What time is it?
A sermon on Daniel 7 and Luke 17
What a time to be alive!
In the old days, if it were strawberry season you just ate strawberries. If someone had shot an elk with a bow and arrow, you ate elk. Most days though, you ate yams. Day after day, nothing but yams.
Never before in world history has 5pm rolled around and people asked themselves “What do I want to eat tonight?” Do I want beef, chicken, ham, cheese, pasta, pizza, salad, rice, tilapia, Stove Top stuffing, Lucky Charms, boiled eggs, baked beans, carry out, delivery, or dine in?
Do I want Chinese food? If so, what kind of Chinese food? Sichuan, Cantonese, pulled noodles, braised pork, fried rice, general Tzo’s, chop suey, hot pot? Or… do I want to go to one of those China Buffets where grilled cheese, bad sushi, and soft serve ice cream are the most popular items on the menu and no one even bats an eye?
If the ancients could see how we live they would mistake us for gods. Our angels – Siri and Alexa – fulfilling our every desire, carrying out our heavenly commands. “Play me some laid-back jazz! Purchase Phil Jackson’s Los Angeles Lakers memoir! What will the weather be three days from now in Albuquerque? Calculate the fastest route to the Dominoes off of Woodward!”
Our entertainment would put the kings of Europe and the emperors of China to shame! They had a guy on retainer who could play the same three songs on a flute. Sitting around a fire, drinking their miserable wine (clearly no match for the craft brews we have), listening to those same 3 songs. At the time those emperors thought they’d arrived at the pinnacle of luxury. But you think that’s entertainment and excess!? I just binged watched Breaking Bad (even though I’ve seen it before).
Life is good in these times. No one has recently tried to crush my skull with a rock over a boundary dispute. I take hours a week for leisure, rather than gathering berries or firewood. At night I sleep in a heated house, in a bed, on a mattress that Qin Shi Huang or Charlemagne would have conquered half of Palestine to get their hands on.
We are truly the kings and queens of our castles. We have everything in such abundance – time, sustenance, comfort, leisure, safety. I honestly doubt whether the Garden of Eden itself was as comfy as our lives now.
***
So, when we read the book of Daniel, it’s pretty hard to relate or even understand it. After all, what do we really have in common with ancient, near eastern Jews living in exile in Babylon? For example, the passage for today is the book of Daniel chapter 7. Daniel has a bad nightmare about 4 beasts – a Lion, a Bear, a Leopard, and a beast with large iron teeth and ten horns.
DANIEL 7:1-14
Earlier, during the first year of King Belshazzar’s reign in Babylon, Daniel had a dream and saw visions as he lay in his bed. He wrote down the dream, and this is what he saw.
2 In my vision that night, I, Daniel, saw a great storm churning the surface of a great sea, with strong winds blowing from every direction. 3 Then four huge beasts came up out of the water, each different from the others.
4 The first beast was like a lion with eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were pulled off, and it was left standing with its two hind feet on the ground, like a human being. And it was given a human mind.
5 Then I saw a second beast, and it looked like a bear. It was rearing up on one side, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. And I heard a voice saying to it, “Get up! Devour the flesh of many people!”
6 Then the third of these strange beasts appeared, and it looked like a leopard. It had four bird’s wings on its back, and it had four heads. Great authority was given to this beast.
7 Then in my vision that night, I saw a fourth beast—terrifying, dreadful, and very strong. It devoured and crushed its victims with huge iron teeth and trampled their remains beneath its feet. It was different from any of the other beasts, and it had ten horns.
8 As I was looking at the horns, suddenly another small horn appeared among them. Three of the first horns were torn out by the roots to make room for it. This little horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth that was boasting arrogantly.
9 I watched as thrones were put in place
and the Ancient One sat down to judge.
His clothing was as white as snow,
his hair like purest wool.
He sat on a fiery throne
with wheels of blazing fire,
10 and a river of fire was pouring out,
flowing from his presence.
Millions of angels ministered to him;
many millions stood to attend him.
Then the court began its session,
and the books were opened.
11 I continued to watch because I could hear the little horn’s boastful speech. I kept watching until the fourth beast was killed and its body was destroyed by fire. 12 The other three beasts had their authority taken from them, but they were allowed to live a while longer.
13 As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be destroyed.
***
We read these verses and think ‘This is so random, this is so obscure, what does this have to do with us?’ But are these questions a bit ethnocentric? Can we judge a piece of art or writing as relevant or random using its relationship to us as a measuring stick? Indeed, this passage was not written to us as 21st century middle class Americans.
But to the original intended audience, this passage was highly relevant and fit very well into a larger narrative that was being played out in the world and in their lives. If we can see where Daniel 7 fits into this larger story, perhaps we can trace the threads all the way up our time.
The book of Daniel was completed in the years leading up to Jesus’ life and ministry. For the readers at the time the book’s message was clear and they read it expectantly. The book of Daniel is about God’s sovereignty over history and empire. The great movements of Emperors, the rise and fall of kingdoms were all being orchestrated by God to bring about his kingdom in the world. The Jews saw themselves as actors in the narrative that God was writing. They believed the story God was writing had been going on for a long, long time. In fact, they traced the current events of their day all the way back to the time described in Exodus.
***
Their history began with 400 hundred years of slavery in Egypt, crying out for a redeemer. After many years, liberation came and they fled into the desert being led by fire and a cloud. Their leader Moses was a man of no particular qualifications, other than he was called and he was the only one who’d been to that wilderness before. 40 years later, the Jews finally arrived at the promised land and began to take physical hold of their inheritance. Despite the chaos, the land became their own. They settled in, raised families, grew crops, worshipped the God of their ancestors. Time went on and this little tribe even became powerful for a period. They were small in number, but had an outsized influence. Kings and queens, sages and wise men traveled great distances to come find out just what’s happening in Israel. There was something special going on there with this group of people and their God. They’d made a covenant and they were being blessed by their Lord.
The blessings flowed to this land and this people, in ways previously unthinkable. Wealth and power came to them, along with responsibility and purpose. They were to be a nation of priests, a light to the world. God had a vision for how it was all going to be…
…But the people had their own vision for how it should be. The power corrupted. The distractions that come with being on top began to pull them away from the mission. They became complacent, fat and arrogant.
They were warned. Generation after generation produced its own prophet, men and women dedicated to truth telling. They tell the people what the people don’t want to hear: repent, return to the mission or risk losing it all. The people will hear none of it. In time, the blood of the prophets becomes a dark inverse of the temple sacrifices. Yahweh, in his mercy, asked for the blood of rams and bulls, but the gods of wealth and power demanded the blood of these prophets.
And so their society went year after year, as they drifted further and further from the mission. It all felt so normal. People went about their daily business – eat and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building, right up until the day it all came crashing down. On that day, the final warning of the final prophet had long since been uttered and judgement was at the gates of the capital city.
The Babylonians destroyed what Israel had built, took what they’d cherished and put them into a lower status. From the ruins of Jerusalem, the Babylonians plundered not only the precious articles from Solomon’s temple, but took the brightest and best minds of the younger generation. They put these promising young people in shackles and drug them back to Babylon, gave them a new mission – serve the empire and carry out its plans. The empire’s kingdom come, its will be done. The Israelites are given new names and a new culture in Babylon, they had to struggle to hold onto their heritage and identity.
The trajectory of the house of Israel is recorded in Matthew 1. An upward climb to the times of David and Solomon, the golden age of this upstart nation. For generations Israel remained strong politically and militarily, though the original mission was gradually being discarded. Then from the period of Babylonian exile, onwards to the time of Joseph and Mary, the family line is one long, steady decline. Each generation more humble and obscure than the one before it. It finally bottoms out with Joe and Mary’s firstborn Jesus , who after he was born, spent the first few days of his life sleeping in an animal feeding trough, in a cave behind a small inn, in the remote backwater of Bethlehem.
***
Joe and Mary’s son Jesus grew up during a very chaotic period, with many competing voices in society telling everyone what time it was.
Since the time of Daniel’s vision in exile, the four kingdoms represented by the four beasts had come to fruition – the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks led by Alexander the Great, whose empire was taken over by his son, Tommy the mediocre, and the Romans. All of these kingdoms had left their stamp on the people of Israel in different ways. The most powerful of the four, the Romans, were currently occupying Palestine and declaring it was their time.
Around the time Jesus was born, Caesar Augustus became emperor of Rome. Augustus’ message was simple – peace on earth and goodwill to all. I, Caesar, through my mighty hand bring the peace and stability of empire that you so strongly desire. I am the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, and I sit on my throne.
And many listened to his voice.
But there were other voices too. The Zealots rejected Caesar’s claim of supremacy and believed that the true Lord of Lords was yet to come. These Jewish nationalists read the book of Daniel with an understanding that a certain amount of time would pass between the Babylonian exile and God’s redemption of the nation. Depending on how one read the prophecies of Daniel, the time that needed to pass was approximately 400 years. That time was up. In other words, the time was now.
They were expectant, reading passages like Daniel 7. To know if the kingdom was about to arrive, what was needed was a sign.
DANIEL 7:23-28
23 Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path. 24 Its ten horns are ten kings who will rule that empire. Then another king will arise, different from the other ten, who will subdue three of them. 25 He will defy the Most High and oppress the holy people of the Most High. He will try to change their sacred festivals and laws, and they will be placed under his control for a time, times, and half a time.
26 “But then the court will pass judgment, and all his power will be taken away and completely destroyed. 27 Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”
28 That was the end of the vision. I, Daniel, was terrified by my thoughts and my face was pale with fear, but I kept these things to myself.
Daniel’s dream foretold the end of these empires and a return to the original mission. Israel was once again going to inherit the land and be a nation of priests. They were going to return from obscurity to prominence. All that was needed was for the messiah to appear.
***
Maybe the carpenter’s son Jesus was this so-called Son of man, the messiah? He certainly spoke with power and an authority the people weren’t used to hearing from their leadership. The man had set the whole country alight with titillating tales of healings and miracles, multiplication of wine, bread, and fish. It was even being said he resurrected the dead. Moreover, the timing was right for messiah to appear.
So, one day they asked him…
LUKE 17: 20-37
One day the Pharisees asked Jesus, “When will the Kingdom of God come?”
Jesus replied, “The Kingdom of God can’t be detected by visible signs. 21 You won’t be able to say, ‘Here it is!’ or ‘It’s over there!’ For the Kingdom of God is already among you.”
22 Then he said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see the day when the Son of Man returns, but you won’t see it. 23 People will tell you, ‘Look, there is the Son of Man,’ or ‘Here he is,’ but don’t go out and follow them. 24 For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so it will be on the day when the Son of Man comes. 25 But first the Son of Man must suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation.
26 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 27 In those days, the people enjoyed banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat and the flood came and destroyed them all.
28 “And the world will be as it was in the days of Lot. People went about their daily business—eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building— 29 until the morning Lot left Sodom. Then fire and burning sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 Yes, it will be ‘business as usual’ right up to the day when the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day a person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. A person out in the field must not return home. 32 Remember what happened to Lot’s wife! 33 If you cling to your life, you will lose it, and if you let your life go, you will save it. 34 That night two people will be asleep in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. 35 Two women will be grinding flour together at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
37 “Where will this happen, Lord?” the disciples asked.
Jesus replied, “Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.”
And so now perhaps we’ve arrived at our time. For though we live these amazing, yam-free lives, isn’t it also easy to see the circling vultures? The cops are busy and the mental health clinics are full. The media outlets give us a steady diet of outrage and despair, while fast food gently ushers to an early grave. Frequent mass shootings remind that violence is bubbling just below the surface. There’s all this enthusiasm for adopting stray dogs and cats, whilst tens upon hundreds of thousands of children in the foster care and orphanage system worldwide remain without families. There’s the countless babies who are aborted, the adult men and women who are executed, the large segments of society that live out their existence behind bars. There’s the mountains of trash and cheap toys that we accumulate and burn through. The only new construction in my hometown is weed dispensaries and nursing homes, porn is more sought after than sex, and most churches are less like a community and more like Coldplay concert.
(Not our church of course, which is more like Rod Stewart Unplugged)
As Jesus says, we live in the days of Noah - enjoying banquets and parties and weddings, and eating and drinking, buying and selling, farming and building, it’s business as usual. We’re slowly getting back to normal. Maybe that’s why there’s so many selfies: because unconsciously we know we’re on the brink of disaster and we’re trying to leave evidence we existed.
***
There are two responses to Jesus’ kingdom coming, one personal and the other a collective response. Personally, we are called to pick up our cross and follow him. What might that look like? It could be that God is asking us to lay things down in our lives. In this instance the cross is the death of the ego and all the false identities that prop up our fragile lives. The invitation to the cross is a calling to lose all the labels that make it easy to explain ourselves, an invitation to become a nobody in the eyes of the world. Loss of wealth, status, and power can feel like a death of our personhood. The manner in which we lose these can feel like crucifixion – public, shameful, with passerbyers shaking their heads at us in disgust.
We must also make a collective response to Jesus’ ministry. Part of that response is we step down from our pedestals. We give up our safety and comfort and yam-free lives to be with the hurting and the broken. We prioritize the needs of others over the building of our own private empire. Church must not become a self-serving social club, where our theology is all about self-actualization, emotional catharsis and hope for a future in heaven even more extravagant than the wealthy lives we lead now. The religion of Jesus was never about dying and then going to an afterlife where you’re the cosmic 1%.
We must discern God’s voice from all the other voices and act decisively. The quiet voice of God persists in speaking to us. Repent! Change your priorities. Embrace my hope. Get back on mission. Build my kingdom, not yours. Finally, we must act with urgency to hear God’s voice and follow where it’s taking us.
If today you hear God’s voice, do not go home to pack a bag, or make a preparation, or schedule it for next week. Do not be like Lot’s wife – do not look back.
It’s time.
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. What is the noise level in your life?
When I lived in Shanghai, there was a public park that had a noise meter, showing how many decibels the current noise level was at that moment. Living in such a big, busy city one got used to a constantly high level of noise and barely even noticed it. During times when we would go to the countryside I would be stunned by the relative silence. My body and mind would relax, and I found it much easier to evaluate the overall health of my soul.
2. What is the label that makes it easy for you to explain yourself? What may God have for you instead?
We enjoy labels, because they become a convenient shorthand for who we are when other people ask. “I’m an engineer.” “I’m a mom.” “I work at Ford.”
It’s almost as if in our shallow culture, we have to have an elevator pitch prepared, so that when others ask we can explain and justify ourselves easily. Often God asks us to step into more intangible situations in life, to make moves that are difficult to explain to others.
3. Is God inviting you to eat yams?
You can tell a person’s priorities by: 1) what they spend money on (wealth), 2) what they spend time on (power), 3) where they get self-esteem from (status).
Loss of wealth, status, and power can be difficult, yet we get so much more back in return when embrace God’s kingdom rather than building our own empire. Though you could have whatever you want in life (mostly), is God inviting you into simplicity and trust? After all, yams are delicious and nutritious.