Sermon Tone Analysis

#. *Visions of time travel!*

I remember as a young boy watching Dr Who.

My memory is we would watch it most Sunday nights either while we were getting dressed for bed, or while we were having dinner.

I found the whole idea of time travel fascinating.

And still do.

And I don’t think I’m alone – many people keep watching the good doctor, and many people still dream or scheme or think about the reality of time travel.

I’d love to go back and meet Jesus and hear him and ask him questions.

I’d love to go back to the start of creation.

To be there perhaps when all those great Bible stories took place.

Or to go to the future – what will the earth be like after another 50 years of global warming?

But what if you went into the future and it wasn’t very nice?

Would it change your life if you actually knew when you would die?

And what you would die from?

Or when your children would die?

Or if Australia was caught up in a world war in 100 years time and laid waste?

And you couldn’t get those images out of your head?

I think these chapters in Daniel 7-12 are like that.

Daniel has visions of the future which leave him reeling.

So for instance as we look at chapter 8 of Daniel – and you might like to turn it up in your Bibles – but look at the end of the chapter – v27 – ‘I Daniel was exhausted and lay ill for several days.

Then I got up and went about the king’s business.

I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.’

Well, thankfully God did not make his word beyond our understanding.

So as we come and think about what Daniel saw and what it means, let us pray for God to grant us right understanding.

PRAY

 

#.

*Daniel’s Vision*

/a)      //Its form – Apocalyptic/

We’ve had Daniel 8 read to us – and it is strange stuff isn’t it at first hearing.

Before we get into it any further it’s worth stopping to reflect on the sort of literature it is.

AJ asked last week – why didn’t God just say it simply – and in part saying it as we want would miss out on a lot.

That is to say – the sort of literature it is gives us a greater appreciation of what God is saying.

It’s like reading a comic – if you read a comic like a report in the newspaper you miss the point and the experience and the richness of the comic form.

Likewise here.

Daniel 7-12 is written in the style called ‘apocalytpic’ from the Greek word meaning ‘reveal’ or ‘revelation’.

But to get the most out of apocalyptic, and not get all tangled up in whether the ram is the Pope or Ronald Reagan or Cleopatra, we need to know how it works.

So a few quick points

•         Apocalyptic has a point – especially it was designed to give God’s people great comfort in times of trials.

Daniel 2-7 are written in Aramaic, but chapters 8-12 are written in Hebrew.

Why?

So only God’s people could understand them.

They were initially written for them.

•         Apocalytpic is full of what one writer called ‘Vivid language and cataclysmic images’ – all designed to keep the message in our minds and hearts, to help us remember it.

•         Apocalyptic is relevant now, and was relevant back then.

It is not some secret code that we can only understand now, and only if you have the right guru or key to the code.

It was written for a particular group of people, in a particular time, and applies to us as well.

•         And God does intend for us to be able to understand it – simply and clearly.

We may have to work at it, but we can work it out.

How do we do that – the last 3 points here.

•         Focus on Big Picture, rather than all the minor details.

It doesn’t matter how long the horns were on the ram, nor how far north or west or south he ran.

Keep focussed on the big picture and the main themes.

The detail is only there to make up or highlight the big picture.

But be warned – lots of people get so bogged down in the details they miss the main point.

•         And so there are many symbols.

For instance we’ve already seen in Daniel how horns symbolise kingdoms and powers.

Numbers also are generally to be taken symbolically.

We saw that in Revelation when we preached on it some time back.

It’s the same in Daniel.

And that will be important when you get some strange ideas thrown at you about what the numbers in Daniel mean.

•         And then identify only what the text tells you to do.

Don’t try to work out what you aren’t told.

God will tell us and has told us what we need to know.

If we don’t think it goes as far as we want it to go, then be careful.

If we have to know what is what, God will tell us.

•         Yet for all that, apocalyptic is more than just a literary form.

Apocalyptic is also a worldview – a worldview that sees history as moving in recurring patterns, the same things happen over and over again throughout time, yet history is moving forwards, like a spiral, spiralling towards that time when God will wind up history as we know it.

I like apocalyptic – it’s graphic, memorable, and when you put the hard work into wrestling with it, it is greatly encouraging.

So let’s look at Daniel 8.

 

/b)      //Its content (8:1-14)/

Daniel 8 records for us a vision.

And vv1-2 set the context for the vision.

READ.

It’s the third year of King Belshazzar.

We’ve come across him already last week in ch 7, and before that in ch 5 – the writing on the wall, and with this vision in mind, Daniel can confidently tell Belshazzar it’s all over for him.

On the bigger stage, this year was the year Cyrus flexed his muscles and established the joint state of the Medes and Perisans – you can read about him in Is 45:1, how God raised him up to defeat Babylon.

In just 12 years or thereabouts he will conquer Babylon – heading west and north into Asia Minor and then south into Babylon and beyond.

So if you remember ch 7 last week, or Nebuchadnezzar’s statue in ch 2 – Cyrus’ kingdom would be the second kingdom in the line of 4, overthrowing the Babylonian kingdom.

And whilst Daniel is still living in Babylon, in his vision he sees himself in Susa.

Susa is a city which would become the winter capital of the Medo-Persian kings.

We read of it in Nehemiah chapter 1 and in Esther.

It had a big man-made canal running alongside it – the Ulai Canal was its ancient name, and it is there that Daniel sees some strange things.

It is a vision which concerns the next great force in world history – as it affects God’s people.

I’ve summarized the main things he sees on this table –

| 3 | I looked up and there before me was a ram.

|

| 3 | With two horns, one longer than the other.

(v4 – charged west, north and south) |

| 5 | Suddenly a goat with a prominent horn between his eyes came from the west.

|

|   | I saw him attack the ram furiously, striking the ram and shattering his two horns.

|

| 8 | The goat became very great, but at the height of his power his large horn was broken off, and in its place 4 prominent horns grew up.

|

| 9 | Out of one of them came another horn, which started small, but grew in power to the south and to the east and toward the Beautiful Land.

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| 10 | It grew until it reached the host of the heavens, and it threw some of the starry host down to the earth and trampled on them.

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| 11 | It set itself up to be as great as the Prince of the host; it took away the daily sacrifice from him, and the place of the sanctuary was brought low.

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| 12 | Because of rebellion, the host of the saints and the daily sacrifice will be given over to it.

It prospered in everything it did, and truth was thrown to the ground.

|

Strange vision isn’t it.

And as we reach the end of v12 we think – there must be more to come.

What happens?

There seems no fall of this small horn.

And yet there comes a pause.

The holy ones discuss.

Not asking why, because they understand this is how God has so ordained events – but how long?