Augustine’s Vision: Transforming Society Through Faith

In The City of God, Augustine characterized the City of Man as loud, a quality that reflected its earthly passions and fleeting nature. Its walls were made more of ambition, pride, and ceaseless clamor even more than of stone and mortar. Its streets echoed with the tramp of victorious legions and the roar of the arena crowds. People built colossal monuments, wrote grand histories of their conquests, and told themselves they were great. They sought peace, but it was a fragile peace, purchased with a sword and maintained by the constant flexing of power. He tellingly described that its “victories… either bring death or are themselves doomed to be short-lived.” But in the heart of this earthly city, a different kind of city existed, almost invisibly. Its walls were not of stone, but of faith; its streets, not of paving stones, but of prayer. This was the City of God, and its citizens were mere sojourners in this noisy, transient world. He famously draws out the contrast, “Two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self.”

In this article, we will discuss how The City of God helps the church understand its role in world history within God’s Story of Grace. Through this writing, a larger framework for forming the image of the Trinity in the world is provided: a society that reflects a larger community of mutual and self-giving love. Written by Augustine in response to the declining Roman Empire, this work became a guide for believers in the rebuilding of civilization. It explains the difference between the City of Man and the City of God, stressing the need to identify as citizens of heaven while getting involved in the world. Augustine’s ideas urge Christians to stay strong in their faith and focus on justice, compassion, and mercy, ultimately changing society through the love and grace shown by Jesus Christ.

The Two Cities Lived Out

Two Lives: Lucius and Marcus

To better understand The City of God, imagine one citizen of the City of God was a weaver named Marcus. His hands, calloused and nimble, wove tapestries in a workshop that hummed with the daily gossip of the earthly city. Marcus heard the rumors of war, the scandals of the powerful, and the anxious chatter of his neighbors. He listened but did not despair. He knew that the earthly city, with all its glory, was built on a foundation of shifting sand. Its triumphs were fleeting, its peace a temporary truce. His neighbor, a merchant named Lucius, lived for the buzz of the marketplace. He loved the glint of gold, the rustle of contracts, and the thrill of a successful deal. Lucius saw Marcus and his kind as naive fools, waiting for a savior who never came while ignoring the tangible, earthly rewards that were right before them. Yet, despite his successes, a gnawing restlessness plagued Lucius. His wealth brought him security, but it could not buy him rest. His possessions were vast, but he lived in fear of losing them. His victories felt hollow; there was always a bigger deal, a higher rung to climb.

The difference was in their loves. Lucius’s love was a well of self-glorification, a desire to fill an empty space within himself with the perishable goods of the world. It was a love that ultimately led to conflict, as it inevitably pitted his desires against his neighbors. Marcus’s love, by contrast, flowed outward, drawn toward God. This love gave him a peace that Lucius could not comprehend. Marcus worked diligently in the earthly city and sought its temporary peace, not for its own sake, but because it allowed him to live alongside his fellow humans and serve the greater, divine purpose of his eternal city.

When the barbarians finally came, they did not distinguish between the monumental arches and the quiet workshops. The City of Man, for all its pride, crumbled. Lucius’s empire of wealth disappeared in the smoke of the burning porticoes, and his love for self was finally revealed for the hollow, transient thing it had always been. But Marcus found refuge in a church, where the barbarians, surprisingly, did not bring the sword. He saw that the fall of Rome was not the end of the world, but merely the downfall of one earthly city among many. The two cities, interwoven in this mortal world, began to separate in that moment of crisis. Lucius, stripped of all that he had loved, faced a terrifying emptiness. Marcus, though he had lost his home, did not lose his true city. He knew that the end of time would bring the final cosmic separation, when the city of self would face eternal punishment and the city of God would finally rest in an unshakeable, eternal peace.

Two Perspectives: City of God and City of Man

The Romans, as reflected in the attitude of Lucius, had always seen their city as eternal, the pinnacle of human achievement and divine favor. When the Visigoths sacked Rome in 410 AD, it wasn’t just a military defeat; it was a crisis of faith and identity. Augustine provided the philosophical and theological tools to manage this profound grief and, ultimately, to rebuild. He argued that the earthly city, with all its glory and political structures, was inherently transient and flawed. Its collapse was not the end of the world but a predictable outcome of its focus on temporal glory and power.

According to Augustine, the City of God influences the City of Man not by ruling it, but by being a pilgrim community within it. The City of God’s influence comes through its citizens, who, founded on the love of God, live with humility and righteousness, contrasting with the self-love and temporal desires of the earthly city. This influence is a form of spiritual guidance that aims to shape individual behavior and the collective conscience toward eternal rather than material ends. Augustine states as follows:

And the heavenly city—or, rather, that part of it which is on pilgrimage in this mortal existence and which lives by faith—must of necessity make use of this peace as well, at least until this mortal existence, for which such peace is necessary, passes away. Consequently, for as long as it leads its pilgrim life as a captive, so to speak, in the earthly city, even though it has already received the promise of redemption and the gift of the Spirit as a pledge of that redemption, it does not hesitate to obey the laws of the earthly city, by which the things needed for sustaining this mortal life are administered. For, since this mortal existence is common to both cities, its obedience serves to maintain a concord between the two with regard to the things that pertain to our mortal life.

In living out this pilgrim journey, the influence of the City of God expands and brings transformation to the City of Man. This accelerates the influence of forming the trinitarian image on a world more representative of mutual and self-giving love in God’s Story of Grace.

The Sojourner’s Impact

Let’s end this article by looking at three impacts.

Impact # 1: A countercultural alternative to Rome: The City of God functions as a “pilgrim” (alien sojourner)¹ in the City of Man, representing a life above and beyond the limits of the Roman Empire. It is beyond in that it contrasts with the pride and self-centeredness of earthly politics. Augustine’s distinction between the temporary “City of Man” and the eternal “City of God” helped Christians understand Rome’s fall and their role in the world. Without this, they might have faced a crisis of faith, viewing the Empire’s collapse as a failure of Christianity instead of a realization of its core teachings.² Augustine was able to write with a determined but calm serenity, showing a new way to be in and with community.³

Impact # 2: A model of co-existence with the City of Man: The church would learn its spiritual authority while living within the state, engaging in various dialogues that would foster mutual understanding and respect, enabling both the church and the civil realms to coexist. Western civilization would see a way forward to make continuous progress toward the City of God, fostering a deeper understanding of our shared values and ethics while promoting a culture of wisdom, compassion, and inclusivity that transcends barriers and unites diverse communities in pursuit of a common good. It presented Christianity as a coherent alternative to paganism and a new, vital essence that absorbed and recontextualized elements from existing cultures, helping to build a new intellectual and moral framework for a post-Roman world.

Impact # 3: A new vision of history: The classical world viewed history as a cyclical repetition of events, emphasizing the predictable nature of human affairs. The City of God introduced a linear, progressive, and God-centered view of history, from Creation to the Last Judgment. This significant shift in perspective meant that each event in history could be seen as part of a divine plan leading toward a purposeful conclusion. Without this work, classical cyclical narratives might have held more sway, and the worldview which saw history as a divinely guided, purposeful narrative might have developed differently, if at all.⁴ Augustine’s The City of God fundamentally shifted Western civilization by reframing history as a linear, God-led progression from Creation to Judgment, rather than a cyclical one.

Conclusion

By positioning the City of God as an eternal, spiritual community existing alongside the earthly City of Man, he provided a new, God-centered worldview that offered hope and a profound new interpretation of worldly events, particularly the fall of Rome.⁵ This innovative perspective not only emphasized the transitory nature of earthly power and success but also framed the challenges and struggles faced by humanity within a divine context, suggesting that these trials were part of a greater plan. This work was vital in God’s Story of Grace.

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Augustine used the Latin terms peregrinus (pilgrim, wanderer, resident foreigner) and peregrinatio (pilgrimage, sojourning) extensively in his major work City of God to characterize the temporary, transient status of Christians on earth. A key expression of this is found in Book 18.1 of City of God, where he states: I also promised that I would then go on to write about the origin, the course, and the destined ends of the two cities, one of which is the city of God and the other the city of this world, in which the city of God dwells so far as its human element is concerned, but only as a pilgrim.
Augustine speaks of the internal conflicts and self-contradictions which arise in the City of Man: “…the earthly city is often divided against itself by lawsuits, wars and conflicts, and by seeking. For, if any part of it rises up in war against another part, it seeks to be the victor over nations when it is itself the prisoner of its vices; and if, when it triumphs, it is puffed up with pride, its victory brings death. (Book 19, Chapter 12)
This is in contrast to Jerome who declared: “when the bright light of all the world was put out, or, rather, when the Roman Empire was decapitated . . . the whole world perished in one city. Who would believe that Rome, built up by the conquest of the whole world, had collapsed, that the mother of all nations became their tomb?”
Augustine’s new linear view of history is primarily developed in the second major section of The City of God, which spans Books XI through XXII. Within this larger section, the historical progression of the two cities (the Earthly City and the City of God) is specifically detailed in Books XV through XVIII. Key aspects of this linear view are demonstrated in the following areas: Book XV: Augustine begins tracing the history of the two cities from the time of Cain and Abel to the Flood, establishing the two distinct “lines” of humanity based on their love for self versus love for God. Book XVIII: This book specifically covers the parallel history of the earthly and heavenly cities from the time of Abraham up to the end of the world, contrasting the temporary rise and fall of empires (like Rome) with the continuous, purposeful progression of the City of God. The Six Ages of History: Augustine re-applies a framework of six historical ages, from Adam to the second coming of Christ, which he details in Book 23 (though most sources refer to this material being in the latter books like Book XVIII or XXII, as Book 23 doesn’t exist) to show history moving in a single, purposeful direction from Creation to the Final Judgment.
The Parable of the Wheat and Tares loomed large in Augustine’s thinking as he work through the coexistence of both cities: ²⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. ²⁶When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.²⁷“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’²⁸“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied. “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’²⁹“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30)

Ambrose’s Struggle: Balancing Submission and Resistance to Government

**depiction of Ambrose and Constantine**

In 390 A.D., when Emperor Theodosius ordered the massacre of approximately 7,000 citizens in the city of Thessalonica, this set off a clash with Bishop Ambrose of Milan. This confrontation offers a profound challenge to a superficial reading of Romans 13:1–7, where Paul famously commands submission to governing authorities. Ambrose’s resolute defiance of the emperor illustrates a critical theological distinction: that the state’s authority, though divinely instituted, is not absolute and is subordinate to God’s moral law. The conflict over the massacre at Thessalonica forged a powerful precedent in the history of church and state, demonstrating that Christians have a duty to resist and rebuke state power when it oversteps its moral and spiritual bounds.

In this article, we will address where those categories overlap. In God’s Story of Grace, the church has now come to a new place of authority and prominence to further reshape the world in the trinitarian image: increased unity and diversity. In this article, we will understand the influence of the church in relation to the state.

The Biblical Basis for State Authority

Paul wrote to the early church living in the very center of authority in the Roman Empire. This provides one of the most significant biblical passages on the Christian relationship to the state. Here is how Paul addresses this topic:

¹Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. ²Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. ³For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. ⁴For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. ⁵Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.⁶This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.

Let’s look at a basic breakdown of this passage:

Principle # 1: The state has a divine origin.

“Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established” (Romans 13:1).

Paul grounds the state’s legitimacy in God’s providence, meaning that the institution of government is part of God’s plan for order in the world.

Principle # 2: The state bears authority as a servant of God.

“For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong… For he is God’s servant to do you good” (Romans 13:3–5).

The state’s purpose is to maintain civil order, restrain evil through punishment, and create an environment where the righteous can flourish. In this way, they are servants of God.

Principle # 3: The state is to be submitted to and honored as God’s servants.

Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. (Romans 13:5).

Paul asks Christians to obey the state not merely out of fear of retribution but out of a deeper moral commitment to God, who established the state. This includes fulfilling civic duties like paying taxes.

⁶This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. ⁷Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:6–7)

These principles are solid for any age. But how this is applied to the church in the middle of the first century and the church at the end of the fourth century was considerably different. Before Constantine, the relationship between church and state was one of persecution, where Christianity was an illegal and often persecuted religion, with the state viewing it as a threat. After Constantine, the relationship transformed from persecution to tolerance and eventual state support, with the emperor becoming a key patron of the church, which gained political influence and began to intertwine with the state, a process that eventually led to Christianity becoming the official state religion.

Before and After Constantine

Before Constantine

Persecution: Christians were a persecuted minority, and the Roman state viewed Christianity as a threat to its traditional pagan order.
Illegal status: Christianity was an illegal religion for much of this period.
Lack of state support: The church did not receive state funding or special privileges and had to operate independently.

After Constantine

State patronage: Constantine ended the persecution of Christians and, through the Edict of Milan in 313 CE, granted Christianity legal toleration.
Increased power and influence: The church gained significant political power, temporal wealth, and influence it had never possessed before.
Official religion: The relationship evolved to the point where, within a century, Christianity became the official religion of the empire.
Instrument of unification: Emperors increasingly relied on the church as a tool to help unify the empire, especially as its unity and authority began to crumble.

The Clash Over the Thessalonica Massacre

When Bishop Ambrose learned of the atrocity at Thessalonica, he was appalled by the emperor’s indiscriminate slaughter. This act moved beyond the state’s God-given role as a minister of justice and became a horrific miscarriage of it. Ambrose did not respond with political rebellion or armed force. Instead, he employed the most powerful spiritual weapon of his office: excommunication.

He wrote a letter of rebuke and correction to the emperor. Theodosius ignored Ambrose’s letter and showed up at the church doors. The historian Sozomen described this encounter:

When he drew near the gates of the edifice, he was met by Ambrose, the bishop of the city, who took hold of him by his purple robe, and said to him, in the presence of the multitude, ‘Stand back! A man defiled by sin, and with hands imbrued in blood unjustly shed, is not worthy, without repentance, to enter within these sacred precincts, or partake of the holy mysteries.’ The emperor, struck with admiration at the boldness of the bishop, began to reflect on his own conduct, and, with much contrition, retraced his steps. It appears that it was for these and other acts of cruelty that Ambrose rebuked the emperor, forbade him to enter the church, and excommunicated him.

Theodosius, recognizing the gravity of his sin and the spiritual authority of the bishop, eventually submitted. The historian Sozomen, again, explains his response:

Theodosius publicly confessed his sin in the church, and during the time set apart for penance, refrained from wearing his imperial ornaments, according to the usage of mourners. He also enacted a law prohibiting the officers entrusted with the execution of the imperial mandates, from inflicting the punishment of death till thirty days after the mandate had been issued, in order that the wrath of the emperor might have time to be appeased, and that room might be made for the exercise of mercy and repentance.

As a result, he enacted a law requiring a 30-day waiting period between a death sentence and its execution to prevent future impulsive acts of violence.

Before Constantine, the church and state were in conflict, with Christianity being illegal and regularly persecuted, as the state saw it as a threat. After Constantine, this changed to tolerance and support, with the emperor becoming an important supporter of the church, which gained political power and began to connect with the state, ultimately leading to Christianity being declared the official state religion.

Reconciling Submission and Resistance

Ambrose’s actions were not a rejection of Romans 13 but a consistent honoring of it. It is important to keep in mind that Ambrose did in no way seek to overthrow the emperor but rather to hold him accountable to the higher moral authority of God. The conflict reveals several critical principles for reconciling submission and resistance:

Principle # 1: The state has a divine origin. Ambrose understood that the state has its ultimate authority to God and answers to God. As such, that authority is accountable to God who is its source and even judge.

Principle # 2: The state has authority as a servant of God. While the state has legitimate authority over the civil order as a servant of God; the church has prophetic authority to call out the state when it steps beyond its service.

Principle # 3: The state, as servants of God, is to be submitted to and honored. The key here is that the state is to be obeyed “as God’s servants.” The massacre at Thessalonica was an act of gross injustice. He has every justification as a leader of the church, who had the emperor’s ear, to confront this. Ambrose’s resistance was spiritual. He did not raise an army but instead used the moral and spiritual power of the church.

Conclusion

In essence, Ambrose’s resistance was not a rebellion against authority but a protest against the abuse of authority. His actions illustrate that the Christian duty of submission outlined in Romans 13 is not a passive acceptance of all state actions but a call to active, conscience-based engagement. When the state acts outside its divine mandate to uphold justice and order, a Christian, and particularly a church leader, when properly positioned, has the duty to challenge and rebuke it for the sake of a higher purposes of God’s Story of Grace, at work in the world.

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:

In God’s Story Jesus is Creator and Redeemer of all creation.
In God’s Story everything is being renewed into the likeness of the Trinity.
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.

³Four 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:

⁹As 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.
¹⁰A 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.
¹⁰A 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. ¹⁴He 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:

He is given authority, glory and sovereign power which is a divine status which cannot be given to any created being.
All nations and peoples of every language worshiped him which is another divine status which cannot be given to any created being.
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.

¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and 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 God⁴through 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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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.
How long one sees this period depends on the length that they see the Roman Empire being extended.
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.
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)