Judgment in Daniel 7

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Judgment in Daniel 7accept the historicist point ofview, then the divine court should have metin session and bestowed the kingdom upon the Son ofman sometime after1798. The futurist interpretation has not been discussed, because it wouldremove this scene even farther from Jesus' ascension.Thus the preterist interpretationofDaniel 7 is too early for an applicationto be made to Jesus in AD. 31, and the historicist and futurist interpretationsare too late in the course of human history to make an AD. 31application to Jesus. Thus it is evident that there is no legitimate biblicalbasis for applying the heavenly court session and the bestowal of thekingdom on the Son ofman during the days ofthe Roman Empire and thetime of Christ's ascension. Furthermore, inasmuch as Daniel 7:9-10 and7:13-14 are so intimately connected, one might also ask why it would benecessary to open the books of investigation at the time when Jesusreturned to heaven and His priestly ministry was beginning, not ending.Since there is no reasonably well established method of interpretingthis passage within its context in such a manner as to apply it to Christ'sAD. 31 ascension, the only alternative is to lift it from its setting and applyit to theascension without regard to context. Such an exegetical proceduremight be legitimate, ifone could find it used in this manner by an inspiredNT writer.Many commentators have suggested that Jesus may have intentionallyidentified Himself with the Son of man figure in Daniel by applying thattitle to Himself. This observation may well becorrect; however, it does notfollow that each time He used the title He intended thereby to identify theevents transpiring about Him with those events described in Daniel 7. Toestablish such a connection, it would be necessary for the title to have beenused in a NT context that could be identified with the events described inour passage of Daniel 7.It is sometimes argued that a link is made with Daniel 7:13-14 in Jesus'proclamation to the disciples just before His ascension: '~l authority inheaven and on earth has been given to me" (Matt 28:18). It should benoted, however, that Jesus did not use the title "Son of man" in this context.Furthermore, the reference to "authority" (exousia) does not employthe same political terminology such as "dominion" (kratos, kuriotes) and"kingdom" (basileia), as is found in Daniel 7.If Jesus intended to indicate that Daniel 7:13-14 was fulfilled on thisoccasion, He took a very roundabout way ofdoing so. He could have beenmore direct and said something like the following:142
Judgment in Daniel 7Dominion, glory, and kingdom have been given to me,all peoples, nations, and tongues worship me.And this dominion is an everlasting dominion,and this kingdom shall never be destroyed.Whatever else Jesus claimed for Himself at the time ofHis ascension,it is not at all clear from any recognizable lexical relations that He claimedthat Daniel 7:13-14 was fulfilled for Him then. Historically Hewould havebeen wrong had He claimed such, since all the "peoples, nations, andtongues" (klJl 'ammayya' 'umayya' weliSsanayy71') did not worship Himthen (leh yip.le[zun), and still do not do so. Since no NTwriter can be citedwho applies this passage out ofits context, any attempt by a modern interpreterto do so is unwarranted. Making such an application ofDaniel 7:1314 runs all the risks of the proof-text method ofexegesis in which contextreceives little attention.The historicist interpretation ofthewhole schema ofDaniel 7 remainsthe methodofinterpretation that is groundedin the most reasonable applicationoftheentire passage. On historicist principles we may datethe commencementof the judgment described in Daniel 7 sometime after 1798.Nature of the Judgment in Daniel 7Having established in general terms the date for the judgment inDaniel 7, we move to the question that has to do with its nature. What isthe function ofthis judgment, and who is to be judged by it? Although thedecisions reached in this session obviously have something to do with thelittle horn, is that the only focus of this judgment? How directly are thesubsequent events described in this chapter (Christ's reception of Hisdominion, and the saints' possession of the kingdom) related to thisjudgment as results stemming from it? These are some of the areas thatshould be addressed in treating the subject of the nature of the judgmentin Daniel 7.Investigation in JudgmentThe question whether this judgment is "investigative" or not deservessome consideration. In the first place, the use ofthe term "judgment" (vs.10) to refer to these scenes in heaven immediately suggests that what is totranspire in that celestial realm will take on the nature ofan investigation.It is only after the judgment description (vss. 9-10) that reference is madeto events that can be seen to carry out the "judgments" ordecisions ofthat143
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Judgment in Daniel 7

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