Daniel: Far From Homeنموونە

These verses begin the final section of the book. Chapters 10 to 12 are all one long section that describe Daniel’s final dream. Verse 1 tells us the date; the third year of the reign of Cyrus. Chapter 1 told us that he remained in high office in the land until the first year of King Cyrus. That was the year the exile ended. Seventy years later, he would be well into his eighties. In the third year of Cyrus, two years after more than forty thousand people returned from exile to Jerusalem, here is Daniel, still in Babylon receiving his final vision.

The vision concerns ‘a great war’. Daniel takes it very seriously (v. 2). He mourns for three weeks and eats ‘no choice food’. It is similar to the action taken by Daniel in chapter 1. By the end of the dream Daniel will be able to ‘go on his way’ (see 12:13), but here there is mourning at the thought of war.

Daniel is standing by the great river Tigris, the river that today runs through the centre of Baghdad. He looks up and sees, in verses 5 to 6, ‘a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold round his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.’ We have no trouble identifying this man. In John’s vision of one ‘like a son of man’, the details are very similar to what Daniel sees (look up Rev. 1:12–16) This is the one Daniel saw in chapter 7 approach the Ancient of Days to be given all rule and authority. This is a pre-incarnate vision of Jesus.

Those with Daniel don’t see what he sees (v. 7). Instead they flee, leaving Daniel alone without strength, afraid and helpless (v. 8). As he listens, he falls into a deep sleep. John’s response when he sees the vision of the ascended Christ is similar. At one level this is the right response to Jesus, King of heaven. We ought to be struck with awe.

Daniel is being shown who lies behind the unfolding of human history that the vision will focus on. It will give him confidence that what he is going to see is true. He needn’t, therefore, be afraid of what he sees. It is under the hand of the one ‘like a son of man’.

Reflection

Jesus is the one who stands behind both the Scriptures and the future it tells us about. Are you in awe of this Jesus? And have you got confidence that what He reveals is true? We needn’t be afraid of the future!