The Ancient of Days
Key Verse to Read and Treasure
As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; and 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. (Daniel 7:9, ESV)
For Insight
It’s a sobering vision Daniel was given by God. The Ancient of Days takes His seat on the throne made of fiery flames, clothing as white as snow and the hair of His head like pure wool, fire shooting out before Him. It’s almost too much to even imagine or read about.
Daniel’s vision reminds me of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and her companions make it to the city of OZ stood in front of the great and powerful Oz. Knees trembling, voices shaking, full of fear and trepidation. We know how that ended for Dorothy: the wizard was discovered to be a mere man, a mortal like themselves with no powers to do anything except give tin hearts and medals for bravery. But that won’t be the case with God the Father, the Ancient of Days. The seat of judgment is real, His power is real, He will show no favoritism or spare any sinner before him. He will not ask us about our rich spiritual or heritage, our religious background, what church we attended, what denomination we belonged to, to recite some Bible verses, or talk about our good works. Our only saving grace will be found in the One who stands with us: God’s only Son, Jesus Christ. The One God the Father has given dominion, power, and authority to. When Christ stands with us there is no need of fear. No need for our knees to be knocking or our voices shaky. No need to plead our good works or explain why we didn’t do nearly half the things He assigned to us. Thankfully Jesus will claim and cover us at that time, showing the nail prints in his hand and feet.
Daniel was given a vision from God where he saw four beasts coming out of the great sea. He didn’t fully understand what he was seeing but he knew it was a revelation from God, so he recorded it for future generations to read and learn what was coming. Thank God that in Christ we have God’s fullest and clearest revelation. God gives us enough so that we can know even in part as Paul wrote about in Read I Corinthians 13:9-12 what will happen in our future. For the believer, the person of faith being before the judgment seat should not be scary or make us faint. We will have Jesus presenting us as though we never sinned over our life’s journey ( Read Jude 24-25) and the Ancient of Days will accept us and invite us into His kingdom to enjoy eternal life with Him, but for those who reject Christ in their lifetime the time of judgment will end in another way. We don’t even want to chance it.
Praying Daniel 7:9
God our Lord, this would be the scariest thing ever to undergo. The thought of being judged for our sins and based upon our earthly life and lifestyle and having to stand before You with no one to speak on our behalf or represent us. Thank You, God that when we believe in Your Son Jesus we don’t have to stand before Your throne of judgment by ourselves but will have an advocate in Christ Jesus. We cannot escape the judgment seat so let us only be judged with Jesus by our side. Amen
Prayer Challenge
Read Daniel 7 through the eyes of someone who will not have Christ as their intercessor or advocate. Then read it again as someone who will have Jesus by their side.
Digging Deeper
Devotionally Yours 