23rd September 2024
God is my judge
This is the 27th study in a series of studies about shadows in scripture
I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. And there was given Him dominion and glory and a Kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Daniel 7:13-14 (KJ21)
In Daniel we find a passionate, faithful and sometimes private man who fought to keep his relationship with his Creator alive, despite being surrounded by a culture that denied that Creator – and despite being surrounded by many who despised him.
Daniel knew who his ‘judge’, and his ‘Lord’ was. Even his name reflects it. His refusal to compromise led to him being imprisoned with wild and ravenous beasts. In this imprisonment Daniel looks back, as well as forward. He is with unexpectedly peaceful animals, as the first Adam was, back in Eden. And his miraculous delivery from an otherwise certain death foreshadows the resurrection of Jesus – both leaving the place of their imprisonment behind, both defying that ‘last enemy’ (1 Corinthians 15:26), and both moving to share the future that we are promised, when, ‘…the former things have passed away.’ (Revelation 21:4-5).
Daniel, after pleading to be shown when and how the Israelite captivity would end, experienced – you might say endured – two graphic dreams that caused him to ‘be troubled in spirit’ (Daniel 7:15). There was a frightening procession of images in both, but ending in hope, a hope that transcended the ending of the Israelite captivity, and is echoed in Christ’s words of comfort in the final book of the New Testament.
The lions’ den and the garden tomb were both sealed with a stone – presumably a sizeable stone which could only be rolled away by several men. (Daniel 6:17, Matthew 27:65-66). Both Daniel and Jesus were imprisoned behind these sealed stones by jealous and angry men, threatened by the authority they had, and who persuaded those in power to move against them. Neither Pilate nor the king of Babylon, Darius, wanted to go through with the ‘executions’, but they were trapped into having to.
Daniel’s overriding desire, reflected in his prayers, shows someone not knowing the future – but aching to know – although he was only focused on the future regarding the (then) present captivity of Israel. He says, himself, ‘Although I heard, I did not understand…’ (Daniel 12:8 NKJV). And when he was presented with the future he was dismayed and did not know what to make of it. Jesus Christ knew – and knows – the future, although we are told the timing is only known to the Father. But the final chapters of Revelation reveal a future that resolves into the perfect life that was always intended from Creation.
Prayer
Thank you Father for the promise we share with Daniel, “…go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.” [1] Hasten that day.[2] Amen.
1 Daniel 12:13 (NKJV)
2 Revelation 22:20 (NKJV)
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Study by: Maggie Mitchell About the author: |
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