Daniel Part Three Dive

LET YOUR IMAGINATION LEAD

Sometimes the Bible can offend our minds to reveal our hearts. It can take our imagination on a journey that our brains are not ready to take. The Book of Revelation, Ezekiel and the last chapters of Daniel are these kinds of books for me. As a logical thinker, my brain explodes trying to work out what the heck is going on as I read Daniel 7-12. What are the beasts? Why so many horns? Who are these kings they are talking about? I find myself getting caught up in the details rather than experience the story!

So let me tell you the key to reading, experiencing and loving these chapters: Let go. Let go of having to understand every detail, let go of trying to figure out who they are talking about, let go of trying to fit it into a blueprint of end times teaching—this is above and beyond what you ask, think or imagine (Ephesians 3:20); these are the thoughts of heaven! They are to be experienced before they are analysed. So let go and let your imagination lead.

This is the ‘what no eye has seen, no ear has heard’ (1 Corinthians 2:9). These are the ‘thoughts [that] are not your thoughts and [the] ways... higher than your ways’ of Isaiah 55:8-9. Daniel 7-12 is going to offend your brain to reveal more of God to you! This is God opening the eyes of Daniel to see what is happening in the heavenly realm when he prays.

From the first verse of Chapter 7, you’ll feel that you have stepped into a different section of the book. Chapters 1 to 6 told you all about the young men and heroes of the story and we have adventured with them in and out of the fire, in and out of the lion’s den, from entering the king’s palace to becoming leaders in their city! We got to the point where the life of Daniel was summarised in 6:28, ‘So Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian’. Like at the end of the movie when the credits are rolling, we are getting the final reel of what happened to our heroes now the narrative is over. But Daniel is slightly different, for him we get a best-moments highlight reel. A whole new movie begins and this time it focuses in on the visions that Daniel received from God as the stories we just watched happened.

So we jump back in time. Check out Chapter 7:1, ‘In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon…’ We finished with the narrative of Belshazzar back in Chapter 5 but now the Book of Daniel wants to show you the visions that Daniel got during the history of Chapters 1-7. If this book was in chronological order, it would be very different, but what we have is structured as Chapters 1-6: Life Stories and Chapters 7-12: Visions of Daniel.

The visions you are about to read have one prominent story to tell: God is in control of what is happening now and what is about to happen in the future! Daniel 7-12 is apocalyptic (meaning ‘revelation’) literature and it is meant to bring you hope, not terror. God was revealing to His servant Daniel what was about to happen; what kingdoms were about to rise up, what wars were about to happen, and what was happening in the spiritual realm. This is about the future. These are ‘out of this world’ visions which brought a sense of justice for the evil that happened around them, a sense of God putting things right again. These are the visions of Daniel as he lay in bed at night (7-8), as he prayed and petitioned God, in fasting (9:1), speaking and praying (9:20), and fasting for three weeks (10:2) eating only vegetables (what is now aptly named, the Daniel fast!).

As you read Daniel 7-12, don’t get caught in the details. Experience the whole text and then study the intricacies of what Daniel is seeing. See the whole painting before you study the use of colour and brush strokes. Also take notice of Daniel’s reaction to these visions.

D 7:28 This is the end of the matter, I, Daniel was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.
D 8:27 I, Daniel, was worn out. I lay exhausted for several days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business.
D 10:10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.

These visions were not man-made, Daniel didn’t dream these on his own. These are revelations from God. I love reading and experiencing apocalyptic literature. I love reading about great beasts (7), the Ancient of Days, Gabriel, Michael, the call to the future in verses like 12:2, and the message that goes beyond my human thinking. God tells us what He wants us to know—check out 7:16, ‘So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things’—and the rest is up to God to bring to pass. Once you have read Daniel in full, use a commentary to get a better understanding of the interpretation. But be careful, don’t try to analyse these things and fit them into your human understanding, because our limited understanding will not measure up to the brain and imagination of our God. It is not that we will understand everything in this book, but in allowing our imagination to be stretched, we will come to the place where our God is infinitely above what we ask, think or imagine. And I love reading the Bible and getting to that place! Even Daniel, who saw the visions firsthand, is baffled.

D 8:15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it,
D 8:27 I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.
D 12:8 I heard, but I did not understand.

Apocalyptic books show you that God is in control. They’re supposed to make you feel a sense of hope and awe that God is letting you know that even though the future is unwritten to you, it is not unwritten to God! He knows exactly what is about to happen and in the Book of Daniel, He is allowing us to pull back the curtain of time and glimpse into the unimaginable future.

So let your imagination go and experience the last six chapters of Daniel.

Daniel Part Three Dive

LET YOUR IMAGINATION LEAD

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