November 26, 2006 Daniel 7:13-14

“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 peoples, nations and men 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.

Throughout history visions have been dangerous, inspiring, and informative. They have led to the physical salvation of thousands to millions of people. (Joseph) They have stopped great massacres. (Constantine) They have been used to lie and deceive millions of people. (Mormonism and Islam) Just because visions and claims of visions have been abused and misused, doesn’t mean that they are always evil. God used visions at various times throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. Daniel went from interpreting visions to having visions of his own. It was not something that Daniel even enjoyed – as his own visions seemed to make him sick to his stomach. Yet through this vision, he was given a glimpse of the future – a glimpse of majesty – a glimpse of the King. What a fitting text then, for this Christ the King Sunday.

In some respects it’s hard for Americans to get excited about a Christ the King Sunday. Americans treat the closest thing we have to a king with crude jokes and disrespectful ridicule. All of this comes because deep down inside we don’t like the fact that anyone rules over us. Even spiritually, we live in a society of “religious” people who would rather think of their religion as a democracy instead of a theocracy – as if God could be outvoted by a popular majority. Little do we understand as Americans that our democratic religious outlook has led many former Christians back under the realm of the prince of this world – Satan.

In the middle of this democracy it is time to remember who the true King is. Like it or not, it is Christ. How does He fit the role of King? What is the King supposed to do? As dead and blind sinners, we would have no idea. All we could do is guess as to what this King is supposed to do. But in the midst of our dark world, the Holy Spirit has enlightened us to what this King is all about. Let Daniel’s vision give you insight into this. God reveals to Daniel and us how the King is made and what kind of power He actually has.

Daniel’s Vision of the King is Revealing

I. It reveals His origins

It’s rather interesting to see how different people have come to power when you look through the pages of history. Saul was anointed as king while looking for some animals that had wandered from home. Without any sort of politicking, he was suddenly called “king.” Herod the Edomite, on the other hand, murdered and connived his way into being called the “king of the Jews.” Nowadays – “kings” are made in a variety of ways. In England, the kings and princes are simply born into their office. Thailand recently deposed their “king” – and we have yet to see what will happen with their leadership. Here in America we prefer democracy where we vote people into office. Yet even this has its share of twists and turns which make for interesting history – as President Bush won the electoral vote but not the popular vote back in 2000.

With this backdrop, let’s now look at how the King of kings comes into office. The picture that Daniel draws might be somewhat surprising. You might expect this King to just come cruising into this world and saying, “HERE I AM!” Whereas he draws the king as coming in the clouds, Daniel also says that the King is “led” into the presence of the Ancient of Days, and “given” the kingdoms. What does all of this mean? Let’s find out.

The answer to this takes us back to some key doctrines when it comes to Christ – of his divinity and humanity and his humiliation and exaltation. Both go hand in hand and they cannot be separated. These doctrines are what distinguish true Christianity from all of those make believe religions that would like to claim Christ – the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Muslims – all of which claim that the King of the Universe is not a man – or just one of many men. Daniel shows us what to really look for in the king. He starts out by saying, In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man. Daniel is saying to us, “do not look for the king in the angels. Do not expect him to don wings or to look like the many beasts in my previous visions. Simply look for a little boy with legs and arms, head and hands – look for a son. This is where you will find your Christ.”

So we look to the manger, and there – in the filthy stall – we see a boy – whom the angels call the Christ – the one who was the King of the Universe. We see in this child the son of man – but also the son of God. The wise men who traveled from far away also came to this son of man and worshiped Him as such. They recognized that this little baby boy would save the world. Peter tells us that He was “chosen from the creation of the world” to be our King. This baby was born to be King.

Yet Daniel tells us that there is also something majestic about this son of man – something that distinguishes him from the millions of other sons of men when he says that this son of man was “coming with the clouds of heaven”. In the Old Testament God regularly used clouds to announce His coming. Think of how the LORD used a pillar of cloud by day to lead the Israelites through the wilderness. Think of how on the top of Mt. Sinai God used thunderclouds to denote His power and wrath. Elijah made known that the LORD had departed from Israel when he prayed for there to be no rain – which would mean no clouds - on the land for three years.

So it shouldn’t surprise us that when the King would become man – that the clouds would also be involved. Think of how the clouds served as the backdrop for the angels in the sky who appeared to the angels on that Christmas night. Think of how the clouds broke in order to reveal the star to the Wise Men after they had spoken with Herod and the teachers of the law. At Jesus’ baptism – the dove of the Holy Spirit descended from the clouds and the Father spoke from the clouds – announcing to the world that Jesus was the Son of God who had come in the flesh. On the Sea of Galilee Jesus calmed the storms and the clouds – showing His power over nature – that He truly was the Christ. Fast forward to the Mt. of Transfiguration, and remember how Jesus and the disciples were surrounded by a cloud on that glorious day. Think of how during Jesus’ death darkness covered the earth – which may have come from the clouds in the heaven. The final act of Jesus physical time on earth in His first coming had him ascending into the clouds – promising that He would once again come in those same clouds.

All of these usages of the clouds were dictating to the world that this is more than any mere son of man. This is the King of kings – the King of the heavens and the earth – the Christ. The Muslims who claim that Jesus was just a prophet and the Jehovah's Witnesses who claim that Jesus is just a man do not have their heads in the clouds – but in the sand. The Mormons who claim that Jesus is just one of many gods – do not see beyond their three visions of heaven the true vision of heaven - that Jesus is a one of kind. The clouds make it clear. James 4:12, “There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy.” This is Christ – the King.

II. Reveals His destiny

Daniel makes it clear where this King has come from and who He is – son of man and son of God. Another point of contention among the Jews was what the King was supposed to do. It’s rather interesting what the vision reveals. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. The son of man comes from the clouds and is immediately led into the presence of the Ancient of Days – God. The vision makes it seem like a rather simple and majestic procedure. The Son of man does not even have to find the path – it is all laid out for him and he is led right to where he is supposed to go.

Little did Daniel know what a difficult procedure this turned out to be. Little did he realize what a troublesome path this was to return to the Ancient of Days – for when the Son of Man came into this world – He humbly entered a world of demons and demon possessed people under the control of Satan. Not too long after the parting of those clouds on Christmas night the Christ child had to be taken from Bethlehem to Egypt in order to avoid the slaughter of the innocents. Upon the breaking of the clouds at His baptism, the Son of Man was then immediately led by the Holy Spirit into the desert to do warfare with Satan himself – fighting off temptation after temptation over a 40 day period. Jesus made it clear that in His humility His journey was one of being led by the Spirit – going wherever He was told to go. In John 5:19 Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.”

The journey only became more difficult as the offspring of Satan – the chief priests and teachers of the law intensified their efforts to put Jesus to death. The pathway to the Ancient of Days led him straight through the shadow of death. Think of when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking the Father if there was some other way to save the world. With drops of sweat and blood it troubled Him to think of being led to a wooden cross – and there being blamed for the sins of the world – as if He had personally committed each and every one of our sins. In answer to His prayer, the Father told Him that this was the only way. Jesus’ journey back to the Ancient of the Days needed to go through the most difficult day of His life – Good Friday. The final words of Jesus humility were, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” The journey of the King to the Ancient of Days involved years of hard work and toil.

The vision of Daniel is representative of our role in the King’s work. It is as if we are in another world – watching the King do His work in another dimension. We have no role in His work. Colossians 1:13 says, “he (Christ the King) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves.” All we do is sit in our world – thousands of years later - and witness the Son of Man be led to the Ancient of Days. Isn’t this a wonderful picture of what grace and faith are all about! Christianity is a spectator sport when it comes to our salvation. In faith, we sit and watch our King come from the clouds and go on a hellish trip back to the Ancient of Days. Oh, how this visions fills us with wonder and awe! What a beautiful vision it is as it reveals His destiny and ours!

III. It reveals His authority

The thing that makes this vision difficult for us is that we don’t seem to see the results of this victory. Daniel writes, “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him.” It is wonderful what God TELLS US – that Jesus won this victory – but we don’t often FEEL it. Where is the parade? Where is the victory dance? Where are the nations acknowledging Him as Lord? It seems as if we have been stuck behind – as if Christ really wasn’t the King. If there is a parade – it’s in heaven – and we’re missing it – waiting for it to come. It’s almost as if it isn’t coming true.

Yet there are glimpses of this happening. Daniel witnessed this very thing happen in his own day – where foreigners who worshiped other gods still ended up acknowledging the true God – even without faith. Nebuchadnezzar had claimed to have built his own kingdom. He became too big for his britches, so God humbled him by making him crazy for a limited amount of time. After the LORD restored his sanity he said,

Daniel 4:34-35 At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?”

When King Darius had ordered Daniel into the lions den, and the angel of the LORD saved Daniel, Daniel says,

Daniel 6:25-27 Then King Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language throughout the land: “May you prosper greatly! “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end. He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Here we see how the LORD often works. He allows the kings of the earth to take their stand and gather together against the LORD and His anointed. Daniel describes in his previous vision how a variety of beasts would come rising to terrorize God’s people. What the world doesn’t understand is that even in the midst of these terrors, the LORD is still ruling – you just can’t see it very well. You can see then how He rules in the clouds. The clouds are nothing but mist – and they seem very weak and meaningless when driving through them. Yet get beneath them, and they can be very powerful indeed.

When Jesus was traveling through Samaria, he was able to take over a woman’s heart who had slept with five different men. At the cross He was able to win over a hardened criminal who had several moments earlier poked fun of Him. In the midst of death and sin and defeat, Jesus ruled even in the hearts of people who earlier had no promises of the Savior. The same happens today. Jesus rules in sometimes cloud like way – in our hearts. It may seem meaningless and weak to the world when we suffer under temptation and have a hard time fighting against our flesh. Yet when we live underneath His power we experience the terror of the gloom of knowing this world is corrupted by sin, the lightning of the Law and the refreshing rain of baptism and the Gospel. Jesus is ruling now over the heavens and the earth – in an invisible manner – through weakness – through faith - in order to bring us spiritual strength. We see little victories here and there as the world is brought to it’s knees under a mighty tsunami or a terrifying earthquake. They recognize in a terrifying way there is a god – although they refuse to acknowledge him as Savior. So we only see His rule in a seemingly invisible way – as if they were clouds.

In the end, the rule of the King will be visible and very real to our flesh when Jesus comes in the clouds – and all of the mystery and mystique is lifted. This is what Daniel seems to be referring to – the final victory of the Christ. This is confirmed throughout the Scriptures -

Philippians 2:9-11 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

1 Corinthians 15:24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power.

Daniel adds, “His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” Like it or not, the Son of Man – the King – Jesus Christ is ruling and will rule forever over all people – whether they are in eternal glory in heaven or eternal punishment in hell. Jesus has gone through the humiliation – and right now is the exaltation. This will all come to light at the resurrection of the dead – when the King will come out from behind the clouds and show Himself to be who He is. This is what Daniel reveals to us today in His vision of the king.

Visions do not occur every day. It was at special times in history and special places that God removed His veil from special people to show them His plans for the future. Visions are not something to ignore or roll over and go to sleep on. When Joseph received his vision from God, he left immediately and went to Egypt with the Christ child. You have been privy through the eyes of faith and the revelation of the Holy Spirit to see Daniel’s vision of the future. It shows us who the true King of the Universe is – a son of man – coming from the clouds – approaching the Ancient of Days – and being given authority over all people of all times. This is nothing to take lightly. He is the King. Bow your knee to Him. Acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord – to the glory of God the Father. He has earned it. He deserves it. He is the King. Believe it now or run the risk of finding out when it’s too late. Amen.