Monday, December 6, 2021

John Cumming (1861): The "Ancient of Days" is the Jewish Nation, not God the Father or Jesus Christ

John Cumming (1807-1881) was a minister of the Church of Scotland and held to the Historicist interpretation of the book of Revelation. In his 1861 The Ancient of Days, he argued that the “Ancient of Days” from Dan 7 was not God the Father or Jesus, but instead, the Jewish nation:

 

Notice, also, Daniel vii., there you will see the Roman, the fourth government, will be given to the burning flame, and the government of the whole earth is given to the saints, the Ancient of Days, the Jews, and they govern the earth will Christ appears in the clouds of heaven. (The government of the Jews will be 1335 years.) (John Cumming, The Ancient of Days: Or, The Times of the Jews [London: R. Banks & Co., 1861], 15)

 

Daniel vii.9—I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels are burning fire.

 

10.—A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and then thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

 

The Ancient of Days here described by the Holy Ghost, is not the Lord God Almighty, as many of the present day would have us believe.

 

I know not what the Roman Catholics make of this Scripture, but the general Protestant teachings appears to me to be such blasphemy as there never has been since creation; for if I believe these teachers, wise though they be, I must believe the Lord God to be grown old, and then if I believe the writings of St Paul I must believe the Lord God will vanish away—for Paul says, 'Now that which waxeth old is ready to vanish away.' Therefore I put this question to all reasonable persons is not this a species of blasphemy that has not had its parallel since creation? Yet such is the teaching of some of our divines. I feel persuaded that no scientific person would suppose, that he who stretched forth the starry heavens, is affected by time. I find the most dangerous teachers to be in the church of God; the men who teach such monstrous things as these, are men who boast of an open bible, at the same time denying the very obvious meaning of that book, for I think this scripture is as clear as the noonday sun to every person who will exercise the humblest reason.

 

The Ancient of Days cannot be God the Father, for Moses saith, thou sawest no similitude, thou only heardest a voice; Take heed to thyself lest thou form to thyself the likeness of anything that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath, for that will be a snare unto thee: therefore to a Jew such a view would be idolatry, and in a Christian it is blasphemy. God the Father judgeth no man, but hath given all judgment unto the Son; and here we see the judgment set and the books opened; and that it is not God the Son is evident, for further on in the night visions (13th verse) the prophet saw one like the Son of man, (which is indeed the Son of God) come with the clouds of heaven, and come to the Ancient of Days, and come near before him, therefore the Ancient of Days is a distinct person from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God: nevertheless it is not good that one should be without the other, for the Ancient of Days is the bride, he that comes with the clouds is the bridegroom.

 

Again, that Jesus Christ the Son of God does not wax old is evident from this scripture, 'thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever,' he that sits upon it must also be for ever and ever, or the throne would be vacant. Again, it is said thousands thousands minster unto the Ancient of Days, therefore it cannot be God, for God is not worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, for if he were hungry he would eat the cattle of a thousand hills and tell no man; these ministers are not angels, neither are they angels who stand before him waiting for judgment—the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven is given to the people of the saints of the Most High; this implies that they once did not possess judgment, can it be said that the Lord God did not formerly possess judgment?

 

Judgment is given to the Ancient of Days, and by the Ancient of Days, must necessarily be means the Jews, and the whole figure is the church of Christ, Jew and Gentile, who govern the whole world during the Millennium, and there is no personal Lord Jesus Christ among them for the space of thirteen hundred and thirty-five years.

 

This view is agreeable to the whole bible, it is especially proved from the twentieth Revelation for there we are shewn that the Jew and Gentile saints have the rule and dominion of the whole earth for a thousand years unmolested, which leave three hundred and thirty-five years for the preparation and fulfilment of the great Northern confederacy there spoken of, and more enlarged upon by Ezekiel 38th and 39th chapters. (This Northern confederacy has no connexion with the king of the North of Daniel xi. 40.)

 

After the thousand years they are assaulted, but not subdued, the Lord interposing on their behalf, taking vengeance on the invaders, the nations learning by that event, that Israel went into captivity under the Babylonians as well as under the Romans, for their sins, but now having lived a thousand years in their own land observing God's holy laws,—'tis, 'touch not mind anointed, and do my people no harm,—and they live the remaining time, until the advent or appearing of Christ, without molestation; the troubles just preceding the advent, or appearing, of Christ, is not war—but of that I will treat in another place.

 

There is nothing said about the resurrection of the dead at the sitting of the Ancient of Days, neither is there any such thing until the appearing of Christ as it plainly shewn throughout the Scriptures, but of which, also, I shall treat of in another place.

 

The sitting of the Ancient of Days is the same event as the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation.

 

Daniel gives the throne of the Ancient of Days, in the singular number, while Rev. xx. 4 gives it in the plural, 'I saw thrones; they sat upon them;' it is the Jews who sit upon these thrones, while they who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus (who had not worshipped heathen Rome, nor Christian Rome, which is the image of heathen Rome) must necessarily be Gentile Christians; and here is the fulfilment of the promise, 'Other sheep I have that are not of this (Jewish) fold, them I must also bring, and there shall be one fold under one shepherd.' But the shepherd is not present in this fold, as is shewn in the 11th verse, neither do I see the Gentile Christians sitting on thrones.

 

It appears, then, that by the Ancient of Days is meant, that people which Moses brought out of Egypt, to whom the law was given, who of late have had no rest for the sole of his foot, who have dealt largely in old clothes, but is here described by the Lord his God sitting on a throne clothed in a new suit; this is he who once was ready to perish for want of bread, and went down into Egypt few in number, and there kept cattle, made brick, and built Rameses and Pithom, but the Lord his God brought him out with a high hand, and threw his enemy into the sea, and slew his first born.

 

This is he that did eat angels' food, yea the Lord his God gave him bread from heaven; moreover he brought him into a good land, and shook silver and gold dust on his feathers, Psalm lxvii. 13; although he had lien among the pots and pans, and he built a temple to the Lord his God; but Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked, and the Lord his God banished him beyond the river, but the Lord shewed some favour in the sight of the Mede and Persian Gentiles, and these masters commanded the Ancient of Days to bult a temple to the Lord God of heaven, and paid him for doing the work in Gentile money, and commanded him to make prayer therein to the Lord God of heaven, for the good of the kingdom of the Gentiles, but the Ancient of days thinking these maters very hard, desired the Greeks to beat them, which was done; but the Greeks proved harder masters than the Persians: the Ancient of Days then openly made an alliance with Rome for the sake of being delivered from the Greeks; the Roman masters becoming terrible and dreadful, exceeding all that were before them: by them, the Ancient of Days was ultimately crushed. Moreover, there was a living stone given to them, Jesus Christ, by name, a chief corner stone, a key stone, a sure foundation stone, and he that trusteth in him shall never be confounded; but instead of building on this living stone, they nailed him to a tree, and desired a murderer to be given to them instead; this so incensed his Lord that he scattered his own, and gave the kingdom of heaven to the Gentiles, for if new wine (the new covenant) be put into new bottles—both will be preserved; but those nations to whom the new covenant was first given, turned, and in that church that was built by Jesus Christ, the apostles, the martyrs, they set up the son of perdition and worshipped him. The nations that thus forget God shall be turned into hell, not the nations who never knew him, as some suppose.

 

As there is no personal Lord Jesus, so there is no visible angelic attendance to this throne; it may be said by some that this throne is too splendid, for the old Jews mere mortal men, to sit upon, but I think it is not at all so, for if we look at the shining of Moses's face in the wilderness, and add to that to the cloudy pillar by day, and the fiery pillar by night, and the glory on the tabernacle, Moses sitting in judgment, and the people standing before him from morning till night waiting for judgment: add these things altogether, and then multiply them by all the promises that are made to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob throughout the Scriptures, and the amount will be, the Ancient of Days, sitting, whose garment is white as snow, the hair of his head like pure wool, whose throne is like a fiery flame, his wheels are burning fire, a fiery stream issuing and coming forth from before him, thousands thousands ministering unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand standing before him, the judgment seat, and the books opened, and thus it will be for the space of one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years, and then shall be seen Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven with all the holy angels with him, and the book, which is the book of life, which book the Ancient of Days has not.

 

If the throne of the Ancient of Days be examined, it will be found to be the same as the thrones of Rev. xx. 'I saw thrones,' and if he is examined who comes in the clouds, he will be found to be the same as he who sat upon the white throne, 11th verse; away, and with him is the book of life which neither the Ancient of Days, nor they that sit upon thrones possess.

 

For fuller particulars of the throne of the Almighty, I would direct the reader to the 4th and 5th chapter of Revelation. The Ancient of days is to the book of Daniel, what the church, the bride, the Lamb's wife, is to the book of Revelation; my reasons for this assertion are, because the same things that precede and follow the Ancient of Days in the book of Daniel, precede and follow the bride, the Lamb's wife, in the Revelation, the one occupies the same place in the order of time as the other, therefore they must be the same persons; and Daniel only gives the heads of these events, while Revelation gives the detail; thus Daniel, 'I beheld till the thrones were cast down,' will carry us from A.D. 1789 until 1896, so we see it takes one hundred and seven years to cast down the Gentile thrones and to set up the Jewish thrones; while the Revelation has the 16th, 18th, and 19th chapters to describe the same events, comprising the entire pouring out of the seven vials. (Ibid., 18-22)

 

But to return to the fourth verse [of Rev 20]; 'I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.' These persons here sitting on thrones, were not beheaded, for the witness of Jesus, nor for the testimony which they held; these are a distinct people, they are none other than the old Jews, the Ancient of Days, and there are plenty of these Ancient of Days' people, to sit on thrones without any raising from the dead. (Ibid., 36)

 

Revelation xx. 12.—And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their words.

 

13.—And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to his works.

 

There need be no mistake about this Scripture; it is the resurrection of all the dead family of Adam, the righteous and the wicked: it is the last judgment of quick and dead, and the only judgment in which any human being is ever brought before the Lord Jesus Christ for judgment.

 

This is a very different person, throne, and judgment from that of the Ancient of Days in the 7th of Daniel; for the Ancient of Days sit in judgment, and the nations come to them for judgment, and all that come to them are blessed, and none are cursed. The Ancient of Days judge the living only, not the dead; none of the dead are brought before him, he has not the book of life; but the person on the white throne has, and consequently the dead stand before him, both the righteous and the wicked, and they do not stand upon the earth, the sun being for ever darkened, the moon having for ever withdrawn her light, the stars having fallen, the earth being in a moment, in a twinkle, and for ever dissolved and gone, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken, and that which cannot be shaken shall remain. Man, immortal man, cannot be shaken out of existence, the incorruptible family of Adam stand in eternal space before the Judge of quick and dead, and that Judge is a man, like myself, Christ Jesus by name, and is the same person that comes with a cloud, and comes near before the Ancient of Days. Until this takes place tears and sweat, sorrow and mourning, shall not be clean wiped away; for man shall eat bread in the sweat of his face all the days of his life, and as long as there is a man to be born into the world, the woman shall have sorrow.—Gen iii. 16-19. (Ibid., 39-40)

 

9. 'I beheld till the Ancient of Days did sit.' Is not the Jewish nation meant by this term? (Ibid., 43)