Week 5: The Vision of God and His Universal Dominion of the Coming of the Son of Man to Receive a Kingdom and the Necessity of Spiritual Warfare to Bring In the Kingdom of God
Last 2 weeks, we learned a lot about earthly kingdoms and the coming of Jesus to completely destroy them. This week, the scene moves to what is going to happen afterwards - God's universal dominion, and the coming of Christ as the Son of Man to receive dominion and kingdom.
Vision of God's universal dominion and of the coming of the Son of Man to receive a kingdom
The vision that Daniel saw in Daniel 7:9-10 shows us how glorious and majestic the judgment day would be.
I watched till thrones were put in place, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, And the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, Its wheels a burning fire; A fiery stream issued And came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, And the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10 NKJV)
God will judge justly. He is absolutely righteous, and He knows everything. No lawyer will be needed. No appeal will be necessary. I don't know how that can be, but I'm sure that no one will be able to say that God's judgment is not fair. Everyone will accept the judgment.
Yes, our God is the God of grace. But in the same time, He is also the God of righteousness. The bible says that our God is a "consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29), signifying His absolute righteousness.
The books here echo what the apostle John explained in the book of revelation.
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. (Revelations 22:10 NKJV)
Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ. While we were sinners and His enemies, He died for us all. And now, we have been adopted to be His children since we received Him and believed in His name. (John 1:12) Our names have been recorded in the book of life already. We need not to fear the judgment at all, because of the Lord's wonderful promise that, "whoever believes in Him (Jesus) should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16 NKJV) and "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:1 NKJV)
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood. (Fanny J. Crosby, hymn "Blessed Assurance")
Let's sing together:
This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long. (Fanny J. Crosby, hymn "Blessed Assurance")
The next scene that we are going to be amazed at is the coming of Christ as the Son of Man.
I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then 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 the one Which shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14 NKJV)
Obviously, the Son of Man signifies our Lord Jesus. This is the favourite title that Jesus used for Himself. He used it 88 times in the New Testament. With humility, He identified Himself with us. He died at the cross, resurrected, and ascended to heaven. His work of redemption then was accomplished. Now He is before the throne of God to receive dominion and glory and kingdom. His dominion shall never end or pass away, and His kingdom shall never be destroyed. Christ is coming back to destroy the entire human governments, and rule over the entire world.
One interesting point I got from the message is that the church is truly mysterious. No one throughout the history since the world was created ever knew about it, until it was revealed in the New Testament through the apostles. The age of church, or the age of mystery, was not mentioned at all in any vision that Daniel saw.
To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. (Ephesians 3:8-12 NKJV)
The church is no little thing. It manifests the wisdom of God. It is created according to the eternal purpose that He accomplished in our Lord Jesus Christ. It is so wonderful that we can come to enjoy the church life. We are a part of His body. We are a part of the fellowship of the mystery!
The necessity of spiritual warfare to bring in the kingdom of God
Next, the messages move to another important issue: spiritual warfare. There are many things happening behind the scene that we cannot see with our eyes, but they are real. This war is so active that we should not ignore.
In Daniel 10:12-13, we can see clearly how active the spiritual warfare is.
Then he [the angelic messenger] said to me, "Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia." (Daniel 10:12-13 NKJV)
While we are serving the Lord, we are not dealing with the things we see. We are fighting with the power of darkness behind them. That is why it is necessary to pray.
The church is called to engage in this spiritual warfare. It is our big responsibility to continue the warfare that Christ fought on earth. "The church, as the body of Christ, is His propagation, continuing His stand and work to fight against God's enemy." (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 44, p. 777) And the more we realise the importance of this warfare, the more we will pray. We need to pray ourselves into God, by praying as the Lord teaches us.
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:9-10 NJKV)
Prayer is so important because the kingdom cannot come if the church do not pray. And "genuine prayer is a joint labour with God to bring His kingdom to the earth and to carry out His will on earth; hence, prayer is nothing less than a spiritual battle. Prayer overturns the power of darkness and opens the way for God's will to be executed on earth." (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 44, p. 781)
Some people may be fearful when they hear about the spiritual warfare. But I would like to encourage you all that we don't have to fear. We know exactly that God is much greater than Satan. And He, the Triune God, is in us.
One has said that Satan is not a rival of God. Why? Because he is just a rival of the archangel Michael. Moreover, he will be defeated even by the archangel Michael.
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelations 12:7-9 NKJV)
God in us is much greater than Satan! So why should we fear him? Praise the Lord!
Reference
- The Holy Word for Morning Revival: Crystallisation Study of Daniel and Zechariah Volume 1, week 5.
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