Daniel 7:9-14
The Solemnity of Christ the King | 24 November 2024 | Daniel 7:9-14 | Samuel David Zumwalt |
Daniel 7:9-14 (Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.)
9 “I watched till thrones were put in place,
And the Ancient of Days was seated;
His garment was white as snow,
And the hair of His head was like pure wool.
His throne was a fiery flame,
Its wheels a burning fire;
10 A fiery stream issued
And came forth from before Him.
A thousand thousands ministered to Him;
Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him.
The court was seated,
And the books were opened.
11 “I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. 12 As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
13 “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.
14 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.
The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
[I found helpful Prof. Andrew Bartelt’s insights: https://concordiatheology.org/lalp/#/9060/828/2-5-29/2024-11-24 ]
HOLY KEYS: KING FOREVER
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Power and Problem of Apocalyptic Literature
The 2024 elections are over. Thanks be to God! No more trees will give their lives for daily political mailers accusing their opponents of all the foul crimes done in their days of nature (as Hamlet’s father’s ghost put it). No more attack ads filling the various broadcast media. No more talking heads talking about the pending elections. Sadly, we will still be stuck with “the pompous words” of the talking heads who belong to that beast certain to be utterly slain and given to the burning flame. Doubtless, depending upon the level of joy or outrage you have over the recent elections, you will nominate which talking heads belong to that beast to be slain. But I digress.
Unlike the prophets to whom the Word of the LORD came, Daniel receives visions from the LORD and the command to write them. This type of literature is called apocalyptic. It is, as one commentator described it, literary impressionism. Rather than the magnified details revealed by a powerful scope, apocalyptic evokes poetically what is and shall be in the rule and reign of God. For instance, the use of “thousands and thousands” and “ten thousand times ten thousand” are not the precise work of an accountant but describe metaphorically the immensity of the heavenly host serving in the presence of the Living God. The heavenly courtroom is far beyond the literal frames of a digital display. The Ancient of Days is depicted as a wise old man arrayed in the dazzling white that one might see on a sunlit, snowy hillside. His hair is like pure wool. His throne of fiery flame on burning wheels suggests both judgment and purification. The books (scrolls) are opened to declare God’s irrevocable and unconquerable judgment. God wins!
While the one beast was destroyed, the other three are stripped of their authority and left in place… but not forever. Countless commentators, novelists, and preachers have attempted to name these beasts as Babylon, Media/Persia, Greece, and Rome with some declaring that the beasts are yet among us in the form of the various warrior nations aligned against God’s people (whom some define as the modern state of Israel and the United States of America). Needless to say, some are not silenced by our Lord Jesus’ clear words in Matthew 24:36, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” And all Christians need to be shriven of our willingness to declare whom is and is not in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Daniel 7 is hopeful word to God’s people under persecution and to those who would lose heart and hope in the face of the on-going problem of evil in the world. Daniel reminds us that God will be God, and the ancient foe hiding behind so many masks cannot win the day. Press on!
The Promise of God’s Everlasting Reign
Because Christians have been taught by our Lord Jesus Christ to read the Old Testament through Him (Lk 24:45), the clear connection between St. John’s Revelation (Apocalypse) and Daniel’s cannot be denied. We see in Daniel 7 the vision of our Lord Jesus’ return in glory to judge the living and the dead. The Son of Man in Daniel is the Incarnate Son of God born of the Virgin Mary. The One crowned with thorns in John 19:1 gives glory to His Father as He willingly becomes the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. His final victory cry in John 19:30 proclaims the salvation of the world is accomplished. His saving work is finished, the divine goal reached. St. Paul’s marvelous hymn in Philippians tells it: “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (2:9-11).
Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, is LORD. “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” (7:14). How easily Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus comes to mind: “King of kings and Lord of lords, and He shall reign forever and ever. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!”
So, when you are marked with His holy cross as you are joined to His saving death and glorious resurrection in the washing of Holy Baptism, you can be certain that those sins that trouble your conscience are forgiven. The Holy Keys, which the pastor declares by the absolution, promise you that Christ Himself has suffered and died for you. He has shed His Precious Blood for you. The angel of death will pass over you when you take your last breath. You will be His forever!
Hear the promise of Proverbs: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (3:5-6).
Living Under the Rule and Reign of God
Because… “our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Philippians 3:20-21) … therefore we live under the rule and reign of God in our daily life and work. All our vocations, the placements of our lives, become the arena where we proclaim in word and deed the rule and reign of God. Jesus Christ is LORD!
Husband and wife nurture one another as bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh serving each other as their Lord Jesus Christ loves and serves even unto death. Parents bring up their children in the fear and admonition of the LORD even as Mary and Joseph once raised little Jesus. The farmer tends the soil as the LORD once gave Adam and Eve the care of all that He had made. The fisherman wisely manages the fish of the sea as gifts from the Father’s gracious hand. The teacher teaches with both powerful story and straight forward instruction as Rabbi Jesus taught those who followed, those who listened, and those who invited Him into their lives. Those in the healing ministries care for the wounded in body, soul, and relationship with compassion and willing generosity like their Master Jesus. Those with many gifts use them to the glory of God even as King Jesus offered His very body and blood as the once-for-all sacrifice for the redemption of this world that God loves more than His own life! The call to follow Jesus extends into every nook and cranny of every life. We love, because He first loved us and gave Himself for us. Let none hear you idly saying, “There is nothing I can do.” You are not your own!
Our Lord Jesus Christ is King, and His kingdom is not of this world. The One born in a stable comes in Word and Sacrament to dwell in our hearts and minds. The One crowned with thorns and enthroned on His holy cross gives Himself to buy us back from sin, death, and Satan. Martin Luther writes: “The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also… God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity” (Small Catechism, Second Petition of the Lord’s Prayer).
Rejoice the Lord is King. Praise, my soul, the King of heaven. Thine the amen, thine the praise, alleluias angels raise. King of kings yet born of Mary. O Light whose splendor thrills. Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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©The Rev. Fr. Samuel David Zumwalt, STS
St. Matthew’s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA