The Kingdom of the Saints Text: Daniel 7:15-18
Introduction: The Inescapable Conflict
We live in a time that despises interpretation. Our secular overlords want a world of brute facts, a world without meaning, a world without a storyteller. They want the raw data of Daniel's terrifying vision, the beasts rising from the sea, the horns, the thrones, but they want to stop there. They want the chaos without the commentary, the nightmare without the angel to explain it. Why? Because if there is an interpretation, that means there is an Interpreter. If there is meaning, there is a Mind behind it. And if there is a Mind, then we are accountable to that Mind.
The modern project is a desperate attempt to live in Daniel's vision before the angel shows up. It is an attempt to stare into the abyss of political turmoil, of clashing empires and monstrous ideologies, and to conclude that this is all there is. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. The beasts are real, they say, but the kingdom of the saints is a fairy tale. The alarm is real, but the assurance is a delusion.
But Daniel, a man of God living in the heart of a pagan empire, knows better. He is not a stoic; the visions distress him. He is not a modern political pundit who can look at monstrous evil and simply offer dry analysis. He is alarmed, as any sane man would be. But his alarm drives him to the right place. It drives him to seek the meaning, the "exact meaning." He doesn't just want the facts; he wants the truth. He approaches "one of those who were standing by," an angelic interpreter, because he knows that God does not give His people riddles without answers. He does not show us the storm without also showing us the ark.
This passage is the pivot point in the chapter. We move from the raw, terrifying symbolism of the four beasts to the divine Cliff's Notes. And the interpretation is a direct assault on every form of political despair. It is a frontal attack on the idea that the beasts have the last word. The history of the world is not, finally, the story of ravenous empires. It is the story of a kingdom, an indestructible kingdom, given to a people God calls His saints. What we have here is the ultimate plot summary of all of human history, and if we grasp it, it will revolutionize how we view the morning headlines.
The Text
"As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions of my head kept alarming me. I came near to one of those who were standing by and began seeking out from him the exact meaning of all this. So he said it to me and made known to me the interpretation of these things: ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’"
(Daniel 7:15-18 LSB)
The Prophet's Distress (v. 15)
We begin with Daniel's personal reaction to what he has seen.
"As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions of my head kept alarming me." (Daniel 7:15)
It is important that we start here. Daniel is not a detached observer. He is not watching a movie. The prophetic vision has a visceral effect on him. He is "distressed" and "alarmed." This is the proper response to seeing the true nature of fallen, human political power. When God pulls back the curtain on what earthly empires look like from heaven's perspective, the sight is not a pretty one. They are not noble experiments in human flourishing; they are ravenous, devouring beasts rising from the chaotic sea of the gentile nations.
We should take a lesson from this. A cavalier or flippant attitude toward the great political conflicts of history is a sign of spiritual immaturity. These things are not a game. The beasts have real teeth and real claws. They devour real people. Tyranny is monstrous. War is horrific. The rise and fall of empires is a bloody, turbulent business. Daniel's alarm is the reaction of a righteous man who understands the stakes.
But his alarm is not despair. Notice the difference. Despair is what the worldling feels when he sees the beasts and believes they are ultimate. The secularist sees the horror and concludes that the universe is meaningless. The Christian sees the horror, is rightly alarmed, but knows there is a throne above the chaos. Daniel's distress does not lead him to curl up in a ball; it leads him to seek understanding. It is a holy alarm, a sanctified anxiety, that drives him to the source of truth.
The Pursuit of Meaning (v. 16)
Daniel's response to his alarm is the model for all believers in confusing times.
"I came near to one of those who were standing by and began seeking out from him the exact meaning of all this. So he said it to me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:" (Daniel 7:16)
Daniel does not lean on his own understanding. He doesn't try to spin the vision to fit his preconceived notions. He goes to the angelic attendant, a messenger from the heavenly court, and asks for the "exact meaning." The Hebrew word here suggests truth, certainty. He wants the firm foundation, not speculation.
This is a profound rebuke to our age of interpretive relativism, where every man does what is right in his own eyes and every reader is his own authority. Daniel acknowledges that the meaning of the vision does not originate with him. It must be revealed to him. In the same way, we must approach Scripture. We do not impose our meaning on the text; we are to seek out the exact meaning that the Divine Author has embedded within it. We do this by the means He has given us: the Holy Spirit, the communion of the saints, and the diligent study of His Word.
And the angel is more than willing to provide the interpretation. God is not trying to hide the truth from His people. Apocalyptic literature is not a collection of esoteric riddles for a few super-spiritual elites. The word apocalypse means "unveiling." God's purpose in these visions is to reveal, not to conceal. He wants His people to know how the story ends so that they can be faithful in the middle of it.
The Earthly Kingdoms Summarized (v. 17)
The angel begins with a blunt, summary statement about the beasts.
"‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.’" (Daniel 7:17)
Here is the first crucial distinction. The beasts, for all their terror, "arise from the earth." Their origin is terrestrial. They are man-made empires, born from the dust and returning to the dust. This is the Bible's consistent evaluation of all political power that sets itself up in opposition to God. It is earthy, and therefore it is temporary. Whether we are talking about Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, or Rome, or their subsequent iterations throughout history, their foundation is in the dirt.
The angel calls them "four kings," which can stand for both the individual rulers and the kingdoms they represent. This is a summary statement. The details will be filled in later, but the fundamental point is established. The monstrous powers that seem to dominate the world stage are, from God's perspective, a numbered and limited sequence of earthly kingdoms. There are four of them. Not five. Not an endless succession. Their time is fixed, and their nature is beastly.
The Heavenly Kingdom Bestowed (v. 18)
Then comes the great reversal, the glorious antithesis to the earthly kingdoms.
"‘But the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.’" (Daniel 7:18)
This "but" is one of the most powerful hinges in all of Scripture. It is the pivot upon which all of history turns. The beasts arise from the earth, BUT the saints receive their kingdom from heaven. The beasts take their kingdoms by violence, devouring and trampling, BUT the saints "receive" the kingdom as a gift of grace. The kingdoms of the beasts are sequential and temporary, BUT the kingdom of the saints is eternal, "forever, for all ages to come."
Who are these saints? The Hebrew is literally "the holy ones of the Most High." This refers to the covenant people of God. In the Old Testament, this was faithful Israel. In the New Testament, this identity is expanded to include all those, Jew and Gentile, who are united to Christ by faith. We are the saints. This is not a title for a few exceptional Christians; it is the job description for every believer. We have been set apart as holy ones for the Most High God.
And what is our destiny? It is not to be perpetual victims of the beasts. It is not to be evacuated out of history before the real conflict begins. Our destiny is to "receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom." This is not a passive, ethereal, pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by affair. The word "possess" is a strong word, implying active inheritance and rule. This is the consistent promise of Scripture. Jesus told His disciples, "Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32). Paul tells us that we are to judge the world and even angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). In Revelation, we are told that Christ has made us a "kingdom and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth" (Revelation 5:10).
This is the heart of a robust, optimistic, postmillennial eschatology. History is not an endless cycle of beastly empires. It is the story of the kingdom of God, which started as a mustard seed at the ascension of Christ and will grow until it fills the whole earth. The beasts have their day. They rage and roar and seem invincible. But their time is short. The future belongs to the saints. The meek shall inherit the earth. Not because of our strength, but because the Highest One, the Ancient of Days, has decreed it. The Son of Man has received the kingdom (Dan. 7:13-14), and He, in turn, gives it to His people.
Conclusion: From Alarm to Assurance
Daniel's journey in these few verses is the journey every Christian must take. We begin with a realistic, biblically-informed alarm at the state of the world. We see the beasts for what they are. We do not stick our heads in the sand or pretend that godless ideologies are harmless pets. We are distressed by sin and tyranny.
But that alarm must drive us to seek the "exact meaning" from God's Word. It must drive us to the heavenly perspective. And when we get there, we find this glorious, unshakeable assurance. The beasts are from the earth, and their end is destruction. But our kingdom is from heaven, and it is an everlasting dominion.
This means that our work in the present is never in vain. Every act of faithfulness, every child raised in the fear of the Lord, every gospel word spoken, every righteous law defended, is an act of possessing the kingdom. We are not fighting for a lost cause. We are on the winning side of a war that has already been decided at the cross and the empty tomb. The beasts will continue to rage for their appointed time, but they are fighting a rearguard action against a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Therefore, let us receive this kingdom with confidence and possess our possessions with joy, knowing that the future belongs not to the beasts, but to the saints of the Most High.