Source Text: Daniel 7:13
Target Text(s):
Source: Beale & Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker, 2007); standard Daniel commentaries on the courtroom scene
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Redemptive-Historical Progression
Anchor Text: Dan 7:13-14 — The Son of Man Receiving Dominion
Significance: This is an intra-vision link within Daniel 7 itself. Verse 9 sets the heavenly scene: "thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat," white-haired, on a throne "flaming with fire," with the court convened and the books opened (v.10). Verse 13 then introduces the second figure of the same courtroom: "One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence." The two verses must be read together — the Son of Man's enthronement (v.13-14) is unintelligible apart from the throne and Judge established in v.9-10. The connection is redemptive-historical progression within a single tableau: the divine court is seated (v.9), judgment is rendered against the beast (v.11), and dominion is transferred to the Son of Man (v.14). The juxtaposition of two thrones and two figures — the Ancient of Days and the Son of Man — became the seedbed of a "two powers in heaven" reading in Second Temple Judaism and the explicit basis of NT Christology, where Revelation 1:13-16 transfers the Ancient-of-Days' white hair (v.9) to the Son of Man Himself. The telos is the union of the two thrones in Christ: the Son of Man who approaches the Ancient of Days is Himself worthy of the Ancient of Days' own glory, so that the worship owed to God is rightly given to the enthroned Son — a sight that draws the saints to adore Him.