Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - TWO VISIONS

 TWO VISIONS*

In the book of Daniel, we are told of two visions which were revealed to the prophet. In the first, Daniel interpreted the meaning of a gigantic statue that came in a dream to Nebuchadnezzar. He revealed the statue’s form to the king:

 

[T]his image’s head was fine gold,

its chest and arms of silver,

its belly and thighs of bronze,

its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and…clay.
(Daniel 2:32-33)

Each piece of the statue’s form represented, in turn, a different kingdom. The head of fine gold was Babylon, the chest and arms of silver a second kingdom, the belly and thighs of bronze a third empire, and the legs of iron and a fourth kingdom respectively. These in turn apparently represented the empires of Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome with the feet of iron and clay indicative of a future kingdom yet to come.

This vision was felt to portray the future of human history, as it tended to show the major players in coming world events with the ten toes of iron and clay indicating the strength and weakness of the end times of a future type of Roman Empire. We do not hear as often the end of the prophecy where a…

…stone cut out without hands, 

which struck the image on its feet of 

iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 

(Daniel 2:34)

This stone is believed to refer to Jesus, who will come back at the end of time and topple the last empire. It also tends to show that man’s dominion on earth began more as gold and ends with dust.

But there was also a second vision as recorded in Daniel 7. In this case creatures came from the sea.

The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings…

And another beast, a second, like a bear…

and there was another, like a leopard, 

which had on its back four wings like a bird… 

…a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. 

It had huge iron teeth…and had ten horns. 

It was different from all the beasts that were before it… 

(Daniel 7:4-7) 

Again, the creature like a lion was felt to represent Babylon, the second creature to represent Persia, the third - Greece and the fourth, the old Roman Empire and a civilization in the future. But no shattering of this last civilization in this instance.

It is interesting that Daniel used the names of familiar animals to describe the first three creatures but not the last. The word he used to describe the final beast is the Hebrew word “shainah” which means different or altered or changed. 

Does this then mean that the civilization of the end time will be different or altered from those of previous times, that it will be more unnatural? That it will be a civilization, at odds with the normal creation and so, then, with God’s creation. Those, then, who live in those times must be willing and able to stand against this altered creation and creature if one is to survive. And this all must come before the stone, cut without hands, breaks into pieces the civilization at the end times.

If one looks around, it is not hard to see that right now we are living in a civilization at odds with creation and God’s order. And that should be enough to make us all concerned.

Certainly something for us to think about.

*Adapted from The Book of Mysteries by Jonathan Cahn, p.g. 114