This is a  crazy chapter in that it departs from this narrative story-telling and gets into some visions that Daniel, himself, is having.  As with much of this kind of material, like Revelation, there are challenges that confront us as readers.. On the one hand we may decide to omit these chapters from our study, preferring to confine ourselves to safer, more familiar parts of Scripture. On the other hand, we may become over-absorbed in working out our own theory of their significance and become unbalanced in the amount of attention we gives to them at the expense of other parts of Scripture.  We see people doing this with certain parts of scripture routinely, stretching and expanding on the meaning endless, sifting the language and the context until a silver nugget drops out of the material.  There is a term in statistics called ‘data mining bias’.  It refers to the idea that if you look at data long enough, you can find patterns in it that aren’t really there...they appear real, but there is no any real statistical significance to it.  I think that’s the risk we face when reading this material.  That’s the risk I face for sure.

In summary, the vision Daniel sees in this chapter is of four great beasts which come up out of the sea; three bear some resemblance to known animals, but the fourth is just awful, sprouting ten horns, one of which is singled out for more discussion. At that point Daniel perceives the throne-room of heaven and the awesome splendor of ‘the Ancient of Days’, seated to execute judgment on the beasts, whose kingdom was given to ‘one like a son of man’. ‘One of those who stood there’ answered the questions Daniel raised, but mysteries remain, and the vision which so deeply disturbed Daniel continues to concern us, ‘upon whom the end of the ages has come’

In that vein, let’s talk about this chapter for a moment.  And I love what my study Bible says right at the outset of this chapter:

Despite the various interpretations, there is one thing above all that the chapter is proclaiming quite unambiguously: the Most High is the reigning king in heaven and earth. There is an opposition to his rule, formidable in appearance and powerful, but all the time the Most High is in control, even when his opponents seem most successful (7:26). Therefore those who are allied with him triumph also. No wonder the chapter has been called ‘the center of gravity of the whole book’, and ‘one of the summits of scripture’.

So, tomorrow we will hit on a few technical elements in these words from Daniel, but today, let us reflect on God’s greatness.  Today, let us take a quick moment to look up at the sky and realize how small we are, and how big God is.  In closing, this entire reading reminds me of Isaiah 40: 28-31, famous and poetic verses among the best in all of scripture (in my opinion):

28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.  30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted;  31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;  they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary;  they shall walk and not faint.

That’s the thought for today, before we dive off into the depths of Daniel - how great IS out God?