Ancient of Days

 

William Blake, Ancient of Days

As I was watching,

        thrones were raised up.

    The ancient one took his seat.

        His clothes were white like snow;

        his hair was like a lamb’s wool.

        His throne was made of flame;

        its wheels were blazing fire.

Daniel 7:9, Common English Bible

The "Ancient of Days", from the visions of the book of Daniel, is one of the most famous images by the mystical poet and printmaker William Blake (1757-1827). His apocalyptic visions have been turned into song, notably the revolutionary poem, "Jerusalem", which somehow became a triumphant hymn. (A friend used to play the version from "Chariots of Fire" on loudspeakers while he mowed his lawn). But Blake was always revolutionary, and even more so was his master, and ours, Jesus. How are we to follow this one who rejected earthly titles but is 'ruler of the kings of earth' and seated at the right hand of God? Challenging questions as we anticipate the arrival of the King of Kings.

The book of Daniel and the book of Revelation reveal visions of what God is doing by telling us what they see God doing in the future. In some ways the prophecies of Daniel seem like visionary accounts of what was already happening in his time while revealing what is really going on in the deep currents of time. For example, he speaks of four kingdoms that could be the successors to Alexander the Great. Indeed it was one of these, Antiochus IV Epiphanes, r. 175 BCE-164 BCE, who was the immediate enemy of Israel at the time of the book’s composition. Nevertheless it has implications beyond that moment, for Daniel prophesies not only what is happening, or has happened, or is going to happen, but what it means. What it means is that God reigns; not Pharaoh, not Nebuchadnezzer, not Cyrus, and certainly not Antiochus IV Epiphanes. 

What then is the nature of that reign? Jesus refuses the label of comparative kingship, as if he were to be a head of state alongside the clients of Rome or its rival powers. No, his kingdom is not of this world: it is a heavenly kingdom. But what is that to us? What does it mean for us? 

It means our loyalty lies beyond the immediate present press of events; our faith is in something transcendent, someone eternal. The Ancient of Days, in fact. The one who is and was and is to come. And in the Son of Man, who is likewise the first and the last, first born of the resurrection and witness of all that is coming to pass, has come to pass, and will come to pass.

And we are in their hands, ultimately; the hands of God. 

So as the psalm says there may be a night of sorrow but it will open into a new dawn of joy.

That is something people of faith have held onto, from that day to this, when that night looks black.

And that is the sunrise into glory that we anticipate on the feast day of Christ the King.

Our God reigns. Where does he reign? Most of all, in the human heart.