p. 448 | THOUGHTS ON DANIEL by Uriah Smith

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 6, 1881

THOUGHTS ON DANIEL.

By Uriah Smith

BY ELD. U. SMITH.

CHAPTER VII.—THE FOUR BEASTS.

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 etethean, 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 the 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. 5, had a view 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 from Rev. 4 that he was), in chapter 5:11, 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."

It will appear from the testimony of chapter 8:14, that this solemn work is even now transpiring in the sanctuary above.

VERSE 11. I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake; I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame. 12. As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away; their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

There are persons who believe in a thousand years' triumph of the gospel and reign of righteousness over all the world before the Lord comes; and there are others who believe in probation after the Lord comes, and a mixed millennium, the immortal righteous still proclaiming the gospel to mortal sinners, and turning them into the way of salvation. But both of these systems of error are completely demolished by the verses before us.

1. The fourth terrible beast continues without change of character, and the little horn continues to utter its blasphemies, and hold its millions of votaries in the bonds of a blind superstition, till the beast is given to the burning flame; and this is not its conversion, but its destruction. See 2 Thess. 2:8.

2. The life of the fourth beast is not prolonged after its dominion is gone, as were the lives of the preceding beasts. Their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season. The territory and subjects of the Babylonish kingdom still existed, though subjected to the Persians. So of the Persian kingdom in respect to Grecia, and of Grecia in respect to Rome. But what succeeds the fourth kingdom? No government or state in which mortals have any part. Its career ends in the lake of fire, and it has no existence beyond. The lion was merged into the bear; the bear into the leopard; the leopard into the fourth beast; and the fourth beast into what? Not into another beast; but it is cast into the lake of fire, under which destruction it rests till men shall suffer the second death. Then let no one talk of probation or a mixed millennium after the Lord comes.

The adverb then, in the sentence, "I beheld then, because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake," etc., seems to refer to some particular time. The work of investigative Judgment is introduced in the verses before. And this verse would seem to imply that while this work is going forward, and just before this power is destroyed and given to the burning flame, the little horn utters its great words against the Most High. Have we not heard them, and that, too, within a few years? Look at the Vatican Council of 1870. What can be more blasphemous than to attribute infallibility to a mortal man? Yet in that year the world beheld the spectacle of an Ecumenical Council assembled for the purpose of deliberately decreeing that the occupant of the papal throne, the man of sin, possesses this prerogative of God, and cannot err. Can anything be more presumptuous and blasphemous? Is not this the voice of the great words which the horn spake? and is not this power ripe for the burning flame, and near its end?

VERSE 13. I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him. 14. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

The scene here described is not the second advent of Christ to this earth, unless the Ancient of Days is on this earth; for it is a coming to the Ancient of Days. There, in the presence of the Ancient of Days, a kingdom, dominion, and glory, are given him. The Son of man receives his kingdom before his return to this earth. See Luke 19:10-12, and onward. This is a scene, therefore, which transpires in the heavenly temple, and is closely connected with that brought to view in verses 9 and 10. He receives the kingdom at the close of his priestly work in the sanctuary. The people, nations, and languages, that shall serve him, are the nations of the saved; Rev. 21:24, not the wicked nations of the earth; for these are dashed in pieces at the second advent. Some out of all the nations, tribes, and kindreds of the earth will find themselves at last in the kingdom of God, to serve him there with joy and gladness forever and ever.

VERSE 15. I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. 16. I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. 17. These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth. 18. But the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even for ever and ever.

No less anxious should we be than was Daniel, to understand the truth of all this. And whenever we inquire with equal sincerity of heart, we shall find the Lord no less ready now, than in the days of the prophet, to lead to a correct knowledge of these important truths. The beasts, and the kingdoms which they represent, have already been explained. We have followed the prophet down through the course of events even to the complete destruction of the fourth and last beast, the final subversion of all earthly governments. What next? Verse 18 tells us: "The saints shall take the kingdom." The saints! those of all others held in low esteem in this world, despised, reproached, persecuted, cast out; those who were considered the least likely of all men to realize their hopes; these shall take the kingdom and possess it forever. The usurpation and misrule of the wicked shall come to an end. The forfeited inheritance shall be redeemed. Peace shall be restored to its distracted borders, and righteousness shall reign over all the fair expanse of the renovated earth.

VERSE 19. Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet; 20; And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.

Of the first three beasts of this series, Daniel had so clear an understanding, that he had no trouble in reference to them. But he was astonished at this fourth beast, so unnatural and dreadful; for the farther we come down the stream of time, the farther it is necessary to depart from nature in forming symbols to accurately represent the degenerating governments of earth. The lion is a production of nature; but it must have the unnatural addition of two wings to represent the kingdom of Babylon. The bear we also find in nature; but as a symbol of Medo-Persia, an unnatural ferocity must be denoted by the insertion of three ribs into its mouth. So the leopard is a beast of nature; but to fitly represent Grecia there is a departure from nature in respect to wings, and the number of heads. But nature furnishes no symbol which can fitly represent the fourth kingdom. A beast, the likeness of which never was seen, is taken; a beast dreadful and terrible, with nails of brass, and teeth of iron, so cruel, rapacious, and fierce, that from mere love of oppression, it devoured, and brake in pieces, and trampled its victims beneath its feet.

Wonderful was all this to the prophet, but something still more wonderful appears. A little horn comes up, and, true to the nature of the beast from which it springs, thrusts aside three of its fellows; and lo! the horn has eyes, not the uncultivated eyes of the brute, but the keen, shrewd, intelligent eyes of a man; and stranger yet, it has a mouth, and with that mouth it utters proud sayings, and puts forth preposterous and arrogant claims. No wonder the prophet made special inquiry respecting this monster, so unearthly in its instincts, and so fiendish in its works and ways. In the following verses some specifications are given respecting the little horn, which enable the student of prophecy to make an application of this symbol, without danger of mistake:—

VERSE 21. I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them; 22; Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

The wonderful wrath of this little horn against the saints particularly attracted the attention of Daniel. The rise of the ten horns, or the division of Rome into ten kingdoms, between the years A.D. 356 and 483, has already been noticed. See chapter 2:41. As these horns denote kingdoms, the little horn must denote a kingdom also, but not of the same nature, because it was diverse from the others. They were political kingdoms. And now we have but to inquire if any kingdom has arisen among the ten kingdoms of the Roman Empire, since A.D. 483, and yet diverse from them all; and if so, what one? The answer is, The spiritual kingdom of the Papacy. This answers to the symbol in every particular, as is easily proved; and nothing else will do it. See the specifications more particularly mentioned in verse 23.

Daniel beheld this horn making war upon the saints. Has such a war been waged by the Papacy? Fifty millions of martyrs, with a voice like the sound of many waters, answers, Yes. Witness the cruel persecutions of the Waldenses, the Albigenses, and Protestants in general, by the papal power. It is stated, on good authority, that the persecutions, massacres, and religious wars, excited by the church and bishop of Rome, have occasioned the shedding of far more blood of the saints of the Most High, than all the enmity, hostility, and persecutions, of professed heathens from the foundation of the world.

In verse 22, three consecutive events seem to be brought to view. Daniel, looking onward from the time when the little horn was in the height of its power, to the full end of the long contest between the saints and Satan with all his agents, notes three prominent events that stand as mileposts along the way: 1. The coming of the Ancient of Days; that is, the position which Jehovah takes in the opening of the Judgment scene described in verses 9, 10. 2. The judgment that is given to the saints; that is, the time when the saints sit with Christ in judgment a thousand years, following the first resurrection, Rev. 20:1-4, apportioning to the wicked the punishment due to their sins. Then the martyrs will sit in judgment upon the great antichristian, persecuting power, which, in the days of their trial, hunted them like the beasts of the desert, and

poured out their blood like water. 3. The time when the saints possess the kingdom; that is, the time of their entrance upon the possession of the new earth. Then the last vestige of the curse, of sin, and of sinners, root and branch, will have been wiped away, and the territory so long misruled by the wicked powers of earth, the enemies of God's people, will be taken by the righteous, to be held by them for ever and ever.