Convergence – Jesus in Daniel/Jesus in Revelation  

We see solid correlation between the Jesus portrayed in Daniel and the Jesus portrayed in Revelation.

Dan 6:4-9 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude. 

Daniel’s response:  I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless. Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. 

Revelation 1:10, 12-16:  I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around His chest. The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters.

John’s response:  When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man.

Convergence:  The Father in Daniel/Jesus in Revelation 

We also see correlation between the Father portrayed in Daniel and the Jesus portrayed in Revelation, as the deity of Jesus is revealed. 

Daniel 7:9-10:  As I kept watching, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was white like snow, and the hair of his head like whitest wool. His throne was flaming fire; its wheels (Hebrew word means swirls!) were blazing fire.  A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence.

Rev 1:12-15  …among the lampstands was One like the Son of Man, dressed in a long robe, with a golden sash around His chest. The hair of His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like a blazing fire. His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace, and His voice was like the roar of many waters (spoken of God the Father in Ez 43:2)…When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. But He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last (one of the Names of God, Is 40:1 and 44:6), the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.

The blazing whiteness (that no earthly launderer could ever attain), the beautifully full and soft texture of lamb’s wool (from a first shearing), holy fire around/about/throughout are points of convergence.  Jesus has the same attributes as the Ancient of Days.  And why not?  He is both an extension of the Father and one with the Father (John 10:30).  God put Himself through the human experience by creating embryonic cells that had His divine essence, in a human being’s womb—by His Holy Spirit, the Breath of Life.  The triune nature of God has readings anywhere from a “mystified” setting all the way to a “challenged” setting on our belief meters.  In the most simplistic sense, I think that nature could be exemplified by a computer system.  You can’t call a computer a computer—and it can’t perform its functions as a computer—unless it has the peripheral functionality and the (electric) power functionality.  Another image that helps me begin to grasp the concept is from a vision of heaven that an evangelist recounted in the nineties.  He described the Father and Son in continuous convergence—with the Father being an intense source of perfect light energy having perceptible human characteristics, arms, legs, etc.; and Jesus was frequently disappearing into, and later emerging—as separate—from that light energy.  Some say that’s crazy, but it helps me visualize this triune concept on some level.

“Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.” 

In Revelation 1 Jesus clearly identifies Himself as the First and the Last, as well as the One Who had died and come back to life.  (Rev. 1:5, 1:7, 1:8, 1:11-16, 1:17-18, 2:8, 5:8, 5:13, 7:10, 21:22-23, and 22:13)  The term is first used in Isaiah 41 and 44, when God identifies Himself as the First and Last.

אֲנִי יְהוָה רִאשֹׁון וְאֶת־אַחֲרֹנִים אֲנִי־הֽוּא – I, the LORD (actually the Hebrew word for God that Jewish people won’t pronounce out loud), with the first of them and the last, I am He.  Is 41:4

אֲנִי רִאשֹׁון וַאֲנִי אַחֲרֹון – I am the first and last.  Is 44:6 

“John employs the phrase ‘in the midst of the lampstands one like a Son of man’ to bring together the description of the heavenly beings in Daniel 3, 7, and 10 and to apply them all to Christ (cf. the LXX of Dan. 3:25, 92; 7:13; 10:5-6, 18)…The portrayal of the Son of man’s head and hair (v. 14a) is taken from that of the Ancient of Days in Dan. 7:9, while the description of his eyes and feet again follow Dan. 10:6 ( LXX ). The mention of the ‘furnace’ (v. 15b) again echoes the description from Dan. 3:25 (93, Theod. )… Just as Dan. 10:6 ends with mention of the roar of the ‘Son of man’s’ voice, so the portrayal of v. 15 concludes, although the actual language describing the voice is taken from the Masoretic Text of Ezek. 1:24 and 43:2, where God’s voice is compared to the roar of many waters.”¹ 

Daniel 7:13,14 “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven, One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”

Some people think the Ancient of Days Judgment Vision segues right into Daniel 7:13,14 which describes Jesus in the end times. But I think it’s possible that Daniel saw a separate/discrete vision of what happened right after the ascension.  Jesus was taken up in the clouds (Acts 1:9).  Ephesians 1:18-23 provides further detail:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

What do Jewish people say about Daniel 7:13,14?  “Son of man is idiomatic for a human.  Here the celestial being is like a human being, i.e., has a human countenance.  For Daniel, it represents a heavenly figure who will exercise judgment.  A Messianic use of Son of man is also found in post Biblical literature like Ezra and Enoch and the Talmud.  Some Rabbis rejected the messianic interpretation by arguing that either the predictions had all been fulfilled in the past, or that Daniel’s predictions did not include the end of time.  Later in Jewish tradition, the messianic interpretation faded and the one like a human being was seen as representing Israel.”²

Unfortunately Jewish people don’t have the Book of Revelation to give them an understanding of how the story ends.  They are unaware of the point at which the Books of Daniel and Revelation converge, completing the circuit and opening the gate for a mighty river of revelation about the Godship of Jesus to flow—and gain unrelenting momentum in its path.  

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¹please-tell-me-the-truth-website:  pleasetellmethetruth.org/the-deity-of-jesus-christ-in-the-book-of-revelation/

²Ed. Adele Berlin and Marc Z. Brettler, Jewish Study Bible, (New York, New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2004), 1640.