The Lewis family like any other family with young children has a bedtime routine. Ours’s has been evolving for over 18 years now but some basic practices have remained the same. For example our bedtime prayers have pretty much been the same, “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. May angels watch me through the night and keep me in their precious sight. God bless mommy, God bless Daddy, God bless Jacob, God Bless, Aidan, God bless Elijah, and God bless whatever pets we have in our house at the moment and depending on how much my little pumpkins want to stall we might start asking God to bless various family members and friends and the pets of those family members and friends. Lately, we have also been adding an ancillary prayer in at the end. I didn’t notice this as much with Jacob and Aidan, but Elijah tends to end all his prayers asking Jesus to help him have good dreams and not bad dreams. Michelle says it’s my fault that the boy has nightmares. She says it is because of all the scary movies I let him watch. I don’t know, maybe she is right. Maybe Texas Chainsaw Massacre is not appropriate for a 10 year old boy to watch… I’m just kidding. We don’t watch movies like that. In fact, last time I watched a movie like that I ended up praying that Jesus would help me to have good dreams and not bad dreams.
Even adults can have nightmares. Our dreams may not be about the boogie man but that does not mean the things we dream about aren’t scary. One of the most common nightmares adults have is the falling dream. Anyone ever dreamt this dream? If you have, dream experts say the falling dream is your subconscious telling you that you have a major life problem with work, relationships, or elsewhere. A common nightmare among young adults is showing up to school or work in your underwear. The experts largely agree that this dream represents vulnerability and anxiety. A common nightmare among more mature adults is dreaming that your teeth are falling out. In the real world this is a reality in the deep south, but in the dream world teeth are a symbol of power and confidence. This dream is supposedly a sign that something happened in the dreamer’s life that has caused him or her to lose confidence. One of the most common nightmares I have is I find a legal paper I forgot to deliver when I was a county process server back in college. If you have ever had a dream like this, it likely means we have some unresolved issues we need to address. The other common nightmare I have is showing up late on a Sunday only to discover I forgot to write a sermon and by the time I finally step into the pulpit most of the congregation has left. Dream experts would say this dream means I am overwhelmed, doing too much, or making promises that I can’t keep. I think it is more likely a result of my punctiliously picky personality that prefers to have things done in a certain way at a set time. I think it is my subconscious telling me to lighten up.
Some dreams can be scary, even for adults. Few people know this truth better than the prophet Daniel. In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel describes a nightmare he had about the end of days. In Daniel 7:2-3 he wrote, “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.” In the verses that follow Daniel describes these monsters. He says the first was a lion that had wings. The second was a bear that was chewing on the bones of dead animals. The third was a leopard that had four heads. But the most terrifying and frightening of all the beasts was the fourth beast. It wasn’t like any creature found in nature. It had iron teeth that devoured its victims. This monster also had 10 horns on its head and one of the horns had eyes and a mouth that proudly spoke blasphemous things. (Kind of sounds like Daniel ate some bad gas station sushi before he went to bed, doesn’t it?)
I’m not sure what the dream experts would have to say about Daniel’s nightmare. But I can tell you how one of God’s angels interpreted Daniel’s dream. In verse 17 we read, “The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth.” Indeed, when we examine these monsters in light of the angel’s interpretation, we can match these monsters with specific kingdoms. The first monster Daniel saw was the winged lion. The winged lion was a mascot of sorts for the Babylonian Empire. The second monster was a bone eating bear. The empire that followed Babylon was Persia. It is interesting to note that the bear had three bones in its mouth because there were three major conquests of the Persian empire: Lydia, Babylon and Egypt. The third monster Daniel dreamed about was the four headed leopard. The Persian army was defeated by the smaller yet faster Greek army lead by Alexander the great. After Alexander’s death his empire was divided into, you guessed it, four sections. The fourth monster Daniel dreamt about was unlike anything this world had ever seen, bent on conquest and known for its blasphemous arrogance, this monster symbolized Rome. In Daniel’s dream, as the end of days drew closer and closer the governments of the world more and more resembled monstrous beasts.
Governments acting like monstrous beasts is something we are familiar with. Our oldest member here at Messiah saw these beasts slaughter over 70 million people during WWII. A good number of you saw these beasts turn some soldiers on both sides of the conflict into animals that brutally beat, tortured, and mutilated each other during the Vietnam conflict. Those of you who are close to my age grew up in the era of the cold war; a time when the beasts of the earth threatened the globe with total annihilation with their arsenals of nuclear weapons. Our children are now growing up in an age of terrorism; when the beasts of the earth, like serpents, strike where we are most vulnerable. As the end of days approaches, the governments of the world increasingly resemble monstrous beasts.
Like Daniel, we live in scary times. The social and political unrest of the beasts of the earth can at times be terrifying and frightening. But I think, what terrifies and frightens us the most is not the monsters that surround us, it is the monsters that live within us. Like the lion, we try to dominate others in an attempt to put our wants and needs before theirs. Like the bone eating bear we have been known to take a pound of flesh from anyone we feel has wronged us. Like the four headed leopard we are quick to take advantage of others when their guard is down, and they can be more easily manipulated. But perhaps worst of all, is how we act like the blasphemously arrogant fourth beasts by being bent on enjoying the pleasures of this world and to hell with God’s commands. As we approach the end of days, the governments of the world increasingly resemble monstrous beasts. But as we approach the Ancient of Days as He is seated on His throne of flaming fire, we have far more reason to be terrified and frightened by the monstrous beasts that live within each of us.
Thankfully, Daniel’s dream was not just about monstrous beasts. In verses 13-14 God grants Daniel and us a sweet dream. Daniel describes his dream with these words, 13 “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.”
What makes Daniel’s dream so sweet is, in contrast to the beasts of the earth, Daniel saw “one like a son of man”. Nearly 600 years later Saint Paul interprets Daniel’s dream. In Hebrews 2:14 he writes, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—” 500 years before the Son of God became also the son of man, Daniel dreamed of Jesus. This interpretation is supported by Jesus Himself. Jesus liked to refer to Himself as “the son of man”, especially when He was talking about His victory over sin, death, and the devil.[1] That is also how Stephen saw Jesus. Right before he was martyred, Stephen looked up to heaven and said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”[2] Like Daniel, Saint John also dreamed of Jesus. In Revelation 1:13 saint John saw “someone like a son of man” who described Himself as the One who was dead but now is alive forever and ever.
Daniel dreamed of Jesus, but he did not see Jesus as we often picture Him. I know at least I typically think of Jesus in one of three ways; either He is a cute and cuddly little baby laying in a manger or He is a wise teacher instructing His disciples and correcting the Pharisees, or He is a battered and bruised man suffering and dying on the cross. Daniel saw Jesus “coming with the clouds of heaven.” It has been said that among the Jews the Messiah was known as the “cloudy one” or the “Son of a cloud”. Clouds were a symbol of God’s power, glory, and majesty. Again, we think of the cloud that led the Israelites out of Egypt, came down upon Mount Sinai, or filled the Tabernacle. Daniel does not see Jesus as a vulnerable baby, criticized teacher, or bloody sacrifice. Daniel sees Jesus as the powerful, glorious, majestic God that He is.
In his dream Daniel saw Jesus, his glorious God “approached the Ancient of Days”. The great prophet Mosses was one of the few men who were permitted to approach the Ancient of Days. But even for the great prophet there were conditions. The ancient of Days told Mosses, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”[3] The Ancient of Days is too holy. Sinful man cannot stand in His presence. And yet Daniel saw Jesus; the Son of Man do that very thing. He saw Jesus being led into the very presence of the Ancient of Days. That’s remarkable! Remarkable because Jesus was not just a sinful man, rather, Jesus bore the sins of every man, woman, and child. Jesus allowed Himself to become the most sinful of all men and therefore the least able to stand before the Ancient of Days. And yet that is exactly what He does. Jesus stands in the very presence of the Ancient of Days. Jesus stands before Him with confidence because He knows the sins of every man woman and child had been paid for by His death on the cross. The Holy eyes of the Ancient of Days looked at Jesus and recognized that the sacrifice for our sin had been offered and the satisfaction for our salvation had been made.
What makes this dream of Daniel’s so sweet is what this means for us. Daniel saw the Ancient of Days give Jesus “authority, glory and sovereign power”. Those monstrous beasts of the earth, as terrifying and frightening as they may be, are not the supreme powers of the universe. They are beneath the authority of Jesus. The beasts can do nothing without His permission and though He may permit them a length of leash that they use to engage in beastly behavior, there will come a time when that leash will be pulled short and the glory of Jesus will be made known; there will be a time when those monsters will be caged in the dungeons of hell and Jesus will be recognized as sovereign over all. There will come a time when the powers of this world will no longer be able to hurt or harm the people of God. Isn’t that sweet!?!
Sweeter still, Daniel dreamed “all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped Him [Jesus]”. Because one like the Son of Man stood in the presence of the Ancient of Days we will not be left weeping and gnashing our teeth like monstrous beasts. Because of Jesus; we have been forgiven for our sinful attempts to dominate others, we have been forgiven for the times we took our pound of flesh from those we thought wronged us, we have been forgiven for the times we took advantage of others when their guard was down, and we have even been forgiven our blasphemous arrogance before God. Because of Jesus we have been forgiven all our sins and one day we will approach the Ancient of Days and be led into His presence. His holy eyes will look upon us and, according to the angel who interpreted Daniel’s dream, we will be seen as “saints of the Most High” and “will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’”[4] How sweet is that!?!
This dream of Daniel’s is a sweet dream for us. The monstrous beast around us are subject to the “everlasting dominion” of Jesus and the monstrous beasts within us have been slain by the one who rules a kingdom that “will never be destroyed”. As the end of days draw close and we prepare to stand in the presence of the Ancient of Days, we are comforted in the knowledge that Elijah’s bedtime prayers have been answered. Jesus has given each of us a sweet dream. Amen
[1] Mt 16:27; 25:31; Mk 10:45; Lk 17:24; Jn 1:51; 3:13
[2] Acts 7:54
[3] Exodus 33:20
[4] Daniel 7:18