It was a profound challenge to the faithful. The book of Daniel was written to deal with that specific horror. To us, it seems to be frightening, but it is not a vision of terror, the people already knew all about that. And, in this dream, the Beast which had desecrated the Temple approaches the presence of God and immediately bursts into flame. Early hearers of this story would have laughed uproariously.
Truth is vindicated.
The stars sing. Our second reading today, from the Apocalypse of John, is the same. In such stories, People of Faith are given hope with which to hold on to their birthright, their identity and purpose as God's special community in a hostile world. If it were easy, or accepted by the dominant culture to live as did Jesus, Jesus would not have been killed. In rising from death, the Christ of God vindicates those qualities and purposes as being of God and provides us with all we need to be fully human, a joy to God suitable companions one to another and successful in our sojourn on this earth.