There’s Hope in the Nightmare

Reflections

BibleProject

God, Spirituality, Jesus, The Bible Project, Tim Mackie, Theology, Bibleproject, Meditation, Religion, New Testament, Bible, Mindfulness, Religion & Spirituality, Bible Study, Cheree Hayes, Christianity, Old Testament, Reflection

5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2021

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

The book of Daniel explores what it means to be God’s people while living in a culture that is set against his values. How do God’s people remain faithful and confident in a situation like this? The strange dream in Daniel chapter 7 gives us some insight. In it we see there’s a kingdom ruled by the “Son of Man,” the one with all “authority, glory and sovereign power.” The oppressive rulers of this world will fail, but the Son of Man’s rule will never end. So when arrogant kings rise up, the people of God can look to a more powerful King. His name is Jesus, and all his followers are invited to live in the humble values of his Kingdom now, even while living amidst the kingdoms of Earth. Let’s reflect more on this.

Transcript

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0:00.0	There's so much pain and injustice. Where's hope?
0:20.8	Hey, this is Shri at Bible Project. In this episode, we're opening up Daniel chapter 7,
0:27.2	where we discover a strange dream that has the power to transform our everyday lives with hope
0:33.3	and purpose. Listen in.
0:37.2	Hi, this is Karissa at Bible Project. Thanks for joining us for this reflection on the book of
0:42.3	Daniel. The book of Daniel is set in the time of the Babylonian exile, one of the most painful
0:47.9	experiences in all of Israel's history. The book is set right after Babylon's first attack on
0:53.5	Jerusalem when many people were taken as slaves to Babylon. Daniel and his three friends are
0:58.1	the central characters and they're among this group of exiles. Throughout the book, we see how
1:02.8	God was at work in the lives of the exiles and also in the world and that he hadn't abandoned his
1:08.0	people forever. The first half of the book tells the stories of Daniel and his friends in Babylon,
1:13.9	all that they had faced as they were faithful to Yahweh there and how God protected them.
1:18.3	The second half of the book, starting in chapter 7, tells us about the visions Daniel had about the
1:23.1	future. One of the main messages of the book is that like Babylon, many wicked kingdoms will
1:29.2	rise up and do evil in the world, but one day God's kingdom would come and humble all kingdoms before
1:35.8	him. The book of Daniel is one of our earliest examples in the Bible of what's called apocalyptic literature.
1:42.8	It's actually a really common genre of Jewish literature at that time. Apocalypse just means
1:49.2	to reveal and here the revelation is all about God's work and plan in the world to bring about his
1:56.0	Messianic King. Apocalyptic literature is often filled with wild symbols and images and in the
2:01.7	Bible these images tend to connect back to earlier chapters, especially Genesis 1 through 11.
2:08.0	For example, this book draws strongly on the idea from Genesis 1 and 2 that humans are made in
2:14.6	the image of God and called to rule on his behalf. When they fail to do so, they become like the beasts
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