Daniel’s vision: four beasts

7 In the first year of Babylon’s King Belshazzar, Daniel had a dream—a vision in his head as he lay on his bed. He wrote the dream down. Here is the beginning of the account:

² I am Daniel. In the vision I had during the night I saw the four winds of heaven churning the great sea. ³ Four giant beasts emerged from the sea, each different from the others.

Beasts interpreted

¹⁵ Now this caused me, Daniel, to worry.^[a] My visions disturbed me greatly. ¹⁶ So I went to one of the servants who was standing ready nearby. I asked him for the truth about all this.

He spoke to me and explained to me the meaning of these things. ¹⁷ “These four giant beasts are four kings that will rise up from the earth, ¹⁸ but the holy ones of the Most High will receive the kingship. They will hold the kingship securely forever and always.”

Psalm 149

¹¹ We have also received an inheritance in Christ. We were destined by the plan of God, who accomplishes everything according to his design. ¹² We are called to be an honor to God’s glory because we were the first to hope in Christ. ¹³ You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ. ¹⁴ The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.

Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians

¹⁵ Since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, this is the reason that ¹⁶ I don’t stop giving thanks to God for you when I remember you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, will give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation that makes God known to you. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart will have enough light to see what is the hope of God’s call, what is the richness of God’s glorious inheritance among believers, ¹⁹ and what is the overwhelming greatness of God’s power that is working among us believers. This power is conferred by the energy of God’s powerful strength. ²⁰ God’s power was at work in Christ when God raised him from the dead and sat him at God’s right side in the heavens, ²¹ far above every ruler and authority and power and angelic power, any power that might be named not only now but in the future. ²² God put everything under Christ’s feet and made him head of everything in the church, ²³ which is his body. His body, the church, is the fullness of Christ, who fills everything in every way.

Happy people and doomed people

²⁰ Jesus raised his eyes to his disciples and said:

²² Happy are you when people hate you, reject you, insult you, and condemn your name as evil because of the Human One.^{[a] 23} Rejoice when that happens! Leap for joy because you have a great reward in heaven. Their ancestors did the same things to the prophets.

Behaving as God’s children

²⁷ “But I say to you who are willing to hear: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer the other one as well. If someone takes your coat, don’t withhold your shirt either. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks and don’t demand your things back from those who take them. ³¹ Treat people in the same way that you want them to treat you.