Vox Binging and Daniel 7
(A hasty written-in-iPhone-notes thought... so not very in-depth. I’ve decided that my blog shouldn’t just be for more polished posts, but for more raw reflections too!)
I have recently binged* Vox videos—the ones on international relations and politics. Particularly from the videos of the weaponisation of the Arctic, China’s colonisation of the South China Sea, and powers in the Middle East, I realised how much of our society is determined by those in positions of power, shaping foreign policy, vested with the power to issue decrees and press buttons that can change the course of history.
At the same time I’ve been going through the book of Daniel: so inspiring is his life of faithful, worshipful service within one of the world’s greatest empires in history, the Babylonian Empire. He has many visions looking forward to the coming Messiah, and they are distinctive among the OT prophecies because of their direct contact with political power.
(Edinburgh, January 2019)
Today I read Daniel 7, his vision of four beasts, described vividly as frightening and powerful. The climax is the last horn of the fourth beast, which “spoke boastfully”. It seems like a situation of terrifying abuses of power, the culmination of the abuses we see in our world today, perhaps the evil wielding of power by the prince of this world.
We are, however, then brought to a court presided by the Ancient of Days, his clothes white as snow and his hair white as wool, his throne flaming with fire, its wheels ablaze. What a magnificent judge sitting in such a court. Surely it is in this celestial court that the terrifying beast would be tried. The result? The “beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire”.
How amazing! Our God is not simply “just” in the sense that He wins His case in court: He’s not proven the “good” one vis-á-vis the “bad” one, on a balance. No. He’s not just counsel in the case. He is the Judge! Watching Vox videos has reminded me how much we accord sovereignty & control of the hugest-scale circumstances to the politically powerful. We speculate the destination of our world as if that’s the ultimate reality. It’s an amazing thing to be reminded that God sits and judges all. He is the arbiter of our ultimate reality, political power, in earthly and cosmic terms, resting in His hands (Proverbs 21:1). Indeed, our ultimate reality isn’t even a state of earthly society. It is an Eternal Destination beyond our comprehension, breaking our familiar sociopolitical structures. This means many amazing things, which my feeble human understanding can’t list exhaustively. But I can put a finger on some of the implications: It means we know and worship a God who is truly great and worthy. It also means when He says we are forgiven, we really are, for no higher arbiter can say otherwise. It also means we throw ourselves at the work in advancing His kingdom! It would be a dream to influence social policy in the direction of God’s vision for humanity, preventing corrupt abuses of power and accounting for the needs of the poor and voiceless. But it is even dreamier to engage in ultimate realities: ultimate destinations—working to share the Gospel until the whole world hears! How great a privilege—and what fear should grip us as we take that privilege—to work t advance this kingdom built and sustained by this great God who surpasses, created, reigns sovereign over, the powers in this world!
In the chapter we also see in greater detail how this promise of God’s authoritative deliverance is fulfilled. Just a few verses later: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” How crazy!
God’s sovereign rule is characterised by love: love so sacrificial it came down as a “son of man” riding on the clouds, taking our frail human form. This is necessary in order to ransom us from the dominion of the beast, securing our safety in his authority rather than being justly sentenced to death because of our sinfulness. Indeed, sovereign rule is vested in Jesus the “son of man”, God in human form, the representation of “God with us” Immanuel. He represents the reconciled “space” between God’s presence and our created world: the fact that He, the Son of man rules, reminds us that this is a truly reconciled relationship**. We are united with Christ, and He resides in us as our hope of glory, living in the presence of God the Ancient of Days, forever.
I watch Vox now with great fascination at the complex world that sprung out of the creative mind of God. I also watch with great anticipation at the marvel of Kingdom we are looking to inherit because of what the son of man has achieved for us.
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*I thought I was binging but I have come to realise my threshold for “binging” is pathetically low: my friend, who binged GoT, watched the whole Season 1 in a week; another friend watched the entire Glee series (all seasons) in half a term. By “binging” here I mean my low thresholds of 4 videos a day :3
**Highly highly recommend The Bible Project’s video on the concept of the “temple” of God as the space of overlap and reconciliation between heaven & earth.
