I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of heaven [one] like a son of man, and he came up even to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
Daniel's night vision has just shown four beasts rising out of the sea — empires that grab, tear and devour. Then a figure appears who is not a beast at all but a man, and God hands Him everything the beasts fought over.
The earlier scenes end in judgment; this one shows what that judgment made room for.
The judgment of the beast clears the way for the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ. This glorious event is foretold by a third vision, in which Daniel sees one like the Son of Man come with the clouds of heaven. He receives His kingdom as Man from God, the Ancient of Days. His dominion is world-wide, embracing "all people, nations, and languages." His dominion will be everlasting. It will not, like other kingdoms, pass away. It will never be destroyed.
The vision also names the One this Man comes to.
A new vision follows (verses 13 and 14), in contrast with the powers pictured as savage beasts. The new object that stands out is "one like the Son of man." ... The Ancient of days stands for God Himself, "the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity."
The title matters. Commentators say it is wider than "Messiah," and that the change of title followed His rejection.
On Daniel 7: it is not now the Messiah, owned as King in Zion, but ONE in the form of the Son of man, a title of far greater and much wider meaning. It is the change from Psalm 2 to Psalm 8, brought about by the rejection of the Messiah.
The word "like" has made some readers doubt that this figure is Christ at all.
Some object that John would hardly have said of Christ "one like to the Son of man." The objection has no force. It is exactly what he does say in Revelation 1, where our Lord alone can be meant, beyond dispute. The likeness is to a character, not to a person.
He does not seize the kingdom. God gives it to Him — and the vision shows the Giver and the Receiver as two Persons.
The Ancient of days is the Son of man; but in this vision they are distinguished. It is often so in the Psalms. The Messiah is Jehovah; and yet in Psalm 110 Jehovah speaks to Adonai: "Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool." It is the mystery of the divine Persons. They are distinguished in Daniel's vision because, as Son of man, our Lord receives everything from God. So, after He is brought to the Ancient of days, it says, "There was given Him a dominion."
In Revelation 1 John sees Christ and describes Him with the very features Daniel gave the Ancient of Days.
Head and hairs white like wool remind us of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9. The Son of Man comes to Him with the clouds of Heaven, and receives all the rights and dignities of the Kingdom. But verse 22 of the same chapter lets us know that the Son of Man is Himself the Ancient of Days! ... So the Son of Man and the Ancient of Days are one!
Daniel is the Jewish prophet here; John, writing Revelation, is the Christian one.
The Jewish prophet sees Christ only as man. The Christian prophet sees Him as man, but as God as well.
The clearest evidence that this vision is about Christ came from His own lips.
Can there be any doubt that the Saviour had this prophecy in mind? He said to the high priest, "But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64).
The vision does not end with one Man crowned. Others share what He receives.
In the third vision it is the Son of Man that comes with the clouds of heaven, and to Him is given the kingdom that will never pass away. Here we learn a further truth. The people of God of all ages — all those who through the history of the world have been in touch with heaven — will share with the Son of Man in His glorious reign.
- Beasts judged. God cuts down the four empires first; only then does the Man appear. The kingdom changes hands.
- A Man crowned. He comes as "one like the Son of man" — a wider title than Messiah, reaching to all nations. It is the change from Psalm 2 to Psalm 8, brought about by His rejection.
- A kingdom given. He does not grab it. He comes to the Ancient of Days and receives it, because as Man He takes everything from God.
- God Himself. Later in the chapter the Son of Man turns out to be the Ancient of Days, and John describes Him with the same features — Man and God in one Person.
- Never destroyed. His rule reaches all peoples and never ends — and the people of God of every age share it with Him.
And there was given him 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 [that] which shall not be destroyed.
Daniel has watched beast-like empires rise and rule the earth. Now a figure like a man comes to the Ancient of Days, and this verse says what He is given, who gives it, and how long it lasts.
World power looks impressive from the outside. This vision shows what it looks like to God.
Instead of the stone cut out of the mountain, you have the Son of Man Himself coming and taking the kingdom. But the general meaning of the visions is the same. It is striking, however, that in the seventh chapter you have not the image of man, such as the world sees, but what God sees. All the authority and power of this world is only that of the beast. Man in honour, without understanding, is like the beasts that perish. He is not even a man.
This is not one empire replacing another. The rule of the earth passes into the hands of a Man.
One like the Son of man is brought to the Ancient of days. There He receives the kingdom and universal dominion. It is the rule of Jehovah entrusted to man in the Person of Christ, put in the place of the kingdom of the beast. Notice that this is not the carrying out of the judgment spoken of earlier. It is the receiving of the earthly kingdom, for in all this the government of the earth is the subject.
Writers differ here. Some read the two figures as distinct in the vision.
The Jewish prophet sees Christ simply as man. The Christian prophet sees Him as man, but as God as well.
That leaves a question about the two figures in the vision.
As Ancient of Days, judgment is committed to His hands; as Son of Man He receives His kingdom. We think both are pictures of the same Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, seen in different settings.
The sceptre could have come from more than one hand. Daniel's night visions show which hand He would take it from.
He would take that sceptre neither from the devil nor from men, but from the hand of God only. We learn this from Daniel's night visions.
The same One who receives it here is the One earth threw out.
Rejected by men, the Son of Man was seen by Stephen standing at the right hand of God. There was the One whom God delighted to honour — Man in the highest place in heaven — the Son of Man glorified! From there He will soon be brought out in public, "with the clouds of heaven," as Daniel 7:13 foretells. He will receive dominion and glory over the earth — the very place where men treated Him so shamefully.
Three things mark this kingdom out: whose hand gives it, how far it reaches, and how long it lasts.
He receives His kingdom as Man from God, the Ancient of Days. His dominion is world-wide, taking in "all peoples, nations, and languages." His dominion will be everlasting. It will not, like other kingdoms, pass away. It will never be destroyed.
The word "everlasting" needs care. The prophets of Israel do not carry the story as far as the New Testament does.
No one will ever take it from Him, and no other power will follow Him. It will be everlasting in the sense of lasting as long as the world lasts. But strictly speaking, this is not an eternal scene. The Jewish prophets show you the millennium. They do not unfold what the New Testament does: that when all things are subdued to God, even the Father, God shall be all in all.
Daniel found this vision disturbing. It reads very differently for us.
What disturbed him may well encourage us. The beast-like empires of men will vanish in judgment. All dominion will belong to the Son of Man. Under Him, saints in heaven and saints on earth will exercise the authority He gives them.
- Given, not grabbed. The kingdom is placed in His hands by God; He refused every other route to the throne.
- Given to a Man. God puts the rule of the earth into the hands of a Man, Christ, in place of the kingdom of the beast.
- Given to the rejected One. The Man honoured in heaven is the One earth threw out, and He returns to reign where He was shamefully treated.
- Given without limit. It reaches all peoples, nations and languages, and lasts as long as the world lasts. The New Testament carries the story further still.
- Given to be shared. Saints in heaven and on earth will rule under Him. What disturbed Daniel encourages us.