Daniel's Dream

"In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay in bed" (Da 7:1). You would think you'd have either a dream or a vision, but it means that visions are frames or parts of an overall dream. That's why "he wrote the dream down" (:1). It was highly symbolic and about the future, which would make it prophetic. That is why it says it "was spoken of through Daniel the prophet'" (Mt 24:15). But it wasn't self-evident because he commented, "'As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me'" (:15). He provides "the following summary" (:1) which covers an amount of time because he said "'after this I kept looking'" (:6,:7,:11,:13) a number of times. Also, time passed because he related that "'I was contemplating'" (:8). In addition, it was an interactive experience because he "'approached one of those who were standing by and began asking him the exact meaning of all this'" (:16). It was similar to John's experience who "was in the Spirit on the Lord's day" (Rev 1:10). He saw "a door standing open in heaven" (4:1) and heard, "'Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things'" (:1). John also asked "one of the elders" (7:13) just as Daniel did and the answer is thereby acknowledged with "he said to me" (:14). Daniel and John's visions were of the future but they were participating in the action "real-time" as if thy were present themselves. On Pentecost Peter used Joel to prove that, we too, can receive dreams and visions (Ac 2:16) saying, "'Your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions'" (Joel 2:28). However, consider Daniel responding, "'My thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself'" (Da 7:28).