and become bestial.

Now, I have significant disagreements with many of those who are always claiming “it’s the end times”. But one thing they do often point out that is true is how society at large (especially governments) are represented by these beasts. So much of our society is built on devouring others and seeking control. This is why so many long for another world where such activity is done away with and peace and justice reign. This is the vision Daniel received, a series of governments each built on a devouring, ruling by threat and fear.

But this vision is not the end of the story, rather Daniel received a second vision, one of a true human receiving authority over Earth directly from God. We need to notice that everything about this character is different from the beasts. This is a true human, not a beast and not divine, a human living up to God’s purpose for humanity ruling creation. Not a beast bent on devouring, a person connected to God distributing justice. Also this individual rises up to God in the clouds/air. The beasts rise from the depths of the sea which represents chaos and disorder in the Bible. But the true human rises to God the author of creation and order. Everything about this person is different from what has come before. This person is our hope, a hope of a world where we are not ruled by monsters spawned from chaos and seeking to devour everything, but governed and governing in the way God intended.

This is the Christian hope that one day Jesus the true human will return to restore creation to what it was called to be. This is the inheritance that Paul talks about in Ephesians 1. He anticipates a day when we live together with Jesus, not simply those of us gathered today but all Christians who have faithfully lived and died. In the mean time we fight against the reign of the beasts. We do not fight through conquest and control as they do. We do not slay the beasts in battle, that simply creates a new beast. Rather, we overcome the kingdoms of this world by acting like Jesus. We do this not because Jesus expects us to do all the work ourselves, but because we are so excited to join those who have already claimed the fullness of the kingdom that we want to bring it to Earth.

One of the reasons we celebrate holiday’s like All Saint’s Day is to remind us of the conquest in Jesus. We remind ourselves of our friends and family who have gone before us and enter into the kingdom that we only anticipate. We celebrate to help motivate ourselves to continuing to faithfully live despite being confronted with the beasts on Earth. We may be in the midst of struggles but we celebrate those whose journey is over and who have witnessed the new kingdom. And we take hope that if they were faithful to the end so we can be also. And even though there are times when the world looks dark and it seems like the Beasts are in control we know that ultimately the true Human will come to put things right. And so we stay faithful to that reality looking forward to that day.