When the Beasts Roar!: Daniel 7

Introduction

While we were at the beach, I sat in the surf with my youngest daughter. Wave after wave broke on us. We were rocked back and forth each time. It was good fun. My youngest would see a wave coming and get nervous, but I would whisper, “I got you, it's okay.” Never was she in danger. For her, the waves were huge and powerful, but for me, those same waves weren’t so big. The waves hit, but she was safe in my arms. And when the time came, I picked her up and carried her away from the waves to the calm beach.

Life is scary. It can be like waves at the beach. We live in a world full of evil people, sickness, and natural disasters. We can’t control them. As we fear what we can’t control, let us remember, we are not alone. God is holding us in his arms, saying, “I have overcome the world.”

Chapter 7 of Daniel marks a change in the book. We move from narrative to visions. What he sees are the spiritual realities behind our world. They were written to encourage the people returning to Jerusalem. They would continue to encourage the people as they sat under the Greek and Roman governments. They inspire us as we sit in a world that is not our home today.

His visions are nightmarish. Daniel was frightened by what he saw. We tend to be puzzled by the strangeness of the beasts. Today, I ask you to look past the oddness of what we see and focus on the deeper truths and the story his visions are telling. Daniel told his readers that, even though the world is scary and evil, God sits in control and will judge the wicked in His time. So why do we fear the wicked instead of trusting in God? Today, wickedness seems prevalent; however, God is in control and Jesus is reigning in His eternal Kingdom, in which we will all enjoy forever.

Trust in God When The World Seems Scary

7:1-8

This chapter again forms a sandwich. In the first eight verses, we are frightened by the beasts. They seem to be in control. Told to dominate and ‘gorge themselves on flesh.’ In the middle, we see a different scene. It is a scene from heaven. God, the Ancient of Days, is ruling from His throne. He judges the beasts and gives a kingdom to the ‘Son of Man.’ In the third part, we get an explanation of the beasts and their final destination, and ours.

Just like the waves at the beach were for my daughter, we live in a world of frightening things. Turn on the news, and you will find no shortage of things to fear. We see man’s evil everywhere, and evil seems to be winning. We fear what might happen tomorrow. We feel like a child getting pummeled by the waves.

That is how Daniel felt in the first eight verses of Chapter 7. He sees these beasts rising from the ocean. They are terrifying. A lion with wings torn off. The lion is standing up like a human. There is a bear with ribs in its mouth. It is told to eat its fill. There is a leopard with four heads and four wings. We may wonder what we are reading. These are nightmares. Then this fourth beast appears.

(Verse 8) We have a beast with iron teeth, eating and trampling all the people before it. Then there are the horns. This verse is disturbing. A small horn uproots three other horns. This horn has eyes and a mouth and speaks arrogant words against God. What are we reading here?

Many scholars try to associate each beast with a specific kingdom. There is much speculation. This is important to consider; however, I want to focus less on speculations and more on the realities in this dream. What do I mean?

With this kind of literature (like Revelation and Ezekiel), we can sometimes get lost in the oddness of it all. Let us keep the big picture here. The beasts represent terrifying worldly forces. They are kings and governments. They oppress and trample people. The imagery is used to illustrate reality. It is easy for us to see governments as just people. But there are spiritual forces at play in our world. Daniel illustrates them through the use of “beasts”. Dale Davis is so helpful here:

“I would say that biblical apocalyptic is a sort of prophecy that seeks to enlighten and encourage a people despised and cast off by the world with a vision of the God who will come to impose his kingdom on the wreckage and rebellion of human history—and it communicates this message through the use of wild, scary, imaginative, bizarre, and head-scratching imagery.”

This prophecy in Daniel is more about the message than the imagery. Here, the message is that the world is ruled by humans, guided by spiritual forces. These ‘beasts' desire to crush and destroy the people under them. The victims are powerless on their own to stop such frightening evil. Hope is not found in finding a slightly less evil beast to side with, but to hope in something greater and more powerful than all the beasts.

If you are here today and feeling cast off and despised, maybe even under attack, let us look to these next few verses for hope. If all we can see are the beasts, like the waves, then we are hopeless. But Daniel’s message to his readers and to us was not one of fear, but one of hope in the midst of fear.

Yes, the world is scary. Evil is frightening. The waves of life will hit. Beloved, our hope is not in this world. It is in a home and a kingdom we can’t yet see, but experience even now. Our hope is in the King of Kings.

Trust in God, He Sits On The Throne

7:9-14

(9-10) The scene shifts from the beasts to a throne room. The beasts may have had dominion, but the one sitting on the throne was not new. In a world where an old king was replaced by a new king, this scene is shocking. The one on the throne is from days of old. We would say from eternity. “Ancient of Days” is a title given to God the Father. It shows that He ruled before the beasts, during the beasts, and will rule after.

For Israel, under the dominion of oppressive worldly kings, this was a reminder that there is a throne they cannot see. And on this throne sits their true King. He rules above the rulers they see. This King will judge the worldly oppressors. This vision was a moment to take hope that God had not left them or lost control. Where was God as their kingdom fell? On His throne. He sits above the beasts of this world.

The Ancient of Days is represented by purity and justice. His clothes and hair are metaphoric for His purity. He is altogether good. Fire represents His power and justice. He will not devour the people; He will judge rightly the wicked.

An innumerable number of people serve Him. Daniel doesn’t know how to describe the number of servants before the throne. This is why he repeats the number thousands many times. Instead of people being devoured, they are serving and praising the Ancient of Days. This is a scene of worship.

(11-12) The ‘little horn’ is there too with the other beasts. This is a court, and they are about to be judged. For all the fear they produced in the first eight verses, the beasts are swiftly taken down. The ‘little horn’ is killed, and the other three beasts’ dominion was taken. There was no fight, no protest. When the King speaks, it is.

To battered people, this should be a breath of hope. The world is scary, people are evil, but God will bring them all to an end. There is hope in the King who sits on His throne, who doles out judgment and justice at His will. Evil will not succeed but fail. Our hope isn’t in a worldly government to aid us, but in a King who is and will forevermore reign over all creation.

(13-14) Now we see this ‘Son of Man’ coming on the clouds before the Ancient of Days. The optics are divine. He is on the clouds. The Ancient of Days gives Him dominion and glory.  He will reign forever. This is no mere man.

We know this to be Jesus. This is why Jesus often referred to Himself as the ‘Son of Man.’ When Jesus said this, He was connecting back to this passage. He was showing Himself to be the reigning King, whose kingdom will know no end. All the nations and people will serve Him.

Our hope, in a sinful world, is in Jesus, who reigns as King over all worldly heads. He proved His kingship when He rose from the dead. We are not home yet; we belong to a kingdom that will never fade! We worship a King who walked out of the grave. So as the waves crash and our fears rise, let us look heavenward with our eyes.

We will enjoy His Kingdom forever one day. Let us trust in the one whose power and goodness will never go away. As we wait in a world of sin, let us be reminded of the King and kingdom with no end. Beloved, let us not live in fear of the beasts the evil one deploys, but in hope that God is in control and in Jesus’ kingdom that can never be destroyed.

Trust in God, He Judges the Beasts

7:15-28

As we enter a time in Taiwan known as Ghost Month, we are reminded of the spiritual realities all around us. We may experience fear during this season. It may seem like the spirits are winning. This can be disheartening. We are pressed and confronted. We are oppressed and feel defeated. Evil appears prevalent throughout the culture.

We look around the world, and this trend seems the same. God’s people are persecuted and killed. Evil is loud, proud, and even flourishing in every country. Christians are given less and less freedom to worship. We begin to wonder, how can God’s people be so oppressed? How can evil be winning? How can God’s people be losing? Where is God as His people suffer all over the world?

Daniel reminds us that God isn’t distant. He is sitting on the throne. In these verses, we see the little horn wage war on ‘the holy ones.’ We see the arrogant horn prevailing over God’s people. But that is not the end. It is not out of the Ancient of Days’ control. He has convened His court and issued a proclamation.

Two truths pierce the darkness of Daniel’s vision. One, that even as the enemy crushes God’s people, it is for only a time. That time is allowed by the Ancient of Days. The beasts have no power in themselves. Two, the court of heaven will convene. There is an end to the war. God will eradicate evil. It has no chance. God proclaims that the holy ones will inherit the kingdom forever.

The temples and 拜拜 tents we see set up all around the city remind us that God has allowed the spirits some freedom in the present. There are spiritual forces active even beyond ghost month. They may press us. They may discourage us. However, they will not prevail over us. When we see these spiritual symbols, let us remember that God sits over them. Let these symbols call us to prayer. Take a moment and pray for the people enslaved to these spirits, who don’t have the hope of a greater King.

God is on the throne. We don’t search for hope in people, in government, or in money. We wait eagerly for the day that God convenes His court and ends the beasts’ reign once and for all. The forever defeat of the beast is contrasted with the forever victory of God’s rule. Beloved, we have a beautiful promise of sharing in this kingdom forever. Let this hope drive us through Ghost month and see past the present evils until we find our true Home with the one who is like a Son of Man.

Conclusion

As we consider the oddities of chapter 7, let us find the deeper, more glorious meaning. Look past the beasts and see the court of heaven. See the certainty that God is in control. No matter how difficult life is, no matter how much evil seems to be winning, God sits over it all. He has promised that one day evil will be crushed and Jesus’ dominion will be enjoyed by His people forever.

That hope is a light on the darkest day, a blanket on the coldest night. Trust in our God when all we can see are the waves. We trust in God, who is sitting on the throne. We trust in God, who has judged the ‘beasts’ and will end them. Beloved, never surrender your hope to lesser things. Let me end with the words of Walter Luthi:

“We know of the Son of Man, who is at the same time the Head (of the church) and Shepherd of the fellowship. The shepherd sees the lion coming, and the bear, and the leopard, and the Fourth Beast, and does not flee.”

Our Jesus sees the beasts, the evil, and the trials, and does not flee. We may fear, but Jesus does not, for He will not, cannot lose. Trust in the one who has overcome the beasts and stand behind Him today.

“Father, the beasts of this world roar. They are scary and menacing. They attack us. Yet they will yield to your mighty hand. Jesus, let us trust in You when we are afraid. We long for the day when Your Kingdom, our home, becomes sight! Holy Spirit, steady our feet on the faithful path. Strengthen our hands for the task of worship throughout the day. Amen!”