Daily Retreat 11/27/07
2007 Nov 27 Tue
Dn 2:31-45/ Dn 3:57. 58. 59. 60. 61/ Lk 21:5-11
From today’s readings: “The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future.... Give glory and eternal praise to Him.... See that you not be deceived....”
Daniel’s Denouement of the Dazzling Dream
In chapter two, Daniel interprets that vivid dream of King Nebuchadnezzar about a terrifying statue symbolizing four kingdoms – historically, probably to be identified as the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians, then the Greeks – each of whom successively conquer previous empires, one after the other, until finally, there is this great, this great boulder, this great stone that overturns all the kingdoms of the Earth, and it rises up into this mountain that endures forever! That’s how Daniel envisions the coming of Christ – the way that God overturns everything in history and introduces a whole new perspective. Not a perspective any longer of military power, “who’s conquering whom,” but rather, where it’s all leading – leading up into the very heavens, that mountain that fills the earth and leads us up to God!
And so in the Book of the Prophet Daniel, we have a insightful panorama of history, a comprehensive vision of the past and the present and the future that is hardly seen in any other book of the Old Testament.
Now, it is this insight and perspective of God’s presence throughout history that we need to re-discover in our own times in the same sense that Daniel was awake to it in his own times. First, we are to proclaim anew, in a certain prophetic sense, that historical coming of Christ, but also, we are “prophesying,” in a real sense, we are sharing with the whole world the revelation God has entrusted to us about the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time, and seeing how all the pictures, all the dreams, and all the visions, even all the obstacles, can come together – how Christ’s role in history is the very center of history itself, and the rest of it – what came before, was all meant to lead up to that point, and what came after, was all meant to solidify and to complete the building up of that central event in history.
This means, for instance, we have something irresistible to confront the worldly wise men, enchanters, magicians and astrologers who are all at a lost to explain the most profound mysteries of life. There is a God in Heaven who reveals these mysteries, the great God who has revealed what shall be in the future, and so we can convincingly compel the heathens to confess the kingship and supremacy of God! How? Not through military conquest or brute force, but by offering the convincingly compelling biblical explanation and interpretation of the disturbing portents of this time, thereby helping all people understand even the thoughts in their own minds. In doing so, we are to be as assertive and uncompromising as Daniel in our proclamation of the Gospel, not just with words, but even more so in demonstrating the dominion of God with our very lives, which are meant to form a veritable mountain of testimony to God’s saving presence which smashes into smithereens all that defies it in the sweeping panorama of history. That’s the point of Daniel’s prophecy!
Dn 2:31-45/ Dn 3:57. 58. 59. 60. 61/ Lk 21:5-11
From today’s readings: “The great God has revealed to the king what shall be in the future.... Give glory and eternal praise to Him.... See that you not be deceived....”
Daniel’s Denouement of the Dazzling Dream
In chapter two, Daniel interprets that vivid dream of King Nebuchadnezzar about a terrifying statue symbolizing four kingdoms – historically, probably to be identified as the Babylonians, the Medes, the Persians, then the Greeks – each of whom successively conquer previous empires, one after the other, until finally, there is this great, this great boulder, this great stone that overturns all the kingdoms of the Earth, and it rises up into this mountain that endures forever! That’s how Daniel envisions the coming of Christ – the way that God overturns everything in history and introduces a whole new perspective. Not a perspective any longer of military power, “who’s conquering whom,” but rather, where it’s all leading – leading up into the very heavens, that mountain that fills the earth and leads us up to God!
And so in the Book of the Prophet Daniel, we have a insightful panorama of history, a comprehensive vision of the past and the present and the future that is hardly seen in any other book of the Old Testament.
Now, it is this insight and perspective of God’s presence throughout history that we need to re-discover in our own times in the same sense that Daniel was awake to it in his own times. First, we are to proclaim anew, in a certain prophetic sense, that historical coming of Christ, but also, we are “prophesying,” in a real sense, we are sharing with the whole world the revelation God has entrusted to us about the Second Coming of Christ at the end of time, and seeing how all the pictures, all the dreams, and all the visions, even all the obstacles, can come together – how Christ’s role in history is the very center of history itself, and the rest of it – what came before, was all meant to lead up to that point, and what came after, was all meant to solidify and to complete the building up of that central event in history.
This means, for instance, we have something irresistible to confront the worldly wise men, enchanters, magicians and astrologers who are all at a lost to explain the most profound mysteries of life. There is a God in Heaven who reveals these mysteries, the great God who has revealed what shall be in the future, and so we can convincingly compel the heathens to confess the kingship and supremacy of God! How? Not through military conquest or brute force, but by offering the convincingly compelling biblical explanation and interpretation of the disturbing portents of this time, thereby helping all people understand even the thoughts in their own minds. In doing so, we are to be as assertive and uncompromising as Daniel in our proclamation of the Gospel, not just with words, but even more so in demonstrating the dominion of God with our very lives, which are meant to form a veritable mountain of testimony to God’s saving presence which smashes into smithereens all that defies it in the sweeping panorama of history. That’s the point of Daniel’s prophecy!
posted by FrPitstick | 11/24/2007
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