Daniel 7:1-8:14
This seventh chapter of Daniel is epically important for understanding the future of the world. Which is a pain as it is flipping difficult to understand. Here is what I take from it: 1) we don’t need to have a letter by letter understanding of what is going to happen in the future - this faith is for unschooled ordinary men and women, not for those with a PHD in apocalyptic dream interpretation. There will always be a mystery about this stuff; 2) There will be a time in the future when the beast will be slain and destroyed. All that is terrifying and destructive and rebellious and arrogant will be utterly destroyed; 3) When Jesus called himself the ‘son of man’ he was principally claiming that he would be given all authority, glory and sovereign power - that his dominion would be an everlasting dominion and his kingdom would never be destroyed. Jesus was basically claiming he was equal to God. 4) When the gospel writers spoke of Jesus being taken up into the clouds (eg Acts 1:9) it was not primarily a reference to his physical movement but to him fulfilling this dream in Daniel 7:13. This important thing that happened to Jesus at his ‘ascension’ was that he was being shown to be the son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven to approach the Ancient of Days and be led into his presence. (I don’t know what physical movements Jesus made when he ‘ascended’ and I don’t care - the important thing was that his ‘ascension’ was a coronation ceremony, it was him being given the authority, glory and sovereign power by his Father.) So Daniel’s dream is like a unexpectedly powerful wave of the sea - it knocks us off our feet and leaves us feeling baffled and with sea-weed on our face. But it also shows us the ultimate power of God. It points us to trust in Him and to have confidence that he will finish what he started. The kingdom of Jesus will never end. He will bring about the end of all our hardship and people of all nations and all languages will join us as we sing and stand in worship of Him.
1 John 2:12-27
The reality of life is that we can ‘remain’ in many different things. What John is urging his friends to do is to remain in the Father and not in the things of this world. This is a battle waged through choices made in the mind and in the soul. In our minds we battle to confess that Jesus is the Christ. This is not just a statement of doctrine but a constant struggling with our priorities. Because Jesus is the Christ, the Saviour, the King, I will choose to give him attention. When making decisions I will look to Jesus and his people for direction, when organising my day I will give Jesus space. I will choose what to look at and not to look at, what to listen to and what not to listen to, what to spend money on and what not to spend money on, what to have as my ambitions and what to leave to one side. I will make these choices every day. And if I make them well I will be remaining in Jesus. If I make them badly I will gradually find myself ‘loving the world’. But it is not all about me. I also remain in Jesus in my soul. Jesus’ anointing remains in me and I remain in Jesus by acknowledging that He remains in me. This ‘acknowledging’ is not just a temporary nod of the head but is a constant state of openness to the Spirit. I train my soul to be steered by the Spirit. I trust that the Spirit is able to lead me into all truth. The mystics were really on to something. The spiritual disciplines really are of great value to our faith. We remain in Jesus by quieting ourselves to hear him teaching our soul. And the incredible bounty we receive from this is not just life with Jesus but fellowship with the Father as well. That is awesome indeed.
Psalm 136:13-26
Through all the twists and turns of history it really is true that His love endures forever.
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