GOD always fulfills His PROPHECIES!
September
13 Bible Reading: Daniel Chapters 7-9
GOD always fulfills His PROPHECIES
"I was watching in the night visions,
and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came
to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was
given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass
away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed." (Dan
7:13-14)
This vision of
Daniel in chapter 7 ends with one like the ‘Son
of Man’ coming before the ‘Ancient of Days’ to receive an eternal kingdom with those of all nations in His
service (v. 13b), which is the kingdom
“of our Lord and of His Christ” (Rev.
11:15). The ‘Son of Man’ who came to
the ‘Ancient of Days’ is the Son of
God approaching God the Father who sits as a Judge in court (vv. 10, 26). Here,
the Old Testament clearly presents the Father and the Son as two separate
persons within the Trinity.
The Lord
Jesus Christ is given universal dominion, a kingdom, the one which shall never
be superseded (v. 14). His deity is indicated by His coming “on the clouds of heaven” (Matt. 24:30;
26:64; Mark 13:26), by the worship that He receives (v. 14), and by the
eternity of His kingdom (v. 14; Psalms 2:6–9). The vision depicts the kingdom
era or the Millennium (Rev. 21:1–6). The entire vision is explained to Daniel
so that he can know the course of world history, culminating in the ultimate
triumph of God’s kingdom on earth.
In this
vision, Daniel saw ‘One’ like the “Son of
Man,” indicating that He is not a man in the strict sense, but rather the
perfect representation of humanity. Jewish and Christian expositors have
identified this individual as the Messiah. The expression “Son of Man” is used 69 times in the synoptic Gospels and 12 times
in the Gospel of John to refer to Jesus Christ. It is the title Jesus most
often used of Himself. Elsewhere in the Old Testament it is only God who comes
on the clouds (Ps. 104:3; Isaiah 19:1). Accordingly, the “Son of Man” originates in heaven and comes by divine initiative.
The
commencement of Christ’s everlasting dominion will take place at His second
coming (Matt. 24:30; 25:31; Rev. 11:15). Daniel’s dream is in part messianic; announcing that the Messiah’s coming will inaugurate a new phase
of God’s rule on Earth. Christ did this by bringing the kingdom of God into
human experience (v. 18), and Christ will one day establish a righteous kingdom
that nobody will overthrow! Remember, God
always fulfills His prophecies!
"Behold, He (Jesus Christ) is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen." (Rev 1:7)
