Daniel 7:9,10
9 As I looked,
“thrones were set in place,
and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
His clothing was as white as snow;
the hair of his head was white like wool.
His throne was flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.
10 A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.
Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
The court was seated,
and the books were opened.”
The Ancient of Days Is Coming to Judge the World
Do you remember when Prince Harry married Meghan Markle? It was a big deal! Royal weddings always are. Everyone wants to see the spectacle, be part of the history.
I didn’t care much about the wedding. But I will admit that my ears perked up when I heard a rumour about their honeymoon. Do you remember that for a hot minute everyone thought they were going to come to Alberta? That would have been so cool to have members of the royal family visit our little neck of the woods. Even I could have gotten excited for that.
There’s just something about a member of royalty coming that has a way of getting us excited.
Our theme for this season of End Times is The King Comes, but the description of our King that we read in Daniel today paints a very different picture than Harry and Meghan honeymooning in the mountains. Instead of this romanticized fairy tale of a prince in love, we’re introduced to a shadowy figure not mentioned by this name in any other book of the Bible; Daniel calls him the Ancient of Days. Like Meghan in her wedding dress, the Ancient of Days is wearing white but that’s about where the comparisons end. He sits on a throne of fire that has wheels that are also on fire, and by the way there’s even more fire flowing out like a river before him. He sits down on his throne, and calls his court into session. The Ancient of Days is coming to judge the world.
Is that a royal visit you’re looking forward to? The picture isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy, but it’s not as scary as it might seem at first either. Let’s walk through some of these details together to get a better picture of what God will look like and do on the day of Judgment.
Daniel calls him the Ancient of Days. He’s been around for a while. He’s seen a thing or two. He’s not some still wet behind the ears, greenhorn, upshot, newbie who can be easily confused or deceived. You can’t pull the wool over his eyes. The Ancient of Days has seen it all. The Ancient of Days knows it all.
Now this is important, especially when we think about what the Ancient of Days is coming to do. He is coming to judge. Having a Judge who is his own eyewitness of everything that has ever happened – who knows all the testimony and has seen all the evidence before it’s presented – that’s a pretty good Judge to have. You know you’re going to get justice from a Judge like that. He’s not going to be fooled because he has all the facts.
Daniel goes on:
“His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.”[1]
More than just a sign of age – which is fitting for the Ancient of Days – this white hair and these white clothes are symbols of purity. Again, that’s the perfect characteristic for a judge. You don’t want a corrupt judge. You don’t want a judge that can be blackmailed or bribed. You want a just judge – one who knows the law and keeps it; a defender of everything that is good, who is the embodiment of good himself.
That’s our Judge. That’s the Ancient of Days.
One last picture:
“His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him.”[2]
Daniel really wants you to know that there’s a lot of fire here. What does fire do? It burns. It destroys. You throw trash into a fire, things that have broken, that don’t serve their purpose anymore or don’t have a purpose.
This triple repetition of the blazing fire surrounding and flowing from the Ancient of Days is easily the most terrifying part of this picture because it reminds us of the severity of condemnation. You don’t want to be on the bad side of an all-knowing, pure Judge who cannot tolerate impurity and who is throned in fire, ready for destruction.
That’s what the Ancient of Days looks like. But what is he coming to do?
Daniel says at the end of this text:
“The court was seated, and the books were opened.”[3]
The Ancient of Days is coming to judge the world, and what’s interesting here is that he has books to read from to help him make his judgments. Daniel doesn’t go into what those books say, but there are other Bible passages that use the same picture.
Like this one from a vision given to John in the book of Revelation:
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it… and books were opened. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.[4]
These books in Daniel’s vision could be the same thing – a record of everything that you have ever done or said or even thought. If God had a printout of everything you have ever done, said, or thought, would you want him to read it out loud for everyone to hear? There are things you’ve done that you’re glad only a select few know about, but God knows every detail. There are things you’ve said – muttered under your breath – that even you cringed at after the fact; God could repeat them word for word. There are thoughts – embarrassing, shameful thoughts – thoughts you didn’t invite into your head that God not only knows but will use when he judges you.
Jesus had some pretty scathing remarks in our Gospel Lesson today. To people who didn’t even realize the sinful, shameful things they had done – or not done – Jesus said:
Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels… Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.[5]
The Ancient of Days knows every evil thing you have ever done, said, or thought. He knows about all the good things you’ve left undone. The one clothed in white cannot stand the sight of sin. He sits on a throne of fire and threatens an eternity in the flames of hell for those who sin. He has the complete record of all your sins.
Is this a royal visit you’re looking forward to?
It still can be.
Because as terrifying as God’s judgment is, his grace is greater. Everyone of these fearful features of the Ancient of Days, is also a source of great comfort to Christians. Let’s walk through them again, only this time in reverse order.
He’s reading from a book. Revelation talks about a record of everything you have ever done. Jesus makes it clear that he knows everything you have ever done. But there’s another book that God will use when he judges the world. In that same prophecy from the book of Revelation, God calls it “the book of life.”[6]
God promises that those who have repented of their sin and have turned to God in faith will be “dressed in white,” and he
“will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before [his] Father and his angels.”[7]
The book of life is like the family tree of God. If your name is in that book, you will not burn. Because the fires that surround the throne of God don’t just destroy, they also purify.
Peter talked about that in his first letter. He talked about how faith is like gold. It’s precious, but in order for it to be pure it has to be refined by fire. Fire burns off the dross, the impurities, the imperfections in the metal. It’s a strong and violent process, but the result is pure gold.
Similarly, we will have to face trials and grief of all kinds, including standing before the Ancient of Days and hearing exhibits A through Z of our sin be read for all to hear. But God will not hold those sins against you. He will purify you of them, so that you can be pure just as he is pure – not with a purity of your own, but with a purity that comes from God.
As John records in his Revelation: Those in white robes are they who
“have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”[8]
Or as Paul says to the Galatians:
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”[9]
You can stand spotless before the Ancient of Days in all his purity – not because you are pure, but because of what the pure Son of God has done for you.
The Ancient of Days knows everything. He knows every little thing that you have ever done wrong. But he also knows what he’s done for you through his Son, so that when God opens those books on Judgment Day and reads your ledger, all he sees is red. Not like in an accounting book where all the debts are listed in red ink. No, the red the Ancient of Days sees in that book is the blood of Jesus shed on the cross to cover over all your sins.
When God judges you, he doesn’t judge you on the basis of what you have or have not done. He judges you on the basis of what his Son has done for you. And for us who face an eternity either in everlasting joy in heaven above or undying flame in hell below, there is no greater comfort than to know that the one who will open that book to judge you is the very same one who sent his Son to save you.
If Judgment Day were all about whether you could stack up more good than bad in your life, then this picture of the Ancient of Days would be a terrifying. But because we believe in a God who saves we have no need for fear. Instead we have hope and confidence and comfort – not because of what is written in that book, but because of the one who holds it.
To him be glory and honor and praise forever and ever. Amen.
[1] Daniel 7:9
[2] Daniel 7:9,10
[3] Daniel 7:10
[4] Revelation 20:11,12
[5] Matthew 25:41,45
[6] Revelation 20:12
[7] Revelation 3:5
[8] Revelation 7:14
[9] Galatians 3:26,27