Any
good detective story ends with a great twist.
Perhaps the best person at telling such a story, a whodunit, is Agatha
Christie. Each of her crime novels tells
the story of a murder and develops characters is incredible detail. One of her super sleuths works their way
through the characters, through the different stories and the crime scene, and
comes up with the conclusion. In the best
stories, all of the clues were there for you to figure out, but it often takes
the final unveiling to reveal the key that fits everything together.
In
some way, Jesus puts us through such a story.
All along in his ministry he is dropping clues regarding who he is and
how people should understand him. The
Gospel of Mark, particularly, is written almost like a whodunit. It asks the question throughout, who is this
Son of Man. Jesus uses this term to
describe himself throughout his life, Son of Man. And it isn’t until the end of the story that
we find out what that means.
Our
Gospel reading is the great unveiling at the end of the detective story. Jesus is asked, while on trial, if he is the
Christ, the Son of the Blessed One.
Jesus answers, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” This is the key to the mystery, it fits all of
the clues, and reveals the astounding identity of this one who had walked the
roads of Israel for three years. It is a
shocking answer, as the high priest tears his clothes as a sign of
blasphemy. However, we don’t appreciate
the shock of this because we’ve just read the conclusion of the story rather
than the whole book. We’re like those
people who read the last page of the book before they start. In order to understand this, to get all of
the clues to which Jesus is referring, we need to turn back the pages in the
story to the book of Daniel, chapter 7, which is where our Old Testament was read
from this morning.
As
we look at this vision of the prophet Daniel we meet the Son of Man, who is the
divine king who rules forever.
Our
reading from Daniel comes in the middle of the prophet’s vision. Daniel is a Jew who is exiled in Babylon, far
away from his home of Jerusalem. He has
been taken captive and his people suffer under the tyrannical rule of a pagan
kingdom. Chapter 7 begins by describing
a vision which he had in the night. He
sees four beasts coming up out of the sea (the sea represents chaos in the
Hebrew mind). The first three beast are
described as animals; a lion with wings like an eagle, a bear with three ribs
in its mouth, and a leopard with four wings like a bird. These represent nations of the earth. They are strange enough, but then there is a
fourth beast. Daniel, in chapter 7
verses 7-8, describes this beast. “After
that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast--
terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed
and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was
different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. While I was thinking about the horns, there
before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three
of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of
a human being and a mouth that spoke boastfully.” This beast is so terrifying that Daniel
cannot describe it. No animal which he
knows of is like it. Everything about it
is horrifying; it has large teeth, two rows, they are made of iron, and ten
horns. It crushes and devours its
victims and tramples them underfoot. On
top of that, there are great boast coming from one of its horns. All of these are descriptions of great power,
power that rebels against God. And,
understandably Daniel is worried. If the
other beasts represented empires in the world, this one describes the ultimate
evil kingdom.
This
is where we pick up in our reading.
After describing this great worldly power, we are transported into the
heavenly throne room, where God directs and rules the course of human history. God is described as the Ancient of Days,
meaning that he is everlasting. His
clothing and hair is white, which tells us of his purity. The fire which surrounds him and flows from
his throne represents his holiness, that quality which flows from God’s
purity. While the beast boasts of its
own power with its little horn, God receives the worship and adoration of
thousands upon thousands who serve him and stand before him. He does not need to boast, as all creation
recognizes his greatness. Finally, the
last part of the description of God’s throne room sets up a conflict for
us. We are told that the court is seated
and the books are opened. These books
are the books of judgment, the record of the righteous and the wicked.
So
we have these two characters, the unstoppable beast and the everliving God, and
the scene is set for judgment. Who is
going to win? The text deals with that
rather quickly. The beast makes the
first move and starts boasting. However,
the Ancient of Days simply slays the beast, destroys it, and its body is thrown
into the fire of his holiness. No
contest. God wins.
Before
Daniel can react and give praise for this great victory another character
enters the scene: the son of man. This
term can be used in the Bible to denote a human being, meaning son of
Adam. C. S. Lewis picks up on this usage
in his Chronicles of Narnia, when the four children who enter the world Narnia
are calls Son of Adam and Daughter of Even.
However, the way this son of man is described suggests something more
than just a human being. He is the son
of man, coming with the clouds of heaven.
This description of the clouds reminds us of times in the Bible when God
shows up. In Deuteronomy 33, Moses
describes God by saying, “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides
across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in his majesty.” Psalm 18:9 tells of a time when God “parted
the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.” These descriptions are throughout the Old
Testament and applied to God, and here they are applied to this Son of
Man.
This cloud-rider
enters the presence of the Ancient of Days and receives the fruit of his
victory. Whereas the beast had boasted
of power over all the earth, the Son of Man receives a kingdom which rules over
all people. We are told that, “He was
given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of
every language worshipped him.” What is
given the Son of Man is a kingdom; he is given all the tools which he needs to
rule over all people, and in their turn people worship him. He has the authority to command activities in
his kingdom, he has the glory of God himself, and the power to do what he
commands. These are important
attributes, because they are at other times used to describe God. For example; in Isaiah 45:11, God tells us
that he alone is Lord and he will not share his glory with another. We are told throughout the Old Testament that
God alone is to be worshipped, yet here we have the Son of Man being
worshipped. What do these clues mean?
The final
description that we have of this Son of Man is of his kingdom. The beasts was a temporal being, it passed
away and was destroyed. However, the
kingdom of the Son of Man is “an everlasting dominion that will not pass away,
and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” The rule of this Son of Man is eternal. God had promised such a thing to the kingdom
of Israel in his covenant with David. In
1 Chronicles, God promised David, “I will be his father, and he will be my son.
I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your
predecessor. I will set him over my
house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.” And here, in Daniel 7, the Son of Man takes
the reigns of an everlasting kingdom which will never be destroyed. He is the divine king who rules forever.
These are the
clues given to us. Many in between the
times of Daniel’s vision and the time of Christ, in what’s known as the
Intertestamental Period, wondered about these clues. Who is this one? He is described in so many ways like God, but
he is distinct. He is described as a
divine being, a king like only Yahweh could be, and he has an everlasting
kingdom. Is he God as well? How could this be, if God is one? If God is one, why are there multiple thrones
set up in this vision? Later in Daniel’s
vision, it seems like this Son of Man also represents the faithful of God. How could this one be the divine king and
also one of them?
Like a good
mystery novel, we have to wait until the last chapter to get the twist, the
conclusion which fits together these clues.
And we get it on that terrible night of the trial of Christ. Standing before the High Priest, Jesus
answers that “I am the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One, and you will see
the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds
of heaven.” He claims to be that one,
that divine king who rules forever. No
wonder the high priest tears his robes; because Jesus is either the very
presence of God, filled with his glory, or he has just made the most offensive
statement possible. And, in the high
priest’s mind, it can only be the second option.
Why? Because the person who stands before him
looks nothing like a king. He is haggard
after being struck by the officers of the high priests. The spit of one of those officers still runs
down his beard. He is handcuffed. How could this divine warrior, the Son of
Man, look like this? But that is the
nature of the kingdom of Christ. In
John’s Gospel we are told about Jesus’ conversation with Pontius Pilate. “Are you a king?” Pilate asks. Jesus answers, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to
prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another
place.” He kingdom is not of this world
and he wins his great victory in a way that he don’t expect. Jesus defeats the great empire of evil and
sin, through the shedding of his own blood rather than the blood of his
enemies. The king gives himself up for
the sake of the kingdom. And by doing
so, he receives a kingdom and passes it on to us. Just before he ascends to heaven, Jesus
gathers his disciples to himself and tells them, “All authority in heaven and
on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the age.”
All authority has been given to him, just as Daniel saw. And here he sends his servants out, to
proclaim the kingdom of the divine king who rules forever.
So this is the twist at the end: these clues
of a divine king who is like God and like men, who rules forever, is solved in
Jesus Christ. He is the Son of Man,
fully God and fully Man, who wins a great victory over evil and reigns by his
Father’s side forever. Now that we have
solved the puzzle, how does this apply to us?
Daniel received the vision of the divine
king who rules forever. He saws this
vision in the night, when he was in exile, when his people were
subjugated. In response to the great
evil in the world, the Lord God showed Daniel that he was ultimately in
control. Even though the beasts of the
world seemed terrifying beyond words, God would bring judgment, and His
judgment would put a swift end to this evil.
He reminded Daniel, through the Son of Man, that God had a plan for his
people, in which a king who was like them and like him rules forever. This was a great comfort to Daniel. Despite the evil surrounding him, God was
assuredly in control. Nothing could stop
his plan. And, from this vision, Daniel
is given hope for the future. It will
not always be as it is now, but God will bring about a different time when the
saints of God flourish in a peaceful kingdom, ruled by this Son of Man.
This comfort and hope which was given to
Daniel are given to us as well, as we realize who the Son of Man is. He is the divine king who rules forever,
which means that no matter what evil befalls us, God is in control. No matter the unrest around the world, the
uncertainty of the economy here, or the unrest and chaos in our own homes and
our own hearts, the Lord God reigns. The
Son of Man has received his kingdom, he rules forever, and no evil will stop
him from fulfilling his plan, in which the saints of God enjoy rest from their
troubles and the joy of God’s presence.
Through the knowledge that Christ is our King, we, too, have comfort and
hope.
And yet, we should not forget how our king
won his kingdom from the great evil empire.
He won it through a cross, after standing before the powers of his day
with a torn, tattered and blood spatter robe.
Although he reigns forever, he does not promise us that life will not be
hard. As our king, he suffered,
therefore, we expect to suffer as well.
That is part of being a subject in the kingdom of heaven. The paradox of this kingdom is that in
suffering, we still have comfort and hope, because our kings kingdom is not of
this world. This is the fact that keeps
so many Christians being persecuted throughout the world joyous in their
faith. They know that Christ is our
King, the divine king who rules forever.
John Calvin, 16th century theologian, put it this way. “Thus it is that we may patiently pass
through this life with its misery, hunger, cold, contempt, reproaches, and
other troubles—content with this one thing: that our King will never leave us
destitute, but will provide for our needs until, our warfare ended, we are
called to triumph.”
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