Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Jesus's True Purpose | The Writings | Daniel 7

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Did Jesus come to be your personal savior? Did he come to be king? Can he be both? In today's episode, Jensen looks to Daniel 7 to share an important prophecy from Daniel 7 about who Jesus really is. Read the Bible with us in 2024! This year, we’re tackling a group of Old Testament books traditionally known as “The Writings”— Psalms, Chronicles, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth and more! Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Daniel 7

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. And the time it takes to get to work. I'm Jensen Holt McNair. Jesus is King. Now, what comes to your mind when I say that? I have to admit that I think about Kanye West's ninth studio album titled Jesus is King. See, when West released this album, it left much of the Christian community divided over whether or not we should get behind the album, either because of the lyrics or the fact that

that Kanye West was the one who had written it. I'm not here to argue over whether it's okay to sing Jesus' king at church. What I do find interesting is the fact that when Kanye released this album, he called it an expression of the gospel. He says that when he gave his life over to God, he wanted to spread the gospel, and so he wrote Jesus as King. And no matter what you think about the album or Kanye, I find it incredibly interesting that Kanye titled an album to spread the gospel Jesus is king. Not because it's wrong. I actually think he's right on the money. But because if you asked most modern Christians what the gospel is, they'd give you an answer that had very little, if anything, to do with the idea of Jesus being king. Instead, most people's gospel goes something like this.

Jesus came and died for our sins so that we can go to heaven one day. And if you believe in him and repent of your sins, he will forgive you and take you to heaven when you die. Now, most theologians would agree that this portrayal of the gospel includes key truths that we find in scripture. But many also agree that we're missing out on huge parts of the gospel story that Jesus himself seemed to focus on. Jesus didn't come just to give us a get-out-of-hell-free card. He came with a mission, with a purpose.

He came as a fulfillment to a bigger story God had been. writing for hundreds of years. He came to be king. But I'm getting ahead of myself. See, today, we're all the way back in Daniel 7. Jesus has not come on the scene yet. Instead, we've been following the life of Daniel. He's a faithful Jew living in exile in Babylon, and he's remaining faithful to God as he directly serves in the governments of foreign kings. And so far, we've been dealing with narrative about Daniel's life. But today, with Chapter 7, the book of Daniel takes a turn. From here on out, we will be dealing with the prophetic, apocalyptic visions that Daniel had throughout his life. So chapter 7, it doesn't follow chronologically from Chapter 6. Instead,

it takes us back to a time earlier on in Daniel's life when he's given a vision from God. Now, if you've been listening and reading along with us, you may have recognized that this vision has similar components to the one Daniel interpreted for King Nebuchadnezzar back in chapter two. See, Daniel sees four beasts, which represent four powerful kingdoms of the world. But in verse nine, Daniel sees someone else enter the scene. As I looked, thrones were placed and the ancient of days took his seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire. fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. A thousand thousands served him,

and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court sat in judgment and the books were opened. I looked then because of the sound of the great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, the beast was killed and its body destroyed and given over to be burned with fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away. But their lives were prolonged for a and a time. So here, we have the ancient of days who is God, and he's sitting on the judgment seat. He has white clothing to symbolize his purity, hair of wool to symbolize his wisdom, and the flames surrounding his throne remind us of his power and divine presence. A thousand thousands stand before him, telling us that all nations, and not just these four,

are before him. And as he judges justly, the fourth beast is killed, and the remaining beasts have their dominion taken away from them, though they persist. No kingdom can overpower or outlast God. In his divine judgment, he will end the oppressive kingdoms of the world and strip them of their dominion. And in the following verses, we learn where this dominion, the power to rule over the whole earth is given. Verse 13. And behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man. And he came to the ancient of days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all people's nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and is kingdom

one that shall not be destroyed. So here we learn that dominion and glory and an everlasting kingdom that will reign over all people and nations is given to one like a son of man. In other places in the Old Testament, the phrase son of man is used just to denote that someone is human, not God. But this son of man is different. He's like a son of man, but he also comes on the clouds, which is used in other places of scripture as a symbol to denote divine authority. So he is presented before the ancient of days. He's given dominion and glory and a kingdom of all, which parallels God's dominion. And so while this one is like a son of man, he is also distinctly other. He is also divine.

And it is this son of man who will be given the dominion to rule over all of creation, to have a kingdom that will never be destroyed, to be the one who will be king forever. And Daniel, as he's seeing this vision, he's anxious and troubled. Later it tells us his thoughts greatly alarmed him. Who would this man be? What would his kingdom be like? How would he overcome the kingdoms of the world? Daniel is stunned by what he has seen and he doesn't have the complete picture. But this vision of the Son of Man would stick in the minds of the Jewish people.

As foreign kingdoms ruled over and oppressed them, they would look back and be reminded that God had promised to establish David's kingdom forever. And here, they learned that he would do it through this Son of Man, one who would be human and yet also divine. And so they waited, not for a personal Savior, not for someone who had set them free from hell, no, they waited for a king. And then a man from Nazareth named Jesus came onto the scene. And throughout his ministry, recorded in the Gospels, we find a multitude of accounts of Jesus

referring to himself as the son of man. And as he does so, he ruffles feathers. At first, people may think he is just calling himself a human, a son of man, of Adam. But as his ministry progresses, as he becomes more bold, as he becomes more scrutinized, they begin to realize what he's actually saying. See, when they realize he's been saying things like the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. Since the very beginning of his ministry, they cannot ignore the fact that Jesus isn't just claiming to be a son of man, but to be the son of man, the one that was propheserable. The one that was prophesied to come all the way back in Daniel chapter 7. And in Mark 14, when they arrest Jesus for

his claims and put him on trial, there's no more guessing needed. Jesus makes it very clear who he is. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Messiah, the son of the blessed one? I am, said Jesus, and you will see the son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven. Jesus is so clear in his assertion that he is the one from Daniel 7 that they kill him for blasphemy. They hang him on a cross to die because he tells him that he is the one Daniel spoke of, who stands before the ancient of days and comes down on the clouds to establish his kingdom, the promised kingdom with no end. He is the promised messianic king. There's no mistaking what he's saying here. Jesus never wavered from his message. He was sent to establish a kingdom

that would never end. He was sent as the promised king, the son of man, who would have an everlasting dominion and glory. Jesus brought the good news, the gospel that he had come to bring a better kingdom, one that would not oppress the weak, one that would not be divided by opinions, one that was not built on greed, one that would not be rampant with injustice, evil, war, and unrest. He would establish an everlasting kingdom full of love, justice, and peace. And he spent his life teaching his disciples and the crowds about what this kingdom looked like, what kind of king he would be, and how we could live alongside him in this kingdom. Now, of course, part of Jesus establishing his kingdom meant that he had to make a way for sinful people to dwell with a holy God. And so he secured

our righteousness on the cross and broke the chains the death had on humanity when he rose from the dead, the good news of the gospel is that Jesus made a way for you and I to live in his kingdom with him as our king forever. This means that Jesus is king. He is the one that Daniel 7 tells us about. He's the king and he invites you and me to live our lives in humble submission to a good king, obediently following him and devoting our gifts, our talents, our entire lives to establishing his kingdom in our lives. One day, he will return and bring his physical reign over all the earth. He has full dominion now, but the kingdoms of the world still exist. Death has no claim to us if we have given our lives over to Jesus. We are members of a better kingdom. This kingdom comes.

comes with a king, a king who calls us to live in the way that we were created to live. Too often we forget Jesus' purpose in coming to earth. We forget that he came to establish a kingdom, to be our king. We forget that he calls us to repent and believe in the gospel, believe there's a better kingdom, a better king, a better way to live. And to not just believe in a mental affirmation way, but to believe so deeply that Jesus is king right now, that it shapes and influences every area of our lives.

If you really truly believed that Jesus was the one who the father sent to bring his everlasting kingdom to this world, if you really believed that Jesus is that promised king, how would your life change today? King Jesus is asking for your whole life. And in return, he's inviting you into a mission, a purpose, a kingdom that's far bigger than you. It's the best thing you could ever hope for. The most beautiful kingdom that will never fail, never fall into ruin, never be torn apart. It's ruled by a good and loving king who created you,

created you to live in a way that is good for you. See, believing in the gospel isn't just saying you believe Jesus died and rose from the dead so you don't go to hell. It's so much bigger than that. So much more beautiful than that and so much more transformative than that. The good news of the gospel begins today, not when you die. Jesus is king today. Jesus is calling you to build his kingdom alongside him today.

Will you join your king?