An Introduction: Understanding Acts Through Daniel 7

I have written about this in part. See the post entitled, He who Rides the Clouds. But I will touch on it again. Daniel 7 is another lens through which to understand the Book of Acts.

Let’s turn to Daniel 7, verses 13-14:

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.

In reading this, you should be struck by the reference to “all peoples, nations, and languages” connected with His dominion, and glory, and kingdom. This reference in Daniel 7 is indivisibly connected with the Lord’s post-resurrection mandate to go and make disciples from “all nations,” baptizing them into the Name, and teaching them to obey all that Jesus had commanded his disciples—starting in Jerusalem unto the ends of the earth—which I discussed in An Introduction: Understanding Acts through a Mandate.

Isn’t God lovely to weave all these threads together? These are the wonderful things in His word I find so compelling. I also love seeing the Father glorify the Son; through Scripture we are given a behind-the-scenes look, if you will, into the love the Father has for the Son. Sit here at my right hand, He said, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. The Father is as much engaged in the dominion and glory and kingdom of His dear Son, as the Son is.

Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the children of God. And that is what we are—loved in Christ in the same way. See 1 John 3:1. But I digress.

If Jesus is the One like the Son of Man, and given “dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him,” what would that look like here on earth? What form would it take? How could His dominion or glory or kingdom be recognized if Jesus was in fact risen from the dead and enthroned? Luke provides the answers to these questions raised by Daniel 7, verses 13-14. In Acts, we see men transferred from the dominion of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son in light. See Colossians 1:13.

So, through this lens, we have several themes: Christ’s sovereignty is in full view. The Trinity is in full view: the Father loves the Son, the Son demonstrated His love for the Father, and the Holy Spirit is bring this love into all nations, through ordinary men and women made extraordinary by His love.