The Ascension

“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."

Daniel 7:13

Daniel 7 is a well studied chapter because it is considered to provide much of the context and meaning of the term "Son of Man" that Jesus used.  

In Chapter 7 Daniel unfolds the history of world domination before and up to his time using animals as metaphors of the world powers that affected Israel.  

1.  Babylon (which took Judah into captivity in the turn of the 6th Century B.C.) is represented by a lion, 

2.  The symbol of Persia (the rule that allowed Judah to rebuild in the 6th and 5th Century B.C.) is a bear, 

3.  Greece (which conquered the world in the 4th Century B.C.) is symbolized by a leopard, and 

4.  Rome is pictured as a dreadful beast. 
5.  Israel was "the son of man" who was to receive the power and the glory of the kingdoms after their rule is taken away from them.  This "son of man" interpretation is clearly spelled out in Daniel 7:15-18, but overshadowed by the Christian concept of Jesus who represents the fulfillment and representative of Israel's destiny in the new covenant.

The first four of these animals were the consecutive empires that claimed rule over Israel from the 6th Century B.C. until well into the early centuries A.D.   Ultimately, Daniel is interested most of all in the history of the events that led up to and the immediate after effects of the "abomination of desolation" when Antiochus Epiphanes offered a pig on the altar of God in the Holy of Holies in 167 B.C. (see Daniel 9:27).  The book of Daniel is mostly concerned about the events and histories leading up to this abomination and the setting up of God's kingdom after the fall of Antiochus.

One by one God strips the kingdoms of their power in Daniel 7 and gives power and dominion to one who is like the son of man who comes to God with the clouds.  Notice, in Daniel the son of man comes with the clouds and comes to the throne of God, not to the earth.  God is the ultimate judge over humanity and as the son of man comes to the throne of God for judgment, God gives him power and dominion to rule the earth.

Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.

 Acts 1:9

When Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts 1, a cloud received him as he went up.  The imagery here is very interesting in that there is a cloud receiving Jesus and taking him into heaven.  Could this be a picture of the fulfillment of Daniel 7 when power and dominion is handed over to the son of man?

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 

Matthew 28:19

No doubt, the early church saw and understood that Jesus received the power, the glory and the dominion that Daniel predicted would come to Israel.  When Daniel wrote, he expected the son of man (as the symbol of Israel) to be the people of God who would receive dominion.  And indeed, they received authority over their own nation for about 100 years shortly after the fall of Antiochus; but this was not dominion over the rest of the world.

As Jesus went into heaven with the clouds in Acts 1, he was receiving the dominion on behalf of the Israel of God.  But history teaches us that even though Jesus received all power in heaven and on earth; even though Jesus still has dominion over the nations, not all things are yet delivered up to God.  There is still war, violence, injustice, poverty, and immorality. 

“Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.” 

Acts 1:11

As we piece together scripture, we discover the promise that Jesus will come back and establish the complete form of dominion of God over this world. Just how this will happen and the different views that Christians believe are the subjects of my next blog.