Can I just say I’m really glad Daniel was bothered by his visions on account of not understanding them? Because I really don’t understand them at all.
There are a lot of smart people out there with all sorts of explanations of what the visions might mean. Everything from recorded history that was still in the future from Daniel’s perspective to the End Times. I think maybe my personal favorite is a sort of layered approach that suggests there are levels on which the prophecies work? Like Daniel’s ‘immediate’ future, a sort of progressive future, and the End Times all ‘fulfill’ the visions?
See, I don’t get it. Not really. But I’m not really sure we should. Especially if Daniel didn’t really, and he had Gabriel explaining to him personally.
You want to know what I really think? I honestly think it’s mostly about how God knows what is going to come. It’s mostly about God being outside of time and having knowledge we cannot comprehend. I think it’s about how any attempt at sharing his perspective with us results in bizarre abstracts and representations that can only be sort of interpreted.
Like most things, I think there are layers. I think it’s worth reading what those really smart people have to say about the possible interpretations, the possible significance for us. I think it’s worth puzzling over as Daniel himself did. But, mostly, I think we need to take the lesson that there are things we cannot understand, that we are not meant to entirely understand.