THOUGHTS ON THE BOOK OF DANIEL.
VERSE 9. 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. 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 Judgment was set, and the books were opened. A sublimer description of a sublimer scene is not to be found in the English language. But not only on account of the grand and lofty imagery introduced should it arrest our attention; the nature of the scene itself is such as to demand most serious consideration. The Judgment is brought to view; and whenever the Judgment is mentioned, it ought to take an irresistible hold upon every mind; for all have an interest in its eternal issues. By an unfortunate translation in verse 9, a wrong idea is almost sure to be conveyed. The words “cast down” are from a word which in the original signifies just the opposite, namely, to set up. Dr. Clarke says “that it might be translated erected; so the Vulgate positi sunt [were placed], and so all the versions.” The Septuagint has etheesan [ἐτέθησαν] which is defined to mean “to set, put, place, to set up, to erect.” The thrones are not the thrones of earthly kingdoms which are to be thrown down at the last day, but thrones of Judgment which are to be set up, just before the end, The “Ancient of Days,” God the Father, takes the throne of Judgment. Mark the description of his person. Those who believe in the impersonality of God are obliged to admit that he is here described as a personal being; but they console themselves by saying that it is the only description of the kind in the Bible. We do not admit this latter assertion; but granting that it were true, is not one description of this kind as fatal to their theory as though it were repeated a score of times? The thousand thousands who minister unto him, and the ten thousand times ten thousand who stand before him, are not sinners arraigned before the Judgment seat, but heavenly beings who wait before him attendant on his will. An understanding of these verses involves an understanding of the subject of the sanctuary, to works on which subject we refer the reader. The closing up of the ministration of Christ our great High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary is the work of the Judgment here introduced. It is an investigative Judgment. The books are opened, and the cases of all come up for examination before that great tribunal, that it may be determined beforehand who are to receive eternal life, when the Lord shall come to confer it upon his people. John, as recorded in Rev. v, had a veiw of this same place, and saw the same number of heavenly attendants engaged with Christ in the work of investigative Judgment. Looking into the sanctuary, as we learn that he was from Rev. iv, in chapter v, 11, he says, “And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.”