Based on Daniel Zine Chapter 7: Four Beasts
Juliette Alvey
Dear Grown-ups,
Do you ever feel overwhelmed by life? Especially by what the future holds? Daniel knows how you feel…
In the seventh chapter of his book, Daniel finally receives a vision from God, and it is a doozy! It leaves him “deeply troubled” and his face is “pale” because he sees the terrible future the kingdoms on earth will face. In the same vision, God reveals the ultimate future—the kingdom of the Most High, which will outlast every other kingdom. Even though his vision is hopeful and ends with good news, it is still an overwhelming shock for Daniel.
The four beasts in the dream are scary, especially the last one, with its large iron teeth, that crushes and devours its victims (Dan 7:7). Though we live in a world where frightening things happen, why does evil still take us by surprise? Even something as simple as your child snatching a toy out of someone’s hand can feel shocking.… We know our children aren’t perfect, but we still feel troubled by sin when it rears its head.
But here’s the thing: God did not design us for the reality of evil. When he created the world, he created man and woman in his own image (Gen 1:27), and he called them good (Gen 1:31). There is something ingrained in our DNA that longs for good because our Creator is good. We long to be back in Eden before the fall, walking with God in the garden. We long to be in the new creation where there is no pain and no tears. But how can we have this longing, this nostalgia almost, for something we have never experienced? We never lived in the garden with Adam and Eve, and we have certainly never lived in a new, perfect creation. It sounds impossible, but God has put this truth in our hearts.
The amazing news is that this mysterious goodness that we long for is coming, and Daniel’s vision confirms that. Daniel describes “a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven,” whose kingdom “will never be destroyed” (Dan 7:13-14). When Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man,” he is not just choosing this description arbitrarily. He grew up reading Daniel and the Hebrew scriptures… he knows exactly what he is claiming by giving himself that title. Jesus came to earth as a “son of man” to bring people into his Father’s everlasting kingdom, and he will come again.
Currently we are in a “now and not yet” stage. Jesus has victory over sin and death. But we have been left in this imperfect world until God’s perfect timing. Jesus ascended into the clouds and sits at the right hand of the Father, and one day he will return on those clouds in glory to redeem creation, fulfilling our deepest longings. Until then, overwhelmed, we pray, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.”
