Coming on Clouds

Portions of Daniel’s vision of the Fourth Beast with the Little Horn are applied to Jesus and his saints in the New Testament. Key phrases from Daniel’s vision of the four beasts “ascending from the Sea” and the “one like a Son of Man” are applied to the future coming of Jesus, descriptions of the Kingdom of God, and the sovereignty of the Messiah. What follows are several examples.

Jesus declared that “all the tribes of the earth” will see the “Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven.” This saying is derived from Daniel’s vision of the one like a “Son of Man” who approached the “Ancient of Days” on the “clouds of heaven.”

[Clouds - Photo by Jason Blackeye (Patra, Greece) on Unsplash]

The term “Son of Man” is the self-designation heard most often on the lips of Jesus. He is “that Son of Man,” as he once said, meaning the figure spoken of by Daniel. Every New Testament reference to the “Son of Man” is dependent on the passage from the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel.

• “I continued looking in the visions of the night, when, Behold! With the clouds of the heavens one like a son of man was coming, and to the Ancient of days he approached, and before him they brought him near, and to him were given dominion and sovereignty and kingship, that all peoples, races and tongues should do service to him. His dominion was an everlasting dominion, which should not pass away, and his kingdom that which should not be destroyed” – (Daniel 7:13-14).

The Prophet Daniel saw this figure arriving on the “clouds of heaven” to receive sovereignty over “all peoples, races, and tongues.” Likewise, after his resurrection, Jesus declared that he had received “all authority in Heaven and on Earth,” and therefore, he sent his disciples to proclaim his sovereignty to “all the nations” – (Daniel 7:13-14, Matthew 28:18).

In the Book of Revelation, the “slain Lamb” approached the “One who was sitting on the Throne” to receive the “Sealed Scroll.” Upon his arrival before the Throne, loud voices proclaimed him “worthy” to receive all “power and authority” since he “purchased men from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and made them a kingdom of priests” – (Revelation 5:5-14).

• “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, and those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen” – (Revelation 1:7).

The “Son of Man” approached the Ancient of Days in Daniel to receive his “dominion.” Similarly, Jesus will “come on the clouds” and gather his “elect” to himself. He received his sovereignty following his Death and Resurrection, and he will return at the end of the age to gather all his saints and consummate the Kingdom.

When the High Priest challenged Jesus whether he was the Messiah or not, he responded, “I am he, and you will see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.” By doing so, he not only confirmed his identity as the Messiah, but cemented the identification of the Messiah forever with the figure of the “Son of Man” – (Mathew 26:64).

Paul described how both living and resurrected saints will “meet Jesus in the air” as he descends to the Earth. On that day, his saints will be “gathered to him on the clouds,” and thereafter, they will be with him “forevermore” – (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:1-6, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).

THE BEAST

In the Book of Revelation, the four beasts of Daniel are transformed into a single “Beast from the Sea.” It possesses the animal characteristics of Daniel’s four creatures from the sea. It is a composite of those previous beasts. The single “Beast” of Revelation is related to these four beasts, but it is also something more - (Revelation 13:1-5).

The Book of Revelation does not simply reiterate what Daniel wrote. It uses material from Daniel to draw a more complete picture. Daniel saw four beasts, but John saw only one. This single beast has all the worst elements of its four predecessors along with those of the “Little Horn” described in Chapter 7 of Daniel, the ruler who persecuted the “saints” – (Daniel 7:21, Revelation 13:7-10).

The “Beast from the Sea” appears again in Chapter 17 where it is under the economic control of “Babylon, the Great Harlot.” Its seven heads represent “seven kingdoms,” and already in John’s time, five of those regimes had “fallen,” the sixth existed, and the seventh was yet to come - (Revelation 17:7-17).

The “Beast from the Sea” is a trans-historical reality. It is a political entity that appears periodically in history, one that “ascends” repeatedly from the Abyss/Sea to wage “war against the saints.”

A passage used several times by Revelation is from Daniel’s description of the assault against the “saints” by the “Little Horn.” It “made war with the saints and overcame them.” This phrase is applied to the attacks by the “Dragon” and the “Beast” against the “Two Witnesses,” the “seed of the woman,” the “saints,” and in an ironic twist, to Satan’s war with the “Lamb” - (“These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them” – Daniel 7:21, Revelation 5:6-12, 7:9-14, 11:7, 12:17, 13:7, 17:14, 19:19).

Thus, the authors of the New Testament interpreted the vision of Daniel in new and unexpected ways, especially in light of what God has done in Jesus Christ. He is the “Son of Man” who receives “dominion” from his Father on behalf of his people because of his Death and Resurrection, and he is the Son of Man who will appear at the end of the age on the “clouds of heaven.” When he arrives, he will gather his “elect” and render judgment on the nations and his enemies. Jesus is “that Son of Man.”

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SEE ALSO:

• The Son of Man - (The one like a Son of Man in Daniel is the source of Christ’s self-designation as the Son of Man and his authority)

• The End - (The New Testament moves inescapably from the life and death of Jesus to the last hour when God judges the wicked and vindicates the righteous)

• Good News for all Nations - (The Good News announced by Jesus of Nazareth provides salvation and life for men and women of every nation and people)

• The Single Beast - (In Daniel and Revelation, the “Beast” is a single history-spanning entity that has existed since at least the dawn of human civilization)