Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Daniel 7:27
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
27. of the kingdom s under the whole heaven ] not merely the kingdom ruled by the ‘little horn,’ but all the kingdoms of the earth, will be given then to the saints of the Most High. ‘Under the whole heaven,’ as Deu 2:25; Deu 4:19; cf. Job 28:24; Job 37:3; Job 41:11.
its kingdom is, &c., shall serve and obey it ] The pronouns, as the context shews, must refer to ‘people,’ not to ‘the Most High.’ In this verse, even more distinctly than in Dan 7:18 ; Dan 7:22, the universal and never-ending dominion, which in Dan 7:14 is given to the ‘one like unto a son of man,’ seems to be conferred upon the people of the saints. For the same idea, adapted to a N.T. standpoint, cf. Rev 5:10 b, Rev 11:15, Rev 12:10, Rev 22:5; also Rev 20:4; Rev 20:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Dan 7:27
And the kingdom and dominion shall be given to the people of the saints.
The Reign of the Saints
Attend to some preliminary remarks.
1. The doctrine of the text does not require us to believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is, at some future time; to return in person to our world and set up a visible and theocratic empire upon all these continents. His kingdom is, and is to be, a spiritual kingdom: an empire that asks and needs no visible manifestation of its Lord, no earthly metropolis, or sceptre, or throne.
2. The Scriptures do not require us to teach or to believe this doctrine even in any absolute, extreme, and unexceptionable sense. The saints as persons, and their great Christian maxims as principles, shall ultimately win such an ascendency over all nations, interests, institutions, and affairs, that this whole world shall become an orderly and well-governed Christian empire.
3. As to the way in which this great conquest is to be achieved. Are the saints of the Most High, after a series of moral victories, wrought with peaceful weapons, and by the aid of the all-conquering Spirit of God, to change their tactics and go forth, in coming times, with their armies, to dislodge the wicked, and settle as victors on all the continents? The Scriptures everywhere discourage such conclusions. We have read history to little purpose if we have not seen that the only revolutions which are permanent and deep are those which take place underneath the surface–penetrating and reconstructing a nations thoughts. Accordingly, there are, in every community, natural processes and lawful methods by which to effect, first a moral, and then a civil revolution. It is a great law of nature, a law operating among all the orders of the animate creation, that the superior race shall win ultimate ascendency over the inferior. The earth is covered with a vast framework of social institutions, whose present and special office it is to guard, and administer, and conserve the temporal interests of nations. Will the saints of the Most High, as they advance and take possession of the world, overturn this great edifice of social order? Will they set up in their place the one great institution, the Church, making all offices spiritual? The Papist answers Yes. But the Scriptures hold no such language. Since civil order is as indispensable to social well-being as spiritual thrift, the State is an institution as truly Divine as the Church. The one is Christs authoritative organisation, for the control and government of things spiritual; the other is His twin organisation, for the management and direction of things temporal.
4. According to all Scriptural intimations, the conquest of the nations for Christ will be a very gradual conquest. Looking into the future, through the prophetic symbols, is like looking over the tops of the mountains to the distant sky. As we gaze we behold one summit behind another, and beyond the farthest the blue heavens. But how far it may be from the first peak to the second, and how far from the last to the firmament beyond, we cannot determine or tell.
5. We may say that the predicted conquest and reign of the saints is to be, and in a two-fold- sense, complete and universal. It will include all races, it will embrace all arts, sciences, trades, interests, governments, usages, compacts, relations. That the people of God will one day possess and govern the world might be conclusively argued:
(1) From the known nature of their religion. Who are the ultimate heirs of the worlds wealth? They who have, and shall continue to have, the qualities that acquire and preserve wealth. And who are these? Not the heathen. For their life is ever a life of idleness, and unthrift, and loss. Not the wicked or worldly, in Christian lands–for though a single generation of these may practice the industries, and observe the moderation, which insure an estate, they can never perpetuate these property-preserving habits. But the religion of the New Testament not only implants the qualities which acquire and retain wealth, it preserves them.
(2) From the actual history of the Church, since it has had its place among the nations. When the Saviour left the world, His disciples were indigent and helpless and weak.
(3) All the indications of Providence point, as with a prophetic finger, to the same grand consummation, the delivery of the world into the hands of the saints. The old religions of the heathen have become confessedly effete and decrepit. Not one of them can ever spread. What is to come when the various tottering systems reel in the tempest, and go down never again to rise? When Antichrist falls, then comes the reign of the saints.
Application.
1. In this great work of possessing and governing the world, the people of God must never allow themselves to confine their endeavours to any single achievement, but must preserve a breadth and amplitude of purpose equal to their universal mission.
2. Neglect or debility in any one department of this great work of saintly conquest and control, enfeebles and endangers the whole enterprise. (W. Clark, D.D.)
The Church of the Future
Around the grand mosque of Damascus there clusters a vast accumulation of history. On the spot where it stands to-day, after a lapse of nearly 1,400 years, there was originally erected, in the first century of our era, a heathen temple. In the middle of the fourth century this temple was destroyed by the Roman general Theodosius the Great, and on its ruins, in the beginning of the fifth century, Arcadius, the elder son of Theodosius, built a Christian house of worship. This latter house, though for 300 years the Cathedral of Damascus, became in the eighth century a Moslem possession, and far some thousand years it has been used as a Mohammedan mosque. No visit to Damascus is quite complete without a sight of this historic structure. The most interesting feature, however, of this curious building is not its age, nor its history, nor its present prominence, but rather a single sentence engraved upon the vestibule. The inscription is in Greek characters and reads thus: Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations. There, on this Mohammedan mosque, and after ten centuries of Moslem occupation, cut deep in the enduring stone, the Christian record remains–a record of faith, of hope and of confidence on the part of the Damascus Christians in the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God. Almost 2,000 years have rolled away since Jesus Christ opened in Bethlehem the marvellous scene of Divinity in humanity, and still the Church of His grace abides. Other kingdoms have perished, mowed down by the resistless scythe of time–Babylon, Media, Macedonia, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Greece, Rome–each swept away almost as though it had never flourished, while the Church founded on the rock by the humble Nazarene lives and grown And the Church of the future will be more glorious than the Church of the past. Let us believe and know that Christianity is advancing all the time; that, though mens hearts may fail them through fear, the Church goes on in God-guided and irresistible movements. To this happy conclusion of Mr. Gladstones must come every intelligent student of history. The world grows bettor from century to century, because God reigns supreme from generation to generation. The golden age of the Church is not in the yesterday of the past, nor in the to-day of the present, but in the to-morrow of the future.
I. In the first place, what will be the attitude of the Church of the future in relation to the PUBLIC WORSHIP? With all confidence may we not say that the Church, come what may, will never cease to worship? The worshipful impulse is as deep as it is universal, as pervasive as it is prevalent. Worshipfulness is a differentiating characteristic of the rightly-constituted soul. And this instinctive worshipful impulse will be more intelligently educated and more reverently developed in the future days of Christianitys evolution. With the developing years shall come to the Church of God clearer visions and broader outlooks, and a deepened sense of righteousness, with profounder awe in the presence of spiritual realities; and along with this there cannot fail to be developed a more noble, God-pleasing, eternity-piercing worship in the hearts of Gods children.
II. In the second place, what will be the attitude of the Church of the future in relation to the BIBLE as the final and authoritative revelation of Gods will and way to men? Of all the books that fill our libraries and thrill our hearts this is the most wonderful. It is the fullest and richest thesaurus of Divine wisdom and human knowledge. All books, it has been said, are of two classes–books made from other books, and books from which other books are made–and to the latter class, in a pre-eminent degree, belongs this Word of God. And it seems to the truest and most intelligent supporters of the old Book that things are shaping themselves to-day, as never before, for unlimited victories for the Word of God. Certain facts and conditions there are which appear a sure prelude to a superb Biblical renaissance; the publication and distribution of the revised Scriptures, the profound delving and exhaustive research o| historical critics, the patient investigation of modern science; the recent discovery and explorations of ancient cities by faithful archaeologists, and, along with all this, the growing intelligence of the modern Christian Church, which is rejecting, as never before, man-made creeds and formulas. Fear not the controversies now raging about the Bible. The ages of theological agitation and discussion have always been the ages of progress and promise. Better the agitations of the days of Augustine and Athanasius and Luther than the tranquility of the Middle Ages.
III. In the third place, what will be the attitude of the Church of the future in relation to JESUS CHRIST, as Gods Son and mans Saviour? Here we confront the great problem of Christianity to-day, than which no greater can ever arise–the Lord of Glory; His Miraculous Incarnation, His Spotless Character, His Transcendent Teaching, His Majestic Deeds, His Sacrificial Death, His Glorious Resurrection, His Radiant Ascension, His Position at the Right Hand of the Majesty on High, and His Abiding Presence in human life and history. A truer and more pregnant sentence the great Christlieb never uttered than when he wrote that Christ is Christiania, as Plato was never Platonism, and Mohammed never Mohammedanism, and Buddha never Buddhism. We often speak of Christianitys unparalleled power, and yet let us remember that, since the stream cannot rise higher than its source, Jesus Christ is the Living Personal Force because of whom all ages and races have been agitated and convulsed. Recall the splendid words of Dr. Wace, in his notable controversy with Huxley: The strength of the Christian Church is not in its creed, but in its Christ. They see Him there; they hear His voice; they listen and they believe in Him. It is not so much that they accept certain doctrines taught by Him as that they accept Himself, their Lord and their God. It is with this living personal force that Agnosticism has to deal; and as long as the Gospels present Him to human hearts, so long will the Christian faith and the Christian Church, in their main characteristics, be vital and permanent forces in the Christian world. Here is and ever shall be Christianitys glory, the Son of God and the Son of Mary–the Christ who on earth matched every sermon with a service and every doctrine with a doing; the Christ who in Heaven is enthroned amid native scenes and clothed with Divine anthority, recognised more and more in the Church and world as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And this Exalted Christ, let us never forget, is the once Crucified Christ. More in the Church of the future, if possible, than in the Church of the past will the Cross be emphasised and glorified. The richest theme of the Churchs future will be God in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Much of the preaching in our day, even in Evangelical pulpits, is struck to a lower key.
IV. In the fourth place, what will be the attitude of the Church of the future to the problem SOCIOLOGICAL? A most practical and important question this, also peculiarly suited to our day and generation. Ours is preeminently an age of practical benevolence and utilitarian tendencies. We are unlike all of our predecessors. The Roman craved the display of wondrous power and imperial sway. The Greek delighted to lose himself in the abstruse labyrinth of metaphysics. The Hebrew made it part of his religion to bow down before hoary rites and flaming sacrifice. We live in a stern age of fact; an age in which, as a scholarly master of Sociology has well said, Society is coming to itself and emphasising Sociology, Social ethics, Social politics; an age in which religion means the salvation of the soul, but also, as it meant with Jesus, the feeding of the hungry, the clothing of the naked, the healing of the sick, and relief, comfort, and help for the whole being. With the deeper life and broader outlook which the coming century will bring to the children of God there will be felt, with a new power, the truth that there is nothing secular which religion cannot both touch and glorify; that God never meant His saints to have one Gospel for Sunday and another for Monday, one religion for the Church and another for the world, one conscience for Caesar and another for Jehovah, that goodness is not a little island here and there in the great ocean of life, but rather the all-permeating salt that fills every part of the bright, broad sea.
V. In the fifth place, what will be the attitude of the Church of the future in relation to CHRISTIAN UNITY? To this interesting question it may be answered that there never was among Gods people, as to-day, such an unity of spirit in the bonds of peace. But the Church may never, should never, become organically one. Men differ too widely in birth and education for this ever to be accomplished. The universal law of God in grace, as in Nature, is unity in diversity. And yet, with absolute fidelity to the great fundamental truths of the Gospel, we shall more and more realise the prayer of the Master, that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee; not one in organic union, but one in heart and purpose, in will and work.
VI. In the sixth place, what will be the attitude of the Church of the future in relation to WORLD–WIDE EVANGELISATION? The spirit of missions, which is the Spirit of Christ, is recognised and actualised to-day as perhaps never before. The history of the sacred, self-sacrificing anointing of nineteen hundred years ago repeats itself from time to time. One hundred years ago the Church drew out of its hiding-place, where for centuries it had lain in almost absolute inutility, the glorious commission of its Lord. And to-day everywhere in Christian lands the orders of our Lord are being obeyed and appreciated with something of their far-reaching meaning and transcendent glory. To-day the Bible is within reach of 500,000,000 of the human race, and many things in connection with the missionary cause–the Word of God, the history of the past, the condition of the present, the promises of the future–appear to be hastening that one Divine, far-off event to which the whole creation moves, the conquest of the world by the King of Glory and the Prince of Peace! (K. B. Tupper, D.D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 27. The kingdom and dominion] The people of the saints of the Most High, or the people who are the supereminent saints, shall have the kingdom. Whatever name they may be distinguished by among men, these are the people, and theirs is the Church, that no lapse of time shall injure, and no power be able to destroy; but shall last as long as time shall endure.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
27. greatness of the kingdom under .. . whole heavenThe power, which those several kingdoms hadpossessed, shall all be conferred on Messiah’s kingdom. “Under .. . heaven” shows it is a kingdom on earth, not inheaven.
people of . . . saints of . .. Most High“the people of the saints,” or “holyones” (Da 8:24, Margin):the Jews, the people to whom the saints stand in a peculiar relation.The saints are gathered out of Jews and Gentiles, but the stock ofthe Church is Jewish (Rom 9:24;Rom 11:24); God’s faithfulness tothis election Church is thus virtually faithfulness to Israel, and apledge of their future national blessing. Christ confirms this fact,while withholding the date (Act 1:6;Act 1:7).
everlasting kingdomIfeverlasting, how can the kingdom here refer to the millennialone? Answer: Daniel saw the whole time of future blessedness as oneperiod. The clearer light of the New Testament distinguishes, inthe whole period, the millennium and the time of the new heaven andnew earth (compare Rev 20:4;Rev 21:1; Rev 22:5).Christ’s kingdom is “everlasting.” Not even the lastjudgment shall end it, but only give it a more glorious appearance,the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, with the throneof God and the Lamb in it (compare Rev 5:9;Rev 5:10; Rev 11:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High,…. Not only the dominion that shall be taken away from the little horn or antichrist, and from all the antichristian states, but the dominion of all others throughout all the earth, and under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of God, and the true professors of faith in Christ. The kingdoms of this world will become Christ’s, and Christian princes will be kings of them everywhere; and not only the royal power and authority will be vested with them, but all the grandeur and state belonging to them will be theirs; as well as all the saints in general shall reign in a spiritual manner with Christ, enjoying all ordinances, and all religious liberties, as well as civil, and be free from all persecutions.
Whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him; the people of the saints of the most High, all shall be subject to them, all dominions, and the governors of them; or Christ the head of them, under and with whom they reign. So Saadiah s paraphrases it,
“the kingdom of the King Messiah is an everlasting kingdom, and his government is to generation and generation, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”
This spiritual reign of Christ, which will take place in a more glorious manner at the destruction of antichrist, will continue until the Millennium, or the personal reign of Christ, begins; and after that will be the ultimate glory, in which Christ and his people will reign to all eternity.
s And R. Isaac in Chizzuk Emunah, par. 1. p. 44. applies it to the Messiah.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
This verse assures us how these predictions concerning the destruction of the beast regard the Church’s safety. Thus the faithful might know themselves noticed by God, and how the changes which successively happened tended to the same end, the acknowledgment on the part of the pious of their continuance under the care and guardianship of God. For any discussion of the four monarchies would have been cold and useless: unless there had been added God’s peculiar care of his own Church., and his conducting the affairs of the world for the safety of his people. As we have said in other places, God’s elect people are of more consequence than all the kingdoms which are conspicuous in the world. (Isa 43:3.) This, then, is the sense of the words. If we separate this verse from its context, the prophecy will still have its use. We may elicit from it how all things which seem stable in the world are yet perishable, and nothing is so firm as not to be subject every moment to constant variation. But the chief intention of this prediction is, as I have said, to show the relation of all events to the safety of the pious. When, therefore, all things seem carried away by the blind impulse of chance, we ought always to contemplate God as watching for his Church, and tempering all storms and all commotion to the service and safety of the pious, who rest upon his Providence. These two things, then, are mutually in accordance, namely, the slaying of the fourth beast, and the giving of the kingdom and authority to the people of the saints This does not seem to have been accomplished yet; and hence many, nay, almost all, except the Jews, have treated this prophecy as relating to the final day of Christ’s advent. All Christian interpreters agree in this; but, as I have shewn before, they pervert the Prophet’s intention. As to the Jews, theirs is no explanation at all, for they are not only foolish and stupid, but even crazy (35) And since their object is the adulteration of sound doctrine, God also blinds them till they become utterly in the dark, and both trifling and childish; and if I were to stop to refute their crudities, I should never come to an end.
This prophecy does not seem to be accomplished at the destruction of the beast; but this is easily explained. We know how magnificently the prophets speak of Christ’s kingdom, and adore his dignity and glory with splendid eulogies; and although these are not exaggerated, yet if judged of by human perceptions, you would surely think them exceedingly extravagant, and find neither solidity nor firmness in their words. And no wonder: for Christ’s kingdom and his dignity cannot be perceived by carnal eyes, nor even comprehended by the human intellect. Let those who appear the most sagacious of men combine together all their clear-sightedness, yet they can never ascend to the height of Christ’s kingdom, which surpasses the very heavens. Nothing is more contrary to our natural judgment than to seek life in death, riches in poverty and want, glory in shame and disgrace — to be wanderers in this world, and at the same time its heirs! Our minds cannot naturally comprehend these things. No wonder, then, if mortals judge erroneously of Christ’s kingdom, and are blind in the midst of light. Still there is no defect in the Prophet’s expressions, for they depict for us the visible image of Christ’s kingdom, and accommodate themselves to our dullness. They enable us to perceive the analogy between things earthly and visible, and that spiritual blessedness which Christ has afforded to us, and which we now possess through hope in him. For while we only hope, our happiness is concealed from us; it is not perceptible by our eyes or by any of our senses.
Let us now return to the passage. Daniel first of all says, A kingdom, and power, and extensive dominion, shall be given to the people of the holy ones. This was partially fulfilled when the Gospel emerged from persecution: then the name of Christ was everywhere celebrated and held in honor and esteem, while previously it had been the subject of the greatest envy and hatred. For nothing had been more hated and detested for many years than the name of Christ. God, therefore, then gave the kingdom to his people, when he was acknowledged as the Redeemer of the world throughout its many changes, after having been formerly despised and utterly rejected. I may here remark again, and impress upon the memory what I have frequently touched upon, namely, the custom of the Prophets, in treating of Christ’s kingdom, to extend their meaning further than its first beginnings; and they do this while they dwell upon its commencement. Thus Daniel or the angel does not predict here occurrences connected with the advent of Christ as Judge of the world, but with the first preaching and promulgation of the Gospel, and the celebration of the name of Christ. But this does not prevent him from drawing a magnificent picture of Christ’s reign, and embracing its final completion. It is sufficient for us to perceive how God begins to give the kingdom to his elect people, when, by the power of his Spirit, the doctrine of the holy Gospel was everywhere received in the world. The sudden change which it occasioned was incredible, but this is a customary result; for, when anything is predicted, we think it a fable and a dream, and when God performs what we never would have thought of, the evil, appears to us trifling, and we treat it as of no moment. For example, when the preaching of the Gospel commenced, no one would have thought its success could have been so great and so prosperous; nay, two hundred years before Christ was manifest, when religion was almost blotted out, and the Jews were execrated by the whole world, who would have thought the Law would spring from Zion? Yet God erected his scepter there. The dignity of the kingdom had vanished: the offspring of David was extinct. For the family of Jesse was but a trunk, after the simile used by the prophet Isaiah. (Isa 11:1.) If any one had asked all the Jews one after another, no one would have believed the possibility of those events which accompanied the preaching of the Gospel; but, at length the, dignity and virtue of the kingdom of David shone forth in Christ. Yet it vanishes before our eyes, and we seek new miracles, as if God had not sufficiently proved himself to have spoken by his prophets! Thus we observe how the Prophet keeps within bounds when he says, A kingdom, and a power, and a magnitude of empire was given to the people of the saints.
He adds, one empire under the whole heavens Here the Rabbi Abarbinel, who thinks himself superior to all others, rejects our idea of the spiritual reign of Christ as a foolish imagination. For the kingdom of God, he says, is established under the whole heavens, and is given to the people of the saints. If it is established under heaven, says he, it is earthly, and if earthly, therefore not spiritual. This seems in truth a very subtle argument, as if God could not reign in the world except as extraordinary mortal. As often as Scripture says “God reigns,” according to this argument God must be transfigured into human nature, otherwise there will be no kingdom of God except it is earthly, and if earthly it is temporal, and therefore perishable. Hence we must infer that God changes his nature. His kingdom, then, will consist in opulence, and military power and parade, and the common luxuries of life, so that God will become unlike himself. We perceive the puerile trifling of those Rabbis who pretend to glory in their ingenuity, to the total destruction of the whole teaching of piety. They intend nothing else than to adulterate the purity of Scripture by their foul and senseless comments. But we know the reign of God and of Christ, although existing in the world, not to be of it, (Joh 18:36😉 the meaning of the two expressions is exactly the opposite. God, therefore, still exercises his heavenly reign in the world, because he dwells in the hearts of his people by his Spirit. While God held his seat at Jerusalem, was his kingdom merely an earthly and corruptible one? By no means, for by the possession of an earthly habitation he did not cease to be in heaven also. Thus the angel instructed the Prophet concerning the saints who are pilgrims in the world, and yet shall enjoy the kingdom and possess the greatest power under heaven. Hence also we correctly conclude, that this vision ought not to be explained of the final advent of Christ, but of the intermediate state of the Church. The saints began to reign under heaven, when Christ ushered in his kingdom by the promulgation of his Gospel.
Another point must be noticed, — what belongs to the head is transferred to the body. There is nothing new in this, as the supreme power is constantly promised by the Prophets to the Church, especially by Isaiah, who often predicts its complete supremacy. The Papists seize upon such testimonies to clothe themselves in the spoils of God, as if God had resigned his right to them! But they are immersed in the same error with the Jews, who swell with pride whenever such dignity is promised to the elect people, as if they could remain separate from God and yet obtain the right of treading the whole world under foot. The Papists also do exactly the same. We, however, must be guided by a very different rule, namely, in consequence of the intimate union between Christ and his Church, the peculiar a. tribute of Christ himself is often transferred to his body. Not that the Church reigns by itself; but Christ, as its only supreme head, obtains dominion therein, and not for his own private advantage — for what need has he of this dominion? but for the common safety of all its members. Wherefore Christ is our King, and he designs to erect his throne in the midst; of us; he uses nothing for his own advantage, but communicates all things to us, and renders them useful to us; hence, we are deservedly called kings, because he reigns, and as I have already said, language which is exclusively appropriate to him, is transferred to us in consequence of the intimate communion existing between the head and the members.
This is also the sense of the phrase here added by the Prophet, All powers shall serve and obey it I have no doubt the angel here confirmed Isaiah’s prophecy, as the Holy Spirit, the better to confirm and strengthen the faith of the pious, often reconciles one Prophet with another, and thus their mutual agreement becomes the seal of their truth. It is said in Isaiah, The kingdom and the land which will not serve thee, shall. be destroyed: kings shall come and adore thee, the people shall offer thee gifts. (Isa 60:12.) In the Psalms, it is said,
“
Kings shall assemble together, to serve God.” (Psa 102:22.)
And Isaiah treats very fully on the empire of the Church. The angel now repeats the same thing, to add, as I have said, greater confidence and authority to the prophecy of Isaiah. Meanwhile, we observe how completely all the Prophets agree, and at the same time we interpret these words of the kingdom of Christ, from the period at which the teaching of the gospel was rendered remarkably conspicuous; for then God’s royal scepter went forth from Jerusalem, and shone far and wide, while the Lord was extending his hand and his authority over all the regions of the world. As all these important events tended to the common salvation of the Church, it is said, The kingdom shall belong to the holy people. As to the phrase, The saints of the high ones, I have already explained why the Prophet applies this phrase to the faithful, and why the angel also does the same; namely, because God separated them from the world, and they were always looking upwards and drawing all their hopes from above. Then, as to the Rabbi whom I cited, he twists this. passage, and tries to show that the Prophet did not speak of Christ, when he says he saw the figure of the Son of man. But this is complete trifling, for he asserts the Son of man to mean “the people of the saints,” and thus the phrase would have no reference to Christ, but to the whole offspring of Abraham. We must not be surprised at the shameful ignorance of these Rabbis, and at their blundering at the very rudiments, since they do not acknowledge the necessity for a Mediator, through whom alone the Church can obtain any favor before God. They boast in what we also allow — in the sons of Abraham being the elect, and in this title as availing to render them a holy people, and heirs of God, and a kingdom of priests. This is true, but on what was their covenant of adoption founded but on Christ? Hence their separating the Church from the Mediator, is like leaving a mutilated body apart from its disjoined head. Besides, from what the Prophet stated before about the Son of man, his subject is evidently changed in this verse. He stated there, power was given to the Son of man after he had arrived at the Ancient of days, and the Son of man, or at least his likeness, appeared in the clouds. First of all, we must notice this likeness, as it were the Son of man, as we have already explained the vision. Surely Abraham’s posterity were really men, but the vision offered to the Prophet was but a similitude; as Christ had not yet put on our flesh, this was only a prelude to his future manifestation in the flesh. Here he speaks openly and without a figure of the people of the saints, and this prophecy depends upon the former one. For unless Christ were seated at His Father’s right hand, and had obtained supreme dominion, causing every knee to bend before him, the Church could never exercise its power. Thus we observe how all things mutually agree among each other.
As, however, it is certain that many have perseveringly rebelled against; God and the teaching of his gospel, it may seem absurd for the angel to pronounce all the powers of the world obedient and submissive. But it is worth while to study the customary methods of scriptural expression. For instance, by the phrase “all people,” the Spirit does not mean every single person, but simply some out of every nation who should submit to Christ’s yoke, acknowledge him to be king, and obediently obey his Church. How often do these sentiments occur in the prophets? All nations shall come — all kings; shall serve. At that time no king existed who was not professedly an enemy of true piety, and who did not desire the abolition of the very name of his law. The prophets enlarge thus magnificently on the future restoration of this kingdom, as we have stated before, in consequence of the event being so utterly incredible. So, also, in this place all powers, says he, shall serve and obey him; that is:, no power shall so boast in its loftiness, as not willingly to become subject to the Church, although at present all so fully despise it: nay, while they rage with all their might, against the most wretched Church, and while they tread it most ignominiously under foot, even then they shall be subject to it. This we know to have been amply fulfilled. Some persons foolishly press beyond their meaning words of universal import, as when Paul says, God wishes all to be saved. Hence, they say, no one is predetermined for destruction, but all are elect, that is, God is not God. (1Ti 2:4.) But we are not surprised at such madness as this, corrupting the impious and profane, who desire by their cavils to promote disbelief in all the oracles of the Spirit. Let us clearly comprehend the frequency of this figure of speech; when the Holy Spirit names “all,” he means some out of all nations, and not every one universally.
(35) Calvin’s expression is here proverbial; the French translates ils n ’ en approachent ne pres ne loin ; the Latin being, neque coelum neque terram attingunt . — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
HOMILETICS
SECT. XXVII.THE KINGDOM OF THE SAINTS OF THE MOST HIGH (Chap. Dan. 7:18; Dan. 7:22; Dan. 7:27)
The saints shall take the kingdom. A striking feature in the kingdom predicted in this vision of Daniel is that, while it is distinctly said to be given to the Son of Man, it is just as distinctly said, and that twice over, to be given to the saints, or to the people of the saints of the Most High, and that the saints take the kingdom. Although this circumstance has been slightly referred to under the preceding section, in connection with the administration of the kingdom of the Son of Man, yet from the prominence given to it and its threefold repetition in the vision it demands a separate consideration. We noticethe saints to whom the kingdom is given; the kingdom itself; the sense in which it is given to the saints; the suitableness of the appointment; and the beneficial results.
I. The saints [211]. Saints denote holy or sanctified persons. The term is applicable both to angels and men. Here it is the latter. Holy means separated from sin, and separated to God and His service. The former may be called the moral, the latter the official meaning of the term. Whatever is set apart to God and His service or use may be called holy in the official sense. Men thus set apart are or ought to be holy also in the moral sense, holy in heart and life, or separate from sin. This is the sense in the text; hence they are called saints of the Most High, such as are both separated to His service, belonging to Him as His own, made saints by Himself, and approved by Him as such. This far removed from the profane caricature of Papal canonisation. Men are made saints by the mighty power of divine grace, renewing them in the spirit of their mind, making them spiritually alive from being dead in trespasses and sins, and rendering them new creatures, or a new creation in Christ Jesus. This is especially the work assigned to the Holy Ghost, and such are said to be born of the Spirit. Baptism with water is the sign, but not the instrument of it. Cornelius, and thousands more, were born again of the Spirit before they were baptized; while Simon the sorcerer, like millions more, though baptized with water, was never born again at all. The instrument in the new birth, in the case of any beyond infancy, is the Word of truth. Being born again, says Peter, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, that liveth and abideth for ever. Of His own will, says James, begat He us by the Word of truth. It is by the same instrument that the work of holiness or sanctification is carried on in the saints afterwards. Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth. Now ye are clean through the Word that I have spoken unto you. That He might sanctify and cleanse it (the Church) with the washing of water by the Word (Joh. 17:17; Joh. 15:3; Eph. 5:26). This renewing and sanctifying of the soul by the Holy Ghost is effected in union with Christ, as members of His body and branches in Him as the true Vine,sanctified in Christ Jesus. The work is carried on here in the body of flesh, but is only perfected when the body is either put off at death or changed at the Lords coming. Hence the spirits of just men made perfect. Men may be truly saints here, but only perfected saints hereafter. This saintship or sanctified condition is peculiar to no nation or class. There is, however, also a federal or covenant holiness which may belong to a nation or class, and which, like official holiness, may exist without holiness in heart and life. Thus the Jews were a holy, because a covenant people, chosen by the Lord as a people for Himself. Thus baptized Christians and the children of such are federally holy, as taken outwardly into the Christian covenant, and professedly given up to God in baptism, though, alas! too often, like the Jews, far away from moral and personal holiness. The saints of the Most High are not merely federally and officially, but morally and personally holy; holy as God is holy, and pure as God is pure, partakers of the divine character, and possessing the same holiness in kind though not in degree. In the Old Testament such were chiefly found among the Jews, to whom pertained the adoption and the giving of the law, as well as the covenants and the promises. In the New Testament they are found both among Jews and Gentiles of every nation, people, and tongue. It is of such that the kingdom of the Son of Man, identical with the kingdom given to the saints, consists. Hence the commission: Go ye and teach (disciple) all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. While He is King of the Jews, He is also Lord of all. There appears, therefore, no reason for limiting the term in the text, especially as the vision has obviously its fulfilment, not in Old, but in New Testament times. A more difficult question perhaps might be, Are they the glorified saints, or saints still in the body, or both? [212] If the giving of the kingdom to the saints is to be understood in the sense of reward, as in that sense it is given to the Son of Man, then it would seem that the saints here indicated are those who, like Paul, have fought the good fight, have finished their course, and have kept the faith, and so have now received the crown of righteousness from the hand of the righteous Judge at His appearing. On this supposition they are those who have overcome, and so have received power from Christ over the nations to rule them, and have been made to sit down with Him on His throne. It would be the fulfilment of the promise, Ye are they that have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a kingdom, even as my Father hath appointed unto me (Luk. 22:28-29). Other parallel passages would be Rev. 5:9-10; Rev. 17:18; Rev. 20:4. In this case, the saints would be those who should be raised from the dead at the Lords appearing, according to 1Co. 15:23, and 1Th. 4:16, together with those who should be alive at His coming (1Co. 15:51-52; 1Th. 4:17). However, even in respect to the saints then still in the body, and constituting the renewed subjects of the millennial kingdom in general, with converted Israel in particular, it would still be true that the saints take the kingdom, all civil government being then exercised by the holy persons in subordination to Christ and His glorified Bride.
[211] Saints. According to Keil, these are neither the Jews, who are accustomed to call themselves saints, in contrast with the heathen (as V. Lengerke, Maurer, Hitzig, &c., think), nor the converted Israel of the millennium (as Hofmann and others believe); but, as we argue from Exo. 19:6; Deu. 7:6, the true members of the covenant nation, the New Testament Israel of God, i.e., the congregation of the new covenant, consisting of Israel and the faithful of all nations. Auberlen, like Hofmann, understands the Jews still on earth to be the saints meant in this vision of Daniel. By the people of the saints of the Most High, to whom dominion is given, Daniel evidently could only understand the people of Israel, as distinguished from the heathen nations and kingdoms, which were to rule till then. In this point Roos, Preiswerk, Hofmann, agree with Hitzig, Bertholdt, and others. The prophets words refer to the re-establishment of the kingdom of Israel, concerning which the disciples asked immediately before the ascension. colampadius and others understood the faithful reigning with Christ in the celestial kingdom. Willet, however, justly observes that the kingdom is not said to be in heaven, but under heaven, and therefore on earth. Some, as Pellican and Bullinger, thought the Church of Christ is indicated, commencing while the other monarchies were still standing, and propagated over all the world in the time of the fourth beast or Roman Empire. Willet thinks the kingdom is the spiritual dominion of the Church, commencing when the other monarchies are extinguished; beginning in this world, but perfected at the Lords second Advent, the saints reigning in grace here and in glory hereafter.
[212] Among the saints who are called to reign with Christ, says Auberlen on Rev. 20:4, the martyrs of ancient and modern times are mentioned first; they become most like to the Lord Jesus in their suffering and death, and are therefore nearest Him in His life and reign. And the Saviour teaches expressly that at His second coming as King of the kingdom, He shall place one servant over ten cities and another over five, according to the measure of faithfulness they showed during His absence (Luk. 19:11). Next to the martyrs are mentioned all who had not worshipped the beast, be it in more remote times or in the last days, which are referred to by the image and the mark upon their forehead, as will appear from a comparison with Rev. 13:14-17. Worshippers of the beast are all they that take the powers of this world as a reality and serve it, instead of looking to things invisible and future (2Co. 4:17). Hence our passage refers to the whole congregation of believers who are born of God, to Gods Church gathered out of Israel and the Gentiles (Rom. 8:17). Immediately connected with the resurrection of the dead is the transfiguration of those who will be then living on the earth; and the living thus changed, freed from the weight of the earthly and corruptible, and transported into the essential liberty of spirit, can now, even as the transfigured Saviour ascended up on high, be caught up into the clouds to meet the returning Lord in the air (1Th. 4:17). The New Testament tells us that instead of the devil, the transfigured Church of Christ shall rule the world; while the Old Testament informs us that instead of the heathen beast, the holy people of Israel shall do so. Both agree in what is of central importance, that it is Christ, the Son of Man, who now rules humanity by His transfigured Church in heaven and by His people Israel on earth. Calvin observes that in consequence of the intimate union between Christ and His Church, what belongs to the Head is transferred to the body; that the supreme power is constantly promised by the prophets to the Church, especially by Jesus Christ, who often predicts its complete supremacy; and that while the Church reigns by itself, Christ, its only supreme Head, obtains dominion therein.
II. The kingdom itself. This appears to be the same as that of which the interpreting angel had already spoken as the kingdom given by the Ancient of Days to the Son of Manthe kingdom of which Christ is the Head and King, and which was to take the place of the kingdoms of this world, or of the four monarchies, which shall have disappeared as the chaff of the summer threshing-floor (chap. 2) The same dominion, rule, and kingdom that is given to Christ is given to the saints as Christs members, who are to reign and be glorified with Him, and to sit with Him on His throne; to whom He Himself was to give authority over the nations, to rule them along with Him, and whom He was to appoint a kingdom as His Father had appointed to Himself. The kingdom is given by the Ancient of Days to Christ, and by Christ is given to His Church or Bride, to possess it along with Him, and be associated with Him in its government. The kingdom is heavenly in its origin and character, but has its place not in heaven but on earth, over and among the nations and peoples inhabiting it. While having its earthly visible and material side, like its predecessors, it will be spiritual and holy in its character, consisting not in meats and drinks, but in righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost; the kingdom that has been so long prayed for, when Gods will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven. From heaven, wherever that may be, the saints will rule the earth with Christ, while the saints on earth shall rule subordinately with them. The kingdom of the world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, or His anointed members (Rev. 11:15, R.V.)
III. The sense in which the saints shall take the kingdom. This appears to be the same as that in which Christ Himself takes it. The angel indicates no difference; only that Christ receives it directly from the Ancient of Days, which the saints are not said to do, they receiving it mediately from or virtually in Christ, whose members and whose Bride they are, forming with Him one body and one Christ (Rev. 11:15; 1Co. 12:12). Christ the Head receives the kingdom from the Father as His reward for the accomplishment of His mediatorial work given Him by the Father to do as His Righteous Servant (Php. 2:6-10). His members receive it also as a reward from Christ, whose servants they were, and to whom they were enabled to be faithful even unto death. If any man will serve me, let him follow me; and where I am there shall also my servant be. If any man serve me, him will my Father honour. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations. Ye are they which have continued with me in my temptations; and I appoint unto you a kingdom, even as my Father hath appointed me (Joh. 12:26; Rev. 2:10; Rev. 3:21; Luk. 22:28-29). The saints take the kingdom as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. One with Christ, they share with Him in His glory and reign, as they shared with Him before in His humiliation and suffering. They possess the kingdom, and exercise kingly rule and authority with and under Him, as the priest-kings whom He made such by His grace after redeeming them by His blood (Rev. 1:5-6; Rev. 5:9-10). With the members as with the Head, it is first humiliation and then glory: Out of prison he cometh to reign (Ecc. 4:13). They take the kingdom, not as the kings of the world, as a matter of earthly ambition, or through carnal relationship, or by skilful management, intrigue, and violence, or as conquerors with garments rolled in blood. They take it as a gift of grace from their loving Husband and King, whom it was given them by the same grace lovingly to follow and obey even unto death. They take and possess the kingdom, not for the gratification of personal ambition, or selfish desires, or carnal pleasures, from which, as saints, they are for ever separated; but for the glory of Him who created all things for Himself, and of His Son who redeemed them by His blood, as well as for the happiness of a regenerated world and wide-extended universe. For the same high and holy ends will the saints then still in the flesh, and Israel more especially, exercise in a subordinate capacity the rule which the King Himself in His wisdom shall assign to them. [213]
[213] Take the kingdom. Calvin refers the taking of the kingdom by the saints to the time when, after the promulgation of the Gospel, the kingdom of God and of the saints obtained some fame and celebrity in the world. In another place, however, he remarks that the slaying of the fourth beast and the giving the kingdom and authority to the people of the saints does not seem to have taken place yet; whence all Christian interpreters agree in treating this prophecy as relating to the final day of Christs Advent He himself thinks the saints began to reign under the whole heaven when Christ ushered in His kingdom by the promulgation of it; and that though Daniel does not here predict occurrences connected with the Advent of Christ as Judge of the World, but with the first preaching of the Gospel, yet he notwithstanding draws a magnificent picture of Christs reign, embracing its final completion. The taking of the kingdom was in like manner interpreted by the early Fathers as referring to the general spread of Christianity after the first Advent of Christ. So Dr. Lee and Professor Bush.
IV. The suitableness of the appointment. There is something suitable in the thrice-repeated declaration that the saints of the Most High, or truly holy persons, shall take the kingdom. In the preceding empires, and ever since Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord, began to be a mighty one on the earth, the vilest of men have often been exalted to kingly power, and, as a consequence, the wicked have walked on every side (Psa. 12:8). For wise and holy reasons, God, in His mysterious providence, often sets over kingdoms the basest of men, when, as a natural result, the land is filled with misery and crime (Dan. 4:17). Selfish and godless rulers have constituted a part of the present state of earthly things. Natural, so long as the whole world lieth in the evil one (1Jn. 5:19, R.V.) Evil rulers a part of the evil entailed by the Fall, and often the chastisement of the sins of the people. What the world wants and longs for, but seldom obtains, is wise, upright, disinterested rulers, ruling in the fear of God and for the best interests of their subjects. Such is the state of things predicted in the text. Something suitable and becoming when holy men, separated from sin and selfishness, bearing the image and character of the God whose name and nature is love, and who is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works, shall take, and, by divine gift, possess the kingdom. Such have learned to rule by being first taught how to obey, and have been trained to reign with Christ hereafter by suffering with Him here. Such fitted to rule by imbibing the spirit and walking in the steps of Him who was meek and lowly in heart, and who pleased not Himself, but went about doing good. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth (Mat. 5:3; Mat. 5:5).
V. Its beneficial results. The happiness of subjects greatly bound up with the character and government of their rulers. The king by judgment establisheth the land. When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked bear rule, the people mourn (Pro. 29:2; Pro. 29:4). Seen in a measure in the rule of David, as compared with that of many who succeeded him. Limited examples also in our own Alfred, and in her who now sits upon his throne. The best of rulers, however, in the present state of things, able only to produce partial results, both from their own imperfect spiritual condition and that of their ministers and coadjutors in the government, their short continuance in power, the evil state of things already existing, and the hostile influences, visible and invisible, which oppose them. From these impediments the reign of the saints of the Most High in the millennial kingdom of the Son of Man will be greatly exempt, so that their rule will be naturally one of the highest beneficence, and attended with the happiest results to humanity [214]. The state of things in the world, under a government in which a King (Messiah) shall reign in righteousness, and princes (the saints associated with Him) shall rule in judgment, represented by the prophets under such imagery as the following: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass; as showers that water the earth. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon; and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth (Isa. 11:6-9; Isa. 65:25; Psa. 72:6; Psa. 72:16). Without any figure, Then shall the earth yield her increase, and God, even our own God, shall bless us. God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him (Psa. 67:6-7). The subject suggests
[214] Not only, says Auberlen, does the evil spiritual influence which the prince of this world exerted on humanity in the preceding ages cease, but, in place of it, the transfigured Church of God obtain a most blessed dominion over the world. Christianity will pervade the world and all relations of life in spirit and in truth. It is upon this present earth that it must be shown and proved that the devil, who pretended to be its rightful lord, was only a usurper; man, who was created to have dominion over the earth, is to rejoice over his world with full, unmixed, holy joy. Every legitimate and true ideal will then become a reality.
1. Cause of rejoicing in the prospect presented by the text. It was as a ground of comfort and a matter of rejoicing that it was three times announced to Daniel that the saints should take and possess the kingdom. It was intimated as good tidings not only for the saints themselves, who, instead of being given into the hands of oppressors and persecutors, despised and down-trodden, and often counted as sheep for the slaughter, should have the rule and government of the nations committed to them, but for the world who should reap the benefit of such a state of things. Whether it be the saints that have finished their course of suffering and service on earth, and now are glorified according to the promise, or whether it be the saints still living in the flesh, be it Jews or Gentiles, or both, it is for every lover of his kind to rejoice that a day is coming when truly holy persons, and only such, shall hold the reins of government, and administer a righteous and beneficent rule over the nations, in loyal and loving subordination and obedience to the Prince of Peace. That saints, renewed and sanctified in Christ, transformed into His image, and breathing His spirit of meekness, humility, and love, and at the same time guided by a wisdom that is from above, pure, peaceable, and gentle, full of mercy and of good fruits, instead of the wisdom that is earthly, sensual, and devilishthat such shall be the only rulers that the earth shall know, and that their rule shall be at the same time the rule of the Son of Man, with all power in heaven and earth, is surely a consummation devoutly to be wished, and a prospect greatly to be rejoiced in.
2. The blessed consequence of a faithful adherence to the Saviour. The saints shall take the kingdom. Believers are made kings and priests already. They are princes even now, but in disguise. They travel to their inheritance incognito. It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we do know that a crown of glory awaits every faithful follower of Jesus, however poor his condition may be now. If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with Him. Suffering with Him now, we shall be also glorified with Him hereafter. When He who is our life shall be manifested, we shall also with Him be manifested in glory (Col. 3:4, R.V.) The humblest follower of Jesus, faithful unto death, shall receive a crown of life, and shall sit down with Christ in His throne, sharing with Him in His kingly glory, and in the government of a renewed world. They shall reign with Christ. The saints shall judge the world. Know ye not that we shall judge angels? (1Co. 6:2-3). It matters not how the saints shall reign or exercise the kingly authority that shall be committed to them. What we know not now we shall know hereafter. Enough that the thing is true. If we suffer with Him, we shall reign with Him. Let this be our comfort under the burden and heat of the day, and let it animate us to use unfaltering perseverance in a cause of faithful self-denying service, till the Master shall please to call us from the field.
3. The character of the future blessedness of the saints. They shall possess the kingdom. They shall thus have noble work to do, honourable and dignified service to employ them. His servants shall still serve Him, and they shall serve Him in the highest form of service. They shall find abundant scope for the sanctified faculties which they shall possess, and have ample field for the exercise of the Christ-like disposition which shall animate them. Renewed in the image of the universal Ruler, they shall have the employment restored to them which was originally bestowed upon man at his creation, but was lost through the Fall. Their blessedness will not be mere rest, but rest from trouble, sin, and bondage, with a holy and happy employment which shall become their position as sons of God and brethren of the King of kings, and in which they shall with Him still contribute to the glory of the Creator and the happiness of His creatures. They will thus not only be made to resemble their Lord and Husband, but be kept in closest sympathy and fellowship with Him, as sharing in the government that shall be upon His shoulders. What was their chief happiness on earth will thus be perfected in glory. Their kingly and princely office they will also be enabled to discharge without fatigue, and without the grief of being continually opposed and thwarted in their benevolent endeavours by the wily and watchful enmity of him who was the great adversary of God and man, but who shall then be under a divine restraint, so as no more to deceive the nations (Rev. 20:4).
4. The privilege of believers to be employed now in a way that shall be both an anticipation of their future blessedness and their preparation for it. This is that of seeking, according to our gifts and opportunities, to promote the objects aimed at by Christ Himself and the saints that shall reign with Him over the earththe glory of the Creator and the happiness of men, as experienced in His favour and service. To promote this twofold object is the work given to believers to do now, more especially by communicating the knowledge of the Saviour, and persuading men to be reconciled through Him to God. The Saviours parting commission to His Church, Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. Preach the Gospel to every creature. Shine as lights in the world, holding forth the Word of life. Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire. For this blessed though now often trying and self-denying service He has promised and bestowed abundant qualification in the gift of His Holy Spirit: Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you (Act. 1:7-8). Such employment here, in whatever way and in whatever circumstances, a blessed anticipation of and preparation for our future employment when the saints shall take the kingdom. It was the faithful servant to whom it was said, Have thou authority over ten cities. Nor will the painful trials and deep sorrow which we may be called to experience in connection with a faithful endeavour to serve Christ and our fellow-men in the present state, be the least part of our preparation for the higher service that awaits us when all tears shall be wiped away.
5. Our interest to make sure our place now among the saints who shall possess the kingdom. Regard to ones own interest makes this the first object we should be concerned to secure. The day is hastening when to have neglected this will appear the height of madness. To throw a fortune, a dukedom, a kingdom away, will one day soon appear to be reason and sense compared with the throwing away the opportunity of obtaining a place among those who shall in a few short years possess a kingdom that shall never pass away. That place is to be secured simply by a sincere and cordial acceptance of the Saviour whom God in His love has provided for a lost and guilty world, that Son of Man who came to seek and to save that which is lost. To as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. That Son of Man who shall come one day in His glory and all His saints with Him, comes now in His Gospel to each man and woman who hears it, and offers him freely Himself, and along with Himself a place among His saints who shall hereafter with Himself possess the kingdom. Reader, have you cordially accepted Him? Is He yours? Are you among His redeemed people? If not, accept Him now, and take no rest till by His grace you are enabled joyfully to say, My Lord and my God!
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(27) Comp. Dan. 7:14; Dan. 7:18.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. The saints receive “the kingdom” because their leader has received it. The description here of the kingdom of the Most High is word for word a description of the kingdom of the “one like a son of man.” (See note Dan 7:14.) Behrmann is probably right in saying that the Jews themselves did not discriminate between the ruler and the nation as we do, yet, as he shows, it would be as inconsistent to say because of this verse that the Son of man is identical with the Jewish nation as to compare Dan 2:44, with Dan 2:34, and say that the stone designated the Jewish people. Dan 7:14 speaks of a God-sent King, and this verse shows what the people gained through him. Of course the full meaning of this prophecy could not have been understood when it was written. It is a mistake to think that the best fulfillment of prophecy always lay in the mind of the prophet. He might speak of trouble near at hand, and a national deliverance soon to come; but in God’s providence the complete realization of what he saw and hoped could only come through the spiritual and Messianic kingdom and its spiritual prince. As in so many other Bible passages (compare Eze 34:27-31; Eze 37:26; Eze 39:25-29), the immediate hope broadens into the vision of a world-wide victory for God and his people.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the kingdom, and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people (who consist) of the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him.’
Compare Dan 7:18. After the persecution the blessing. Those who have been trodden down will be lifted up. They will receive the kingdom, and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, in other words supreme authority over all things. This is indeed God’s promise to His people elsewhere (Eph 2:6 with Dan 1:19-21; Rev 3:21).
‘The people (who consist) of the holy ones of the Most High.’ Thus not earthly Israel, but God’s true people, His holy ones, whoever they may be.
We note that this almost parallels what is given to the son of man in Dan 7:14 (He also receives the glory). The son of man (or ‘The Man’) there is in contrast with the wild beasts. The wild beasts are both the kings and their kingdoms, one merges into the other. They both behave like wild beasts, but the true people of God behave like true human beings made in the image of God, and through their representative, the true Man, they receive the dominion. Thus the son of man is both the people’s representative and the people themselves. But whereas He receives the dominion at His resurrection, they finally receive the dominion at His return in glory.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Dan 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
Ver. 27. And the kingdom and dominion. ] When once Christ’s foes shall be in that place which is fittest for them, viz., “under his feet.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Whose, &c. This shows that ‘elyonin (in Dan 7:18) means a person, and not a place.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Dan 7:27
Dan 7:27 And the kingdomH4437 and dominion,H7985 and the greatnessH7238 ofH1768 the kingdomH4437 underH8460 the wholeH3606 heaven,H8065 shall be givenH3052 to the peopleH5972 of the saintsH6922 of the most High,H5946 whose kingdomH4437 is an everlastingH5957 kingdom,H4437 and allH3606 dominionsH7985 shall serveH6399 and obeyH8086 him.
Dan 7:27
And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.
The saints will prevail in the end. The everlasting kingdom is the New Testament church. The church grew to encompass the earth and it can be found in almost every country of the world today. Those who will, serve and obey God who has dominion over all. This is the entire theme of the Revelation summed up in one sentence. The enemies of righteousness will be defeated and the faithful who persevere and overcome will win in the end. The righteous will triumph.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
everlasting kingdom See, 2Sa 7:16; Psa 89:35-37; Dan 4:3; Dan 7:13; Dan 7:14; Luk 1:31-33.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the kingdom and: Dan 7:14, Dan 7:18, Dan 7:22, Psa 149:5-9, Isa 49:23-26, Isa 54:3, Isa 60:11-16, Zep 3:19, Zep 3:20, Zec 14:9, Rev 20:4
whose kingdom: Dan 2:44, Dan 4:34, Psa 145:13, Isa 9:7, Luk 1:33, Joh 12:34
and all: Psa 2:6-12, Psa 22:27, Psa 72:11, Psa 86:9, Isa 60:12, Oba 1:21, Rev 11:15
dominions: or, rulers, Rev 17:14, Rev 19:16
Reciprocal: Exo 15:18 – General Num 26:53 – General Psa 72:5 – as long Isa 16:5 – in the Isa 24:23 – before his ancients gloriously Isa 26:6 – General Isa 59:19 – shall they Lam 5:19 – thy throne Dan 2:34 – a stone Dan 6:26 – and his kingdom Mic 4:1 – the mountain Mic 4:7 – and the Mal 4:3 – tread down Mat 6:10 – Thy kingdom Luk 11:2 – Thy kingdom Act 1:6 – restore 1Co 15:24 – the kingdom Eph 1:21 – principality Heb 12:28 – a kingdom 2Pe 1:11 – everlasting Rev 2:26 – to him will I give Rev 5:10 – we Rev 22:5 – and they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Dan 7:27. The language of this verse is similar to that of chapter 2: 44, and it is fitting that it should be. Each passage had to do with the perpetuity of the church or kingdom Of Christ. In the first place the teaching of that church resulted in the overthrow of the world empires, and in the second it resulted in the downfall of Babylon the Great, and in spite of a’l the tests its enemies forced upon it, the kingdom of Christ stood and ia still standing.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
7:27 And the {s} kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom [is] an everlasting kingdom, and all {t} dominions shall serve and obey him.
(s) He shows why the beast would be destroyed, that is, so that his Church might have rest and quietness, which though they do not fully enjoy here, yet they have it in hope, and by the preaching of the Gospel enjoy the beginning of it, which is meant by these words, “under the whole heaven”. And therefore he speaks here of the beginning of Christ’s kingdom in this world, which kingdom the faithful have by the participation that they have with Christ their head.
(t) That is, some of every type that rule.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The fifth kingdom, under the Son of Man’s leadership (Dan 7:14), will then commence. This fact argues for the normative dispensational interpretation, which understands the kingdom of God on earth as beginning with Christ’s second coming, rather than with His first coming (cf. Dan 2:44). The angel again stressed the role that the saints will have in this kingdom. The phrase "the people of the saints of the Holy One" (NASB) is unusual. This may indicate a particular group of the saints (believers), probably the Jews who, according to other Scripture, will be God’s focus of blessing during His earthly kingdom. However, the rendering "the saints, [namely,] the people of the Most High" (NIV) is a good translation. In this case it is the saints generally who are in view, not a special group of them. [Note: Cf. Barker, pp. 139-43.]
The Son of Man’s kingdom will be endless and worldwide. Notice that the titles "Highest One" (God the Father) and "His [the Son of Man’s]" are interchangeable, pointing to the deity of the Son of Man. This verse also clarifies that the saints are not the same as the Son of Man, "saints" being plural and "His" and "Him" singular. The kingdom is not just the rule of the saints; it is the rule of the Son of Man in which the saints participate.
"It is not difficult to see that Daniel more than almost any other author is concerned with the kingdom theme." [Note: Merrill, "Daniel as . . .," p. 225.]