 If you studied the book of Daniel, you'll know that Daniel receives many mystical visions. He has many visions, dreams, very symbolic, and we know that Daniel himself often has a very difficult time understanding the significance and the meaning of his dreams, of his visions. So the seventh chapter in the book of Daniel, he has a vision of four beasts, four beasts, and almost all commentaries will explain that these four beasts that he sees represent four kingdoms that will subjugate the Jewish people, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. So he has this very, very dramatic vision of these four kingdoms, these four beasts, and then he has an addendum, an addendum to this vision, and here we'll begin with verse 13. In verse 13, Daniel says, I was watching in night visions. I was having dream at night, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a man came, someone like a man came. Some translations have this, a son of man, a son of man, one like a man came, and he came up to the one of ancient days, the one of ancient days, and they brought before him, and they brought him before him, and he was given dominion, honor, and kingship so that all peoples, nations, and languages would serve him. His dominion would be an everlasting dominion that would never pass and his kingship would never be destroyed. Now the way Christian missionaries read this passage is to insist, without any real proof, there's nothing in the passage itself that tells you it's speaking about Jesus, but the standard Christian reading of this passage is that this one like a man, this son of man, they insist is speaking about Jesus, and they say that he comes with the clouds of heaven, so their reading of this is that he therefore must be divine, he must be supernatural, and he's given dominion and honor and kingship, etc. That's the missionary reading of this passage. Now again, it's important to understand, there's nothing in the passage that points to Jesus. This is simply an assertion, it's an assertion, it's an assumption that the Christian makes. Our question is going to be, who is it really speaking about? Now what's fascinating is that this is one of the chapters in the book of Daniel where Daniel is puzzled by the vision. Daniel himself is just puzzled by the vision, he doesn't understand it, and in verse 15 he says, as for me, Daniel, my spirit became uneasy in its sheath, and the visions of my head bewildered me. He's telling us here, these visions disturbed me and they bewildered me. I approached one of the standing ones and I asked him for the truth concerning all of this. It's interesting that we know from the book of Zechariah, from the prophet Zechariah, that angels are referred to as the standing ones. In our literature, angels are contrasted to human beings. Human beings are called mehalchim, we go, we walk. Angels are called omdim, they stand, because angels ultimately are static. Angels have no free will, they are programmed, they do exactly what God tells them, and therefore they don't grow. An angel can't become a greater angel. Human beings, on the other hand, have free will, and therefore we are able to grow and become bigger and greater people, so the human being is described as omdim, those who walk, as opposed to angels who are those who stand still. And so Daniel here appeals to one of the standing ones. Daniel appeals to one of the angels and he asks him for the truth concerning all of this. By the way, it's possible that the vision itself was revealed to him by an angel, that's what often happens in the book of Daniel. So he spoke to me, so Daniel writes here in verse 16, making the interpretation of the matter known to me. So again, Daniel's telling you here, I didn't understand the vision, you see the Christians are very able to understand it, right? They're much smarter than Daniel. Daniel didn't understand it. So Daniel appeals to the angel, please explain it to me. And he says that's what happened, the angel came and explained it to me, so I should understand what it means. And the angel said, these immense beasts that came up earlier in the passage, which are four, four kingdoms will arise from the earth. So here the angel tells him, don't wonder about what those four beasts were, those four beasts of four kingdoms. But the holy supreme ones will receive the kingship and they will inherit the kingship forever, forever and ever. Very interesting. What the angel is telling him is that this one like a man is not a person. It's a people. The angel tells him here, who is going to be the one to inherit everlasting dominion and kingship? It's going to be the holy supreme ones, the holy supreme ones. Hold on to your hats for a few moments. It'll become clearer. But they are the ones, not the one. They are the ones that will receive kingship and they will inherit. They will inherit the kingship forever, forever and ever. If you go to verse 22, you'll see the angel clarifies this. The one of ancient days, by the way, in this passage, ancient of days, atik yomin is a reference to God himself. So the one like a man approaches God in this vision. And in verse 22, the one of ancient days came and again, the holy supreme ones were granted justice and the time came and the holy ones inherited the kingship. And now to make it totally clear, just jump down to verse 27. And the kingship, the dominion and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens will be given to the holy supreme nation. Its kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom and all rulers will serve and obey it. Now who in the Bible is described as a holy nation? We know that if you go back to the book of Exodus chapter 19, verse 6, Israel, the people of Israel are described as a goi kadosh, a holy nation. And so what's taking place in this chapter of Daniel is this incredible mystical vision of four kingships, four kingdoms that will subjugate Israel. But ultimately what Daniel is told is that the holy nation will ultimately prevail over all of them and they at the end of history will be given dominion and honor and kingship and glory, etc. So the one like a man, again, is not a person, it's a people. However, I want to share with you one further insight here. Rashi's commentary, Rashi is the great biblical commentator lived in France about a thousand years ago. Rashi says that this one like a man is referring to the Messiah. Rashi says that one like a man is a reference to the Messiah. Now how could Rashi say that? Didn't the angel tell Daniel that the one like a man is a people, the holy nation? So it's important and critical to understand that the Jewish concept of Messiah is radically different than the Christian concept of Messiah. You see it right here in this passage. The Christian concept of Messiah is that he is basically a pre-existent supernatural being who comes down to earth from the heavens. He's not a regular human being and the Christian concept of Messiah, he really has no connection to the people of Israel. He is a divine being. The Jewish concept of Messiah is he's the king of Israel. He's the king of the Jewish people. He's the leader of a nation. He's part of the nation. The king of a nation is very connected to the people. So what Rashi is basically saying here is the following. If the book of Daniel here is prophesying that one day the nation of Israel is going to have dominion and glory and honor in the world, well when is that going to happen? We know that that's only going to take place when the Messiah comes and when the Messiah is at the helm, when the Messiah is at the helm of the Jewish people. So here Rashi is basically telling you that this vision of the Jewish people being rulers and having dominion, the Messiah is part of that. At the very tip of the iceberg is the Messiah at the head of the Jewish people. So what Rashi is basically telling you is that this vision of Daniel where the people, the nation will be an honored nation having dominion over the entire world, Rashi's saying and you know what that's going to happen? That's going to happen when the Messiah is here at the helm leading the Jewish people as part of our people, as part of our nation. They are umbilically connected. They're not separate. They're connected to the point where the Messiah basically simply is the representative of the nation. Just to recap, just to summarize. Daniel has an incredible vision of four beasts, four creatures that represent, he's told, four kingdoms. And then Daniel is told that there's going to be a one like a man who approaches God, the ancient of days, and he will be given dominion and rulership and honor. And Daniel is told by the angel that this one like a man is not a person. It's a people. It's a nation. And this nation will ultimately be an honored nation by the entire world. And this is a prophecy that's repeated many times throughout the Bible. The prophet Zacharias says in the eighth chapter that in those days, 10 people from every nation of the world are going to grab hold of the clothing of a Jewish person. And they're going to say, we want to follow you because we know we've heard that God is with you. So this is the age. This is the time that Daniel is being told about when the Jewish people will have honor. The whole world is going to come to us, respect us and honor us. And that will take place in the messianic age when the Messiah is ruling Israel at our helm.