Understanding Apocalyptic Visions: There's More To Reality Than Meets The Eye

This Sunday, Harderwyk preachers will be working through Daniel 7.  It’s the first in a series of dreams and visions that dip into the “apocalyptic” writing of Daniel.  As we start in that, I want to collect some thoughts and Scriptures that I think are key to understanding apocalyptic writings in light of the Gospel of God’s Grace.

To begin: I believe that if we take the Bible seriously as it is written, it presents us with a very complex and nuanced view of reality.  As a 21st century, college-trained American, I am very comfortable with the “cause-and-effect” reality of the physical world.  The Scriptures offer that – but they offer more as well.  The Scriptures do not contradict the scientific process of that cause-and-effect view, but they do say that there is more to reality than only that cause-and-effect.  In the worldview of the Bible, there is BOTH a physical world of cause-and-effect AND a “spiritual realm.”  They are distinct, but in some way connected.  They are different, but they interact.

I’ll admit, that I have more questions about these two realms - how they operate, and how they connect - than I have answers.  I think that what the Bible tells me about all of this is sparse enough, that I will hold my conclusions on these matters pretty lightly.  For now, all I need to know for faith and life is sufficiently revealed in the Scriptures for me to respond to the Gospel of God’s Grace.  

But this I know: it is a reductionist error to say that the “cause-and-effect” of the physical world is all that there is to reality.  That is an over-simplification of the world in which we live.  There is more to reality than simply meets the eye – or the telescope or the microscope.

Here are some key texts that make this more complex view of reality clear to me:

Genesis 1:26 (NIV) 

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 

Job 1:6–7 (NIV)

6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” 

Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 

2 Kings 6:16-17 (NIV) 

16 “Don’t be afraid,” Elisha the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Book of Revelation – “in the spirit”
Revelation 1:10 (NIV) 

10 On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, 

Revelation 4:2 (NIV) 

2 At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it. 

Revelation 17:3 (NIV) 

3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 

Revelation 21:10 (NIV) 

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 

Ephesians 6:12–13 (NIV) 

12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

While these texts don’t answer every question we might have about this “spiritual realm,” there are some solid conclusions that we can draw:

• This view permeates the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.  It is not an isolated idea.
• The LORD God created all that exists: both physical and spiritual.
• The LORD God is sovereign over this realm as well as the physical realm.
• The incarnation of Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, and the Great Commission are much more prominent issues in the Bible than the details of the interaction of these two realms.  We ought to, therefore “keep the main thing as the main thing.”

I find that this more complex view of reality helps me understand the apocalyptic portions of the Scripture.  The dreams and visions are often seen in the realm of the spirit.  That realm is different from the physical realm in which I typically live and move.  How those two relate – ie. how an apocalyptic vision connects to the headlines of today – can be pretty tricky.  Hold conclusions lightly, and look to the Gospel.  Which is, after all, the Main Thing. 

Freshman Humanities Class and The Book of Daniel

I'm preaching Daniel 5 this Sunday - the account of Daniel, Belshazzar and "the handwriting on the wall" - and it brings to mind fascinating archaeological developments in my lifetime that involve this event.

There is a fascinating story about just how the Persians under Cyrus conquered the great city of Babylon that Nebuchadnezzar had built after it went into decline under the rulers that followed him.  The story is recorded in the writings of Heroditus and others.

These historians though name Nebuchadnezzar's son Nabonidus as the king of Babylon when the walls were breached and the city overrun.  They make no mention of any Belshazzar - the Babylonian ruler that Daniel deals with here - as king at any time.

Fast forward to 1973.  I am sitting in a Humanities class as a freshman at Davidson College preparing to be a pastor in the denomination that the college is affiliated with.  We are taught that Daniel is more "historical fiction" than historical record.  Among the reasons we were given was this: The Book of Daniel refers to Belshazzar as "King of Babylon" but there is no other historical record of Belshazzar at all and someone else is named as king at that time.  Clearly, the authors of Daniel had their facts wrong was the conclusion, and by inference, this could be extended to other portions of the Bible.  The young men in my dorm quickly extended it to the Bible's statements on sexual ethics and behavior, but that is a different story for a different day.

The Nabonidus Cylinder

Little did we know - speaking for myself and my classmates - that in 1881 an archaeologist named Hormuzd Rassam had unearthed a clay cylinder while excavating what is now Abu Habba.  The cylinder eventually made it's way to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin where it is today.  Not until 1989 - notice this is 1989, nearly a century AFTER it was unearthed -  was it translated by a scholar from the University of Toronto named Paul-Alan Beaulieu.  Guess who is mentioned?

Belshazzar!  Turns out that Belshazzar was the first-born son of Nabonidus and grandson of Nebuchadnezzar.  Nabonidus made his son Belshazzar co-regent of the crumbling empire with him, and then he himself departed (ran for the hills?!?) leaving his son in charge of the city of Babylon almost as the Persians were surrounding it.  We now understand that Belshazzar was a "second-in-command" of what was left of the Babylonian Empire just as it was overrun by the Persians.  This explains why Belshazzar could only bribe his advisors with being "third highest ruler in the kingdom."  (Daniel 5:7, 16, 29)

So.  Buried for some 2,400 years, forgotten in a museum for another hundred and finally translated a decade after I graduated, the Nabonidus Cylinder testifies that the Book of Daniel is much more reliable history than my professors thought or taught.

CLICK HERE or CLICK HERE (Scroll down to Persian Conquest section) for further detail on these events from Wikipedia.

“And About That Statue in the Dream . . . .” – Daniel 2:27-45

Our plan was to preach the events of Daniel 2 this Sunday at Harderwyk.  That includes 49 verses, all related to a single event, so I knew I’d want to focus clearly on the central point of the passage and what the Spirit would have for us there.  I planned to communicate the dream and it’s interpretation, vss 27-45 pretty succinctly so I could give adequate focus to the larger message of the narrative.

Then I did a quick google search for a graphic representation of the statue.  Yikes!  Friends, I don’t recommend you do that on this one.  Let me explain why.

It’s crazy out there!  Most of the graphics went well past what the text said and began to connect different materials in the statue to different historical empires that would follow.  The Persians, the Greeks, the Romans.  The Roman Catholic Church.  Great Britain.  The United States.  There were “prophetic interludes” to stretch the statue over centuries of human history. Where would it end?!?

I actually found one graphic that presented the statue, and the different materials of its construction (this is in the text, so I’m good thus far) and then began to connect each material to different known historical civilizations that followed (not uncommon, but stepping beyond what is written, so I’m starting to get a bit wary) and ends by pointing to the United States as the New Jerusalem (Honestly!  I had not every realized that there is a “U” and an “S” and an “A” together in the word “Jerusalem”!) and the Rock was a “Stone Mountain”  that made me think of the laser light attraction by that name outside of Atlanta, GA.  I’m not including the link to this graphic.

So be careful!  Daniel, with its dreams and visions, is one of those books that seems to gather wild speculation and secret meanings that invite one to a feeling of special knowledge and the prideful sense of spiritual superiority that follow along.  The Apostle Paul warns us saying, “avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and arguments and quarrels about the law, because these are unprofitable and useless.” (Titus 3:9, II Timothy 2:33, Colossians 2:4)

The dream and its interpretation are part of the story, and there are things to learn here, for example: 

• God has history under control.  He knows empires before they rise and fall because history is moving at His direction.
• Things are headed downhill.  The empires that follow will be increasing less valuable and stable.
• There is something important coming though - “the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands” - that is clearly a foreshadowing of Christ and the Gospel.

As we work our way through Daniel in the weeks ahead, we will deal more with dreams and visions and how best to understand what they mean for us.  Part of that is learning to discern and separate interpretative schemes and perspectives that actually obscure the Gospel.  We want to keep “the main thing as the main thing.”  And frankly, the “main thing” in the Bible is not about arming me with some secret knowledge that puffs me up (I Cor 8:1) with a sense of self-importance that obscures Jesus and His Gospel.

 Make sure to join us for worship, by livestream or by recording as Aaron, Kyle and I try to make that “main thing” compelling, alive and life-giving this Sunday. 

CLICK HERE for Harderwyk LiveStream page on our website.

Preaching Daniel at Harderwyk - Daniel 1 - Sunday, Sept 20

Our collaboration on Daniel has been really rich, so I'm taking an idea we have talked about for a while and will try and massage it into a workable form that we can sustain week by week.  I'm hoping to collect material from each Harderwyk preacher that was really interesting in our preparation, but that we either decided not to use or want to more clearly reference, and then put it into a weekly blog post.  Sort of like picking up pieces of a film from the cutting room floor.

Use the comment section to tell me what you think and guide our future development of these resources.

Preaching Daniel at Harderwyk: Resources

 This Sunday – September 13 – all three worshipping communities of Harderwyk Church will begin a series of eleven sermons through the Book of Daniel.  As Aaron and I prepare together, joined with a number of guest preachers as well, we have been excited and challenged by the timeliness of this book and the light it shines on the Gospel of God’s Grace for our own life and times.

As we start, this seemed like a good time to share with you three resources we will be preparing this series with.  These three books are a way we have three gifted pastors and scholars join us in our prayer, study and encounter with God in the text of Daniel – all in preparation for our gatherings on Sunday.  We’re glad to share these sources that have been part of our process.

How To Read Daniel by Tremper Longman III

Dr. Longman is Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College specializing in Old Testament.  His 25 books have been translated into 17 languages.  He was one of the main translators of the New Living Translation and is a compelling writer – able to engage scholarly questions in a way that is understandable, thoughtful and applicable to the lives of everyday people.  If you would like a thoughtful, 200 page overview of Daniel, this book is both accessible and meaty.     CLICK HERE for Amazon

 

Daniel (Reformed Expository Commentary) by Iain M Duguid

Iain Duguid is a professor at Grove City College who has served as missionary in Liberia, a church planter and part of the translation team for the Holman Christian Standard Version of the Bible.  In his seminary classes, Dr. Duguid is eager to help students learn how to preach Christ from ancient Hebrew texts in ways that minister to the hearts of contemporary congregations.  This is a more traditional “passage-by-passage” commentary that enriches careful reading and study of Daniel itself, but is both accessible and worth any effort needed.  Where many cloud Daniel’s message with end-times speculation, Dr Duguid shines a bright light on Christ and His Gospel.  You will never see the Book of Daniel in the same way!     CLICK HERE for Amazon

 

Daniel and the Twelve Prophets for Everyone by John Goldingay

Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Seminary, John Goldingay is Old Testament editor of the “For Everyone” commentary series, of which NT Wright is New Testament editor.  This book – and the series – is intended to serve well for daily devotions, group or personal study and conversation with questions for reflection and 14 sections focused on Daniel.     CLICK HERE for Amazon

 

Through the course of this sermon series, I hope to post regularly with references, reflections and background material for our series in Daniel.  We will touch archaeology, end times and more.  This lets Aaron and I stay focused the text for the week in our sermons, while giving opportunity on the blog to provide more depth or background for issues that are secondary bot of importance as well.