THE MANIFESTO OF THE SAINTS

(Daniel 2:4 to 7:28)

The Power of a Manifesto

It took about seventy years for the communist manifesto of 1848, by Marx and Engels, to kindle major revolutions throughout the world.  After an equivalent period of time this declaration became discredited.  Although it never gave the workers of the proletariat the prosperity and equality it promised, it had a powerful effect on the world.

In ancient history there appeared another remarkable political forecast and manifesto which increasingly shook and still shakes the world.  It was written at a time when vast empires began to arise in the Middle East.  It too forecast the future destinies of world governments and promised victory and power to a class of men, in this case "the saints", those faithful to the God of heaven.

This great manifesto was addressed to world rulers and their subjects, and not just to Jews.  It spoke of God as "the Most High" or "the God of heaven" rather than as Yahweh, the name used by the Jews.  It was expressed in the language which then dominated international communication and was an essential tool of empires.

That language was Imperial Aramaic, which remained largely unchanged as the means of international communication from about 600 to 330 B.C.  The Aramaic Manifesto of the Saints was inserted into the Hebrew Bible in the middle of the book of Daniel.  Nebuchadnezzar, who was king of Babylon from 605 to 562 B.C., had besieged Jerusalem and carried off to Babylon some young Jewish nobles.  Among them was Daniel, who became an advisor to the king and recorded the manifesto.

The part of the book of Daniel which is in Aramaic (2:4 to 7:28) may once have been published separately from the Hebrew part of the book.  In our extant editions, in chapter two, it is introduced by a few verses in Hebrew, which describe a scene in the court of Nebuchadnezzar, the founder of the great Babylonian empire.  As the Aramaic section begins, the introductory words, "in Aramaic", are added to warn the reader of the change of language.

The Aramaic text does not at first seem to resemble a public protestation against the ruling Gentile powers.  Daniel would not have been so foolish as to openly challenge his ruthless and absolute sovereign.  However, circumstances made a way for his message to be accepted.  Nebuchadnezzar was terrified by a dream in which an immense statue appeared, with four sections, made of four different metallic components.  From top to bottom, these were: gold, silver, brass and iron.  Daniel interpreted these metals as representing four successive empires of the world.  The king found this interpretation credible, because Daniel was able to reveal to him the content of what he had dreamt, as well as its meaning.

In four chapters following this vision, (Daniel 3-6), stories set in Babylon address the injustice of tyrannical oppressors of the humble and harmless worshippers of the God of heaven.  In each case God proves to kings who ignored Him that his power was supreme.  The stories also encourage believers to be faithful in all circumstances, even under pain of death.

Two of these stories tell of God's deliverance of pious Jews from plots against their lives: Daniel's three friends survive the fiery furnace and Daniel comes unhurt out of the lion's den.  The two other chapters tell of the faults and divinely ordained punishments upon the first and last rulers of the Babylonian empire.

In chapter seven, which concludes the Aramaic portion, Daniel has a vision in the reign of Belshazzar, the last co-regent of the Babylonian empire.  Four wild beasts successively appear, a lion, a bear, a leopard and an iron-toothed monster, representing four great empires of world history, which are finally to be replaced by the everlasting kingdom of God.  The empires in view are identical with those represented in the metals of the statue of Nebuchadnezzar's dream.

This final vision motivates true believers to be faithful until death.  They will have to suffer, but they will finally be given reigning positions in a worldwide kingdom which will never end.  The histories of Daniel and his friends in the empires of Babylon and Medo-Persia testify that God really has the power to bring this about.

Is the Manifesto Credible and Comprehensible?

The fact that Daniel held governmental office in two successive empires, dominated by two different racial groups, the Babylonians and the Medo-Persians, and wrote his manifesto in their common official language, indicates that he wanted to confront the world with the fact that there is a supreme God who will finally judge unjust rulers and eliminate them from the earth.  Looking back more than two and a half millennia, let us consider the relevance of Daniel's manifesto.  Does it really apply to us as well?  Can its original application stretch as far as the twenty-first century?  Is there reason to believe it will be fulfilled?

Since Daniel's time, many have claimed to be the people of the saints of whom he wrote (7:27).  The manifesto has stirred up groups as diverse as the Jewish Dead Sea sectarians and the revolutionary English "Fifth Kingdom men" mentioned in Samuel Pepys diary.  Many have thought that the final kingdom was to come by their means and in their own times, and in ways that Daniel never intended.

Daniel assures us that finally, by those of sincere piety, his visions will be understood: "...  the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.  Many shall be purified, made white and refined, but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand"  (12:9,10).

The first step in judging the credibility of the manifesto is to analyze exactly what it meant to the writer at the time it was recorded.  Many scholars, resisting growing evidence of the accurate historical knowledge shown in the book, continue to interpret it as a fable, coming from, and applying to, Maccabean times, several centuries later.  A blind presupposition of the impossibility of miracles and foreknowledge shuts up and seals the book to them.

An unusual aid in understanding these prophecies is found in the fact that in chapters two and seven there are two parallel visions, each furnished with a comparable interpretation, covering the same sweep of prophetic history.  As Joseph once said to Pharaoh in Egypt: "The dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God" (Gen 41:32).  It will be possible therefore for us to compare the two visions and explanations, item by item, and thus synthesize and expand their separate stories as we seek to understand them.

In the presentation of this synthesis, italicized words of the longer version in chapter seven will usually begin the paragraphs.  The visions must also be seen in the larger context of the whole Book of Daniel.  The New King James version is used, except where otherwise stated.

The Four Kingdoms Identified

Verse 1  "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions of his head while on his bed.  Then he wrote down the dream, telling the main facts.”  Daniel's visions are not confused gnostic apocalyptic imaginings, reserved for initiates.  The God of whom Daniel spoke did not wish to hide his purposes from men: in chapter two the initiative to reveal the future kingdoms to king Nebuchadnezzar came from God Himself.  The God who created men here reveals to them secrets of the future, essential to their welfare, even to heathen kings (2:28).

Verses  2, 3 "I saw in my vision by night and behold the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.  And four great beasts ...".  A double meaning of the "great beasts" is given in the explanations of chapter seven.  In verse 17 they are said to be kings; in verses 18, 22, 23 and 27 they are said to be kingdoms.  In chapter two, the four corresponding parts of the statue are also described both as kings (2:38, 44) or as kingdoms (2:39, 40, 41, 42, 44).  In view of the autocratic nature of ancient governments it is easily understood that kings and kingdoms seemed identical.  Ancient peoples were united much more closely with their head than is the case today.  The kings and their kingdoms were "great", not only because of their unprecedented dominion, but also because of their prestige, and the benefits they produced.  In 4:21 the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar was compared to a tree "whose leaves were lovely, and its fruit abundant, in which was food for all, under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and on whose branches the birds of the heaven had their habitation".  Most great kings, without being virtuous, have been preferable to anarchy.  Nebuchadnezzar came to recognise the transcendent greatness of the God of heaven, who had given him his kingdom, power and glory (2:37; 4:34-37).  On the other hand, these four kingdoms are described as beasts, in contrast to the fifth kingdom, which is later represented as a man, a more humane and humanitarian empire.

Verse 4a "The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings.”  The lion of chapter seven corresponds to the statue's head of gold in chapter two.  Daniel said to king Nebuchadnezzar: "You are this head of gold".  It also represented his kingdom, since it was to be followed by "another" kingdom.  The superiority of gold among metals and the lion among animals indicates that Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom was in some way superior to the next three.  This superiority seems to have consisted in kingliness, or greater splendour, absolutism and benefits to its subjects (5:19).

Verse 4b  "I watched till its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a man's heart was given to it.”  The humiliation and subsequent humanization of the lion no doubt refers to Nebuchadnezzar's recognition, at the end of his bout of insanity (chapter 4), that he was not a god, and that the God of Daniel controlled history.  He learned that he was responsible to God, and would have been better off to have followed Daniel's advice: "Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your injustice by showing mercy to the poor" (4:27).  The Bible always has a moral purpose in revealing future events.

Nebuchadnezzar, the lion, its wings clipped,
becomes humble and humane.

Verse 5 "And suddenly another beast, a second, like a bear.”  Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar that the next kingdom would be inferior to his (2:39).  A bear is less royal than a lion, as silver is less precious than gold.  In extent, however, the next kingdom, which was that of Cyrus of Persia, became greater than the Babylonian empire and assimilated it.  It was less absolute in its power, since its king had to be subject to "the law of the Medes and the Persians"(6:8,13-16).  It was raised up on one side.  The Persians, who had previously conquered the Medes, seem to represent the side of the bear which was raised up.  They did, however, share power with the Medes, a related race which had formerly dominated them.  This meaning is confirmed by 8:3,20, where it is specifically stated that the kings of Media and Persia are the two horns of a ram, one of which came up later but grew higher.  The bear had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth.  The "three ribs" would seem to represent the immense territories conquered by the Medo-Persians: the kingdom of Lydia, the Babylonian empire and finally territories to the east, which surpassed in size all the other areas conquered.

The Persians master the Medes and with them devour
Lydia, Babylon and eastern Lands

Verse 6 "After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird.  The beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it..”  Symbolised in chapter two by a "third kingdom of brass which shall rule over all the earth" (2:39), this kingdom was that of Alexander the Great.  His vast conquests excelled for their rapidity, like that of a leopard having the wings of a bird.  The four wings and heads could represent the four generals of Alexander, among whom his empire was divided at his death bed.  The kingdom after the Medo-Persians is explicitly stated in 8:20,21 to be that of the Greeks.

Alexander, at his early death, divides his vast and rapidly acquired empire between four generals.

Verse 7a  After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong.  It had huge iron teeth.  This fourth beast, which has the same signification as the iron legs and feet of the statue in chapter two, must correspond to the Roman empire, which replaced that of the Greeks.  The iron of its teeth, or of the legs of the statue symbolize its strength: "iron breaks in pieces and shatters all things" (2:40).

The beast "was devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the others with its feet.  It was different from all the beasts that were before it ...”  (7:7b).  It is possible that the two legs of the statue speak of the division of the Roman empire into its eastern and western parts following the establishment of Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 330 A.D.  There was no break between the Roman and Byzantine empires, and the latter continued for about a thousand years after the fall of Rome.  In the West too, from the time of Charlemagne, different rulers considered that they were perpetuating the Roman empire or the "Holy Roman Empire".  Roman civilization is the direct ancestor of the modern Western world.  The reader may wonder if it is possible to project the fulfillment of this ancient prophecy into modern times.  However, the frequently used expression of Daniel, "the end", followed by a predicted rule of righteousness not yet seen, requires us to focus on ultimate issues.

Setting the Stage for the Final Events

Verse 7"...and it had ten horns.'" This was the last feature mentioned about the fourth beast, as it first appeared.  The base of the statue also terminated in ten, the ten toes.  Since the descending parts of the body in the statue were explained as in a chronological order, it seems safe to conclude that here also the ten horns also speak of a later stage of the Roman empire, when it would undergo a division into a number of simultaneously existing kingdoms: "The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom" (7:24).  Another sign of the weakness and division of this latter stage is that the feet and toes of the statue were composed both of iron and ceramic: "And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.  As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay" (2:43).

The Roman empire extended its citizenship to freemen of other races.  This is illustrated by the case of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, a Jew who had Roman citizenship (Acts 22:24-29).  The mixture of races became more and more evident and the Roman race came to hold less power.  A Christian writer who lived at the beginning of the third century gave an interpretation to the ten horns, or toes.  Hippolytus of Rome, in his commentary on Daniel, said that in the last times the Roman empire would take the form of "future democracies", which would "separate themselves from one another".  He came to this conclusion many centuries before separate European democracies emerged in the former territory of the Roman empire.

Verse 8a  "I was considering the horns, and there was another horn, a little one, coming up among them, before whom three of the first horns were plucked out by the roots.”  These details are explained in verse 24: "and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.”  Before investigating how this verse may have been or will be fulfilled, we need to counter the prevalent idea that this little horn is the great antichrist who is to rule the whole world and require worship of himself  for a short time.  The "little horn" despite its great wickedness, which appears later in the chapter, is only "little".  The whole beast, also called a king, is the only one who could correspond to what Christians call "antichrist".  Daniel clearly states that this fourth beast represents a king: "These great beasts ...  are four kings" (7:17 KJV).  The identity of the three horns conquered by the little horn is not revealed.

At the end, the Roman empire becomes
a tenfold empire under the Antichrist.

Verse 8  "And, in this horn, there were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking pompous words.”  Verse 20 describes the little horn as "that horn which had eyes and a mouth, which spoke pompous words, whose appearance was greater than his fellows.”  Although it had a singularly formidable and insolent appearance, it was only a small body part, like the others.

Who are the Saints?

Verse 21  "the same horn was making war against the saints and prevailing against them.”  These details about the vision are only given later, with the explanations, possibly because they contain information which could not be visually conceived.  The wicked little horn not only attacks three of its neighbours but is also the enemy of "the saints", whom it successfully persecutes.  This is the first mention of "the saints".  Who are they?  Daniel and his three friends, who were persecuted for their piety, are obviously their predecessors.  It is clear from other passages of Daniel that the Jewish people as a whole does not qualify as "the saints".  Only Daniel and his three friends are mentioned for their faithfulness in a pagan milieu, although Nebuchadnezzar finally had brought into exile most of the Jewish people.  In Daniel's prophecies concerning the Maccabean period, some Jews "do wickedly against the covenant" and are contrasted with other notable ones "who know their God" (11:32); in the time of the end, "the many" will traitorously covenant with the people of the prince who destroys the city of Jerusalem and its temple (9:26, 27).  Only a part of Daniel's people will finally be saved, those "found written in the book" (12:1).

In chapter two, the equivalent of the saints is the "kingdom", represented by the "stone cut out of the mountain without hands" (2:44,45) in the time before it strikes the image and grows to become a great mountain (2:35).  It is said that the kingdom shall not be left to "another people" (2:44).  The implication is that the stone represents a people, which is to reign over the peoples of the world, as did the Babylonians in Daniel's time.  But could the little minority of faithful Jews be numerous enough to reign over the world, as did the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks and the Romans in their times?  If only a part of the Jewish nation remained faithful, would not their small number need to be supplemented by God-fearers from other nations?  One description of the kingdom hints that this is so.  It is a stone which is supernaturally "cut out of the mountain without hands" (2:45).  The stone comes from a mountain and then itself becomes a mountain.  Since the "mountain" that it becomes is a kingdom, it is reasonable to conclude that the "mountain" from which it is cut also represents a kingdom.  The kingdom from which the stone comes may be what chapter four calls "the kingdom of men", all the nations dominated by Nebuchadnezzar (4:32).  The members of God's future ruling kingdom may therefore be seen to come from the nations.  This people was to be miraculously, ("without hands"), separated from the kingdom of men to serve God.  This was to happen in the time of the time of the Roman empire, although they were not then yet to rule, but rather be persecuted (7:21).

We have already seen that "kingdoms" are interchangeable with "kings" in Daniel's visions.  Pursuing this principle, must not the stone which represents the fifth kingdom also represent a king?  And may not that king suffer before reigning, as is the case with the members of his kingdom?  A later chapter of Daniel indicates that such is the case: "Messiah the Prince" shall come, and then "shall Messiah be cut off" (9:25, 26).  We conclude therefore that "the saints" are the people of an anointed Messiah, or Christ, who was to come in the time of the Roman empire, and be killed.

Verse 25 "He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the most High".  This tells us that the "little horn" not only speaks insolent words and makes war on the saints of God, but also blasphemes against God Himself.  Before attempting to answer the intriguing question of the identity of the little horn, we must again remind the reader that it may be understood either as a king or a kingdom.  In the cases of Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus king of Persia and Alexander the Great, the kingdom was functioning longer than the life of any particular king of the dynasty.  It is better therefore to first ask what kingdom the little horn represents.  The little horn is a king, for it is among the ten horns which are called kings in 7:24.  However, it must also be a kingdom, which defeats three others.  Thus we may first seek to identify it as a kingdom, a "little" kingdom.

Verse 16."I asked the truth of all this".  Daniel wanted to know what his dream meant and if the things it signified would really happen.  At the end of the twentieth century, two and one half millennia of history provide means for the empirical verification so far of the success of these predictions.  We are, however, on dangerous terrain if we crave too much verification in history and current events.  Many have gone amuck by finding what they want to find, fanatically supporting a variety of causes.

Despite those aberrations, correspondence there must be, if Daniel's God is the living and true God.  The Roman empire came as predicted, corresponding to the fourth beast.  Soon after its coming a Messiah was cut off, but the people who recognized his authority continued to increase, being "cut out of the mountain" of humanity despite all the force used to stop them.  The first authorities to persecute them were those who had manipulated the death of the Messiah, the religious leaders of the Jewish state of Judea (1Thess 2:14-16, Acts17:5-8,13).  This state did not then, however, conquer three other states, but was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.

Throughout the centuries, the territory of the Roman empire, through many vicissitudes, eventually evolved into more or less stable separate states.  Their peoples for a time conquered or dominated much of the world, but their power was weakened, and in the last half of twentieth century they made efforts to be united.  A new little state appeared, just as a little horn appeared among the other horns in the vision, different in origin from the others, as a refuge for the Jewish people.  It defeated three of its neighbours in 1967.  Could this state be the "little horn"?  In any case, at the time of writing of this book, there is no reason to think that the final evil ruler represented by the "little horn" has yet appeared.  Despite the secular nature of early Zionism, none of the leaders of the state of Israel correspond to the picture we are given of wickedness and open blasphemy against God.  Believers in God or in the Messiah have not yet been mortally persecuted.

Verse 25 "and shall intend to change times and law".  The law was given to the Jewish people.  It is difficult to avoid the conclusion, therefore, that the little horn, who will wickedly want to change it, represents a Jewish ruler and his small country.  Why is it first said that "he will intend" to abrogate the law, and then, in the same verse, that he will be permitted to do so for a time?  This unusual reporting of a distinction between his resolution to act and his being unleashed to do so, for a set time, seems to imply that there was a temporary delay, caused by something hindering his action.  Subsequently, it would seem, God finally removed the hindrance, so that his true character would be revealed in his time, so that he might be condemned.  The only hindrance to the domination of the little horn seen in this chapter comes from "the saints", over whom he prevails in war according to verse 21 and whom he wears out or persecutes according to verse 25.  The latter verse adds that, afterwards, times and law are given into his hand for three and one half years or "a time, times and the dividing of time".  The original text does not say that it is also over the saints that he has full power during his time, as it is rendered by some non-literal translations.  We take it that he may war against the saints for a long, unspecified time, and that it is only when he has finally prevailed against them that he can change the law for three and one half years.  Thus the war against the saints precedes the three and one half years.

How long a time the preceding war may last we are not told.  It may occupy a long time and include the outrageously unjust treatment of the most holy Captain of all the saints, Jesus himself.  The existence of a "war" implies that God intends his people to oppose the evil of rulers and society, and not just to withdraw themselves.  In Daniel's thought, the saints are no doubt all Jewish, since the little horn whom they oppose wants to change the Jewish law.  On the other hand, since the little horn influences the fate of the worldwide kingdom and causes its fall (verse 11), perhaps non-Jewish saints are also involved in this persecution.

What happens to the saints at the end of their war?  When the little horn prevails against them, and they can no longer hinder him, so that he is permitted to do as he wishes for three and one half years, are they all going to be killed?  That may be so for many of them during that "war", as was the case with their Leader; but the idea that the horn will be able to kill them all seems contrary to the message of the rest of the book of Daniel, which teaches that God controls circumstances and kingdoms, and protects his people from destruction (6:23, 27), as He did Daniel and his friends.

Rather, the vision reveals, and the angel explains, that an all-important intervention will save them, as we will now see.

The Judge of the Whole World Will Come

Verses 21, 22 "I was watching; and the same horn was making war against the saints, and prevailing  against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgment was made in favour of the saints ...”  .  Suddenly the war against the saints ends.  Daniel sees "the Ancient of Days", a glorious deliverer and judge, appear for them, just in the nick of time, just as the little horn is on the point of destroying them.  The words "a judgment was made in favour of the saints" may be taken in two ways.  It may mean that a judge delivered them from their adversaries.  This is indeed true, but another meaning may be advocated which goes further, i.e. that found in the King James Version, which says: "judgment was given to the saints".  Authority was given to the saints to judge the world.  This harmonizes with 2:44, where it is the kingdom of the people called out by God which strikes the kingdoms of the world as a stone, and breaks them to pieces like pottery, never to be itself replaced by another ruling people.  It may at first seem incongruous to conceive of the three and one half years of the little horn's unrestricted apostasy as taking place after the coming of the Ancient of Days.  Will not the little horn be immediately slain by the coming of the Judge?  However, a perusal of the whole account of his coming, in the original vision of Daniel, shows the interposing of a delay.  The saints become judges, but the trial must precede the execution, as Daniel saw in his vision: "I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened".  (7:9,10 KJV).

Verse 11 "I watched then because of the sound of the pompous words  which the horn was speaking; I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame.”  The beast was not slain immediately, when the glorious judge came.  First the court is set up, then other events transpire.  Once it is said that Daniel was watching, and another time that he was watching "till".  One of the happenings which he saw during this interval was that the horn was still speaking blasphemies, testifying against itself in court, so to speak.  All the descriptions of this scene speak of the time of the trial, when the court was sitting, before judgment fell.  Since this is a time when the little horn is still boasting, it could also be his forty-two month time of supreme rebellion, when he shows how he acts when he is free to act, when the saints are no longer present.  The function of that period of three and a half years would then be, for him and his followers, that of a snare, to prove the justice of their final condemnation.  A confirmation of this order of events is found in the first two verses of chapter twelve.  There also a book is mentioned, a book of life, which suggests that it is the same time of the trial.  The action of the archangel Michael brings a time of terrible trouble on the nations, from which Daniel's people are delivered, all who are found written in the book.  The saints saved from that time of trouble escape the last blasphemous rage of the little horn.

It will not do to say that the saints are only delivered spiritually and that physically they go through this tribulation.  The deliverance in Daniel 12:1 must be from the specific danger which is mentioned in the context, which is the time of trial itself.  The nature of this promised salvation must be similar to that of the resurrection of dead saints which happens at the same time, as is mentioned in 12:2.  It must be a miraculous, physical act.  According to verse three it will make them shine like the stars forever and ever.  The kingdom of the saints will not be a rule of men in the flesh, as were the previous four kingdoms.

Who is the Ancient of Days who Comes to Judge?

Is the Judge seen by Daniel the Most High God Himself?  His title, "the Ancient of Days", does not help us decide.  It is found only in this chapter, so no other passages of the Bible help us understand it.  Though it may be thought that such a title could not be given the Messiah, we read in Micah 5:2 that the Messiah is, in fact, ancient of days:

"But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

It is said in Isaiah 11:4 that it is the Messiah who will slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.  Similarly, in Daniel, it is a burning flame that issues from the Ancient of Days which destroys the beast.  The "Son of man", mentioned later, does not operate that! It is the Ancient of days who is the Messiah.  It is true that the description of "Ancient of Days" resembles that of a divine person.  However it also contains human traits.

The stone of chapter two, which pulverizes the kingdoms of men, has the same function as the "Ancient of days".  Yet, as we have seen, it represents a king and a kingdom which are human, on the analogy of the series of four human kingdoms.  However, let us go back to examine the accompanying phenomena of the throne scene.

Verse 9 "I watched till thrones were put in place and the Ancient of days was seated,...".  The words "thrones were put in place" are difficult.  Why are these thrones mentioned before the coming and enthronement of the Ancient of days?  He sits on only one throne, not many.  This difficulty could lead us to prefer the translation of the King James Version: "thrones were cast down".  The reference would then be to wicked heavenly influences, like "the prince of the kingdom of Persia", in 10:13 who fights with the angel Michael.  God's rule begins after the fall of the spiritual powers which oppose Him.  However, as verse ten adds, thousands of holy angels accompany Him.

Verse 10 "A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the court was seated, and the books were opened.”  The fiery stream later consumes the beast (verse 11), but that does not happen immediately.  Daniel sees millions of angels ministering to God, with a still more numerous group standing before Him, a court seated and books opened.  When a court is seated and books are opened we may conclude that a trial is about to take place.  The people living in the time of the empire of the fourth beast are about to experience their trial.  Who are the judges of the court which is seated?  We suggest that they may be the saints to whom judgment is given according to verse 22.  The saints who were unjustly judged and oppressed by men find themselves sitting as judges in the presence of God.

Verse 11 "Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking" (NIV).  We do not read whether or not the coming of the Ancient of days had been made visible to the little horn.  It continues to utter its boastful words.  It would seem that, since it was being judged, and since the elect of God had been delivered from its power, it could hardly have ignored being on trial.  This knowledge would increase the guilt of its continuing blasphemy.  It is said in verse eleven that the beast as a whole, and not just the horn, will be slain and burnt up because of the horn's words.  The followers of the beastly empire and its ruler will be in agreement with the blasphemy of its little horn, in this supreme demonstration of man's pride and his open defiance of the One who comes to judge.  Pride is also the supreme sin in the historical part of the Aramaic prophecy.  In 4:37 Nebuchadnezzar tells how he learned from bitter experience that those who walk in pride God is able to abase.  Daniel tells king Belshazzar, in 5:20, that he is to perish because of he lifted himself up against the Lord of heaven, whom he knew to have humbled a previous king, Nebuchadnezzar.

Verse 11 "I beheld even till the beast was slain,"  (KJV).  The words "I beheld even till" suggest another period of time, and show that this judgment is on the earth and is ongoing, occupying a given time.  This is also confirmed by the ongoing nature of the end-time, in verse 26: "and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end" (KJV).  It seems that there are two distinct short periods of time involved after the Ancient of Days comes: Daniel first watches while the little horn continues to blaspheme; then he continues to watch while the fourth kingdom is progressively destroyed.  Another passage in Daniel makes this twofold nature of the end-time even more specific.  In 9:26,27, after the wars and desolations which follow the destruction of Jerusalem, a final period of a "week" is described, terminating a period of "seventy weeks" which is to bring pardon and everlasting righteousness to Jerusalem (9:24).  To fit the time frame, these "weeks" must be taken as composed of seven years, not seven days.  The last seven years are said to be a time when a firm covenant is made with many Jews by the leader who had destroyed the temple and the city of Jerusalem.

According to the RSV and the Translation of the Jewish Publication Society of America, and many French versions, the abominable political power will prevent public worship to God "for half of the week".  We take this to be the first half of the week.  This seems inevitable, because, after that time, the consummation bringing desolation is poured out, which would take a certain time, which is no doubt the last half of the week.  This time of the pouring out of judgment is very different from the first three and a half-year period when the little horn and his superior, the beast, have everything their own way, as they walk into the trap.

The One Like a Son of Man

Verse 13 "I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before him.”  The words, "I saw in the night visions and behold", separate this vision from the former one.  As this distinct vision begins, the beast is no more.  His kingdom is now given to others.  In spite of the resemblance of the expression "one like a Son of man" to the term "the Son of man", the self designation of Christ in the Gospels, the angelic explanation given to Daniel in verses 18, 22 and 27 indicates another meaning.  The coming of the Messiah has already taken place in verse 9.  The one like a son of man is a symbolic figure, even as the four beasts were.  He is said to represent the saints or "the people of the saints of the most High" (verse 27).  He comes on heavenly clouds to the Ancient of days.  The scene therefore is not on earth.  It is said that "he ...was presented before him".  The Christ described in the New Testament would not need angels to bring him near to God.  He himself said, on the contrary, that his angels would bring the elect ones before him when he comes to judge (Matt. 24:30, 31).  We are not told from where the saints come on the clouds of heaven as they are brought before the Ancient of days.  But if we are right that they previously sat as a court and judged the world, at the time when "judgment was given to the saints", they must have already been in heaven.

It is clear that Daniel would have understood from the angel's explanations that the one like a son of man was a people.  In the vision he sees four beasts reign and then one like a son of man who reigns.  He asks the angel "the truth of all this".  The angel tells him "the interpretation of these things".  The interpretation given is that the four beasts are four kings but that the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom.  Since the request for information included a query about "all" these things, the reply must have addressed the question of the identity of the Son of man.  Since no mention of the Messiah is found in the answer of the angel, the only possible identity of "one like a son of man" is "the saints".  Since the beasts are symbolic, why should not the "one like a Son of man" also be symbolic?

Verse 14 "And there was given him dominion and glory, and a kingdom".  This must mean that the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom (verse 18).  Just as the three friends of Daniel were promoted to positions of authority in the kingdom of Babylon, after their trial in the fiery furnace (3:30), so those who withstand the onslaught of the little horn will be given authority to reign.  They will reign over the earth.  There is no indication, however, that they themselves will need to descend to the earth.  They are definitely not now earthly creatures, since they come before the glorious Christ, on the clouds of heaven.

Verse 18 "But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.”  The eternal duration of the kingdom of the saints is another proof of their incorruptible state.  Do we learn anything about the history of the earth under their reign?  A little.  First, in 7:12, when the saints' kingdom comes, the first, second and third kingdoms will not immediately be done away with, as was the fourth.  That suggests a progressive submission of the world to the Messiah, as he sits on the right hand of God (Ps 110:1).  Secondly, God's kingdom still grows on earth.  That is indicated by 2:35: "and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.”   For a little stone to become a mountain and fill the whole earth implies a process.  The whole earth must come to partake of the same incorruptibility as the stone already possessed, if it is to last forever.  Forever is a long time.  The saints' reign over it will last forever (verse 27).

“The people of the saints will reign over
 all the earth’s peoples forever.”
(Daniel 7:27)

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