What does it mean that God is the Ancient of Days?
Daniel's night vision moves from four wild beasts rising out of the sea to a courtroom, where thrones are set and One takes His seat whose clothing is white as snow. The title given to Him there — the Ancient of Days — raises two questions: what does it say about God Himself, and why does the same chapter both bring the Son of Man to Him and then say that He came?
A Name for God's Eternity
The title is unique to Daniel, and it points to what God is in Himself rather than to anything He has done.
Morrish Bible DictionaryA title of God used by Daniel, referring to His eternity. It cannot be separated from Christ; for in Daniel 7 the Lord is called both the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man, yet the Son of Man came to the Ancient of Days to receive dominion, glory, and a kingdom (Daniel 7:9, 13, 22). He is both God and man.
The force of the name comes out when it is set beside a Psalm where Someone speaks as a man whose days are cut short, and yet is also the Creator.
The Bible TreasuryHe who has cried to God as man is Himself Jehovah the Creator. "Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands." Can He then perish? He may, and surely must, die as man according to the counsels of God; but time can make no change to Him... He is the Ancient of Days. Before time was counted, He was. When it shall end, His years shall not be finished.
The Scene Is a Court
The One who sits is not merely old; He is seated to judge, and every detail of the vision carries that meaning.
Edward DennettThat the Ancient of Days is the Eternal God is undoubted... this is plainly declared in the scene before us to be a session of judgment — not the session of judgment of the Great White Throne in Revelation 20, but a session for the judgment of the living, preparatory to the establishment of His kingdom. The throne was like the fiery flame, its wheels as burning fire, and a fiery stream came forth from before Him; for fire is always a symbol in Scripture of the holiness of God as applied in judgment.
The Son of Man Is Himself the Ancient of Days
Verse 13 has One like a son of man brought before the Ancient of Days. Verse 22 says the Ancient of Days came. Writers read the two together.
J. N. DarbyThe "Son of man," in Daniel 7:13, was brought to the "Ancient of days," while in verse 22, the "Ancient of days" came. This shows Christ to be Ancient of Days. In both these cases, the title of God is applied to Christ.
The New Testament settles it visually. When John turns to see the risen Christ, the marks that Daniel gave to the Ancient of Days are on Him.
William KellyWhat is said of the Ancient of Days by Daniel is applied to the Son of Man by John, the Ancient of Days being the eternal God. John sees here that the Son of Man is Himself the Ancient of Days... The same one who wrote "The Word was with God, and the Word was God," and "the Word became flesh," now beholds in prophetic vision the combination of humanity with the emblems belonging to Deity in the person of the Son of Man.
Judgment Before the Kingdom
In that vision there is no crown yet, and the order matters.
Hamilton SmithThese symbols, as we know from Daniel 7:9, set forth the glory of God as the Judge upon His throne... In due time He will come forth crowned with many crowns: here there is no crown, for the reigning time is not yet come. The judgment throne must precede the Kingdom glories. He must first clear the scene of all evil as the Judge, before He reigns in glory as the King.
What His Coming Settles for His People
When the Ancient of Days comes, the long patience of God's people ends and their standing is reversed — and one writer draws a very ordinary consequence from it.
F. B. Hole"The Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom" (Daniel 7:22). Had they really known it they would not have dragged one another into heathen law courts. If we really knew it, we perhaps should avoid certain things that we do.
And the wonder at the centre of it is that this eternal One entered time.
An Outline of Sound WordsMan is a creature of time, and can think of an eternity to come, but his mind cannot conceive an eternity without a beginning. The One who came into the world, though an infant of days, was yet "The Ancient of Days."
Summary
- Eternal. The title speaks of God's eternity: before time was counted, He was; when time ends, His years will not be finished.
- Enthroned. Daniel sees Him seated in a court, with fire marking the holiness of God applied in judgment — a judgment of the living that clears the way for the kingdom.
- Incarnate. The same chapter brings the Son of Man to Him and then says the Ancient of Days came; commentators take this as showing Christ to be both God and man.
- Revealed. John sees Daniel's emblems of Deity resting on the risen Christ — deity joined to humanity in one Person.
- Ordered. The judgment throne comes before the crown: He clears the scene of evil as Judge, then reigns as King, and His people receive the kingdom with Him.