Fire From the Throne, Light In the World (Excursus on Daniel 7)

This is a second article providing an excursus (a more focused discussion) on the purpose and scope of the Story of Grace project. As stated in the first article on What the Story Of Grace Is All About (Excursus on Colossians 1:15-17):

It is the understanding of how God’s decisive acts of creation and redemption are unfolding through the entire scope of history reclaiming and transforming everything to participate in the likeness of the Trinity.

In this referenced article above, three guiding truths are elaborated from Colossians 1:15-17:

1. In God’s Story Jesus is Creator and Redeemer of all creation.
2. In God’s Story everything is being renewed into the likeness of the Trinity.
3. In God’s Story redemption and renewal is universal in scope.

In this second excursus, we will examine these very same three claims through another scriptural lens: Daniel 7. Daniel 7 is notable in that it is either quoted or alluded to a total of 58 times in the New Testament.¹ These fours beasts (which we will soon see) represent four empires which cover about 1,000 years of history.²  Why are each of these nations called beasts? It possibly highlights their predatory and beast like behavior apart from the power of God. Because the taming power within these empires which limits their destructive deadliness is the restraining and overruling grace of God as seen in vs.9-10 and vs.13-14. Through this passage, we will see another picture of God’s Story of Grace unfolding with a central revelation God gives in the midst of history’s sweep.

Premise # 1: In God’s Story Jesus is Creator and Redeemer of all creation.

Daniel, writing in his mid 60’s (553 B.C.), begins the record of his dream:

In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying in bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. (Daniel 7:1)

It is significant that Daniel receives this dream at this time because Belshazzar would be the last king of Babylon before Cyrus of Persia would overtake them. Daniel was recording this revelation at the beginning of Belshazzar’s reign.

Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.” (Daniel 7:2)

The four winds of heaven churning up the great sea represents the chaos of the world in which the four beasts (vs.3-8) are about to emerge. This is the beast like and predatory world which has fallen away from the order of God’s creative purposes. The world is not naturally good. As Thomas Hobbes wrote in Leviathan about man in a state of nature is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” Daniel’s dream provides a picture of this brutish nature apart from the grace of God.

He goes on the describe these four beasts which covers a period of around 1,000 years.

³ Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.⁴ “The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a human being, and the mind of a human was given to it.⁵ “And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’⁶ “After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. ⁷ “After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. (Daniel 7:3-7)

These four beast can be outlined as follows:

Lion…Babylon. (v.4)  605 – 539 BC

Bear…Persia.  (v.5) 539 – 333 BC

Leopard…Greece. (v.6) 333 – 146 BC

Ten Horn Beast…Rome. (v.7) 146 BC – 476 AD

Verse 8 goes on to elaborate in regard to the fourth beast (Rome)

“While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully. (Daniel 7:8)

Some see this verse as catapulting Daniel way into the future with a picture of the anti-Christ in a revived Roman Empire before Christ returns to earth. (see Revelation 13:1-4) Others see this as representing a historical figure coming out of the Roman Empire. Whatever the interpretation may be, what stands out in the sharpest contrast is what is revealed next in vs.9-10:

⁹ As I looked,

thrones were set in place,
    and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
    the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
    and its wheels were all ablaze.
¹⁰ A river of fire was flowing,
    coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
    ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
    and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10)

This is a revelation of God calmly coming to take his place as ruler and judge. As Ancient of Days:

• Nothing gets by him.
• Nothing surprises him.
• He never learns anything.
• He never misunderstands anything.
• He is never caught off guard.
• There’s never been a time he wasn’t fully in charge.

He is in no way shaken by these beasts.

What unfolds over the next five verses is a revelation of the Trinity. Daniel says that there were thrones (plural) set in place. There is more than one ruler and judge, one who sits along side the Ancient of Days. From the context of this verse the only other ruler and judge can be the Son of Man (Jesus the Messiah) as seen in vs.13-14, which we will view shortly.

The Father

The title Ancient of Days is a highly revered reference to God the Father.

The Holy Spirit

⁹His throne was flaming with fire,
    and its wheels were all ablaze.
¹⁰ A river of fire was flowing,
    coming out from before him.

What is described with the picture of the throne with wheels ablaze is the moving omnipresence (everywhere presence) of God which extends his reach through a flowing river of fire that is coming out from before him. This fire flowing from the throne of God appears to be a symbolic picture of the Holy Spirit present on the earth carrying out the rule of the Father. The scriptures often equate the Holy Spirit with the presence of fire.³ It is this fire (the Holy Spirit) which will be poured out upon the earth at Pentecost in an intensified way.

The Son

In the midst of all the beastly activity, there is a rule which is taking place which overrides all other activity on the earth. Daniel’s vision highlights the ascension and the return of Jesus Christ.

¹³ “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

The designation Son of Man is, of course, a revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the most common title that Jesus uses for himself in the gospels–a total of 88 times. He references himself more often as the Son of Man that he does the Son of God. Having its origins in the verses above, this is the highest and most exalted visualization of the messiah in the Old Testament. There are three distinctives which stand out about the Son of Man in the verses above:

1. He is given authority, glory and sovereign power which is a divine status which cannot be given to any created being.
2. All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him which is another divine status which cannot be given to any created being.
3. He will have an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. This is another divine status which cannot be given to a human being.

When does this reign occur? It appears to occur after the victorious resurrection from death and is pronounced by Jesus in the preface to the Great Commission:

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matthew 28:18)

In Daniel 7:13-14 appears to be the ascension where this reign is carried out through the mission of the church. This authority was given because Jesus accomplished the finished work of redemption on the cross for all that he created. Then he went on to express how and for what reason his authority will be exercised as seen in the next premise.

Premise # 2: In God’s Story everything is being renewed into the likeness of the Trinity.

As Jesus gives the Great Commission as the Creator and Redeemer of everything, all of the world eventually is to be immersed in the trinitarian reality of God. On the way to that eventuality, the followers of Jesus are to baptize (immerse) those who are a part of the church into the name (reality) of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

Those baptized are the firstfruits of the Spirit (Rom. 8:23), being immersed into the larger reality of God’s work of fashioning all of creation into his image into the mutual and life-giving unity of the trinity causing increased shalom and flourishing in the world.

Premise # 3: In God’s Story redemption and renewal is universal in scope.

So, as the Story of Grace continues, it will now address how the gospel advances the image of the mutual and self-giving unity of the trinity throughout the world. This can be seen in three theological truths:

Truth # 1: The grace of God is working within history. There is obviously in the text of Daniel 7 a sharp contrast between the picture of the beasts (vs.3-8) and the Ancient of Days (vs.9-10) and the Son of Man (vs.13-14). This contrast is meant to show that without the grace of God⁴ through the Holy Spirit flowing within the world, the only experience we would have would be a predatory and warlike existence. Because of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit the beasts of the four kingdoms are restrained in their evil and the work and reign of God is still unfolding in history.

Truth # 2: The grace of God working within history laid the foundations for civilization.

• Beast # 1: From Babylon (v.4) the world received a foundational understanding of law in the Code of Hammurabi, and the practice of the seven day week, which came through their magi who were star gazers.
• Beast # 2: Through Persia (v.5) was born the experience of universal human rights through Cyrus.
• Beast # 3: From Greece (v.6) the world is gifted with the idea and practice of democracy, the art of theater, the theological conception of logos, and the discipline of philosophy. Through the work of Aristotle came the foundational understandings of logic, biology, and ethics. From Aristotle’s student Alexander the Great comes the most important intellectual event ever, the Library of Alexandria. This established that the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge is to be a universal aspiration.
• Beast # 4: Out of Rome (v.7) was the development of a greater application of law with the Twelve Tables which brought greater ordered equality of rights between the elite rules (patricians) and the common workers (plebeians). This desire for order equality based in law would provide for us the ideas of a senate, a republic, checks and balances, e pluribus unum (out of the many, one).

Truth # 3: After the death and resurrection of Jesus, the scope of God’s Story of Grace transforming the world intensifies. The changing of the world into the mutual and self-giving presence of the Trinity will happen at a greater scale because of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the missional movement of the church. The fire that we see flowing from the throne of the Ancient of Days is poured out onto the earth in a greatly intensified way through the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. (Acts 2:1-4)

It is now to the post-ascension outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the Story of Grace will proceed.

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1. This is perhaps the most referenced and alluded to Old Testament chapter in the New Testament thus showing its centrality to understanding the revelation of God.
2. How long one sees this period depends on the length that they see the Roman Empire being extended.
3. John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. (Luke 3:16) When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1–4) Out of the throne proceed lightnings, sounds, and thunders. There were seven lamps of fire burning before his throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 4:5) The Holy Spirit is as personal as the Father and the Son, yet within the Trinity he is most pleased to be described in less personal and more analogous ways like fire.
4. This grace can be referred to in the category common grace. Common grace encompasses God’s provision of daily blessings, the restraint of sin’s effects, and the delay of judgment, all experienced by both believers and non-believers. To draw to clear a distinction between common grace and saving grace (redemption and restoration offered to those who believe in Jesus Christ) is problematic because they are closely linked. Common grace can lead to saving grace, as Paul states, Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)