Son of Man and Ancient of Days

Daniel 7

Daniel is about to tell us about the end time, and what we need to do in the meantime. The Word is true, and it will absolutely change us.

We could talk about the fact that the Bible is true because it has changed our life, and our experience verifies its truth. That would be correct. We could say the Bible is true because there are scientific statements made in the Bible such as, “He hangeth the earth on nothing.” Or, “The earth is turned as clay to the seal,” like rotation on an axis. The Bible reveals things that science hadn’t even discovered yet. And we could say that a book that makes those kinds of scientifically accurate statements must be true.

We could say the Bible is true because of its archeological verification, how that its history is verified in extrabiblical archeological findings. We could say the Bible is true because of the miracle of its origination, its circulation, and its preservation.  All of these facts are compelling and convincing.

On a personal level, we could say I know it’s true because of what it has done in my life.  That is powerful, and you can’t talk me out of what I know…but I admit, it’s personal, so that doesn’t prove anything to others outside of myself.

All of these evidences are very moving.  But more than anything else, the verification of Scripture that stands out as the most incontrovertible of all is fulfilled prophecy. What the Bible says will come to pass does indeed come to pass, and only God – an omniscient, all-knowing, all-seeing God, an all-powerful, omnipotent God could both know and bring to pass the things that are predetermined. No other book dares to predict the future so often with 100% accuracy.

Isaiah 46:9-10

⁹ …I am God, and there is none like me, ¹⁰ Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done…

Now, this is precisely what we find in the seventh chapter of Daniel, on through the end of the book. The most comprehensive, the most pervasive, the most panoramic prophesy of the future world in the entire Old Testament. And there’s more in chapter 7 than in all of Revelation.

You might look at it this way: the first six chapters of Daniel are mostly history with a little bit of prediction; the last six chapters are mostly prediction with just a little bit of history.

We have in this one chapter the outline of the sweep for the whole history of the future of the world. Then in chapters 8 to 12, the individual elements are dealt with. So, the panorama comes in chapter 7, and the details then are dealt with in the following chapters.

Now, the predictions are given, for the most part, through four different visions that come to Daniel at the close of this book. And the first vision comes in chapter 7.

Now, the question always arises, as to why God revealed this to Daniel. Why didn’t it come much earlier?

God’s people are now captives, and Jerusalem, home, lay in shambles. And the question naturally comes to the mind, “Has God forsaken us?”

But God was not through with His people; there had to be a 70-year purging. God wanted them to know, in the midst of their deepest hour of trial, that He had not permanently set them aside. And so, He gives them, amid this time, the word through Daniel that there is yet a glorious and marvelous future for them.

We will see the same four world empires that we saw in chapter 2, [Babylonian/Persian/Greek/Roman] but they’re seen with more detail, conveying far reaching messages.

v. 1          That’s the theme of the vision: that there is coming a final monarch, a glorious King who will establish a glorious kingdom. And His kingdom and His kingship will be unlike anything they have ever known or unlike anything the world will ever experience.

vv. 13-14         This is a fabulous picture that Daniel sees. We see the Son of Man [Jesus] and the Ancient of Days, the Father in heaven.

When we talk about the coming kingdom of the Messiah, we have, in the seventh chapter of Daniel, the who, the what, and the when. And we also have the where, which is everywhere, for He’ll reign over the whole earth.

v. 9          This is the absolute apex of history. This is the crucial moment in eternity. This is the greatest event in all of time, the coronation of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And by the way, this is not a new theme in the Bible either. You can go all the way back to the forty-ninth chapter of Genesis, the first book in the Bible, and you will find the promise made that one will come named Shiloh. And Shiloh means “the one whose right it is.” And when Shiloh comes, He will take the scepter. And everybody knows that a scepter belongs to a king. So, in Genesis 49, there will come one whose right it is to take the scepter.

In 2 Samuel chapter 7, God gave a message to David. David had great desire in his heart to build a temple to the Lord. David lived in a magnificent palace of cedar. He was incredibly wealthy, and he was living in this sumptuous, glorious, magnificent palace, and God was living in a tent, as it were. And David went to the prophet Nathan, and he said, “Nathan, I cannot tolerate God living in that while I live in this. I will build a house for the Lord.”

And Nathan said to him, “Good idea, David. You ought to do that.”

And that night, the Lord came to Nathan and said, “Why didn’t you check with Me? David will not build a house for Me; he’s a man of blood. His son will build a house for Me - a man of peace.” And Solomon was that son who built that house. But in the midst of the promise that Solomon would build the house, in 2 Samuel 7:16, God said, “And beyond Solomon, I will send a greater than Solomon, a greater than David. I will send one who will establish a kingdom, and it will be forever and ever.” So, even then the promise had been made that the Messiah would come and establish a kingdom.

Many of the psalms show the king taking the throne and His coronation.

In Isaiah chapter 9, “A child is born, a Son is given, and the government is on His shoulders,” and He rules. The Old Testament is literally filled with the message of the coming of the King. And here in Daniel 7 God gives us a glimpse of the very coronation of Jesus Christ itself. It’s as if we were ushered into the future, and we were sitting down around the throne of God, and we were watching Christ being crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords, which occurs just prior to the time that He comes back to the earth to establish His kingdom.

vv. 9-10           Now, what is thrilling about this is that this parallels the apocalyptic vision of John in Revelation 4-5. There’s a description of the throne and a rainbow around the throne, in sight like an emerald. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunders and voices, and lamps of fire, and there’s a crystal sea and books being opened.

And he goes on to talk about all kinds of angelic hosts that were there. And they were crying out, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power.” And God has in His hand a scroll, and He’s crying out for someone to take the scroll and to step out and take possession of the earth. It’s coronation day, and one steps up. And he is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. He is a Lamb slain. And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne.

And when He took the scroll, you know what happened? All the music started, elders, creatures and angels, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands and thousands of thousands. And they were saying, with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.’

So, both John and Daniel had a glimpse of the glory and the wonder of the coronation of Christ. And that is precisely what we see here as Daniel envisions the throne and the Ancient of Days.

In v. 22 we see this title again and it reminds us of why we sing, “O worship the King, all glorious above/And gratefully sing His power and His love/Our Shield and Defender, the Ancient of Days/Pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.”

“Come Thou almighty King/Help us Thy name to sing/Help us to praise/Father, all glorious/O’er all victorious/Come and reign over us/Ancient of Days.”

v. 13 reveals the Son of Man for the first time. This is none other than Jesus Christ Himself.

I don’t think it was some kind of an accident that Jesus called Himself Son of Man throughout the NT. I think, in effect, He was saying to Israel, “I am the one of whom Daniel spoke. I am that Son of Man who was brought to the throne of the Ancient of Days to receive the kingdom.” You see?

He specifically uses this title when He is referring to His second coming.

Matthew 16:27-28

²⁷ For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. ²⁸ Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. [the preliminary glimpse in the transfiguration]

Matthew 19:28

²⁸ And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [half of the 24 elders]

Again, speaking of His kingdom, He calls Himself Son of Man.

Matthew 25:31

³¹ When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

He called Himself Son of Man. He didn’t call Himself King of Kings, or Lord of Lords, or some other term. He called Himself Son of Man because, I believe, He was connecting Himself with the prophecy of Daniel to show that He, in fact, was its fulfillment.

Another key in verse 13, it says He came with the clouds of heaven. God is seen manifest in the clouds. Deity and clouds go together in the Scripture.

In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, verse 17, “Then we who are alive and remain” – speaking of the rapture – “shall be caught up together with them” – what? – “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.”

In Revelation chapter 1, verse 7, simply says it. Revelation 1:7, “Behold, He cometh with clouds.” In Acts chapter 1, verse 11, Jesus ascended into heaven, and they watched Him go into the clouds. And two angels appeared, “And they said, ‘Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who is taken up from you shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go.’” In other words, He’s going to come just like He went. And how was He taken up? In a cloud.

Matthew 24:30

³⁰ And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

vv. 13-14 is the same scene we see in…

Revelation 11:17, 19

 Saying, We give thee thanks, O LORD God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

There’s going to be a firework show in heaven to end it all, when the Son is crowned as King.

Think “authority.”

verse 14, “And there was given Him dominion” –When Christ takes His kingdom, he will have absolute authority.

It will be a pure and total dictatorship. There will be no voting in the kingdom. None. No democracy.

“This is what theocracy looks like!”

v. 27                He will reign absolutely; He will reign supremely; He will share His glory with no other.

Now, if you go back to Psalm 2, you see this clearly. “Why do the nations rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed…He who sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath…Yet have I set My King upon My holy hill of Zion.” He’s the only authority, and the nations can rage and foment and turmoil all that they want but it is useless because Christ reigns supreme.

In Psalm 8, verse 6 says, “Thou hast made Him to have authority over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet.”

Matthew 28:18

¹⁸ And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Absolute total authority will be given to Jesus Christ. He will rule the world.

In Revelation 19 and verse 11, it tells us that heaven was opened, and a white horse came, and He that sat on it was Faithful and true. “And on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.” He is the absolute monarch of His kingdom.

1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 14, “At the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.”

I can’t help but get excited about that. I don’t know about you, but I get weary of Christ being dishonored. I feel like the saints under the altar, in the sixth chapter of Revelation, crying out, “How long, O Lord? How long will You allow Your people and Your name to be so abused?” I feel like David, who says, “The reproaches that fall on You are fallen on me.” I feel like the apostle Paul, who is willing to bear the marks of Christ, but longs that Christ be exalted. I feel like John, who cries out, “Even so, come Lord Jesus.” It is enough that You have been so dishonored; it is enough that You have been so rejected. It is enough that You have been despised for so long. There will be a day when He is honored in the way that He is worthy.

Now, all that’s left for us in this chapter is the chronology of His kingdom. The disciples got excited about the kingdom, and they said to Him one day, and it’s recorded in Acts chapter 1, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

It wasn’t to be then.  So when?

We know who: the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days.  We will see them face to face and really get to know them.

We know what: the dominion and honor and glories of His kingdom.

The only thing we don’t know is when. But do you want to know something? Daniel tells us when, basically, though not exactly, he gives us the chronology. Daniel will reveal all we need to know about the end time, and what we should do in the meantime.