The opening phrase, “I was watching in the night visions,” indicates a separate vision and marks the beginning of an inset within the vision. Then, the prophet exactly describes what Christ said at His trial about the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64). Notice, though, that this vision is not about Christ coming to earth but to the Ancient of Days!

With this vision in the background, we can understand that during His trial, Jesus was not talking about coming back to earth but arriving before the Father. Once He came to the Ancient of Days, He would receive dominion, glory, and a Kingdom. When Jesus told the Jewish leadership that, from now on, they would comprehend Him sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming on the clouds, they caught His reference to this prophecy and His claim to be the Messiah, the Heir of the Kingdom.

When does this inset take place? Within the flow of the chapter, this inset appears after the fourth beast is killed (Daniel 7:11), yet the events within the inset happen long before, providing the backstory for understanding the origin of the divine Kingdom that will replace all other governments at the end of the age. The clouds of heaven had already brought the Son of Man to the Ancient of Days—when Jesus ascended to the Father for acceptance. At that time, Christ received dominion, glory, and a Kingdom. Overall, Daniel's prophecies describe the Kingdom's future establishment on earth, but here we see a flashback to Christ's ascension.

In I Peter, the apostle draws on Daniel's vision twice, repeating that to Christ belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever (I Peter 4:11; 5:11). John uses the same phrase in the introduction to the book of Revelation, writing, “to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever” (Revelation 1:6). Clearly, the inset has already come to pass.