Unfortunately, when I read Daniel’s vision on my own time...it gets pretty messy. I find my mind wandering as words like “dreadful”, “terrifying”, “iron teeth”, “horns”, “like a lion”, “an eagle”, “a leopard”, “a bear” stand out to me. Is this like mythology? Why is this in the Bible? How is it that I put my faith in scripture that includes such odd imagery?  I’m tempted to skip over it, thinking “Okay, then it’s Daniel’s weird dream, moving on!”

I’m thankful for Justin’s sermon on Sunday to make me think twice about this passage. Right away, before we even dive into the passage, Justin reminded us that prophecy in the Bible points first and foremost to the resurrected and ascended Jesus. Always prophecy ends up with Him, and in Daniel 7 it ends up with his ascension. 

The picture in Daniel’s vision is of Christ ascended and reigning, and like Justin mentioned, this isn’t part of the gospel that seems to be celebrated as highly. There are Christmas cards at Hallmark, cards for Easter, and even Good Friday...but not about the ascension of our Lord. We talk about the saving work of Christ “on the cross” and how “His death has brought us life”...but where is Jesus now? And why does that matter?

I love the N.T. Wright quote that Justin shared that helps us consider what it means for us to be the faithful presence of love as God’s people by focusing on the faithful presence of Christ to his church.  

“I think the problem that we have had comes from the wrong conception of heaven. Once you start to think of heaven, not as a place miles up in the sky, but as God’s dimension of reality which intersects with ours (but in a strange way that is to us unpredictable and uncontrollable), certainly then you realize that for Jesus to go into the heavenly dimension, is not for him to go up as a spaceman miles up into space somewhere, and not for him to be distant or absent now. It is for him to be present, but in the mode in which heaven is present to us. That is, it’s just through an invisible screen, but present and real.  The key thing to realize, as in the Old Testament, in Daniel, for example, is that heaven is the control room for what happens on earth. … Heaven is basically where earth is run from. And it’s because we haven’t taken seriously the language of Matthew 28, where Jesus says, “All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth,” that we haven’t thought of it like that. We’ve thought of it like, He’s gone away, leaving us to run things. No. He is in heaven. He is in charge. He is the Lord. That’s true right now. Now, how his lordship works out is then through the work of the church. But he is the Lord and is present with and through his church, as we are doing what we are called to do.”

~ NT Wright

Now, how his lordship works out is then through the work of the church. But he is the Lord and is present with and through his church, as we are doing what we are called to do.

^ That’s us guys ^ Christ did not come to save us merely so that we could live a comfortable life knowing we’ve escaped hell, not so that we could boast in our moral convictions, not so that we could throw potlucks and parties with our like-minded friends. Christ saved us, and we are his church, and we have a calling that is part of a story much greater. To go into the fullness of culture, bearing the fullness of the gospel, for the purposes of redemption. With Christ present with and through us, we seek to follow Jesus into every area of creation, retaining the integrity of God-given character, as a hopeful movement of redemptive love.

So, I’m thankful for Daniel’s vision, and for all the confusion it caused. I'm thankful that this picture of teeth, and horns, and wings actually has an impact on my life right now, as a Christian. I’m thankful that our Lord has revealed Himself to us, that although we are “characters” in the story, the storyline has been made clear to us. Our call as Christians is no secret, and God has been making it known since the beginning of time, in Daniel’s time, and continues to make it known in our time.

~ Emily Leslie