“‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. 27 Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’
28 “This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.”
The little horn is pictured as having had his little day of power. But when the Antichrist’s blasphemy will have reached its height, God will suddenly step in with judgment. At the end of the world God will put an end to the enemy’s dominion and destroy him in the lake of fire.
The church of Jesus Christ will finally be victorious. The church militant will on that day become the church triumphant. All believers will share in their Savior’s victory— and in his reign.
All this brought out a mixed reaction from Daniel. He was troubled and turned pale. To have seen so awesome a prediction of dark days ahead for the people of God was an unnerving experience for this child of God, whose heart beat with loyalty to God and to his people.
Daniel knew that God had showed him some of his sacred secrets: kingdoms rising and falling, persecutions threatening God’s people, judgments falling on God’s enemies. All this was too much for Daniel to absorb at once. He did not, however, try to forget the dream or close his eyes to the truth God was teaching him. Although it was too much for him to absorb at one time, Daniel continued to reflect on what God had told him, much like the virgin Mary did after she gave birth to the Savior: “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). To appreciate Daniel’s predicament, one must remember that he lived before any of the developments predicted in his vision actually took place. In view of that, his reaction is quite understandable and commendable.
Chapter 7 ends the Aramaic section of the book. Chapters 2 through 7 represent God’s message for the world at large, and this message was made available to the nations in Aramaic, the language of international commerce and diplomacy at Daniel’s time. The remaining five chapters of the book contain a message intended primarily for the Jewish people and are therefore written in the Hebrew language.