GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
DANIEL 7:9
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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 flames of fire, and its wheels were burning with fire.
Suddenly everything changes. The prophet’s attention is no longer on the four creatures, nor even on the strange and blasphemous eleventh horn. Without any transition, he sees heaven.
“As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat.” An unknown number of thrones are “set in place.” Were there three, one for each person of the Holy Trinity? Or were there more than a dozen, with Christ’s disciples sitting “on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28)? Or did he see the “twenty-four other thrones (with) twenty-four elders” (Revelation 4:4)? Here the number is only in the plural. The prophet sees them “being set in place.” The verb is passive, and those familiar with the King James Version should not be misled into thinking that these thrones “were cast down” as if they were overpowered or overthrown. They were set down, put in place by servants (without any doubt, by angels delegated with this honorable task), but only one of the thrones was occupied.
The Ancient of Days took his seat. This is a title for God unique to this chapter of Daniel (see also verses 13 and 22). It’s a way of saying “the eternal One” and referring to his existence before the creation of the world the way John does when he says, “In the beginning was the Word, who was with God in the beginning” (John 1:1,2). And Isaiah quotes the Lord, who says, “From ancient days I am he” (Isaiah 43:13).
He is described this way: “His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool.” As he does in Isaiah 6:1 and Ezekiel 1:26, the Lord appears in the form of a man. Here this is just as clear, for he has hair and clothing, and therefore he looks like a man (what would clothing look like on an invisible spirit, or on a dove that was constantly hovering?). In his informative and useful tract, “The Glory of the Lord,” Professor August Pieper expresses this same view (Part IV). He also points out that the reason for this is unclear, but that “in the course of history from Abraham to Luke (chapter) 2, the form of the ‘Glory of the Lord’ becomes ever clearer and richer, as does the revelation of Christ on the whole.” But here, as we will see just a little later in the chapter (verses 13-14), here the Ancient of Days is specifically God that Father, for this chapter proclaims and illustrates that God is one God in three Persons, which we call the Trinity, although the word “Trinity” itself is not in the Bible. The doctrine is there, but the word is not.
Luther explains the whiteness Daniel sees in God’s hair as “extraordinarily white…; outstandingly white.” This is surely correct. The color white in a vision or dream means holiness and purity, for sinlessness is described as being “white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18), and Jesus’ clothes became “as white as the light” in his transfiguration (Matthew 17:2). Since “grey hair is a crown of splendor; attained by a righteous life” (Proverbs 16:31), hair that is completely white, pure white like wool, is the sign in a vision of perfect and eternal righteousness. It does not mean that Jesus necessarily has white hair in heaven– espcially since, as we have said and as we shall see, the Ancient of Days is God the Father.
As for his throne, “His throne was flames of fire, and its wheels were burning with fire.” Like Ezekiel, Daniel saw God on a wheeled throne. The Lord’s holy presence is not confined to a shrine or a temple. Also, we remember that the Glory of the Lord frequently appears in fire and smoke. Moses saw the burning bush and spoke there with God (Exodus 3:1-22). The fire does not necessarily mean that the throne was a case of “hot wheels” (one of my sons dared me to day that), but that his glorious presence is anywhere and everywhere he wills, and as quickly as he wants to go, “fiery-red with haste.” He may hide himself in a whisper (1 Kings 19:12), or he may manifest himself in a huge storm and whirlwind (Job 38:1). But he always has the good of his people at heart.
In this part of Daniel’s vision, the Lord God appears on his throne and reveals his holiness and his glory. In this image, we have no choice but to fall before him in worship. But we also remember that he loves us, he is powerful and furious over sin, but he is also compassionate and loving. Our God does everything for the good of his people, body and soul, to bring us into heaven forever.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Daniel 7:9 Hot Wheels