One of the Bible’s most revelatory passages is Daniel 7:9-10 and 13-14, which begins, “As I looked, thrones were placed and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
“His clothing was white as snow and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him. A thousand thousands served him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court sat in judgment and the books were opened.”
Relating a dream of the prophet Daniel, who lived from 620-538 B.C., it continues, “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.
“And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”
Ministers Larry Long and Taylor Robles say the vision is of God in Heaven seated before millions of angels and saints and of Jesus coming before God to be given universal dominion.
The Rev. Long, teaching pastor of The Gathering Church in Midland, said most theologians think Jesus was referring to that passage in Daniel when he called himself the Son of Man, which referred to his humanity.
“The Jewish leaders didn’t like it when he called himself that because they knew he was referring to that scripture and the authority that would be his,” Long said. “Calling himself the Son of God referred to his divinity.
“So this needs to be understood as a prophecy about the person and divinity of Jesus Christ because he was that Son of Man.”
Long said the reference to books coincides with Philippians 4:3 and Revelation 3:5 and 20:12, which indicate the Book of Life in which the names of the redeemed are written.
“If your name is in the Book of Life you go to Heaven and if not, you’re out of luck,” he said. “There will be a judgment at the end of time that both the Old and New Testaments refer to and the passage in Daniel is the Old Testament affirmation of that.”
Robles, minister of Sherwood Church of Christ, said Verses 9 and 10 refer to God’s judgment of Rome and Verses 13 and 14 to the period following that judgment.
“Daniel has this vision of the Son of Man coming to the Ancient of Days to receive his kingdom, which is the church,” Robles said. “In Daniel 7 we read about four other very powerful kingdoms and what we get is that the fifth kingdom is the church that will never be destroyed.
“This passage is the Bible’s first mention of the Son of Man, so when Jesus uses this phrase about himself the Jews know exactly what he is doing. He is referring to Daniel 7.
“They know he is referring to himself as the Messiah who was to come and be given this kingdom. What resonates the most to me about the text is that we get this picture of how permanent and powerful the church is and what we become part of when we are saved.”
Robles said church membership means that the Christian believer is part of a body that functions together where people love and care for one another and experience God’s unconditional love and a strong desire to bring more people into the fellowship.
“We have the judgment going on almost like a courtroom setting where God takes his seat on the throne,” he said. “We see fire coming out, which is the symbol of judgment.
“The saints are attending the judgment because they, too, are helping to judge. The common view is that this is in the future, but the judgment scene was happening again in the First Century because Rome was going to be destroyed.”
