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The Coming of the Son of Man, pt iii Apr 20th 2008

To continue exploring the eschatology in [The Coming of the Son of Man][1], I’ll next look at the narrative in Daniel. Specifically, I’ll be looking at the second portion of Daniel which is a description of three visions.

The first vision comes from Daniel 7. In it, four beasts are described as ascending from the sea.

> “I was watching in my vision during the night as6 the four winds of the sky were stirring up the great sea. 3 Then four large beasts came up from the sea; they were different from one another. 4 “The first one was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off and it was lifted up from the ground. It was made to stand on two feet like a human being and a human mind was given to it. 5 Then a second beast appeared, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and there were three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and devour much flesh!’ 6 After these things, as I was watching, another beast like a leopard appeared, with four bird-like wings on its back. This beast had four heads, and ruling authority was given to it. 7 After these things, as I was watching in the night visions a fourth beast appeared—one dreadful, terrible, and very strong. It had two large rows of iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and anything that was left it trampled with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that came before it, and it had ten horns. 8 “As I was contemplating the horns, another horn—a small one—came up between them, and three of the former horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This horn had eyes resembling human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant things.

>Dan 7:2-8

The remainder of the chapter goes into further detail about the four beasts and what they mean and a *holy one* goes on to explicitly lay it out before Daniel: the four beasts are four kings/kingdoms and the *holy ones of the Most High* receive and take possession of the kingdom from them. The fourth beast proves to be the most interesting because of the horns and Daniel asks particularly about it. He’s told that the this kingdom will be different, that it will devour the earth. The ten horns represent ten kings and the final horn will be another king, more dreadful than the others, who will speak specifically against the Most High and His holy ones. But final judgement is in favor of the oppressed and the fourth beast is destroyed and the holy ones of the Most High receive the kingdom.

The second vision of Daniel depicts a goat defeating a ram. And again a horn on its head gets arrogant, destroying the saints and bringing about the desolation of the temple:

>3 I looked up and saw a ram with two horns standing at the canal. Its two horns were both long, but one was longer than the other. The longer one was coming up after the shorter one. 4 I saw that the ram was butting westward, northward, and southward. No animal was able to stand before it, and there was none who could deliver from its power. It did as it wished and acted arrogantly. 5  While I was contemplating all this, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of all the land without touching the ground. This goat had a conspicuous horn between its eyes. 6 It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength. 7 I saw it approaching the ram. It went into a fit of rage against the ram and struck it and broke off its two horns. The ram had no ability to resist it. The goat hurled the ram to the ground and trampled it. No one could deliver the ram from its power. 8 The male goat acted even more arrogantly. But no sooner had the large horn become strong than it was broken, and there arose four conspicuous horns in its place, extending toward the four winds of the sky. 9 From one of them came a small horn. But it grew to be very big, toward the south and the east and the land of beauty. 10 It grew so big it reached the army of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars to the ground, where it trampled them. 11 It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, from whom the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary was thrown down. 12 The army was given over, along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion. It hurled truth to the ground and enjoyed success.

>Daniel 8:3-12

Common interpretation places the ram as the kings of Media and Persia. The Goat is Greece (with the small, arrogant horn being Antiochius IV Epiphanes who persecuted the Jews and their culture mercilessly). Of interesting note between this vision and the next is that the period of 70 years in Jeremiah (Jer 25:11) is extended to 490 (in Daniel 10).

In the third vision of Daniel (starting in chapter 10), an angel appears revealing the book of Truth. He then goes into detail, covering the historical events surrounding the previous two visions and ending with the tail of the arrogant little horn (Antiochus IV Epiphanes) who sets his heart against God’s covenant, blaspheming God and setting up the abomination of desolation (an alter to Zeus in the temple). The angel also describes the invasion where many die, where some are seduced by the Greeks, and where some of the faithful are persecuted yet able still to lead others to righteousness.

I’d encourage reading the whole chapters, 7 through 12, as this is merely a quick summation to be referred to as needed as I proceed through this series exploring eschatology. It has been a good refresher for me reading through again, particularly with historical names, places and event to put onto abstract visions and ideas.

[1]:http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Son-Man-Testament-Eschatology/dp/1842272993/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208547682&sr=8-1

tags: book, Daniel, eschatology

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