Daniel 7 9-10

SHALOM!


Is your name written in some book?

This one could be a weird question for some, but let me put this in a context. Have you been invited to a wedding party? Have you got maybe an invitation by mail, or personally? In that case you probably buy some present for the wedding couple, and you take your invitation with you. And probably there is somebody at the door who will check your invitation, or who will seek your name in the guest list. 

The most extraordinary wedding of all times is in the Bible. We can read about it in the book of Revelation. The wedding couple are the Lord Jesus Christ and the church, and the place where it will occur is heaven. If the Lord allows, we will talk about this amazing day, but the detail we want to focus on today is this: there is a guest list to get there. In order to be admitted, your name shall be written on that list, which is called "book of life". Some day the time will come when we will depart from this earth to eternity. On that day, somebody will check that list, in order to see if you have the right to get in or not, if your name is there. 

When will this happen? 

There are several places where we read about some kind of judgement in the Scripture, most of them to decide if somebody is going to heaven or hell, other ones with other purposes, rewarding or punishing, for instance. 

Observe these verses, in Daniel 7:9-10 : 

"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 flaming with fire,
and its wheels were all ablaze.

A river of fire was flowing,
coming out from before him.

Thousands upon thousands attended him;
ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.

The court was seated,
and the books were opened"

The original Aramaic text for these verses is this: 

"Khazé havét ad di karsaván remív, veatík yomín yetíb. Lebushé kitlág hivvár, usheár reshé keamár neké. Karseyé sebibín di nur, galgilóhi nur dalík" 

"Nehár di nur nagéd venafék min kodamóhi; élef alfáyim yeshameshuné, verribó rabebán kodamóhi yekumún. Diná yetíb, vesifrín petikhú"

We have a perfect translation to English in the New International Version. Daniel have seen before the beasts representing human governments, but now the vision turns to heaven and shows us God, sitting on His throne, and millions angels around Him. The heavenly court takes seat, and is about to read something from some books. 

How shall we understand this?

Is this passage an allegory, a parable, or is this a prophecy?

Let's PRAY

Almighty Father, we give You thanks for Your word
We give You thanks because of those visions you gave to your prophets
We give You thanks because there is a blessing for us in those visions
We give You thanks because there is hope for us in those visions
We pray that you open our eyes to see the meaning of them
In Jesus Holy Name
Amen

If we consider that Daniel is among "the prophets" in the Bible, and that the Bible includes many prophecies about a day of judgement, when God will judge mankind, then it is most likely that the vision is showing some event that will take place, and not a fictional story. Besides, we have seen that the book of Daniel is divided in two, the first half is about stories of Daniel's life in Babylonia, and the second one about those prophecies he received. But any remaining doubt is erased when we read the interpretation that Daniel got in this same chapter about these same verses. That interpretation is in the verses 23 to 27, where we can clearly see that the last beast is a kingdom, from which a last king will arise, and that king will be judged and deposed by God, who will give the kingdom to His saints. The interpretation given to Daniel certainly shows that the Millennium which was promised to Israel at the end of times is a very real one, and it will take place after the fall of that evil king who will persecute them to death. 

When will this happen?

There are two verses in the Bible - among others - about this special moment in mankind's history. Let's read them: 

"He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him"

Daniel 9:27

"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years"

Revelation 20:4

Daniel 9:27 is a verse about the "little horn" of Daniel 7, the evil ruler who will have to do with Israel in those last seven years of the "seventy weeks decreed for Daniel's people". This verse shows us an "abomination that causes desolation, in the temple". But this is an alternative one, and a not so fortunate rendering of the original. The Hebrew of Daniel 9:27 is, "veal kenáf shikutsím meshomém, veal kalá veneherátsa titákh al shomém". "Kanáf" is no temple, but "wing" or "edge" or "extreme". And "shikutsím" is "abominations" IN PLURAL. A good real translation - which you can see in the interlinear Hebrew-English Bible - is "and for the overspreading [or extreme] of abominations [someone] will desolate, until the consummation which is determined shall be poured on the one who causes desolation"

This "extreme of abominations" can be seen in Revelation 12 and 13, and especially in Revelation 17, where this last government is described as a prostitute riding a scarlet beast. And the one who "will desolate" is Satan, who gives his power to the little horn or scarlet beast, and to the prostitute, "until the consummation which is determined shall be poured" on him. 

That "consummation" is the final defeat of the evil one. It comes from Hebrew "kalá" which means "total destruction", "end", "annihilation". We can clearly understand that this word is alluding to the end of times, because after that total destruction both Isaiah and John saw "a new heaven and a new earth". And the "consummation which is determined" is Satan's judgement, plus the judgement of the beast and the false prophet, together with him. All of this occurs in Revelation 19:11 to 20:6. It is in this time frame when "those who had been given authority to judge" take seat on the thrones, and when those who "had not worshiped the beast or its image" rise from the dead, in order to "reign with Christ for a thousand years". 

These verses reveal that the fulfilment of Daniel 7:23-27 is the Second Coming of Jesus and the beginning of the Millennium. It is crucial to know that it is in this event when the prophecy is fulfilled. Because we can also see the heavenly court in Revelation, chapters 4 & 5, where the Lord is coming before the Father to receive the book of the seven seals before the Great Tribulation, and we can see it also in Revelation 20:11-15, where we read about the Last Judgement, which happens after the Millennial Kingdom. But that kind of fulfilment is called "partial" or "parallel". Even the vision of God and His angels have several parallel ones, in Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 and 10, Genesis 18 or Psalms 18:6-10. 

A big mistake interpreting prophecies or even receiving biblical revelations in a broader sense, is to try to see the same thing in all parallel verses or passages. There is a parallel between sharks, sardines and sea horses. All of them are fishes, they live in the sea, and they eat another animals. But nobody should say that a shark is the same thing as a sardine. In the same way, that gathering of the heavenly court in Revelation 20:4, which corresponds with that one in Daniel 7, is not the same one that we read about in Revelation 5, or in the Last Judgement. It would be a terrible mistake to believe that those three passages are talking about the same judgement. 

That said, there are many parallel passages that DO speak about the same thing. In such cases it is of course the right thing to put them together in order to get a better picture about the issue. For instance, we all know that God is One. It means that the God who was seen by Isaiah has to be the same of Ezekiel's vision, and the same who was seen by Abraham, king David or the apostle John. The cherubim that Ezekiel saw are also most probably the same ones who guarded the garden of Eden so that the fallen humans shouldn't come back, or those who were represented in the ark of the covenant, or the "living creatures" that John saw in Revelation 4. 

Why then is God different in the visions of Abraham, king David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel or John?

Why do the cherubim have six wings some times, but four, or even two another times?

Why do they have one face sometimes, but two or even four faces, another times?

Why does Isaiah call them "seraphim"?

Why does the "face of an ox" in Ezekiel 1 changes to "face of a cherub" in Ezekiel 10, if the prophet says that they were "the same living creatures" he had seen previously?

The answers to these questions should probably be so many and so different as many persons exist on earth. Many will say that seraphim and cherubim are not the same creature, that the face of a cherub IS the same as the face of an ox, that the cherubim are not angels, or that these things are mysterious ones whose revelation we will see when we come to heaven. But there are some revelations that God has given us in His word. Those ones we can receive here and now. Let's read two verses about it: 

"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth"

John 4:24

"Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?"

Hebrews 1:14

Both verses say something essential about God and angels: THEY ARE "SPIRITS". 

The word "spirit" - "pniúma" in Greek, "rúakh" in Hebrew and Aramaic - means also "wind" or "breath". Observe that this word is always meaning something which exists, but which we can not see. "Spirit" has been defined as "any incorporeal supernatural being that can become visible (or audible) to human beings", and also as "the vital principle or animating force within living things". The first definition is about God and the angels, and the second one refers to the human spirit.

"Spirit" and "matter" are two opposite things. When the Bible says that we are "body, soul and spirit", it is talking about a material part, another mental one and another spiritual one. "Soul" comes from Greek "psukhé" from which we have "psyche". It is our spirit which governs our soul and body, and it is our spirit which communicates with God. Because God is a Spirit, as the angels are spirits, too.

Now God has the power to show Himself materially, or in dreams and visions in the minds of men. He has given that power to the angels, also. That's why so many people in the Bible and in human history have "seen God" and "have seen angels". BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN that those visions of God and the angels we have seen are what they really ARE. It is a mistake to "define" that God is an old man with white hair, or that God is green and red (because of his appearance of jasper and ruby, precious stones of that colour) or that God "IS" a half glowing metal and a half fire. It is also a mistake to "define" cherubim with two, four or six wings, with one, two or four faces, with human bodies or animal bodies... We should come to a situation in which we can't really say HOW God and angels really are. BECAUSE NEITHER GOD OR THE ANGELS "ARE" LIKE THAT.

Visions have a purpose: to reveal spiritual things. In Daniel's vision, those beasts (the winged lion, the bear or the leopard with four heads) are not "animals" but EMPIRES. The Babylonian empire was not a winged lion, but a country with a king, which conquered another countries with another kings. The horns in this vision are not those we find in the head of some animals. It would be a pointless exercise to try to find out if they are elk horns, reindeer horns or ram horns. Because these horns are not horns. They are kings, they are rulers. The fact that visions have the purpose of revealing spiritual things has an implication to us: the literal meaning is a mystery, and we HAVE TO question, what do these things REALLY mean?

The same thing happens with the visions of God and the angels. John the apostle says in his first letter, chapter three and verse two, that we will see God, "AS HE IS", on that day of Jesus Christ's Second Coming. This means that Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah or John himself didn't see God "as He is". They saw God in the way He wanted to show Himself to them in their visions. Visions reveal one or several of God's attributes, or some angelical attributes. But the real thing, the total revelation of the truth, that's something we will see on eternity.

If the visions have a symbolical meaning, and if they reveal events to take place in the future, then this heavenly court that Daniel saw, taking seat before God, and those books that were opened, have to mean something to us.

What is that meaning?

What kind of "court" is this, and which "books" are these?

In order to identify that court and those books, let's remember that the scene Daniel is seeing is the same which took place in Revelation 20:4.

"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years"

Revelation 20:4

Those "who have been given authority to judge" are the 24 elders sitting on those thrones. God is the judge. The purpose of this judgement is to allow the real believers, those who didn't worship the beast, to enter the Millennial Kingdom. The books are not mentioned in this verse, but they are in a similar judgement which takes place AFTER the Millennium. Let's read Revelation 20:12 :

"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books"

We can see two orders of books here, the "book of life" - which is "another book" - and "books", where people acts were recorded. In the Last Judgement, as we read in Revelation 20:12, people were judged because of things they thought, said or did, which are recorded on those books. And Revelation 20:15 says that "anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire". It is clear that the same books are also opened in Revelation 20:4, in order to see the ones who had their names in the book of life and the ones who didn't worship the beast. This judgement is of the same kind of the Last Judgement; their purpose is to send people to eternity. The difference is the destination: heaven or hell, according to the time of the judgement (it is, following the FIRST resurrection BEFORE the Millennium, or following the SECOND resurrection AFTER the Millennium) 

Which ones are these "books that were opened"?

In the book of Revelation we read that our acts are written in heaven. This kind of books has a counterpart on earth, which is called "chronicles". The books of 1st and 2nd Samuel, Kings and Chronicles are about the acts of the kings of Israel and about their lives. We can read about more books of the same kind in 2 Chronicles 9:29, that mentions "the records of Nathan the prophet, the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite and the visions of Iddo the seer". Even pagan kingdoms had such books of chronicles (as we read in Ezra 4:15, 6:2; Esther 2:23, 6:1) It was by reading one of these books that king Ahasuerus remembered that good which Mordecai the Jew had done to him. Then he called the evil man Haman, who wanted to kill all Jews, and ordered him to honor Mordecai, the same Jew he hated the most.

God is Omnipotent and Omniscient. This means that He can everything and that He knows everything. There is not a single act among all we have done on earth that should be unknown to Him. All of our acts are recorded in these "scrolls of remembrance" which will be opened on eternity. Our good deeds, because they are a reason to get a reward in heaven. Our evil deeds, because they are the reason that the condemned ones go to hell (these evil deeds are called "sins" and are transgresions of God's laws) There is no way to avoid this fact or to deceive ourselves; EVERY act of ours on earth is written in these books, and is known by God, the Supreme Judge.

But make no mistakes, our good deeds are not the reason TO ENTER heaven. They are a reason to get a reward there, IF we get there. The evil deeds ARE indeed the reason that people go to hell, but the good ones are not a reason to go to heaven. In order to enter heaven, to be in the "guest list" of the "wedding supper of the Lamb", it is necessary to be recorded in ANOTHER book, the "OTHER" one in Revelation 20:12, which is called "book of life".

This book can be found in several places in the Bible.

In Exodus 32:31-33 we can read about a conversation between Moses and God: 

"So Moses went back to the Lord and said, 

"Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin - but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written"

"The Lord replied to Moses, 

"Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book"

Most probably you've got an identity card, or a passport, showing that you are a citizen in some country, and that you are recorded in a civil register. The Bible contains several passages of such registers of the Jewish population, because being a member of the nation of Israel was a very important matter, from which your rights came in Israel. According to the tribe you did belong, you could get lands in Israel, in the territory belonging to that tribe. And to become a priest it was necessary to belong to the tribe of Levi. That's why we read so many lists and genealogies showing who the persons are. 

The book that Moses is talking about in his conversation with the Lord is one of these registers. But in our times, that book doesn't contain only those Jews that Moses was praying for. This register of saved persons was increased with proselytes, it means Gentiles that became Jews, and it grew explosively with the birth of the church. The Christian church was in the beginning just a Jewish sect, and because of that, the Gentile converts were also heirs of the same promises which had been only for Jews for many centuries, to be written in the book of life, for one. That's why we read about this book in Israel's context (see Ezekiel 13:8 or Daniel 12:1) or in the church's context (see Philippians 4:3 or Revelation 3:5) OF COURSE it is the same book, a fact that antisemites and their father Satan don't like very much. It is the same book because Israel's God and the God of the Christian church is the same one, and He doesn't have a paradise for Jews and another one for Christians. In the same book where He wrote the names of Jews like Moses and David, He also wrote the names of Christians as John, Peter or Paul, and He writes the name of every believer. 

The author of this book of life is God, and it is He who registers us as citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven. There are no deeds, no matter how good they are, which open to us the gates of heaven to be with God on eternity, if we don't seek Him and ask Him personally that we want to get this citizenship, that we want to be with Him, that we want to be saved. Revelation 20:15, which has been called "the most sad verse in the Bible", says very clearly, "anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire".

The Bible says that all of us have sinned. Because of our sins, our evil deeds, the books of remembrance give testimony that our place on eternity is hell, in the lake of fire with Satan, the beast, the false prophet and all demons. But the Bible speaks also about the book of life. The Bible speaks about a list of all names of the people who will be received in heaven. Not because they are without sin, because all of us have sinned, but because of a way God has prepared for us. 

How can we be written in the book of life, even with the record of sins we certainly know that we have commited? 

In Luke 10:20 we read, 

"However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, 
but rejoice that your names are written in heaven"

Our Lord said to His disciples that "their names were written in heaven". This knowledge should be our source of joy, more important that well accomplished works. Some works will be perfect, another ones will be mediocre, another ones will miserably fail. But our joy is not in having only perfect works and deeds. Our joy is that our names are written in the book of life. 

How do we get there? Remember, it is the "book of life". Those whose names are written there are "alive". But, how?, could someone object. "We are all alive, aren't we?" NO, we aren't. There are "material" dead and alive people, and there are "spiritual" dead and alive ones. Your spirit can live on eternity, even when you die in this body. And your spirit can be dead here and now, even in a living body which makes you appear to be "alive" for the rest of the world. 

When the Lord created Adam and Eve, and gave them this earth to be their home and to provide for them a livelihood, He gave them also a law: 

"... you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die"

Genesis 2:17

The death which "came to all people, because all sinned" is SPIRITUAL death. Adam and Eve were still alive after eating the forbidden fruit, but they died spiritually, were cast out from Eden and had to be justified by God, who made them clothes with the skin of animals (God Himself executed the first sacrifice to justify mankind)

When the Lord called Moses to lead the people of Israel to the promised land, and to instruct them so that they would live according to God's laws, He gave the prophet a whole system of animal sacrifices that should be done, in order to make expiation for the sins of the people and of Moses himself. As the blood of animals was counted as righteousness to Adam and Eve, the blood of those animals that were sacrificed in the tabernacle and in the temple, should make righteous those Jews that had sinned. 

God should make even another pact with mankind. In the appointed time, Israel's Messiah, Our Lord Jesus Christ, was crucified in mount Calvary, and shed His precious blood for us all. That blood has such a value that equals the blood of all previous sacrifices, from Adam and Eve's time, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron and all priests who sacrificed before God for many centuries. That blood is powerful to accomplish once for all the same purpose of the daily sacrifice, and of the day of atonement, that Israel had to perform before God to get forgiveness for their sins. That blood has such a value that justifies us from all our sins, makes us righteous before God, makes us holy and makes it possible that our names are written in the book of life, erasing our sins. Because of Jesus' blood on our lives, the only acts of ours that will be heard on that day before the heavenly court are those which grant us a reward, not our sins. Our sins will be erased, gone, forgiven and forgotten. 

If you have not yet received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, if that sacrifice on Calvary's cross is not your justice and the propitiation for your sins, let me tell you that according to God you are spiritually dead. It doesn't matter how active you can appear, without the blood of Jesus your sins are not yet forgotten, your name is not written in the book of life, and your destination is that of the ones whose names "were not found written in the book of life". That destination is the lake of fire. 

But there's a cure for this! You can acknowledge your condition of sinner before God, ask Him for forgiveness for your sins and pray to Him so that He enters your life, make you one among the children of His and write your name in the book of life. Pray with me:

Almighty Father, thank You for the word You've given us, the word that is able to change lives, to save sinners, to restore souls. Thank you that You are willing to write my name in the book of life, even when I've been a sinner and I've been living without Your communion and guidance. Thank you for Your Son Who shed His blood for me. Forgive me, take away my sins, because of the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary's cross. Make me your child, write my name in the book of life, give me that eternal hope: to be with You. I want to follow You, I want Your Word to be my light. In Jesus Holy Name. Amen. 

Shalom, to you all!

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