Last Judgment
Daniel 7:9-10
The original language of the Old Testament is Hebrew. The New Testament of the Bible was written in Greek. But we have an exception to that rule as our text for this morning. About half of the Old Testament Book of Daniel is written in Hebrew, and the other half, where our text for today is taken from, was written in the Aramaic language. Reading this in English, you’d probably never even know. So why are we making such a big deal about our text for today being written in Aramaic instead of Hebrew?
Aramaic, like Greek would be later, like English is today, was the international language of the day. In Daniel’s day, if you wanted to write something that everybody would be able to understand, you’d write it in Aramaic. If you wrote it in Hebrew, only the Jews would understand it. So what does this tell us the audience that God wanted for this text? Well, since God choose to have this written in the international language of the day, that meant that especially this part of the Bible was going to apply to everyone, Jew and non-Jew alike. The Lord wanted everyone to hear about this! And what he’s talking about in our text for today, that everyone needs to know about, is our service focus for today, Judgment Day. It’s going to affect everyone who has ever lived. It’s the day when God is going to sit on his royal throne and judge each person and give the verdict, either innocent or guilty. He’ll give the sentence, either heaven or hell.
Part I
Not only is this part of the Bible unique as to the language that it is written in, but God is given a name here that is not found anywhere else in the Bible. What does our reading call God? The Ancient of Days. What kinds of things would you call “ancient”? I guess the pyramids in Egypt, I’d say those are pretty ancient. Of course, they aren’t as nearly as glorious as they were when they were first built: with gleaming white rock and gold that has long been taken away. I guess Stonehenge would be called ancient, but it’s a ruin, only a fraction of what it once was. I guess we’d call great empires like the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, all these empires are “ancient.” But none of them are around today. Why would God use the word ancient to describe himself? To contrast the difference between him and man. To highlight the difference between God’s unchanging permanence with the changeableness and instability of all human power structures. God is ancient, but he isn’t ancient in the way that earthly things are. Earthly things that are ancient are nice reminders of the past, but are old, outdated, dilapidated. The Lord being the Ancient of Days is just as strong and wise and powerful as he was on Day 1 of the earth’s history.
And on Judgment Day, this Ancient of Days is going to take his throne. Much of the Book of Daniel is like Revelation: there are many picture words, and our aim isn’t so much to nail down what every single detail means, rather, we are to look at the big picture that the text paints. We are able to say some things about the details in Daniel’s vision. The Ancient of Days, sitting on his throne, is wearing white clothes and has white hair. We can confidently know what this refers to: white in the Bible is the color or purity and holiness. Likewise, his throne has an unusual feature, it has wheels of fire. Fire is many times used to denote the presence of God: think of Moses and the burning bush, or Pentecost, with the tongues of fire which appeared on the heads of the disciples. Or think of Elijah, who went to heaven in a fiery chariot, and we get a pretty good idea of what this throne with wheels of fire means: on it God himself sits, and the wheels stress his mobility. In fact, there isn’t any place in the universe where God isn’t. “Where can I flees from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there. If I go down to the depths, you are there.”
Put all these things together: the unchangeable ancientness of God, his power, his purity, his onmipresence…what does God want to impress on us with all these details? It’s as if he’s saying, “Christian, you have nothing to worry about. Some day I’m going to come and show the world who I really am.” And isn’t that nice to know, as we live in a world that is anything but pure and anything but unchangeable and stable. The way of the world is chaos. The world is a violent, unloving, unstable, look-out-for-yourself place. The world offers wars and the threats of wars. Our world has snipers, mean people, materialistic people. And I don’t know about you, but so many times it feels that people who take the Bible seriously are so much in the minority. Even so many Christians scoff at the doctrines taught in this very church, “oh, come on, you don’t practice open communion…get with the times! Your church doesn’t allow women pastors…come on, those parts of the Bible don’t apply to the 21st Century! Your church is so worried about splitting hairs; I don’t think Jesus would like what you’re doing.” But you see, you and I don’t have to wonder about what God might think about certain doctrines. God wrote a book. He wrote a book, didn’t he, where he spelled out his will for the Church and for you. The unchangeable Ancient of Days has spoken, and we do well to listen to all of his Word. God isn’t swayed by public opinion, and isn’t that a blessing? I mean, isn’t it wonderful that our world is run and will be judged by a being that is far more lofty than you or I could possibly imagine? The hourglass of human history is running out, and it can’t come soon enough for me. Don’t get me wrong; I’m very happy with how the elections went this past Tuesday, but I’m looking forward to the day when I live under a perfect ruler: the Ancient of Days, gleaming in innocence on his majestic throne. That’s a sight that you’re going to see one day.
Part II
Could be a scary sight, especially in the light of what this Ancient of Days is going to do. Listen to the last sentence of the reading, “The court was seated, and the books were opened.”
Doesn’t it seem like so many times, we see other people getting away with things? Few things get me as worked up as when I’m approaching a stoplight that turned yellow, then red, and I’m stopped there and I see someone else whizzing through that red light. And I’m always thinking, “where is a policeman when you need one.” Look again at what our text says, “the court was seated, and the books are opened.” There is someone keeping track of everything. After the terrorist attacks, the White House said that they wanted bin Laden dead or alive, and over a year later, we still haven’t found him dead or alive. “The court was seated, and the books were opened.” The Ancient of Days has a handle on where everyone is, and what everyone has done.
On one hand, that scares us. I mean, how would you like to sit down with your spouse, your parents, or your children and watch a video of your life? Everything that you’ve ever done, recorded and displayed. The Ancient of Days is keeping track of everyone, you included.
You see, in every courtroom, there needs to be evidence. And the evidence that the Ancient of Days is going to use to judge is what is recorded in the book…which, scares me. A book detailing every second of my life is not a novel that I’d want anyone to read, much less the Judge of the Universe. But nothing is going to be hidden from him on Judgment Day.
Of course, there’s another book. The Bible also talks about the Book of Life. In it are written all the names of those who believe in Jesus and have their sins washed away. Your name is written in the Book of Life. And for you, the Christian, on Judgment Day, when God looks down the list of all the sins that you’ve committed, he’s going to see this sin of thought that you did, and on the ledger it’s going to say, “Paid in Full by Jesus.” God’s going to look at this sinful word or this sinful action that you did, and it’s going to be struck from the record with the words, “Paid in Full by Jesus.”
That’s the key to being able to stand in the presence of the Ancient of Days on that dreadful and awesome day: the key is your relationship with Jesus. And since you are here this morning, hearing his Word, taking God seriously, that’s evidence that your relationship with your Savior is strong. Don’t let that go out. Don’t let the worries and pleasures of this world distract you from the most important focus in life: Jesus, your Savior. One of the devil’s greatest traps is the sentence, “wait a while.” “Later, do it later, you’ll always have time to turn to God then.” Remember what Paul said in our second lesson, “while people are saying, ‘peace and safety,’ destruction will come on them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.”
My friends, you have everything that you need to be all set to meet the Ancient of Days on his throne. You’re not going to walk in there alone. But your Savior is going to walk hand in hand with you, and cover you with his robe of righteousness. You don’t have to worry about Judgment Day. You know what the verdict is for Christians, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”
Conclusion
There are other prophecies in the Aramaic section of the Book of Daniel that God wanted the whole world to know about. Those prophecies predicted the rise and fall of the Babylonian Empire, the Persian Empire, the Greek Empire, and the Roman Empire. Those prophecies talked about the rise of the papacy. ALL THOSE THINGS CAME TRUE! So also will this prophecy about the Ancient of Days Taking His Throne. We’re waiting, and we’re ready! Amen.
sdg
