“‘Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him,’” (7:27).
Visions. Beasts. Horns. A time, times, and half a time. An overall sense of warfare, confrontation and bloodshed. The language of end times prophecy; and much of it sounds similar to the book of Revelation; and much of it repeats the prediction of four great world powers revealed to Nebuchadnezzar in his dream of the great statue.
The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, 33 its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay,” (Daniel 2:32-33).
This vision of Daniel, as well as what is conveyed in chapter 8, took place before the handwriting on the wall and the death of Belshazzar.
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it, (7:14).
Babylon was still in power, and again Daniel is shown visions of the coming powers in the four beasts, representing four kingdoms. Much has been fulfilled; but there is still that fourth beast with ten horns.
After this I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. 8 While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts, (7:7-8).
The NIV Study Bible explains the little horn as: “The antichrist, or a world power sharing in the characteristics of the antichrist.”
And that little horn will wreak havoc on the earth, and his intentions will be to alter God’s purposes, plans and promises as he goes after those who belong to the Highest One.
“Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. 24 As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time,'” (7:23-25).
But that little horn’s time is short, and he will be judged and brought to his destruction, never to have influence on the earth again..
“But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever,” (7:26).
But, for now, his power is indeed active, intent in waging war and to overpower the saints of the Highest One.
“I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them,” (7:21).
And this morning, while I am so grateful for His promises for our future, I had the sense that I needed to see Him today, right now, in the midst of our times that seem to be careening out of control.
Because the truth be told, deciphering the prophetic writings of end times can be not only confusing, but downright terrifying and distressing. After all, that seemed to be the impact on Daniel. And we too, like Daniel may desire to know the meaning of it all; but even after Daniel was informed of its meaning, he was still left in a state of alarm.
“At this point the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself,” (7:28).
And perhaps Daniel chose to keep the matter to himself because he was so troubled by it all; perhaps he knew he would never be able to find the right words to convey it all; perhaps he felt as though no one would believe him.
But what he didn’t keep to himself was the reality of this truth: He is the Highest One, and nothing happens outside His sovereign control.
The Lord of hosts has sworn saying, “Surely, just as I have intended so it has happened, and just as I have planned so it will stand,” (Isaiah 14:24).
Today, I invite you to join me in tucking away the alarming realities of the end times to consider His hope that will surely overshadow the horror, His comfort that will surpass the chaos, His peace that will overcome the problems, and His authority that will halt the anarchy.
For the end times are challenging to understand, and dreadful to contemplate. But may we never forget what, and more importantly, Who emerges out of the visions of the night. For the Son of Man will be presented before the Ancient of Days, to receive His eternal kingdom that all might serve Him, the Highest One.
“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed,” (7:13-14).
Consider Him, the Highest One
Four times Daniel refers to God as the Highest One, also translated as the Most High. But here’s the interesting thing about this Aramaic title, it is always used in relation to God’s people.
From Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance:
the Highest One: 5946. עֶלְיוֹן ʿelyôn: An Aramaic masculine adjective meaning Most High God. This term always appears in the plural of majesty, comparable to the Hebrew word ʾelōhiym (430). Furthermore, it always occurs in the construct with qaddiyš (6922), meaning the holy ones or saints of the Most High God, and in the context of Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the four beasts, where four kingdoms were represented (Dan. 7:18, 22, 25, 27),
And again I can’t help but see His heart for the nations in inspiring Daniel to record this vision in Aramaic. He is the Highest One; and yet He continues to invite all to come to Him that they too might become a saint of the Highest One and partake of the immeasurable blessings of belonging to Him by faith. And His blessings are for today.
His hope is for today. All those who belong to Him, the Highest One will receive and possess His kingdom forever.
“‘But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come,’” (7:18).
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, (Colossians 1:13).
His comfort is for today. The one who wages war with us will be brought to judgment under Him, the Highest One.
“‘I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them 22 until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom,’” (7:21-22).
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross, (Colossians 2:15 NIV).
His peace is for today. As diligent as the enemy may be in his attempts to alter God’s purposes, every plan and purpose of Him, the Highest One, will prevail in His perfect time.
“‘He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time,’” (7:25).
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, (Romans 16:20).
And His authority is for today. For every kingdom, every dominion, every sovereign ruler will serve and obey Him, the Highest One for all of eternity.
“‘Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him,’” (7:27).
“Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you,” (Luke 10:19).
How do we respond to Him, the Highest One?
We will never have all the answers for the future, but He has promised we have all the answers we need for today. But we must do like Daniel did and keep looking to His promises to find His hope, His comfort, His peace and His authority in His Truth.
“I kept looking
Until thrones were set up,
And the Ancient of Days took His seat;
His vesture was like white snow
And the hair of His head like pure wool.
His throne was ablaze with flames,
Its wheels were a burning fire.
10 “A river of fire was flowing
And coming out from before Him;
Thousands upon thousands were attending Him,
And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;
The court sat,
And the books were opened, (7:9-10).
“I kept looking in the night visions,
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
One like a Son of Man was coming,
And He came up to the Ancient of Days
And was presented before Him.
14 “And to Him was given dominion,
Glory and a kingdom,
That all the peoples, nations and men of every language
Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
Which will not pass away;
And His kingdom is one
Which will not be destroyed, (7:13-14).
We know the day is coming, when He will establish His kingdom, when His River of Life will flow, when we will stand in worship with myriads upon myriads of saints, when every struggle with the enemy will come to an eternal end as the books are opened. Until that day, let us live as the saints of Him, the Highest One, and keep looking up!
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth, (Colossians 3:1-2).