Daniel 7:9 - Meaning and Application

Whether we take the fourth beast to mean the Syrian empire or the Roman empire, or the first as a picture of the second, the point is clear. These verses are meant to comfort and support God’s people as they face persecution from one empire and then another, and from every proud enemy in every age. Scripture was written for their instruction, so that those who live in these later times may have hope through patient endurance and the comfort it gives.

Three things here are especially encouraging. First, there is a coming judgment, and God is the Judge. Right now, people have their day, and every proud ruler wants one of his own. But the one who sits in heaven laughs at them, because he sees that their day is coming (Psalm 37:13). Daniel says, “I kept watching until thrones were set in place” (Daniel 7:9). That can mean the thrones of earthly kingdoms being torn down, or it can mean Christ’s throne and the throne of his Father being set up. One Jewish writer even says these thrones are prepared, one for God and one for the Son of David.

This is the judgment scene described in Daniel 7:10. It shows God’s wise and just rule over the world through his providence, his governing care. That gives great peace to good people in the middle of national upheaval, because the Lord has set his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all (Psalm 103:19). It is also true that God judges in the earth (Psalm 58:11). Perhaps this vision also points to God’s judgment on Syria or Rome for their cruelty toward his people. But it seems to look mainly to the last judgment. Even if that day is far off, God wanted his people in every age to strengthen themselves with its promise. Enoch, the seventh from Adam, spoke of it (Jude 1:14). When the enemy speaks great things in Daniel 7:8, here are far greater things spoken by the Lord himself. Several New Testament passages about the coming judgment clearly echo this vision, especially John’s vision in Revelation 20:11-12.

The Judge is the Ancient of Days himself, God the Father. He is called the Ancient of Days because he is God from everlasting to everlasting. Among people, age often stands for wisdom, and old age deserves respect. How much more should all flesh be silent before him who is truly the Ancient of Days? His garment is white as snow, showing the beauty and purity of all his judgments. The hair of his head is like pure wool, so that he appears full of honor and majesty.

The throne is also fearsome. It is like a fiery flame, terrible to the wicked who must stand before it. Its wheels are like burning fire, showing that God moves swiftly against his enemies. Our God is a consuming fire, and with him are everlasting burnings (Isaiah 33:14). For his faithful people, a pure river of the water of life flows from the throne of God and the Lamb (Revelation 22:1). But for his stubborn enemies, a fiery stream goes out from his throne, a stream of brimstone, a fire that burns before him (Isaiah 30:33). He is a swift witness, and his word comes like fire on wheels.

The attendants are many and glorious. The Shechinah, the visible sign of God’s presence, is always attended by angels, and so it is here. “Thousands upon thousands” serve him, and “ten thousand times ten thousand” stand before him (Daniel 7:10). This adds to his glory, though he does not need them and cannot be helped by them. It shows how countless the heavenly armies are, and how ready they are to do his will. They stand before God, waiting for his commands. They will especially serve as ministers of his justice on the last day, when the Son of Man comes with all the holy angels. Enoch foretold that the Lord would come with his holy myriads.

The process is fair and beyond objection. The judgment is set openly, and the books are opened. In human courts, records are kept in writing and brought forward when the case is heard. Witnesses are examined, sworn statements are read, and law books are consulted to determine what is right. In the great judgment, the fairness of the sentence will be just as plain, as if books were opened to prove it.

Second, the proud and cruel enemies of God’s church will surely be dealt with and brought down in due time (Daniel 7:11-12). This is shown first in the destruction of the fourth beast. God’s quarrel with this beast is tied to the great words spoken by its horn, words that challenge heaven and boast against everything holy. Pride provokes God in a special way, as when Pharaoh was humbled because he said, “Who is the Lord?” and, “I will pursue, I will overtake” (see also Jude 1:15). Great words are empty words, and men will answer for them on the great day.

See what happens to this beast that speaks so boldly. He is slain, his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. The Syrian empire, after Antiochus, came to ruin. Antiochus himself died miserably, his family was cut off, his kingdom was worn down by the Parthians and Armenians, and at last Pompey made it a province of the Roman empire. If the fourth beast is Rome, then Rome itself, after it began to persecute Christianity, declined and wasted away, until its body was destroyed. So all God’s enemies will perish, Lord, and be slain before you.

The other three beasts also lose their power (Daniel 7:12). Their dominion was taken away, so they could no longer do the harm they once did to God’s church and people. Yet they were allowed to live for a time and season, within limits God had set, which they could not pass.

The power of the kingdoms just described was completely broken, but their people still lived on in a low, weak, and humbled condition. We can use that picture to think about the leftover sin in the hearts of God’s people. Their corrupt desires still remain for a time, so they are not fully free from sin, but sin’s rule is gone, so it does not reign in their mortal bodies.

God also deals this way with his church’s enemies. Sometimes he breaks their power, as in (Psalm 3:7), but does not destroy them at once. He stops the persecution, yet lets the persecutors live for a while, giving them time to repent. It is right that God, in doing his own work, should use his own time and his own way.

The kingdom of the Messiah will be set up and kept in the world, despite all the opposition of the powers of darkness. Let the nations rage as long as they want, God will still set his King on his holy hill of Zion. Daniel sees this in the vision and takes comfort for himself and his friends. This is the same as Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the stone cut out of the mountain without human hands, which crushed the image, but here there is much more of the clear gospel message.

The Messiah is called “one like a son of man.” He truly came in human likeness, made like sinful flesh and found in human form. He matches exactly what God had planned in his counsel for the one who would, in the fullness of time, be the Mediator, the one who stands between God and people. He is like a son of man, yet he is truly the Son of God. Our Savior seems plainly to point to this vision when he says in (John 5:27) that the Father has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

He is said to come with the clouds of heaven. Some understand this of his coming into the world in his incarnation, unseen, like the glory of the Lord entering the temple in a cloud. The kingdoms of the world are pictured as beasts rising out of the sea, but Christ’s kingdom is from above. He is the Lord from heaven. I think this is better understood of his ascension. When he returned to the Father, his disciples watched until a cloud received him out of their sight (Acts 1:9). He made that cloud his chariot and rode in triumph to the higher world. He comes swiftly, with great power, and in royal majesty, for he comes with the clouds of heaven.

He is also shown as having great favor in heaven. When the cloud took him out of his disciples’ sight, it is worth asking where it carried him and where he was welcomed. Here we are told, to our full comfort, that he came to the Ancient of Days. He ascended to his Father and our Father, to his God and our God (John 20:17). He came from him, and he returned to him, to be glorified with him and sit at his right hand. He could truly say with joy, “Now I am going to him who sent me.” And he was welcome there. He was brought near and presented before him, with the attendance and worship of all God’s angels (Hebrews 1:6). God caused him to draw near as an advocate and one who undertakes our cause (Jeremiah 30:21), so that we might be brought near through him.

This solemn approach to the Ancient of Days shows that the Father accepted the sacrifice Christ offered and the full satisfaction he made for sin. The Father was completely pleased with all that he had done. He was brought near as our high priest, who enters within the veil for us, and as our forerunner who goes ahead of us.

He is also shown as having great influence on earth. When he went to be glorified with his Father, authority over all people was given to him (John 17:2, John 17:5). With that promise in view, Daniel and his friends are comforted. Not only will the rule of the church’s enemies be taken away (Daniel 7:12), but the church’s Head and best Friend will receive the kingdom. Every knee will bow to him, and every tongue will confess him (Philippians 2:9, Philippians 2:10).

Glory and a kingdom are given to him by One who has every right to give them. Some think that, with these words in mind, our Savior teaches us to acknowledge this when we say at the end of the Lord’s Prayer, “Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.” The exalted Redeemer’s kingdom is foretold to be universal. It is the only true world-wide rule, whatever others have claimed or tried to gain. All peoples, nations, and languages will fear him and come under his rule, either as willing subjects or as conquered captives. In one way or another, all the kingdoms of the world will become his.

It is also an everlasting kingdom. His rule will not pass to any successor, much less to any enemy, and his kingdom will never be destroyed. Even the gates of hell, meaning the powers and plans of evil, will not prevail against it. The church will remain in spiritual battle to the end of time, and then it will be triumphant forever in the endless ages of eternity.