Receiving Revelation (Daniel 7-12)

This is the point in the book of Daniel where most of us are inclined to stop reading. If you have ever been to Sunday school as a child, then you will undoubtedly have heard the stories of Daniel in the lion’s den or Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. But I suspect that few of us ever read the second half of Daniel and even fewer study it.

In looking at these difficult chapters in the second half of Daniel, I take my inspiration from 2 Timothy 3:16: All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So, how can these chapters thoroughly equip us?

The Holy Spirit has seen fit to place Daniel 1-6 directly alongside Daniel 7-12 in our Bibles - and for a reason. The visions and insight which Daniel received from God are at a level that few, if any, ever receive - so complex are they that their meaning is still being debated today, over two millennia later. The Daniel who received the visions of chapters 7-12 is the same Daniel whom we are introduced to in Chapters 1-6. For, when God was looking for somebody to whom he could entrust these amazing visions of the future, he found Daniel faithfully serving him in a hostile environment. Faithfulness enlarges our capacity to receive from God. It is as Paul tells Timothy: The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will be qualified to teach others (2 Timothy 2:2).

Notice that Daniel began to receive these visions in the first year of king Belshazzar (7:1), the very moment when he fell out of favour in the new royal court (see chapter 5). Did the freeing up of time from his highly responsible job under king Nebuchadnezzar open up opportunities for him to seek the Lord more intensely and to hear from him?

I well remember a very frustrating time in my own career when I felt put on one side, was given relatively little responsibility and was able to do my week’s work in 3 days. This coincided with a period of significant increase in my church responsibilities, and I found that I could use the extra time available to me to do church work. This is not suggesting that you steal your employer's time by doing church stuff at work; it is simply an encouragement to be aware when spaces of time open up in your life and to seek God how best to use them.

See too how Daniel was very discreet in how he dealt with the revelation that God gave him. He tells us in 7:28: I was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself. I think that if I had received a vision as dramatic as his, I would have wanted to shout it from the rooftops, tell everybody I could - partly because of the exciting and astounding nature of the revelation and partly, I have to admit, because I would have loved people to know how much I was receiving from God.

Mary had some amazing experiences with the young Jesus, both as a baby and as a boy, but she treasured them all in her heart (Luke 2:51), and it was only Luke the historian who drew them out of her, 50 years later.

Paul waited 14 years before telling people about his third heaven experiences (2 Corinthians 12), and then it was only in a situation of severe provocation. If we receive something from God, let us ask him for the wisdom to know what to do with it. There is a time to be silent and a time to speak (Ecclesiastes 3:7).

At the end of his revelations Daniel is told, As for you, go your way till the end (12:13). In other words, after the Lord has spoken to you in these amazing ways, you need to get on with living. Sometimes the Lord speaks to us after a time of intense seeking, as in Daniel 9; sometimes after a period of fasting, as in chapter 10; but sometimes, as in chapters 7 and 8, the word comes to us as we are engaged in everyday life.

The Lord appeared to Abraham while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent sheltering from the heat of the day (Genesis 18:1). I find that significant revelations often come to me in mundane places, walking down the street, driving my car, lying in bed. God is constantly communicating with us. Are we ready to hear from him in any and every circumstance?