A Terrible Vision

Daniel’s vision, which we read part of today, is one that has been used for speculation. It is the vision about the four beasts that come out of the sea and wreak havoc among the nations. There have been people in almost every generation and century that have attributed the beasts to some contemporary place or person of their time. These have run the gamut from popes to the middle eastern nations to presidents. They all have been wrong. The writer of Daniel is not looking into the future with this vision, he is looking back. The book of Daniel was not written during the Babylonian captivity as it claims. Instead it was written during the time of great persecution of the Jews by the Greeks. There are many clues that point us to this. The language of the book is late Hebrew and Aramaic. Ben Sirach who wrote around 190 B.C. does not name Daniel in his list of the great men of Israel indicating that he did not know of him. Daniel also describes the later part of his vision more accurately than he does the time of the Babylonian captivity. All of these clues indicate that he was writing at a later date. In fact Daniel is the last book written of all the books in the Old Testament. So then what is it with all the vision?

The answer to this is that, while Daniel is considered a prophet, he is writing apocalyptic literature, not prophecy. Daniel is writing after Alexander the Great had died and his kingdom had been divided up among his generals. Israel ended up between two of these generals and their descendants. First they were under control of the Ptolemies who were tolerant of the Hebrew faith. When the Seleucids gained control of Israel there was an attempt to rid the land of the Hebrew faith. That attempt reached great terror under Antiochus Epiphanes. In Daniel’s vision Antiochus is indicated as one or the horns of the fourth beast (who was Alexander).  The book of Daniel was written to offer assurance and comfort to the people of God under this great persecution. 

Compared to the Israelites under the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes we realize that we live in a peaceful time. Although we hear much about violence and turmoil in our country – especially in this election season – our lives are easy compared to any other time in history. We are not persecuted because of our religion, we do not need to worry about other nations conquering us and hauling us off to our own Babylon, and we are safe in our homes and neighborhoods. I know that we all have bad days and that life is not always easy. I also know that much of our problem comes from our own actions and decisions. When life is easy we become complacent and forget God who made us and gave us life. In seminary, the African students always joked that they should send missionaries to the United States since we, in comparison to them, have a lower church membership. We also, because of our relatively safe lives, tend to see what we have as our own instead of God’s. Yes, Jesus set us free from sin and death, and accomplished our salvation, but that is not a green light to push our way through the world demanding what we want. Instead we are called to live our life differently. We are called to be a blessing upon the earth – God’s blessing. That is what Jesus is telling us in the text from Luke. I am not talking about the blessings at the beginning of that text. I am talking about the woes. We are the rich and well fed. Jesus is calling us to live our life not in fear or selfishness but in joy by sharing the gifts that we have received. 

This is also the message that Paul gives to the Ephesians. Having been marked by the seal of the Holy Spirit and now know the hope that is in Christ Jesus and the riches of his inheritance we are called to share God’s love to the world. With Jesus as our head and we his body, we boldly proclaim that which all the saints before us shared: the terrible vision of destruction and persecution changed to God’s vision of hope, truth, justice and peace. Be your part of Jesus’ vision to the world.