Daniel in Babylon

9. The Ancient of Days

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit." (Dan.7:9).

One of the most pregnant sentences in the whole of the Bible! Into those few brief words Daniel infused all the longing and all the hopes and all the faith which had sustained him through so many years. One day God would arise in judgment, and then all for which the righteous had waited would be theirs. The long captivity of man to the dominion of sin and death, his long submission to oppressive evil powers, would be at an end, and the saints of the Most High would possess the kingdom, and rule in equity and justice for ever and ever.

This, the second part of the dream, leaves the actors in the first part still standing on the stage. The four beasts are still there; the fourth, strange and terrible, the latest to rise, dominating the other three certainly, but all four are still there. And now Daniel perceives a gathering tumult in the heavens. The sable curtain of night is lightening; a vivid golden radiance is banishing the blackness. The dark night‑clouds turn dimly red and then break out suddenly into blazing cascades of fire, pouring down upon the earth and swelling into a fiery river which threatens to bear away all obstacles in its course. From above that plunging, leaping curtain of light there appears a waving field of white, an army of angels, thousands upon thousands, and ten thousands upon ten thousands, winging their way fast to earth, growing more clear and more perceptible as each second passes. Then the roaring of the thunder, the vivid, searing lightning, and behind those speeding angels a majestic Appearance before which Daniel must have prostrated himself in reverence and awe; he knew well that no man may look upon the face of God, and live. But presently a calm, heaven‑sent confidence took hold of him and he looked up to see the Ancient of Days, in all the dignity of kingly power and all the purity of his awful holiness, seated upon his Throne of judgment. The Time of the End had come and the Judge was in his place, the Assizes of Heaven about to begin.

In those first few seconds before the vision passed again into the movement of action Daniel had time to see that there were other, lesser, thrones surrounding that upon which was seated the Supreme Judge, the Ancient of Days. It is not so stated in verse 9, but implied by later verses, (18 and 22), that those thrones were occupied by "the saints of the Most High" waiting to take their destined place in the whole sequence of activities and events that were to be associated with this imminent judgment. The force of this aspect of the vision is obscured by the usual English meaning of "cast down." "I beheld till the thrones were cast down" says the Authorised Version, and it is usually tacitly assumed that Daniel referred to the fall of earthly thrones and kingships at this Time of the End in consequence of Divine judgment. That is not what was intended. The term "cast down" in the original has the significance of being set down or placed firmly in position. This usage appears in the English word "cast" for making solid, firm objects from fluid materials, as in the case of "cast" iron, an object made solid by "casting" from molten metal. The reference here in Daniel 7 is to judicial seats as in Psa.122:5, "For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David" and Matt.19:28, "Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." There is no suggestion anywhere in the Scriptures that the angels are assessors in the judgment; in the vision they are attendants upon the Ancient of Days but not occupants of the thrones, and the only reasonable view we can take of the vision is that Daniel saw the "saints of the Most High" seated in the presence of God and ready to play their own destined part in the drama of judgment. That fact should help considerably in placing the time of the fulfilment of the vision.

But as yet the saints on their thrones had no part to play. The focal point of the vision shifted again to the earth, to the earth before the Throne, where stood the four beasts of the vision. The books were opened and the judgment began; the fourth beast, the terrible, unnatural one, was first condemned, and before Daniel’s fascinated eyes was slain and its body cast into the blazing river which still cascaded down from the glory of God and ran, a fiery torrent, away into the darkness of oblivion. The other beasts were not slain immediately; they were deprived of their dominion, but "their lives were prolonged for a season and time." (v.12) Now this expression as it stands can be productive of misunderstanding, as though these three beasts were granted a kind of indefinite lease of life, whereas the truth is the reverse. The word "prolonged" in the Hebrew means to assign or cut off to a determined length. The expression "season and time" in the A.V. is based on the old English expression "till a time and tide," which was a phrase indicative of a fixed and irrevocable point of time which could by no means be exceeded (hence the English proverb "Time and tide wait for no man.") What Daniel tells us in verse 12, therefore, is that the fourth beast was slain at once and the other three, after being deprived of their dominion, sentenced to die at a certain fixed time not stated but already determined in the mind of the Judge.

Again the prophet’s eyes turned heavenward. Somehow or other he realised in his dream that now was to come an important event in the sequence of happenings which he was witnessing, for at this juncture (v.13) he repeats the expression, "I saw in the night visions" as though to mark this point with some special indication. Looking back at his words from the standpoint of our later Christian knowledge, the significance of this stage in the symbolism is clear enough, for in lifting up his eyes to heaven, Daniel saw "one like the Son of man" (v.13) coming "with the clouds of heaven." The expression is so familiar a one to Christians that we immediately think of the Second Advent of our Lord Jesus Christ for the dual purpose of gathering his Church, and setting up the earthly Kingdom which is to be the desire of all nations; and that, not unnaturally, is the interpretation which is usually and immediately placed upon this verse in Daniel 7. The application seems so obvious that several discordant features are often overlooked, and it may come as somewhat of a shock to realise that the usual interpretation is not quite so fitting as is thought.

In the first place the saints are already, in the vision, seated on their thrones of judgment in the presence of the Ancient of Days, observing the execution of judicial sentence upon the four beasts, and this before the "Son of Man" appears with the clouds of heaven. In the second place this "Son of Man" coming with the clouds of heaven, does not descend to the earth but is brought into the presence of the Ancient of Days, to receive a royal investiture, and a kingdom. And in the third place—and this is important to a right view of the vision—the expression "the Son of Man" in the A.V. is not a correct rendering of the original. Daniel actually said that he saw "one like a son of," i.e. one like a human being, in contrast to the Deity above and the beasts below; this man‑like being, then ushered into the presence of God and awarded the kingdom of the earth. The translators, reasoning back from their New Testament theology, rendered "the Son of Man" instead of "a son of man" forgetting that in Daniel’s day the phrase "Son of man" as applied to the Messiah was completely unknown and could have had no possible meaning.

Daniel, then, saw a man coming with the clouds of heaven, as contrasted with the raging sea which only brought forth beasts. Daniel and his people had no knowledge of the Messiah, no conception of a Son of God who would exercise all power in heaven and earth as the active agent of the Father’s purposes. The prevalent understanding of the Kingdom was that God himself would intervene and destroy evil nations and all evil, and exalt his people Israel. It was for this that Daniel looked and prayed, and in the vision of the Ancient of Days he must have found his expectations fully realised.

This addition to the vision, therefore, this introduction of another being, one like an earthly man and yet coming from heaven, to receive and administer the Kingdom, started a new line of enquiry in Daniel’s mind. This was something he had not thought of before. Like others nearly six hundred years later he must have asked himself "Who is this Son of Man?" That is probably the reason for Daniel’s admission at the end of the account (v.28) "As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me... but I kept the matter in my heart." He began to perceive that there was going to be more in this question of the fulfilment of God’s promise to overthrow evil and introduce everlasting righteousness than his studies in the Scriptures had until then revealed to him, and, devoted student that he was, he gave this new development serious thought.

We have the advantage, now, of seeing why the vision entered into this aspect. It was on the basis of this chapter and the picture of the relationship between the "Ancient of Days" who awarded the Kingdom and the "Son of Man" who received the Kingdom that our Lord assumed and used the title "Son of Man." It could have come from no other source and the Jews were aware of the fact. (The use of the same expression in the Book of Ezekiel is not in the same category; the Almighty habitually addressed Ezekiel as "Son of Man" in allusion to the fact that he was, in fact, a human being, with no prophetic or symbolic implication whatever. The suggestion sometimes made that in the New Testament the Greek phrase is "the Son of the man" referring to Jesus’ natural descent from "the man," Adam, is based upon misapplication to Greek grammar and does not deserve to be taken seriously.) When Jesus proclaimed himself to be "the Son of Man" all who heard him would instantly connect his claim with the vision of Daniel and understand his words accordingly. This is very clearly shown when in answer to the High Priest’s question at his trial, "Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" he replied, "I am: and ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven." (Mark 14:61‑62). That was the statement and the claim that sealed his fate; he had declared that he was the One seen by Daniel in the vision.

That the Jews of Daniel’s day and immediately afterwards clearly perceived the vision to teach that one who in some manner was associated with men and made like man, yet a heavenly being, would thus stand in the presence of God and receive from his hands the Kingdom, is very evident. The Book of Enoch, written several centuries after Daniel’s time, has much to say about the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days and that is a good guide to Jewish thought. The coming of the Son of Man to execute the Divine will in the days of the Kingdom was an accepted part of Jewish theology in the days of Jesus.

We are left, then, with the plain fact that in Daniel the coming of the Son of Man "with the clouds of heaven" takes place after the Ancient of Days has pronounced judgment on the beasts and after the people of "the saints of the Most High" (v.18) have taken their places on their thrones to observe the execution of that judgment. As the chapter proceeds, we find that the kingdom, and dominion is given to the "Son of man" and to the "saints" simultaneously. Both receive the kingdom; both rule and exert authority in association the one with the other.

In the reality it must be accepted therefore that New Testament references to the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven (such as Rev.1:7; Matt.26:64 etc.) must generally refer to a time after the Church has been gathered and after the kingdoms of this world have fallen and been destroyed. They must refer to the latest and most spectacular phase of the Second Advent, the commencement of the reign of Christ and the Church and his revealing to all mankind, the time that is sometimes spoken of as "the Kingdom in power." The appearance of one like a Son of Man in Daniel’s dream symbolises the last event in the series of events which characterise the transition from the kingdoms of this world to the Kingdom of God, the period of the Second Advent.

So the vision ended where all such visions ought to end, in the light and glory of the Kingdom. The four wild and terrible beasts had been destroyed and obliterated; the raging sea had disappeared. As with John in Revelation "there was no more sea." (Rev.21:1) In its place the powers of heaven had taken control of earth and the light and glory of the Son of Man irradiated the whole world and gave the promise of the peace and joy that was to be. There is quite a close connection between this vision of Daniel 7 and that later one of the Apostle John in Revelation 19 and 21 in which, after the destruction of the beasts of the earth, the kings and their armies, and the disappearance of the sea, the new Jerusalem comes down to earth with the glory of God and of the Lamb to enlighten it.

There the ancient prophet left the matter. For two more years we hear nothing of him until, in the third year of King Belshazzar, he dreamed again. But this time the dream was not of distant golden days but of the things near at hand. The empire of Babylon was nearing its end, and it was meet that Daniel be instructed in the events that were soon to come.

(To be continued)
AOH