This week, we focus on the Book of the Prophet Daniel for our scripture reading. We have been reading passages in Daniel the past 3 weeks. Daniel and his friends were exiles to Babylon from the land of Judah. The people of Judah were captured by the Babylonian army after Jerusalem was seized and destroyed. The people were forced to relocate to Babylon....a contemporary equivalent is the Russian army capturing Ukranian children and citizens and forcing them to move to Siberia and work in mines there. The exiles from Judah were not happy about their circumstances. They wanted to return to the land of Judah and return to their former lives there.
The Babylonian leaders gathered young men from among the exiles and required them to work for the Babylonian government. The kings of Babylon felt they could turn the captives into upright Babylonian citizens by indoctrinating them to their ways – they wanted to erase the Jews cultural identity and mold them into Babylonians.
But the captives did not forget who they were. They continued to worship God. They continued to remember their history. They continued to remember their identity – they were Judeans, not Babylonians. Maybe they were stuck living in Babylon, but they refused to deny their identity. And they held on to hope they would return to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem.
Daniel rose through the ranks in the court of Babylon. The country of Babylon was not stable. The Judeans were taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar was deposed by Belshazzar. Belshazzar was then deposed by Darius. Darius was deposed by Cyrus. Despite turmoil and change among the rulers of Babylon, Daniel continued to serve the kings and was an efficient and effective “public worker.” Early in his career, he was noticed because he correctly interpreted one of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams. Under the rule of King Darius, Daniel was targeted by jealous co-workers and thrown into a lion’s den for not worshipping the king. He survived because he was protected by God.
The first 6 chapters of the book of Daniel describe the adventures of Daniel and his friends Shadrach, Meshack, and Abendego as worked to be faithful to God while serving in the Court of the government that held them in captivity against their will.
The first part of the Book of Daniel highlights the trials Daniel and his friends face as they work to retain their Jewish identity and worship God as captives in a strange land. The second portion of the book records Daniel’s visions and prophetic proclamations. Over the next few weeks, we will study a couple of Daniel’s prophesies. Daniel’s prophesies concerned the future of the land of Babylon and the eventual return of the Judeans to their ancestral homeland.
Listen now as we read the first of Daniel’s prophesies in the book of Daniel, chapter 7, verses 1 thorough 18:
Scripture Daniel 7:1-18
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 said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea.
Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.
“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.
“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!’
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.
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.
“Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)
“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.
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.
“I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me.
I approached one of those standing there and asked him the meaning of all this.
“So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things:
‘The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth.
But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen
Sermon Four Beasts
When I was a teenager, I had a friend who was very intrigued by dream interpretation. She would fall asleep each night with a notebook and a pen next to her pillow so the moment she woke up she could record her dreams. She had these huge dream Bible books.... they were like dictionaries and containing lists of possible meanings for different symbols found in her dreams. If you dream of a cup, it could mean X. If you dream of a river, it could mean Y. My friend was convinced she could learn everything about her life and predict her future if she could fully unlock the meaning of her dreams.
In today’s scripture reading, we read about one of Daniel’s dreams. Daniel was a prophet, and he is recognized as having dreams that communicated prophetic messages from God. In the Bible, many of our ancestors in the faith had significant dreams. We believe God was communicating with them through their subconscious mind.... Jacob dreamed of a ladder to heaven and hearing the voice of God saying he was the inheritor of the Covenant God made with Abraham. Joseph was released from prison and put on a path to governmental leadership because he was able to correctly interpret Pharoh's dreams. Peter had a dream or vision in which God told him that we no longer must eat following Jewish Kosher rules... In the Bible, dreams were used to send messages from God and to foretell the future. There are some Christians who also believe God communicates to them through their dreams.
Daniel’s dream sounds weird to us – but that is often the case when people regale us with tales of their dreams. Daniel dreamed about 4 beasts – one with a lion’s body and eagle’s wings; one that looked like a bear; one that looked like a winged leopard; and one that had ten horns and large iron teeth. Again, sounds weird. Over the centuries, scholars have studied the images in the dream and have concluded they represent different governments that conquered both Babylon and the Mediterranean world. Daniel lived during a time of major upheavals – he was a resident of Judah who was exiled to Babylon. During his lifetime, Babylon was conquered at least 3 times by neighboring governments. It is unsurprising that his dreams would be filled with visions representing conquering superpowers.
The end of the dream is the most important part of the prophesy. The dream concluded with the good news that God will take change. The Son of Man would come to earth...Daniel says:
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.
So, despite the scary kingdoms or governments that would rule the earth, the end result is that God will send God’s messiah, the son of man – Jesus the Christ.
Daniel didn’t know Jesus was coming to fulfill the prophesy. We have the blessing of living after the fact – Jesus came to earth for us and to set the world aright. Jesus came to teach us that love is God’s priority and should be our priority. We should love God and should love other people as much as we love ourselves. Jesus came to teach us that God forgives us when we make mistakes. That we should forgive our enemies and the people who wrong us. We should treat each other with care and compassion and should avoid judging one another. When Jesus came to earth, he talked a lot about the “kingdom of God.” God’s kingdom came to earth with Jesus and is still in the process of being more and more present on earth.
Daniel lived in a strange and scary time. Despite the turmoil in his land, he believed God would repair the world and repair the lives of believers.
We also sometimes feel like we live in strange and scary times. One the expressions we hear is the faux Chinese curse “May you live in interesting times.” We would rather have boring and stable times. Many of us long for a time when we live in peace with our neighbors, our neighbors throughout the world. We crave long and healthy lives, when we are surrounded by loved ones who are also healthy and happy. We want everything to work well – our cars, our appliances, our government. We crave stability and calm.
The message of Daniel’s prophesy is that God will come to set everything right in the world. Jesus was a start – Jesus came to open our hearts and minds to God and God’s teachings. And, as we embrace God’s teachings, and live our faith, we will incrementally make this world more and more the way God wants it to be.
We must be patient.... Daniel’s fellow exiles lived in Babylon for 70 years – three generations. But, then they were free to return to Judah. We must patiently wait on the Lord. And, we know, God will be with us to give us strength, guidance, fortitude and love. Amen.
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