“And because the king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven…” – Daniel 4:23
As a new Christian leading a college ministry, I was told that God used to work in supernatural ways in the past, but that He doesn’t do those kinds of things anymore. Theologically, this is called cessationism, meaning that the supernatural works of God have, in effect, ceased. The Bible, along with church history and my own experience, reveals this is untrue and that we should cease to believe in cessationism.
Without a supernatural view of God, the book of Daniel can be little more than a few moral examples to inspire us. With a supernatural view of God, the book of Daniel reveals to us the unseen realm in which Jesus right now rules as King over an army of divine beings. They are at war against Satan, the counterfeit king, who is constantly deploying his demons to establish counterfeit kingdoms on earth. Examples include numerous dreams and visions, the finger of God writing on a wall, and Jesus showing up in a fiery furnace to protect and deliver three godly men.
The supernatural is on full display throughout Daniel, including three times in chapter 4 and one time in chapter 5 when unbelievers sense the Holy Spirit at work in and through Daniel. Also in chapter 4, we see God deploy from the unseen realm “a watcher, a holy one” and “the holy ones.” (4:23, cf. 8:13) In addition to angels, which are likely messengers and lower-level divine beings (3:28,6:22), there are numerous other divine beings mentioned throughout Daniel. The numbers of these divine beings are staggering – a thousand times a thousand, and ten thousand times ten thousand. (7:31) These divine beings throughout Daniel include the host of Heaven (8:10), the prince or ruler of the host (8:11), Gabriel and Michael, who are the only two angels named in the Bible (8:15-16,9:21,10:13, 10:20-21, 12:1), one who appears like a man clothed in linen (12:5-7), and a being called a lord (12:8).
Behind the world filled with human beings, we see there is a divine world filled with divine beings that God sees and sometimes allows us to also see. For God, these two realms form one reality as He rules and reigns over both and will one day bring them together forever in the Kingdom of God. Until then, it is reassuring to trust by faith until we see by sight that God is actively at work in our world for His glory and our good, delivering His family and defeating His foes.
Have you ever had a memorable dream? Daniel interprets several dreams for high-ranking government officials, finding favor because of his devotion to God. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s devo about dreams and visions.
Do you truly believe that God still does supernatural things today? If not, take some time to pray and ask God to reveal His truth to you.
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