The International Scene: Should We Panic?
Image courtesy Timothy MacDonald, junior student at Nashotah House. Timothy had the first watch for the Altar of Repose at the Chapel of St. Sylvanus “the Red Chapel” after the Maundy Thursday service at Nashotah House.
By Jacob Rogers, middler student at Nashotah House
So, I pay very little attention to the world outside of my little bubble, but occasionally, I come out of my little hobbit hole, stand up, and look around, and I begin to wonder what on earth is happening. Our world is a little scary right now, isn’t it? We have Russia invading Ukraine. They’re bombing cities, killing men, women, and children. And there’s not much anyone can do about it. I mean, all of our United Nations allies are doing their best to support Ukraine indirectly, but there is an overwhelming fear of involvement; there is intense fear that if anyone helps Ukraine a little too much, they will also be sucked right into war with one of the world’s superpowers, and the bombs will start dropping on their cities tomorrow. Everyone in the world is on pins and needles. World wars have been started over less.
This is all not even to mention the nuclear problem. Every world superpower could push a few buttons and send hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads flying through the sky, turning hundreds of major cities into gravel in minutes and dramatically changing our earth’s landscape and climate. And they could do it today. I can’t even fathom the danger of the times we are living in. This world could be sent back into the Bronze Age in a matter of hours. Billions of people could die in a matter of minutes. We are on the edge of disaster, and the temperature is rising on the international scene as Russia begins to make moves. And of course, no one wants to start a nuclear war. So for now, Russia can do what it wants with few to no consequences.
War is terrible. No one with half a heart or half a brain wants to go to war. No one wants to see men and women die in combat. No one wants to see husbands and wives left as single parents. No one wants to see children become orphans. No one. Except for beasts who have the insatiable need to conquer and devour, grasping, taking, stealing, building their kingdoms, building their empires. And knowing all of this, we can begin to feel lost. We can become overwhelmed, believing that everything is out of control, tempted to live into that fear and paranoia. Or we can check out. We can defer engagement of any kind or avoid processing anything going on in the world. We can say, “I know the odds. I see what is happening in Ukraine, but the chances that global war will break out are so slim that it’s not worth my mental real estate.”
What should the church do? How should we think about the world? Is there another way?
This is not unlike what was happening in the 6th century BC in the middle east. In 598 BC, Jerusalem was surrounded and besieged by the Babylonian army for three months, until the city was finally conquered, and Jerusalem was made a vassal city of Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. All of Judah then became subject to the King of Babylon as well. Nebuchadnezzar took all of the wealthy and influential people captive and deported them, carrying them back across the desert to Babylon. The hope was to cripple Judah and make his own nation a lot richer.
Well, this is where we find our man, Daniel, in chapters 1-6 of the book bearing his name, which is the first half of the book. He and his three friends are taken captive by the Babylonian army and sent back to Babylon as prisoners of war to be reeducated, recultured, and re-religioned, if you will. And God has been with Daniel in Babylon, so that he has proven to be a wiser counselor in the king’s court than all of the other magicians and astrologers in the king’s service.
Then we find him again in chapter 7 at what is the beginning of the second half of the book. This is where the book just gets weird. There are visions of beasts with multiple heads, too many horns and talking horns; a being like a man, but maybe not like men also? There are heavenly court rooms, chariot wheels on fire, rivers of fire, angry farm animals, lots more horns, fighting angels, and other strange things. What is all of this? Well, we are going to look at the small section from our text today, verses 10-14 of chapter 7, and do the best we can to unpack it. But let’s start at the beginning of chapter 7 just to get situated.
Here we have Daniel telling us about his crazy dreams. And I am led to believe that he didn’t just have a bit of indigestion. He tells us that he sees three very intimidating animal-like beasts coming up out of the sea, and then he sees a fourth one, different from the other three, that tramples and devours everything in its path. Now the sea wasn’t just the ocean like we think of it. We go to the beach on vacation. Ancient near easterners, though, would have never vacationed at the beach. That was because the sea meant chaos. The sea in Scripture means uncreation and death. The sea is not a nice place to go deep sea fishing for the Israelites; it is a place that can ruin you forever. Think about Jonah 2. Here he is in the belly of the fish, underwater:
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help,
and you listened to my cry.
You hurled me into the depths,
into the very heart of the seas,
You can read the rest, but I wanted you to to see this a little better from Jonah’s perspective. The sea is the realm of the dead.
From there the scene shifts in verse 9, and Daniel sees thrones, and he sees the Ancient of Days taking his seat to convene as Judge among this heavenly court. We need to see that this whole scene is meant to convey God’s holiness and majesty. The text says he has white hair and white clothes, which basically means his clothes are bright like lightning. What else do we see? His throne is on fire, with fiery wheels and a river of fire pouring out from it. The imagery here is not of your grandpa, though God certainly loves you more than your grandpa, but the imagery here is of someone who has the ability to do something. He has authority to do something. He has the actual power and strength to get something done. What is that? He can give us justice. He can judge and does judge evil.
We see in verse 11 the fourth beast, the most horrible and evil of the four, is judged and executed in the fire, and the other three beasts all have all of their power taken away, though they persist for a little while. But what happens to their power? Let’s look at verses 13 and 14:
And behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
Their dominion, meaning their authority and power, is given to one like a son of man. This son of man comes up to the divine courtroom, and the text says he comes with the clouds. He is called the cloud rider. I’d like to unpack for you why this whole scene is significant. Let’s look at some ancient mythology that will help you understand Daniel’s visions even better. In Ancient Near Eastern cultures surrounding Israel, there was a set of gods which the Israelites were repeatedly reprimanded for worshiping. Do you remember who this is? It was a pantheon that included El, Ashtaroth, and Baal. Now, in Canaanite mythology, Baal was the son of El and Ashtaroth, and Baal fought the chaos monster god of the sea called Yamm. But before Baal fought Yamm he was told, “take your everlasting kingdom, your dominion for ever and ever,” and then after he won, there was a declaration, “Yamm is dead! Baal shall be king!” Sound familiar? Then there is one more detail that I think will interest you. Baal’s standard nickname is “the cloud rider.” I know . . .
Let’s think about this for a moment. We have two god figures: a defeated chaos monster from the sea and a cloud rider who receives everlasting dominion. Who are we talking about? Baal or Yahweh? Yes . . . So what do we do with this? Well, one thing this tells us is that the Canaanites were writing about true events, but they had the details wrong. They were deceived into believing counterfeit theology. They were getting close to the real thing but still missed the mark. In Daniel 7, God was showing his people and all nations that what the Canaanites and other ancient near eastern cultures claimed was true about their gods was actually only true about Yahweh. More than that, when God the Holy Spirit was inspiring the author of the book of Daniel, he was condescending in love to the people of Israel, using language and images they knew, but changing the details to show that He was the one who is completely in control.
Let’s look at one more thing. In the Old Testament, there are over 70 instances of someone coming with clouds. Do you know who that might be? It’s Yahweh, the God of Israel. So if in Daniel 7 we see the one time in over 70 that the one coming with clouds is not Yahweh, that would be extremely confusing and a major reversal. But you can breathe a sigh of relief; this is not some bizarre exception. Anytime someone is coming with clouds in Scripture, it means they are divine. So in our passage, we have Yahweh on the throne, the Ancient of Days, and we have Yahweh riding the clouds, the son of man.
I bet you have heard that nickname before. Son of Man was Jesus’ favorite way to refer to himself in the third person. You know, like we all do every day: Jacob is going to eat a sandwich now.
Well, Jesus gets this name from our passage, from Daniel 7! And I have another very striking connection for you. In Mark 14:62-64, Jesus is standing before the high priest after having been arrested earlier that night. The high priest asks him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus responds, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” This is Daniel 7!
But when does this actually happen? When does Jesus rise up on a cloud to meet his father, receive a kingdom, and sit down to reign? We have to look at Acts 1:9 to get the answer. These are Jesus' final minutes on earth with the disciples before he does what? “And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.” The answer: his ascension. In his ascension Jesus is crowned King. He rises to the Ancient of Days, having defeated chaos, death, and hell by the power of the cross, and there he receives an everlasting kingdom.
Now let's back out of the text, pan over, and zoom in again on our world and our international scene. There is a lot of uncertainty right now. Right? There are wars and rumors of wars, as Jesus said there would be. And it can be scary. It can be overwhelming. And we might be tempted to check out and avoid thinking about it. Or we might think none of it matters and we can just ignore it. But we need to remember that we have a King who is on the throne, who is not afraid, and who is not ignoring it. He has defeated the beasts. He has judged the kingdoms of the earth, and he will finally judge them one day before our eyes. What does the psalmist tell us?
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted on the earth!”
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Let us not forget the Good News. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. And when he comes again, every knee will bow before him, and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. We can trust him today. We can trust that he is in control and has not let anything that is going on in our world escape his notice. We can both trust him, leaving our anxiety in his hands, and we can also run to him in prayer, asking for justice. And we can keep going in that cycle: running to him in prayer, asking for justice, and then leaving our anxieties with him, trusting that on that day, the Day of the Lord, every injustice will be made right. Every mountain will be brought low. Every valley will be leveled. And every nation and person will receive the reward for what they have done, whether good or evil. Maranatha! Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Jacob Rogers is a middler and candidate for holy orders with the ACNA Special Jurisdiction of Armed Forces and Chaplaincy. Jacob, his wife, April, and their daughters come to Nashotah from the slightly sunnier Greenville, South Carolina. He enjoys tennis and disc golf in his extracurricular time. The preceding is a reflection on Daniel 7:9-14.
Also to note, Jacob was recently featured in Nashotah House’s A Day in the Life. Feel free to visit this link https://vimeo.com/706130188 . A Day in the Life is an inside look at the daily events in a seminarian’s life at the House, from morning prayer to Evensong, with classes and fellowship in between! Questions about applying to Nashotah House? Please contact admissions@nashotah.edu and they will be happy to help you out!