Singing the Songs of The Lord In a Strange Land February 20, 2005
Daniel 7
The Beasts and the Kingdom
You think you’ve had some bad dreams! Daniel’s dream is weird and wonderful to us, and terrifying to him!
You can imagine seeing these things before the days of monster movies and the like. It is likely an understatement when he writes that he was deeply troubled in his thoughts and his face turned pale. The Message - "And there it ended. I, Daniel, was in shock. I was like a man who had seen a ghost. But I kept it all to myself.”
You might not be as disturbed as Daniel, but at least wondering what this all means, why its in the Bible and how it applies today.
As we take a look at the big picture of this chapter I think we’ll get a great look at the big picture of history and the future and how we are to live in light of that big picture.
The Dream
Up to this point, Daniel has interpreted other people’s dreams, but now, God gives him his own disturbing dream. It is just after Nebuchadnezzar has died and Babylon is ruled by Belshazzar. Nebuchadnezzar reigned powerfully, and by the end he had begun to serve God. Belshazzar is a weak ruler by comparison and has no interest in God.
In his dream Daniel sees the sea whipped up into a frenzy by the four winds. While we often think of the sea as a peaceful spot where we go for a vacation, the people of Daniel’s day saw it as a place of chaos and destruction. If you could imagine how those who have survived the tsunami regard the sea, you might come close to how ancient people regarded the physical/spiritual power of the sea. In Revelation 21 we find this verse describing paradise “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.” (“But I like the sea!” You might say) It is a metaphorical image that says there is an end to chaos and destruction.
Daniel’s dream of the sea is even more chaotic in that the four winds are whipping the sea into a frenzy. Out of this frenzy come four grotesque beasts. Daniel tries to describe them the best he can – the fact that they are described as mixtures of creatures is even more grotesque to the original readers – Jewish people who wouldn’t even plant different varieties of seed in the same field, nor would they yoke an ox with a donkey. To get to the emotions that Daniel felt seeing these beasts, you might think of the latest monster movie Alien vs. Predator. I haven’t seen this one, but both those guys gave me the willies in the first movies. And just as those monsters seemed undefeatable in the movies, the beasts in Daniel’s dream seem all powerful.
The first beast is probably the least worrisome – As the Angel said, the beasts relate to earthly kingdoms, This beast likely relates to Babylon, specifically under Nebuchadnezzar’s rule. He starts as a lion with wings, and ends as a humanoid with a human heart. Nebuchadnezzar ends his rule as a Gentile king who serves God.
The next beast is a ravenous bear, lurching from side to side
The third beast is a four-headed panther with four wings, given authority to rule
The fourth is the worst – we are given more description, and less, all the same. We don’t know the shape of the beast, except that it has huge iron teeth, It devoured its victims or trampled them. It had ten horns, and one more horn that grew up among them and three of the ten horns were uprooted to make room for it – this horn had eyes and a mouth of its own that spoke out arrogantly.
Later, when Daniel asks one of the angelic beings about these beasts, we hear that they represent successive kingdoms. We see that although the images are much more graphic in Daniel 7, it is a similar dream that Nebuchadnezzar had in chapter 2 of the statue with the head of gold, chest and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron and feet of iron mixed with clay. In the end a stone not cut by humans comes and smashes the statue. The different parts of that statue represented successive kingdoms as well.
As people have tried to interpret the passage they have equated the beasts (and the metals) to Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, or they split the Mede and the Persian empires and finish at Greece.
It is good to note at this point that apocalyptic writing is very metaphorical, and as Tremper Longman III says, “Images speak truly and accurately, but not precisely.“ So, for the scope of this sermon, it is not really useful to figure out which beast goes with which kingdom. With any apocalyptic writing it is not at all helpful to give a one for one correlation to modern nations or multinational organizations as some popular writers like to do (and then revise when the correlation doesn’t quite work out.)
The Monstrousness of Earthly Kingdoms
Although the beasts do relate to four empires to come starting in Daniel’s life, they also teach us about earthly nations and institutions. It is not hard for us to find examples of modern nations that have acted in beastly, ravenously destructive ways – Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, smaller powers like Rwanda.
Romeo Dallaire wrote the account of his experiences in Rwanda in the book “Shake Hands With the Devil”
Excerpt from Shake Hands with the Devil
My story is not a strictly military account nor a clinical, academic study of the breakdown of Rwanda. It is not a simplistic indictment of the many failures of the UN as a force for peace in the world. It is not a story of heroes and villains, although such a work could easily be written. This book is a cri de coeur for the slaughtered thousands, a tribute to the souls hacked apart by machetes because of their supposed difference from those who sought to hang on to power. . . . This book is the account of a few humans who were entrusted with the role of helping others taste the fruits of peace. Instead, we watched as the devil took control of paradise on earth and fed on the blood of the people we were supposed to protect.
We have also even seen when nations that we’d like to think are on the side of good have acted in a beastly, arrogant manner, spitting in the face of God just like the horn with the mouth does.
We have seen throughout the ages, and even in the world today when, like the small horn in the dream, nations have oppressed the people of God – today, we have nations that persecute Christians, and other authorities who stand by idly when Christians are persecuted by non-government forces.
While many of these nations may seem indestructible at first, if they are against God, then God is against them and their destruction is sealed.
Powers and principalities behind nations and empires.
The Kingdom of God
In the dream, in the midst of all the chaos and destruction, thrones are brought in and set in place, and a courtroom is assemble with the Ancient of Days sitting as Judge. He Judges the nations, destroys the forth beast, and sets up a true kingdom.
The one like a son of man (Jesus’ favorite way of referring to himself) rides in on the clouds of heaven, and he is given all authority and power, and a good rule that will last forever.
Once again, although the details may be hard to understand, the message is clear: God is in control. He will defeat the seemingly unconquerable powers that oppress his people.
In spite of present circumstances, God is in control.
When we put this dream together with what we know of the coming of the Son of Man, we get an even stranger picture that shows us the immense difference between the way the nations of the world works and the way that the Kingdom of heaven works.
Daniel catches this glimpse into the spiritual reality of oppressive national power. We have this picture of this huge, terrifying beast with teeth of iron, devouring everything in its path, and trampling what it doesn’t devour. It is this huge cosmic beast which only God can deal with, and he does deal with it. To destroy the destroyer God sends…
A baby. A baby born homeless in a stable in a small village in a backwater province of the empire. The baby grows up to say things like “I came not to be served, but to serve.” Matthew 20:24
He rules, and is given authority not by devouring and trampling, but by giving his life as a sacrifice.
Not only does the Kingdom of God rule so differently than the beasts, but it even defeats them through completely different means than they use.
In our movies, we believe the end justifies the means – our heroes bring in a peaceable kingdom by violently destroying the enemy. In God’s Kingdom, the means and the end are deeply connected.
2 Corinthians 10:3-5
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
We Christians must understand that we do not fight as the world fights – when we don’t get it, we come up with things like the crusades, when we do get it, we come up with things like Mother Theresa, the Mennonite Central Committee, Martin Luther King Jr. God does not defeat with aggression, he defeats with love. When love and justice does not “work” he doesn’t switch to aggression, he continues in love and righteousness because that is the way of the kingdom.
Which Side Are You On?
We live in a time that doesn’t really show up in Daniel’s vision – it is a time between the kingdom of the beasts and the kingdom of God. It is a time when both kingdoms are existing – the kingdom that uses fear and cohesion to keep power, and the kingdom that is given power because it serves and loves. The Stone from Chapter 2 is rolling!
To quote Billy Bragg, “Which side are you on?”
We all rule or want to rule in some area of our life.
Are you living like the beast – ruling by force, devouring and trampling? Or are you living like the one like the son of man – serving in humility and love, laying you life down for the sake of your friends?
We live as resident aliens in the land that the beast is still trying to have sway over. We need to figure out how to Sing the Songs of the Lord in this Strange Land.
1 Peter 2
11Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
Romans 12:9
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d]says the Lord. On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good
The Ring vs. The Shire
Frodo is a Hobbit of the Shire, where the rule of life could be taken directly from 1 Thessalonians 4:11 – "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,"
But he carries the ring of power and all it’s temptations to stop serving the good people of middle earth and start serving himself. We have the same temptation: we live in God’s Kingdom where the power we have is the power to serve, not power to control. When ever a Christian or church or Christian organization starts to grasp at the ring of power and control and drop the towel of service, they leave the Kingdom of God for the Kingdom of the beast.
Which side are you on?
The Kingdom is subversive, but never oppressive – you are a seed of the kingdom in your work, school, home…
Hope for the future
You may feel like you are living in the belly of the beast – you may work for a corporation that specializes in devouring and trampling. Or you may be very aware of the national and international devouring and trampling that is going on through nuclear proliferation, western consumption, racial hatred, greed and selfish ambition. The good news is that God is against these things too, and although they may seem unconquerable, the angelic being says in verse 18: “But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it for ever – yes for ever and ever.”
