Daniel 7:9-15: The Ancient of Days

Daniel’s Vision of the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man

Daniel chapter 9 starting in verse 9, here now the inspired word of God. I kept looking until the thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took his seat, his vesture was white like snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.

His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire, a river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands were attending him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before him.

The court sat, and the books were opened. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.

As for the rest of the beast, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. 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.

Let's pray. Father, once again, as we look into your word, and especially in this wonderful, fantastic book of Daniel, we pray that you would open our eyes, our ears, and our hearts, explain to us what the meaning of these visions, that, Father, that we would come more like our Savior Jesus Christ, and that, Father, that we would be those who would advance his kingdom.

We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Please be seated. Well, last week, we introduced a vision, a dream that God gave to Daniel, and we saw how this dream paralleled the visions of Nebuchadnezzar in chapter 2 of this book.

It was a vision concerning the kingdoms that would rule in a specific time period, from the captivity of Judah by Babylon up to the ending of the old covenant during the rule of Rome, which also brought in the new covenant.

To aid in our interpretation of these visions, we had a short review of principles of interpretation, and specifically how to interpret prophecy so that we don't make errors. And we did so for a couple of reasons, and here's the main reason.

Every heresy, every major error brought into the church at the heart is a hermeneutical mistake or a hermeneutical error. Errors that bring extra biblical teaching into the church, well, they're relatively easy to spot and to refute because there's no basis for them in scripture.

But if it's not one of those, but if it's an error of interpreting scripture, it becomes more difficult. It becomes more difficult because they point to scripture even though they're misinterpreting it, so it's a hard thing to refute.

That doubly is true when it comes to prophecy. There's no question much of the difficulty lies with interpreting the symbols and the visions that God gives to his saints. But it's crucial to do so if we are to receive the benefit and the blessing of God from these portions of scripture.

Here's what I mean by that. You remember I gave you a couple quotations last week, one from Calvin. And Calvin made the point that up until this chapter of Daniel, the seventh chapter, Daniel was interpreting for the benefit of secular, or he called them profane kings.

But then he switches here, and I'll give you the short version of his quote. We must notice this first of all, because thus far his predictions ended beyond the limits of the household of faith. But here, chapter seven, Daniel's duty is restricted to the church.

And then St. Cliff Ferguson added that this section is too important for the believer to ignore. So before we move on, we must make sure that we understand these two visions and what they mean to the church.

Now when Nebuchadnezzar is given his vision, and when Daniel is given his, Babylon is reigning supreme in the world. And there's no question about that. It was unthinkable that anyone could conquer this awesome empire.

Yet that's exactly what the vision of Nebuchadnezzar says is going to happen. And then Daniel's vision agrees, but speaks even more specifically to the church. Now we, in the 21st century, we have the benefit of looking back on history as it has unfolded.

And we can, with confidence, a degree of confidence, identify those four kingdoms as Babylon, as the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians, the Greek Empire, and then lastly the Roman Empire. And we've examined how the visions describe the empires as one would expect.

And we find that the descriptions given by Daniel, both to Nebuchadnezzar and to himself, fit those empires perfectly. And why is this important to us? Well, we can certainly learn principles of leadership, what to do, what not to do.

We can see that in these kings. And it's nice to have an inspired record of this particular history. But there is more to it than that. Remember, and I want you to keep this in mind. Remember the cardinal rule of hermeneutics, which we gave last week.

That is that all scripture points to Christ. All scripture points to Christ. And the greatest failure of these empires wasn't their military mistakes or their political intrigue. They persecuted the people of God to whom the Messiah would come.

And not just the Jewish Messiah, but the savior of the world. So we have four successive kingdoms that are raised up and then God casts them down. And the fourth kingdom is particularly noteworthy. Because it's the kingdom that is ruling when Christ comes to earth.

So if you remember from chapter two, each of the successive kingdoms is less glorious. Remember, it starts with gold, then goes to silver, then to bronze. And finally, Rome. Iron mixed with clay. Ten toes, signifying diversity.

Oh, just a little aside. When you see the number ten in scripture, it can mean ten specifically, but it can also be a figurative number just for a plurality. We see that numerous times in scripture. And that's especially true in the prophetic portions.

And we see this again in Daniel's vision of the ten horns. This beast that's signifying Rome was again different by its very nature than all the other empires. And though this empire is powerful, it's dreadful, it's terrifying, but it's also filled with internal conflict.

And Calvin makes a point. In fact, he says that the ten horns represent the senate of Rome. And though the republic was no longer functioning as such, the Caesars left it intact because it was a good appearance for them.

And he continues his analogy saying the little horn represents the Caesars as they usurp the power. So, and here's a quotation from Calvin. He says, so also the eyes of a man appeared in the little horn.

That is, after this change took place and the senate and people were deprived of their liberty, he who held the government of the republic was not formidable. As an entire beast, but was like a private man as to outward form.

Now, whether Calvin is right on that, I'm not going to dispute. I'm not going to argue with Calvin. But what's important is not the specific individuals who are involved and whether we're right or we're wrong.

What's important, the lesson here for us is that there is conflict within the empire. And this is just another demonstration that shows that no earthly kingdom can accomplish the purpose of God. No matter how formidable the empire, it will lose its teeth eventually.

And though the empire lost much of its grandeur as the phrase eyes like a man indicates, yet its mouth proceeded with great boasts. We know from our history books that the Caesars and the emperors of Rome were extremely boastful, extremely prideful.

And in their court chambers, no one dared to speak against them. Something else we see in the history books is they were fickle. Fickle in their practices. They ruled by cruelty rather than by rule of law.

In fact, the law was a tool that was used by the Caesars to keep the citizenry in their place while the Caesars did what they pleased. Let's refer back to Nebuchadnezzar's vision for a moment. During the time of this fourth empire, something unexpectedly happens.

A stone, if you remember, a stone was cut without hands, struck the statue on the feet and the whole statue came tumbling down. It was destroyed and the description was somewhat startling. It became like chaff and was blown away by the wind.

And then the stone surplants the vision of the statue and fills the whole earth. And we saw that in that vision, the mountain was the kingdom of God that will endure forever. Now, of these two visions, the mountain was the kingdom of God.

And what we see in chapter 7, we should see some parallels if they're the same. So let's continue on. Now, let's look at verse 9, the first part of our text. And we see Daniel's vision, verse 9. I kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his seat.

His vesture was like white snow and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. Quite a vision. Daniel sees, first thing he sees his thrones and the Ancient of Days sitting upon the throne.

Remember now, this is a dream and a vision, not an actual scene in heaven. And the language is symbolic. Now, how do we know that? Well, because God is spirit. And he's not confined to a body that can sit on a throne.

Nor has anyone seen God. John makes that case both in his gospel and in his epistle, where he says in both, no one has seen God at any time. So the thrones signify power and authority. So again, this is one of those awesome visions.

Daniel describes God in this vision as the Ancient of Days. Now, this does not mean he was an old man. In fact, this is one of the portions of scriptures that people use to depict God as a white haired old man.

But that's far from the truth. The Ancient of Days means that God is separate from time. He is eternal. God is the master of time. What that means is he is more than just without beginning and without end.

He is outside of time. Time is part of the creation of God. So you can see why he's revealed by Daniel in this way. Because this title includes sovereignty, but it's not limited to sovereignty. It includes omniscience, omnipotence, and virtually every other attribute of God.

And in the vision, he takes his seat on the throne, which indicates that he is, in fact, the ruler, the supreme, the creator of all things. He is sovereign. He's omni-everything. I want to pause here for a moment again.

The purpose of this vision, of this activity in heaven, is significant. Whenever God is about to do something on earth, it is preceded by action in heaven. And this is very pronounced if you read the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And if you read it properly, you'll see that before everything that takes place on earth, there's action in heaven. But perhaps the best example is the power and authority that God gives to his church on earth.

And this is so underplayed. Remember when Jesus takes his disciples aside, he takes them to Caesarea Philippi. And he asks, who do people say that I am? Oh, you're one of the prophets. You're this, you're that.

You're John the Baptist. And then he asked them, but who do you say the son of man is? Who do you say that I am? And of course, we know the Peter response, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.

And Jesus blesses him and tells him, yeah, flesh and blood didn't reveal this to you. But following that confession, Jesus says something truly amazing. Verse 19 of Matthew 16. He says, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

And whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Notice the symbolism. Jesus gives the church the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

That means the church is the authoritative representative of God on earth. The power of binding and loosing is representative of that authority. The keys to the kingdom is representative of that authority.

But notice carefully how Jesus phrases it. Whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in earth. In other words, the church is not acting alone or ex parte.

It is acting within the bounds of heavenly authority and power. The church must not, cannot exceed the power and authority given to it by Jesus Christ. Here's what I mean. Notice what Jesus says. Whatever you bind on earth shall have been, and notice the verb tenses, shall have been bound in heaven.

And the same thing, whatever is loosed. What comes first before the action on earth is what takes place in heaven. To tie this with our text, it means this. When God assumes the throne, something in heaven, something is about to happen on earth.

Let me give you another example. And to show you the connection between what takes place on heaven and on earth. Remember the first martyred deacon. Caution to you guys, the deacons. Remember the first martyr was a deacon.

Stephen is taken before the Pharisees, the chief priests, and he condemns them for their hypocrisy. And then he says, in verse 55 of Acts chapter 7, but being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of.

God.

And he said, behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. One of his saints is being condemned and about to be murdered.

And it didn't escape the notice of our ascended Lord. He was standing. And I think even the term standing, because usually you see him sitting, he's outraged at what's taken place on earth. There's a connection between what happens on earth and what is happening in heaven.

So back to the text. So here we see this language of God assuming the throne and described as the ancient of days. If you just look at that picture, something of epic proportions is taking place or about to take place for sure.

Another important point. When God reveals himself to mankind, he uses names and titles or descriptions that are appropriate to the occasion at hand. A couple of examples. Remember Gideon. Gideon was a reluctant leader.

He was uncertain. He was even fearful. And so how does God reveal himself to encourage Gideon? Yahweh shalom. God is peace. When Israel came out of Egypt and they were reminded of all the afflictions that God struck Egypt with, they were fearful of all these diseases.

And how does God reveal himself? I am Yahweh rofei. God, your healer. And then when he reveals himself to Abraham after Isaac is to be sacrificed, and how does he reveal himself? Yahweh yirei. God provides.

So how is God presented before Daniel in this vision is instructed for us. Look how he's described. First the title, the ancient of days. Clothed in white. Well, there's no surprise there. White symbolizes purity, righteousness.

Hair also like wool. You know, if you ever find yourself overwhelmed by the circumstances of life. Anybody ever get overwhelmed by the circumstances of life? Or is it just me? If you ever have your peace, finding it slipping away from you.

Think upon this vision in scripture that God gave to Daniel. The ancient of days. Ascending the throne. Taking his seat. It's awesome. That is the God who is watching over you. Nothing escapes his notice, and especially not the condition of his saints.

And the vision continues with a description of the throne of God. It was ablaze with flames. The wheels, a burning fire. These two are figures of speech designed to have the reader understand the glorious nature of our great God.

And as we have already seen, God cannot be confined to a throne. So no, he doesn't need wheels to move about. For he is the great omnipresent God. But Daniel continues in his description. And a river of fire was flowing and coming out from before him.

Thousands upon thousands were attending him. And myriads upon myriads were standing before him. What a glorious picture. God is the ruler of heaven. And countless heavenly, majestic beings were attending him.

The imagery of fire is continued for our benefit. So that we will continue to understand the majestic nature of the ancient of days. Calvin said, this is the reason why God always shows something terrible when he appears to his servants, not merely to create astonishment, but to excite their fear and awe.

And reverence. Even in the book of Hebrews, our God is a consuming fire. And that continues as Daniel sees these angelic beings. Too numerous to count. Thousands upon thousands. Myriads upon myriads. You know, I think people try to delineate about the angels and what their rank is and how many there are.

And I think that's a foolish task. These heavenly beings are seen frequently in scripture. And they are ministering servants to God. Remember, they ministered to Jesus after he had been tempted by Satan.

The devil left him and behold, angels came and began ministering to him. These beings are created to carry out the will of God. Matthew 26, 53, where Jesus tells Peter to put his sword down. He says, or do you not think I can appeal to my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels.

They are the army of God. Remember, Elisha's servant was afraid the Aramaean army was coming and surrounding the city of Jerusalem. And Elisha says, don't be afraid. We're more in number than they are.

And in verse 17 of 2 Kings 6, then Elisha prayed and said, O Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the servant's eyes and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

So in the present text, God is surrounded by these angelic beings. And they wait in obeyance for the command of God to go and to do this, to do that. And they obey immediately and completely. That's why we pray that I will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Oh, that we were as obedient as the angels and his glory is reflected by them as they sit in court waiting for his righteous judgments. God doesn't need countless angels to add to his glory because his glory is perfect within himself.

But the myriads and thousands reflect his glory in the analogy of a court sitting in.

Judgment.

Remember the kings when they would hold court, they'd have all their counselors. They didn't want counselors. They just wanted to make the appearance. God's angelic beings just reflect his majesty and his glory.

As we proceed, we need to be careful because this is where many people go astray in their interpretation of the vision. They assign this vision to the second advent of Christ, the second coming, which is still future by, well, who knows how many years.

It's at least 2 ,000 years from the first advent. But let me just suggest that this can't be since these events in the vision are taking place during the reign of the fourth beast, the rule of Rome under the Caesars.

And we will see that this court is being convened. The little horse, little horn, I'm sorry, the little horn is still alive and boasting. So we must ask ourselves, what event took place on earth during this time, the waning power of Rome that would bring God to the court and call his court into session?

The answer is not too difficult to perceive. The answer is simply this. He was bringing the old covenant to a close and the new covenant beginning. The first advent of Christ contained many things, his incarnation, his earthly ministry, his baptism, his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, his presentation as being the future king of Israel on Palm Sunday, his death on the cross, his burial, his resurrection, his great commission to his church, his ascension, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

With those events and the ratification of the new covenant, the old covenant was rendered obsolete. And Jesus speaking to the rulers of Israel and the chief priest made that very clear. I remember Jesus gave them a parable and talked to them about what they did to the kingdom.

In Matthew 21, 43, Jesus tells the chief priests and the rulers, therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit thereof. The nation of Israel had allied itself with Rome and would suffer the same fate as Rome.

You think that's too harsh? Listen to what Jesus said in John 19, 15. As they were crying out to crowds, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? And do you remember what they said?

The chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar. They allied themselves with Rome. And when Pilate said, wait a minute, I am not going to have his blood on my hands. He is innocent. And in Matthew 27, 25, all the people said, his blood shall be upon us and on our children.

So when the books of the new covenant were opened in heaven, they were closed on the old covenant. Remember the principle of binding and loosing. The books that were opened in the vision represent the preaching of the gospel.

Let me say this. In a minute or so, you will see that an extension of life was granted to these other beasts. But the day they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, their empire died. Meanwhile, Daniel was still intent on watching the vision unfold.

And he heard the horn speaking boastful words. The Roman empire was known for flaunting their power and might. And this may need a little explanation. This continued for some time, even after their glory had faded.

And didn't end until the empire ceased. And then Daniel gives a little recap of the fate of the rest of the beasts. He says, their influence remained for a time, even though they had no power. Their dominion was gone.

And once again, look at who is in charge of all of this. An extension of life was granted to them. For whatever time period, God allowed them to have some influence. And then the vision continues. Verse 13.

The Son of Man, the Ascension, and the Kingdom Given to Christ

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. First, this one like a son of man clearly is a reference to Jesus Christ.

And why do I say this so dogmatically? Well, first, the context dictates it. But second, because that title, son of man, was the title that Jesus used to describe himself more than any other. You know what his disciples called him more than any other?

Lord.

Other people would refer to him as the son of God frequently. But Jesus referred to himself over 80 times as using the title, the son of man. Granted, Ezekiel was called out by God, but he certainly doesn't fit the context here.

So we know from the vision in chapter two that during the fourth kingdom, God will set up his eternal kingdom. That this kingdom is different is crystal clear. It begins with that stone cut without hands, clearly a reference to deity.

And it grows to fill the whole earth. It will have no end. And we will see the parallel of that in verse 14. But let's return to the son of man coming on the clouds of heaven. I must take a brief aside because one of the most common interpretations of this passage is that those who assert that this is Jesus Christ at his second coming.

They point to the similarity with his ascension. Since he went up with the clouds, he will return in the same way. Let me suggest several problems with that view. And you know what? I don't usually like to preach against a particular view.

I do that seldom and very cautiously. But this I must because it is so widespread within the church. There's several problems with this view. First, the appearance is during the reign of the fourth beast, the Roman Empire.

And you can't get around the time text. Now they respond by saying there'll be a restored Roman Empire when Jesus returns. But the text leaves no room for a restored Roman Empire. They are all successive.

One replaced in the other. Second, if this is the return of Christ, then Daniel has him going the wrong way. Because he's coming up to the throne, not leaving the throne. And he's receiving the kingdom.

In the second coming, he's presenting the kingdom to his father. First Corinthians 15, 24. Then comes the end when he hands over the kingdom to God and father and has abolished all rule and all authority and all power.

Third, they say this must be the second coming because the description looks just like the ascension. The reason it looks just like the ascension is because it is the ascension. This is a picture of the ascension of Jesus Christ from a heavenly perspective.

Even as Acts gives us a picture of the ascension from an earthly perspective. In the vision, when the last of the beasts is persecuting the saints, the ancient of days assumes the throne because something important is happening on earth.

He's surrounded by the heavenly hosts. And what's occurring on earth? The death and resurrection of his only begotten son. He has finished the work God sent him to do perfectly. And he has risen from the grave victorious.

The fourth beast couldn't stop him. He ascends into heaven with the clouds. And as his reward, he is given a heavenly kingdom that will grow to fill the earth. Look at verse 14. And to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom.

That all peoples, nations, men of every language might serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away. His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. And the books were opened.

The gospel was loosed in heaven so it could be loosed on earth. And because it was loosed in heaven, Jesus could say to his disciples before his ascension, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

Does this resemble the ascension? Yes, it does because it is a heavenly picture. And one day at the culmination of history, Jesus will come back just as he left, when all his enemies shall be made a footstool for his feet.

You know, when the vision was complete, if we go one more verse, we read this. As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. Daniel was so distressed that he asked one of the beings to explain things to him.

I would hope that your response is similar to Daniel's. Reading this account of what takes place at the end of the vision, that you would want to know more. For this vision should have some response in the life of the Christian.

If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, it should spur you on to advance the kingdom, knowing that you have received an everlasting kingdom in Christ. And the books of heaven are open. The gospel is free to go forth to all the nations.

So go, make disciples of all the nations. If you're here today and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, you're either allied with the beasts or you're allied with the Son of Man. Repent of your sin and be saved.

Let's pray.