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)
