9th. Daniel describes four great
empires closely succeeding one another, and rooted in the head of the fourth is
a little horn, or persecuting power, that “makes war with the saints and
prevails against them until the Ancient of days or Christ comes.”— Dan.
vii, 19-22. He does not say “until a thousand years before the Ancient of days
comes.” Of course the little horn will have to cease making war with the saints
and prevailing against them before the Millennium can begin; but it does not
cease before Christ comes, who, I suppose, is here called the Ancient of days
because “His goings forth have been from of old,” and He will come
clothed “in the glory of His Father.”—Mic. v, 2; Mat. xxv, 31. In the
same manner Paul too has put the destruction of the persecuting power at the
coming of the Lord.—2 Thes. ii, 8. Thus I find neither in the prophecy of
Daniel nor Paul any space or room for the Millennium before the advent. (Wiley
Jones, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 4 vols. [ed. J.M. Morgan; Bristow,
Okla., 1947; orig., 1879], 4:7)
For an overview of Jones and his interaction with various figures of the American Restorationist movement (e.g., Thomas Thomas; Benjamin Wilson), see J. Turner Stilson, Biographical Encyclopedia: Chronicling the History of the Church of God Abrahamic Faith 19th & 20th Centuries (Stillman Valley, Ill.: Word Ege, 2011), 143-45.
