Last week we looked at Daniel in the lions’ den and said that this was one of the best known passages in the Old Testament, perhaps alongside the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the blazing furnace. Tonight I want to say that Daniel chapter seven is actually more important and more exciting than either of those other stories. Here we have the first of a series of dreams and visions which Daniel himself experienced. It takes us back to the beginning of Belshazzar’s reign as King of the Babylonian Empire and in many ways it echoes the dreams which King Nebuchadnezzar had which we read about in chapters 2 and 4.
Daniel’s dream revealed four beasts. One was like a lion, another like a bear, a third like a leopard and a fourth which was even more frightening and did not resemble any animal. This is apocalyptic language. It reveals truth in pictures and symbols and so we should not necessarily interpret any parts of it too literally.
God revealed to Daniel the meaning of his dream.
17 “The four great beasts are four kings that will rise from the earth.
Conservative interpreters who date the Book of Daniel back in the sixth century BC, which I do, generally understand the beasts to refer to the Babylonian Empire, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Greek Empire and the Roman Empire respectively. Empires so brutal that they are represented by animals rather than by people. The dream foretells how these Empires will oppose and oppress God’s chosen people.
21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them,
God is warning Daniel and all the Jews that there would be many painful times ahead.
24 The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. 25 He will speak against the Most High and oppress his holy people and try to change the set times and the laws. The holy people will be delivered into his hands for a time, times and half a time.
Terrible times of suffering and persecution were coming. But that would not be the end of the story. There are a number of wonderful promises for God’s people to cling on to.
18 But the holy people of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it for ever—yes, for ever and ever.”
Whatever may unfold in the centuries to come, God’s holy people will ultimately receive an eternal kingdom, which will indeed endure for ever and ever!
21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the holy people and defeating them, 22 until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favour of the holy people of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.
The day would come when God would vindicate his chosen holy people. They would possess the eternal kingdom!
26 ‘ “But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed for ever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.”
This is the wonderful promise God is making to his people through Daniel’s dream. An everlasting kingdom where all the world will worship and obey God Most High, is waiting for them. The eternal God is named in the dream as The Ancient of Days.
9 ‘As I looked,
‘thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
What an amazing vision of the glory of the Almighty and eternal God. Perfect in holiness, white as snow, white as wool. Burning with glory, flaming with fire, wheels all ablaze, with a river of fire flowing from him. With millions of angels serving him and hundreds of millions of people standing before him. Sometimes we forget how glorious and majestic God really is.
O WORSHIP THE KING, all glorious above; O gratefully sing His wonderful love;
Our shield and defender, the ancient of days, Pavilioned in splendour and girded with praise.
IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, God only wise; In light inaccessible hid from our eyes.
Most blessèd, most glorious, Ancient of Days: Almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise.

The Ancient of Days will bring salvation for his chosen people.
The court was seated, and the books were opened.
11 ‘Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. 12 (The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.)
The Almighty and Eternal God is the Ancient of Days. And the Ancient of Days will bring salvation for his people. But he will do so through another person, his agent, “one like a Son of Man”.
13 ‘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. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
It is this “one like a Son of Man” who will bring salvation to God’s chosen people. This “son of man” is given authority, glory and sovereign power so that all nations and peoples will worship him. It is this son of man who will be given an everlasting dominion which will never pass away. The Ancient of Days will give to this son of man the kingdom which will never be destroyed, which God’s chosen people will inherit.
And here is why I say that this chapter is more exciting than any other passage in the Book of Daniel, indeed more than most of the Old Testament. Because it points directly forward to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man.
We have thought before about this name which is used for Jesus 82 times in the Gospels – the name Jesus used most often for Himself, “The Son of Man.” Instead of saying “I”, Jesus would often refer to Himself in the third person as “The Son of Man.” That phrase, “The Son of Man”, was not a title in use in first century Palestine so that everybody would know what Jesus meant when He used it of Himself. Although there are echoes from the Old Testament, “The Son of Man” did NOT refer to a specific person found in the Old Testament. If it meant anything in the world Jesus lived in, “Son of Man” just meant a human being, or perhaps, “a man like me.” When Jesus called Himself “The Son of Man” that title didn’t have a whole bundle of ideas already associated with it. The phrase meant what Jesus used it to mean.
Jesus did not announce Himself as the Messiah. In the synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark and Luke Jesus generally did not call Himself the Son of God, or even the Son, but rather “The Son of Man”. In John’s Gospel Jesus usually referred to Himself as the Son, but even there He also called Himself the Son of Man sometimes. There are different threads we can pick from of the ways Jesus spoke of Himself as the Son of Man.
As the Son of Man Jesus shared all our human experiences
We don’t find the phrase “The Son of Man” very often in the Old Testament. When we do it usually means “a human being” and emphasises the mortality of human beings and the “smallness” of humanity in comparison to the Almighty and Eternal God. So when he called Himself “The Son of Man”, Jesus was emphasising His complete humanity and His solidarity with all human beings, and especially with the poor and the oppressed and the marginalised. One aspect of the human condition which The Son of Man particularly identified Himself with was human suffering.
As the Son of Man Jesus suffered as a human being.
Time and again Jesus foretold that the Son of Man would go to Jerusalem, be rejected and be crucified by sinful men.
Yet at the same time as He took that title for Himself, Jesus said and did things which proved He was much more than just a human being.
As the Son of Man Jesus has unique authority
When he healed the paralysed man lowered in through the roof (Matthew 9:6) Jesus said that miracle was proof that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins.
When Jesus was challenged for healing people on the Sabbath, Jesus replied, “For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” (Matthew 12:8)
The Son of Man ha unique authority. But there’s more! At the same time as confirming His humanity, Jesus was revealing bit by bit that there is much more to The Son of Man than that.
As the Son of Man Jesus has a glorious destiny!
When he explains the parable of the weeds in the field in Matthew 13, Jesus says, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.
So Jesus is saying that the Son of Man will be the agent of judgment at the end of the age. He said the same in Matthew 16 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
Again in Matthew 19 28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
And this brings us to the prophecies of Daniel 7.
13 ‘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. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Here we see God give authority over all things and an everlasting dominion and an indestructible kingdom, to “one like a son of man”. Jesus is clearly referring to Daniel 7 when He is teaching in Jerusalem about the last days.
Luke 21 25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. 26 Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. 27 At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Finally at the end of His life, on trial before the High Priest, Jesus reveals that The Son of Man is indeed that “One like a Son of Man” foretold by Daniel.
Matthew 26 63 The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.”
64 “You have said so,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
This is the glorious destiny of “One like a Son of Man.” And Jesus claims that be be His own destiny as He defends Himself before the High Priest. When Jesus admits that He is that “Son of Man”, He is admitting that, yes, He is indeed the Christ, the Son of God! And with hindsight and the eye of faith we might see that amazing claim every time Jesus refers to Himself as “The Son of Man.” Jesus was completely human. Yet at the same time Jesus was the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, whose destiny is to sit at the right hand of God and one day to come again in glory on the clouds of heaven.
So here is Jesus, “The Son of Man.” As the Son of Man Jesus shared all our human experiences. As the Son of Man Jesus suffered as a human being. As the Son of Man Jesus has unique authority. As the Son of Man Jesus has a glorious destiny! Jesus is the fulfilment of Daniel chapter 7.
13 ‘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. 14 HE was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Bow down and worship – for this is your God.