Daniel 8:15–17

Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. And I heard a man’s voice between the banks of the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.” So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man, that the vision refers to the time of the end.”

In his must-see video series “He Gave Us Prophets,” Richard Pratt explains that a prophet is someone who can see into Heaven. This makes Chapter 8 of Daniel a treasure. We get to be a fly on the wall in Daniel’s head as he chats with the heavenly host.

What Daniel is told is important, but the bigger lesson is in how he interacts with the one who has the appearance of a man. For starters, notice that Daniel doesn’t begin by asking a question; he’s just thinking. I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man. He is merely seeking the meaning and suddenly this guy just pops up. Daniel hasn’t even formulated a question yet; he’s too confused.

This illustrates an exciting, if humbling, principle. We often don’t know where to start in understanding great things. But that’s okay; God expects this and will accommodate.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, — Ephesians 3:20

Then a man’s voice gives the command, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”  Notice the verb “make.” All the strict translations agree on this. It isn’t “help” because Daniel isn’t close enough for mere help to do any good. This reinforces the point about Daniel’s total inability to understand his own dream.

If this sounds like the Calvinistic doctrine of “Total Inability,” good. The parallel is obvious. Our inability doesn’t relate to just one aspect of knowing God.

It’s total.

So, Gabriel approaches Daniel and, of course, Daniel is overcome with fear and falls on his face. That always seems to happen with angels. They can’t even announce Christ’s birth to shepherds without scaring them half to death.

But Gabriel has a simple note of encouragement to pass on. “The vision refers to the time of the end.”

By the time of the end, Gabriel does not mean the end of time. The translations say, “time of the end,” instead of “end of time,” or “the end-times,” because the original text says, “kets,” instead of “olam.” It’s some kind of ending but not the grand finale.

Gabriel is just telling Daniel not to fret because it’s not coming in his lifetime.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.