The two most familiar New Testament passages about the Great Commission—Matthew 28 and Acts 1—share many unmistakable similarities with Daniel 7. For the sake of time, I will only be able to cover four similarities each Great Commission text shares with Daniel 7. But the final result will leave no doubt that Jesus’ victory at the end of time is the heart and soul of the Great Commission.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say, The Great Commission? If you’re like me, I imagine it would be something along the lines of the gospel, evangelism, discipleship, or missions. While these terms adequately describe what the Great Commission is, they are missing a key aspect that the writers of the New Testament considered to be just as important: why the Great Commission exists. The Great Commission is more than just evangelizing the lost and making disciples—as important as those things are. The apostles were also concerned with the endgame. They cared about why the Great Commission matters, not just from a human perspective, but also from the divine. They understood that there must be something fundamental that drives the Great Commission. That something, strangely enough, is a prophecy from the Old Testament. The vision behind the Great Commission is actually a vision from Daniel 7.

In Daniel 7, the prophet Daniel sees a disturbing vision of four animals coming out of the sea (Dan. 7:2–8). Each one represents a formidable nation that would rule over the world at some point in the near or distant future. But as intimidating as each nation was, the Ancient of Days at the end of time obliterates the final beast and strips each of the other animals of its dominion (7:9–12). The vision reaches its climax when all the kingdoms are finally handed over to Jesus, the Son of Man:

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. (Dan. 7:13–14)

While this may not seem obvious at first, stay with me and you will see that this vision of Jesus in Daniel 7 serves as the backdrop of the Great Commission. What does Jesus conquering the world have to do with taking the gospel to the ends of the earth? The truth is, it has everything to do with it. And we can be sure this is the case, because the two most familiar New Testament passages about the Great Commission—Matthew 28 and Acts 1—share many unmistakable similarities with Daniel 7. For the sake of time, I will only be able to cover four similarities each Great Commission text shares with Daniel 7. But the final result will leave no doubt that Jesus’ victory at the end of time is the heart and soul of the Great Commission.

Matthew 28

Authority

The clearest example of Daniel 7 in the Great Commission is found in Matthew 28:18, “All authority has been given to Me” (Matt. 28:18). This is almost a direct quotation of the first line of Daniel 7:14 (from the Septuagint), “And authority was given to him.” At this moment in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus brings to the foreground what has been growing in the background of the narrative: He is the Son of Man from Daniel 7. He now possesses absolute authority and will one day exercise it over the world. Until then, the Great Commission celebrates His victory by both testifying and contributing to it.

All Nations

The scope of the Great Commission explains how this works as Jesus commands His disciples in Matthew 28:19 to “make disciples of all the nations.” In the same way, the Son of Man compels “all the peoples, nations and men of every language” to worship Him (7:14). God has designed the Great Commission to reach every nation, tribe, and tongue, in order to simulate and contribute to the climactic moment when Jesus rules over all creation. In other words, the Great Commission not only rehearses this future time by taking the gospel to every nation, it also plays a part in it by helping to convert people from every nation into worshipers for that final day.

Worship

Before Jesus entrusted His disciples with the Great Commission, Matthew says that they worshiped Him, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him” (Matt. 28:17, cf. 28:9). Daniel 7:14 describes a similar reaction from all of humanity before the Son of Man, “And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him” (Dan. 7:14, cf. 7:27). The Aramaic word for “serve” in Daniel 7 means “veneration” or “respect.” Daniel 7 indicates that the whole world will one day worship the Son as He should be. The disciples in Matthew 28 give us a sneak peak of this future moment when they worship Jesus. They are rehearsing what all of creation will one day do. They are foreshadowing the chief end of the Great Commission.

Clothing

A little earlier in the chapter, Matthew describes the angel who rolled back the tombstone with vivid imagery, “And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow” (28:3). Daniel illustrates the Ancient of Days in the same way. He too was wearing clothes that were “like white snow” (7:9). In addition, Daniel says in chapter 10 that the angel he encountered also had “the appearance of lightning” (Dan. 10:6). It is not a coincidence that one figure from Jesus’ resurrection bears a resemblance to two individuals from Daniel’s interconnected visions. Matthew portrays the angel at the tomb as an opening cue; he is meant to signal that what is about to take place (i.e., the Great Commission) is related to Daniel’s visions. The day Jesus takes back the world is just around the corner, and the Great Commission is going to play a crucial role in preparing the way.

Acts 1

Times and Epochs

Before Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples asked Him, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority” (1:7). The combination of “times” and “epochs” as Jesus uses them in Acts 1 is a unique phrase found only in the book of Daniel. For example, when the mystery of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was revealed to Daniel, He prayed to God, “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings” (Dan. 2:21). What Nebuchadnezzar dreamed in Daniel 2 was a preview of the vision Daniel would have years later about the Son of Man in Daniel 7. Just as the stone shattered a statue representing the nations (Dan. 2), the Son of Man will strip the nations of their sovereignty (Dan. 7). Jesus tells His disciples that their job is not to decipher when the Son of Man will have His final victory (Acts 1:7), but rather to testify that it will happen

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