Pulling Back the Curtain

ICC is deep into Daniel’s visions. These baffle some readers and send others in an unproductive search for clues about the future. Preaching on Daniel 7, Erik showed that the most important thing that God reveals in his word is not the future, but himself. What we see can see about the future flows from what we see about the character of God. He used the image of characters on the stage to show what he meant:

That’s why Daniel’s vision of God is such a revelation. It’s a bit like a drama on stage. Imagine you’re a character in a play where you don’t know the ending but it feels like a tragedy and there’s no reason for hope. Then, for a moment, the action on stage pauses, the curtain opens behind you, and then you see all this other action that you didn’t even know was happening: stagehands preparing new sets, screenwriters impatient for the next act, and a director who has the entire story and all its performances in hand. So much more is happening than you thought, and so much more is possible. You realize, haven’t reached the conclusion, you’re not even in the final act. Everything that occurred on the stage that seemed absolutely decisive is in fact less decisive than what is going on behind the scenes. This is what “apocalypse” means: It’s a peak behind the curtain.