Some nights, sleep comes easier than others. I confess, with all of the music running around in my head it's a wonder I sleep at all! You too?!?!? Welcome to the club where the earworm keeps us up at night with a jam in our head and a song in our hearts! Most times, the song comes as an inspiration for a future blog post, others times the music serves as a soundtrack to an adventure, or a happy memory. Then there are those evenings of sleeplessness that can only be explained by having Danny Elfman, (Tuesday's Musical Notes - "This Is Halloween" (Cast of Tim Burton's A Nightmare Before Christmas)), write the soundtrack to them... Oh great...now THAT song is running on repeat!
Perhaps you are blessed with evenings of sweet slumber and respite, if you are, then you certainly can claim to be in a minority, as most folks have those nights that are filled with "These Dreams"...
In 1967 a band was formed with 4 guys from the Seattle, Washington area. They called themselves The Army. While never changing their rock style, they did change the name of their band about every two to three years. The Army became Hocus Pocus in 1969. With the name change also came personnel changes. Later in 1969 with some more lineup changes, the band became White Heart and on occasion, they would be booked as Heart, lending to the fact that lead guitarist and founding member Roger Fisher's birthday was St. Valentine's day.
As with most rock-n-roll bands, drama inside the band and out always swirls. Fisher's brother, Roger, avoided being drafted by moving to Canada, but came to a Hocus Pocus show in the states and met a girl named Ann Wilson. In early 1973 Ann became a member of Heart and soon introduced the band to her sister, Nancy who joined the band in 1974. That's right folks, the band Heart existed outside of the Wilson sisters for 8 years, but as is well said, the addition of Ann and Nancy became the rest of the story.
Due to the draft status of Roger Fisher, Heart relocated to Vancouver and soon found itself in the recording studio. The debut album Dreamboat Annie was born and released in 1975. It spawned the hit singles "Crazy On You" and "Magic Man".
Flash forward to 1986 and you find Ann and Nancy Wilson, as well as guitarist/keys/vocals Howard Leese, being the only members remaining from the Dreamboat Annie crew. That year they released a new album simply titled Heart. This self-titled album would feature background vocals from such rock-n-roll greats as, Grace Slick (Jefferson Starship, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Miracles" (Jefferson Starship)), Mickey Thomas (Starship, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "We Built This City" (Starship)), Johnny Colla (Huey Lewis and the News, Tuesday's Musical Notes - "The Power Of Love" (Huey Lewis And The News), Tuesday's Musical Notes - "Bad Is Bad" (Huey Lewis And The News), and Frankie Sullivan (Survivor). It was Heart's first #1 album on the Billboard 200 chart and has since been certified quintuple Platinum. Heart also rebranded the band from its '70s image into an 80's powerhouse on the strength of its singles "What About Love" (#10), "Never" (#4), "Nothing At All" (#11), "If Looks Could Kill" (#54) and the Billboard Hot 100 smash, "These Dreams" (#1).
"These Dreams" is a unique song in the Heart catalog whereby it joins a small collection of their hits that were not written by any of the band members. "These Dreams" was penned by Martin Page ("In The House Of Stone And Light") and Bernie Taupin, famed collaborator of Elton John. (Tuesday's Musical Notes - Elton John search).
"These Dreams", released as the third single from Heart, had lead vocals performed by Nancy Wilson instead of Ann who was the usual lead. Lyrically, "These Dreams" speaks to the life lived when we sleep, especially in those moments when difficulty in our awake time may be occurring. Of late, Tuesday's Musical Notes has been investigating the life of one who had more than his share of a few difficult moments in his life. He has served as interpreter up to this point, but now, he is the one who is having "These Dreams"...
Daniel 7-12 New American Standard Bible/The Amplified Bible/King James Version of the Bible parallel
Daniel had been having visions since chapter 2, where his dream became the interpretation for the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar's apparitions. Yet, it seems that the time has now come for our intrepid hero to be the one having visions instead of the kings which he served during his time of captivity. The narrative backs up just a bit from preceding passages as we find in chapter 7 that Daniel's series of dreams begin happening while Belshazzar (King Nebi's son), was on the throne. This was not to be the last of Daniel's future insights. Daniel has another dream under Belshazzar's administration, another after the Medes invade Babylon and King Darius takes over, and then his final comes after yet another invasion and the ensuing change of realms occurs with King Darius and the Persians assuming authority.
Throughout these chapters, we find Daniel telling of the dreams and visions that he has. Some of the dreams find Daniel receiving interpretation from a friend. This could have been one of his compatriots (Shadrach, Meshach, or Abednego) from previous adventures or it could be some other trusted advisor to Daniel whom the Bible never names. Other insights into Daniel's revelations come in the form of angelic interpretation, specifically that of the archangel Gabriel.
Daniel's prophecies continue in the foretelling of future historic events, much as they did during the dreams of the Babylonian kings. But as each world power comes into itself, Daniel's dream becomes about a further distant future rather than the future that some in his era would experience.
Tuesday's Musical Notes may at some point dive into the multitude of ideas that swirl around the prophetical images seen by Daniel. For today, however, we want to emphasize the fact that Daniel, like so many of the prophets we've already discussed, pointed his time to a future where the King of Kings and Lord of Lords would both come to the earth and be sacrificed, as well as a future where this same King would come and defeat His enemies for future eternity and set up his kingdom. (chapter 12)
We highly encourage you to explore for yourself the wealth of Biblical literature written about the book of Daniel. A good place to start is this article by Dr. David Jeremiah which will give you some context, perspective, and encouragement as you read Daniel. It includes a free pdf of Daniel's timeline of events that is very insightful. "3 Reasons To Study The Book Of Daniel" - davidjeremiahblog.com
Also, before researching the vast trove of thoughts on Daniel's visions, re-read the book of Daniel in its entirety and ask Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the persons in history in which Daniel's prophecies may be pointing us. Beg Holy Spirit to provide insight into the condition of your own heart as you read about the end of all time as we begin to see the events of Daniel 12 unfold before our very eyes.
"...Many will be purged, cleansed, and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. And from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days..." - Daniel 12:10 NASB
Implore Holy Spirit to provide for you the comfort in the benediction that was given to Daniel,
"...But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will rest and rise for your allotted portion at the end of the age.” - Daniel 12:13
Finally, listen as you realize that Holy Spirit is that Someone out there that you can't resist, there's no need to hide away from your pain. If you're standing where there is darkness on the edge and shadows where you stand, He's drawing you to a restored relationship whereby you see clearly as you draw closer than this. If you will let Him, these dreams will insure an eternity future where you will live another life away from the brokenness of this world and in a perfection that is the stuff of which dreams are made.
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by loving You,
randy
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