dc.description.abstract | The problem to be solved in this dissertation is
whether the "holy ones" under attack, as envisioned in Dan
7-12, are earthly or heavenly beings. In comparison with
other beings, the "holy ones" under attack and the thousands
of anqels are not identical, since those angels are attendants and not the object of the judgment in Dan 7. However,
the "saints of the Most High" are not attendants but are the
object of such judgment, and they received the everlasting
kingdom while the attendant thousands of angels did not.
The "saints" are distinct and separate individuals
from the "one like a Son of man " who as a divine being, is
worthy of worship. The "saints of the Most High" are not
worthy of worship. The "one like a Son of man" is not a
"mere" collective symbol of the "saints of the Most High."
Rather, as a "federal head," he represents the "saints of
the Most High" in receiving the everlasting kingdom.
Identifying qaddise ("saints," Dan 7:25) as a
genitive of genus, specifies the "saints of the Most High"
as "people" ('am), "people-saints of the Most High." The
"people-saints" can be destroyed through persecution by the
assailant in his earthly expansion attack. The "people who
know their God," especially, the "wise," shall undergo a
persecution by "sword," "flame," "captivily," and "plunder."
The end-time "people" will be oppressed at the "time of
trouble," but Michael will deliver those whose names are
written in the book of "mankind" (the living).
This study concludes that the "holy ones" under
attack are envisioned in Dan 7-12 as earthly human beings
because: (a) the "holy ones" under attack are not identical
to the heavenly beings, the thousands of angels, or the
divine "one like a Son of man," and (b) the "saints of the
Most High" are speclfied as "people" who are destructible,
and whose names are written in the book of "mankind." The
"holy ones" are the eschatological "people" of Daniel, the
"spiritual Israel" composed of Jews and Gentiles who are "in
Christ." | en_US |