Superhero

Fergus Buchanan November 27, 2018 0 0

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Daniel 7: 9-10; 13-14

9 As I watched,
thrones were set in place,
    and an Ancient One took his throne;
his clothing was white as snow,
    and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames,
    and its wheels were burning fire.
10 A stream of fire issued
    and flowed out from his presence.
A thousand thousand served him,
    and ten thousand times ten thousand stood attending him.
The court sat in judgement,
    and the books were opened.

 

13 As I watched in the night visions,

I saw one like a human being
    coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
    and was presented before him.
14 To him was given dominion
    and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
    should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
    that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
    that shall never be destroyed.

The presence of so many superheroes in the movies is perhaps more than an enjoyment of excitement and special effects. It may reveal a deep longing within the human psyche for someone of great power to come among us and sort out everything that bothers us. This is not new. The ancient people of Israel read the prophet Daniel and caught a vision of the Messiah and the Kingdom he would build. It is an extraordinary vision of power, majesty, judgment, wisdom and glory.  

It was this Messiah who revealed Himself to the Apostle John on the island of Patmos (see Revelation 1: 12-16). John had caught a glimpse of this Messiah when he and James and Peter accompanied Jesus to a high mountain and in their sight saw Him changed in a way they could never have imagined (Matthew 17: 1-3). This was Jesus as He really is, the divine nature breaking out in the here and now. Is there any doubt that the minds of Peter, James and John drifted to the Book of Daniel and the prophesied Messiah?

This is the Jesus the Apostle Paul speaks of in Philippians 2: 10-11. The day will come when every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that He is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Until then His voice can be heard, His love experienced in the witness of His people. Paul reminded the Christians in Philippi that they were citizens of heaven, that in effect their Church was a colony of heaven on earth (Philippians 3: 10). It is when we realise the values of Christ’s kingdom in the here and now that we bring closer the Day of the Son of Man.