A Vision of the Heavenly Court
7: 9-12
A vision of the heavenly court DIG: What picture does the “Ancient of Days” bring to mind: Wisdom of senility? Venerability or sovereignty? Sentimental softy or moral purity? What do you think is implied by “the books were opened?” Who is the fourth beast? What happens to him and the other three beasts?
REFLECT: What does the phrase “the Ancient of Days” mean to you? When you look at the picture below, does it strengthen your faith, or seem weird? Why is that? Seeing this courtroom scene and the judgement coming from God the Father, what feelings do you have for those who are being judged?
Dani’el 2 gives us the perspective of the times of the Gentiles from a human viewpoint
as something majestic, but Dani’el 7 gives us the perspective from God’s viewpoint
as something dreadful.
In his third vision (to see link click Bz – Dani’el’s Vision of Four Beasts), Dani’el was no longer on the earth (see Cd – The Kingdom of Satan), but in heaven. He saw an angelic court preparing to begin proceedings in a heavenly courtroom, and a sentence of judgment was about to be carried out. There is a startling contrast here. In 7:7-8 the antichrist is seen blaspheming the God of heaven, but in 7:9-10 the sovereign LORD is shown sitting upon His throne, calmly preparing for the day of judgment. A greater contrast between two connecting verses can hardly be imagined.199 In addition, the language and style of this account shifts from prose to short phrases presented in poetic parallelism. Three scenes followed in rapid succession, as one part of the vision faded into another.
The Ancient of Days (7:9-10): As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. God the Father is never taken by surprise, never undecided, never in a panic about His world. He reigns. In the face of the horrible havoc that humans are able to cause, Dani’el is reminded that ultimate authority does not reside in Babylon, Persia, Greece, or Rome. It is in the hands of God. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool, reflecting His purity. The description of YHVH must not be taken literally, because He doesn’t have a body, wear clothes, or grow white hair. These things are symbolic of His nature and character: He is eternal, holy, and sovereign. In Revelation 1:12-20, these same characteristics are applied to Yeshua Messiah, thus proving that He is the eternal Son of God.200 His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze (7:9). Dani’el’s description of the glory surrounding the One seated on the flaming throne with wheels recalls what Ezeki’el saw (see Ezeki’el Ak – The Vision of the Chariot).
A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him. The fire speaks of His holiness and judgment against sin. Our God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29; Psalm 97:1-4). But this is nothing new. From the burning bush (Exodus 3:3) to Malachi’s judgment by fire (Malachi 4:1), fire often depicts God’s presence, or is pictured as going before Him to prepare for His coming (Psalm 50:3 and 97:3). The river of fire coming out from the chariot describes God’s judgment as being poured out upon the wicked, particularly upon the Kingdom of Satan and the antichrist when Messiah returns (see the commentary on Isaiah Kg – The Second Coming of Jesus Christ to Bozrah). It is fitting that thousands upon thousands attended Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. Dani’el tries to write something like infinity in order to express the countless number of angels that stood before the throne ready to carry out the judgments of Ha’Shem.200 The description builds up to the climax: judgment was about to begin, the court was seated, and evidence was produced as the books were opened (Exodus 32:32; Psalm 56:8; Malachi 3:16), and God the Father prepared to judge the evil on the earth (7:10).202 No matter what Satan or the antichrist do on the earth, God is still on the throne.
The destruction of the fourth beast (7:11): With the description of heaven finished, Dani’el returns to the beasts of Chapter 2. The fourth beast represents the Fourth Empire (see Bb – The Fourth Empire: Imperialism). Dani’el foresaw that this Empire would undergo several stages. It began with the rise of the Roman Empire (see Bc – The United Stage), followed by the Medo-Persian Empire (see Bd – The Divided Kingdom Stage), and lastly by the appearance of the antichrist during the Great Tribulation (see Be – The One World Government Stage). Then Dani’el continued to watch because of the boastful words the little horn was speaking (see Cd – The Kingdom of Satan: The little horn). He kept looking until the beast (the antichrist) was slain and his body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. The fire mentioned here is the same fire of judgment seen in 7:9-10. Revelation 19:20 spells out the fulfillment of this prophecy: And the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who did mighty miracles on behalf of the beast – miracles that deceived all who had accepted the mark of the beast and who worshiped his statue. Both the beast and his false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The Kingdom of Satan will utterly be destroyed, which will end the Times of the Gentiles (see Ao – The Times of the Gentiles). This dramatic turn of events will prove beyond any doubt that ADONAI is sovereign over the whole world.
The first three beasts (7:12): The other beasts (see Cc – The Kingdoms of This World), which were lion-like (7:4), bear-like (7:5), and leopard-like (7:6), had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to exist for a period of time. But how could those beasts lose their authority and still exist? As the Babylonians (see Ay – The First Empire: A Head of Gold), the Medo-Persians (see Az – The Second Empire: Chest and Arms of Silver), and the Greeks (see Ba – The Third Empire: Belly and Thighs of Bronze) were defeated one after another, their authority ended, but they continued to exist because they were absorbed into the next empire. For example, Greece was conquered by Rome (see Bc – The United Stage); and although Greek dominance ceased, the Greeks continued to exist because they were absorbed into the Roman Empire.
In Revelation 13:1-2, John saw the same Fourth Beast that Dani’el saw in his vision, but he provided a much more detailed description. Then I saw a beast rising up out of the sea. It had seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns on its horns. And written on each head were names that blasphemed God. This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon (Satan) gave the beast (the antichrist) his own power and throne and great authority. John’s description of the Fourth Beast is strikingly similar to Dani’el’s description of the first three beasts. The body of John’s beast resembled that of a leopard, its feet were bear-like, and its mouth looked as if it belonged to a lion. In Dani’el’s vision, the leopard represented the Greek Empire; the bear represented the Medo-Persian Empire, and the lion represented the Babylonian Empire. The similarities between John’s beast and Dani’el’s other three beasts suggest that those empires left their mark on the Fourth Empire.203 The continued existence of the defeated kingdoms is parallel to Chapter 2 where Nebuchadnezzar’s statue did not collapse until its feet of iron and clay (representing the final phase of the of the Fourth Empire), was struck by the Rock, Yeshua Messiah.204 Therefore, the Kingdom of Satan will be completely destroyed and replaced by a new world order (see Cf – The Kingdom of God).
Dear heavenly Father, praise You for being so wonderful and perfect in character. You are totally holy and perfect in love! Your omniscient wisdom works together with Your holiness and love to ensure perfect justice that is never too harsh, never too lenient and always happens at the perfect timing. When evil seems to rear its ugly head, Your children do not need to fear for they have a sure hope that the Kingdom of Satan will utterly be destroyed. That gives Your children confidence that earthly trials will soon be over and heaven’s joys will be eternal! For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). You will use the time of Tribulation both to purify conquerors for Your Kingdom and to weed out hardened evil doers who refuse to repent. People were scorched with fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God – the One who has power over these plagues. But they did not repent, to give Him glory. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in pain and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their boils. But they did not repent of their deeds (Revelation 16:9-11). And if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 21:15). In the Name of the One who sits at Your right hand. Amen
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