Daniel begins relating his vision by telling us, “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” (vv.2,3). I am amazed how many times I’ve read these words never really realizing what they would teach us. I fear it is almost universally true that we believers come to the Lord and hear His many, many promises of peace and love, then expect ours should be a world of quiet and tranquility. Oh, of course, we know there will be troubles – just not bad ones, right? Because the Lord is on our side, we think we won’t have to face the sometimes horrific calamities others have to face.
We get it in our heads that somehow we will be insulated from truly fiery trials. We (older) Americans were privileged to grow up in a country where the government was truly instituted to do us good. All my life, it has made sense to me that the Lord exhorts us to pray for “kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives …” (I Tim. 2:2). That’s what governments should do – provide for “we the people” a world of peace and security where we can confidently raise our families and conduct our businesses, knowing our justice system will protect us from criminals and our military will protect our borders.
Hmmmm. So we expect to live relatively carefree, quiet lives under a government that does us good. What would Daniel teach us to expect? The four winds of heaven blasting the sea into a horrible tempest, only to see four ravenous beasts rise out of it! Daniel would teach us that the governments of men will not resemble God’s Lamb. They will rather resemble a great red dragon! Daniel’s vision would warn us this world is not a place where the powers that be are working for our good. Instead they will be selfish, cruel tyrants who keep our whole world churned up like a raging ocean while they fight each other – each beast struggling to conquer the others.
Then, if I may be so morose, may I suggest these images will be true anywhere humans possess power? We see the same thing in business. Big corporations present themselves with smiling models to tell us what nice, caring people they are – while they all slit each other’s throats, pay their employees chicken scratch, and sell products they know are killing people. Everywhere we look, people fight for power and keep our world in continual turmoil, even down to the local garden club.
Daniel warned us. We shouldn’t be surprised. Jesus Himself came into our world for no other reason than to do us good and where did it get Him? Murdered. Of course He warned us, “In this world, you shall have trouble” (Jn.16:33). I’m not so sure I’ve ever realized just how serious He was!
This teaching is critical for us from at least two different perspectives. The first is, as I’ve been describing, our expectations. We believers, of all people, need to be realistic. We already know from our Bibles what to expect. Then we need to address the issue of God’s sovereignty in it all. He has promised us – “the court will sit. The beast’s power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom…” (vv.26,27). In our future, “One like the Son of Man” will come. The “stone cut without hands” will strike the image and utterly destroy it. However…in the meantime, the little horn will “wage war against the saints and defeat them, until the Ancient of Days comes” (v. 21,22). Even as we nurse on the promises of heaven, we must constantly remind ourselves this world is not it.
I like what John Calvin said clear back in the 1500’s: “[God’s people] must not indulge themselves in the hope of rest and joy, but rather prepare themselves for sustaining the rush of the fiercest winds, as the world would be everywhere agitated by different storms. They might perhaps suspect God of not performing His promises…Again God came to meet their temptations lest their courage should fail, by teaching them that the method of their redemption was not quite so easy as they had previously conceived…lest it should break down the courage which would be required to meet such great afflictions.”
He then goes on to observe, “The greatest kingdoms are the greatest robbers…kings are mostly tyrants, full of cruelty and barbarity, and forgetful of humanity” and yet he notes “the prophet marks the vice as springing from themselves and not from the sacred ordinance of God.”
He concludes his comments on these verses with the following prayer, which I believe sums up our own response to all of this:
“Grant, Almighty God, since Thou exposest us to various distresses in this world, for the purpose of exercising our faith and patience; Grant, I say, that we may remain tranquil in our station, through reliance on Thy promises. When storms gather around us on all sides, may we never fall away and never despond in our courage, but persevere in our calling. Whatever may happen, may we recognize Thee as carrying on the government of the world, not only to punish the ingratitude of the reprobate, but to retain Thine own people in Thy faith and protection, and preserve them to the end. May we bear patiently whatever changes may happen to us, and may we never be disturbed or distressed in our minds, till at length we are gathered into that happy rest, where we shall be free from all warfare and all contests, and enjoy that eternal blessedness which Thou hast prepared for us in Thine only begotten Son—Amen.”
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