The Coming of the Ancient of Days

At an unidentified time during the period of universal conflict an important council meeting is expected to be held. Latter-day Saints accept Daniel’s report of a prophetic vision of this event as an important statement of this assemblage. Said the Hebrew Prophet:

I behold till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

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I saw in the night visions, and behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and is kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

Joseph Smith and other prominent “Mormon” leaders spoke repeatedly of this event and its importance to the picture of latter-day events. In identifying the Ancient of days, the Prophet said:

Daniel in his seventh chapter speaks of the Ancient of days; he means the oldest man, our father Adam, Michael, he will call his children together and hold a council with them to prepare them for the coming of the Son of Man. He (Adam) is the father of the human family, and presides over the spirits of all men, and all that have had the keys must stand before him in this grand council. This may take place before some of us leave this stage of action. The Son of Man stands before him, and there is given him glory and dominion. Adam delivers up his stewardship to Christ, that which was delivered to him as holding the keys of the universe, but retains hi standing as head of the human family.

Joseph Smith said a great deal about Adam and the role he is held to play in the affairs of this earth. On another occasion he made the following statement:

Commencing with Adam, who was the first man, who is spoken of in Daniel as being the “Ancient of Days,” or in other words, the first and oldest of all, the great, grand progenitor of whom it is said in another place he is Michael, because he was the first and father of all, not only by progeny, but the first to hold the spiritual blessings, to whom was made known the plan of ordinances for the salvation of his posterity unto the end, and to whom Christ was first revealed, and through whom Christ has been revealed from heaven, and will continue to be revealed from henceforth. Adam holds the keys of the dispensation of the fullness of times; i.e., the dispensation of all the times have been and will be revealed through him from the beginning to Christ, and from Christ to the end of all the dispensations that are to be revealed. “having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.” (Ephesians 1st chap., 9th and 10 verses).

Now the purpose in Himself in the winding up scene of the last dispensation is that all things pertaining to that dispensation should be conducted precisely in accordance with the preceding dispensations.

And again. God purposed in Himself that there should not be an eternal fullness until every dispensation should be fulfilled and gathered together in one, and that all things whatsoever, that should be gathered together in one of those dispensations unto the same fullness and eternal glory, should be in Christ Jesus; therefore He set the ordinances to be the same forever and ever, and set Adam to watch over them, to reveal them from heaven to man, or to send angels to reveal them. “Are they not ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews, i, 14).

These angels are under the direction of Michael or Adam, who acts under the direction of the Lord. From the above quotation we learn that Paul perfectly understood the purposes of God in relation to His connection with man, and that glorious and perfect order which He established in Himself, whereby he sent forth power, revelations, and glory.

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This, then, is the nature of the Priesthood; every man holding the Presidency of his dispensation, and one man holding the Presidency of them all, even Adam; and Adam receiving his Presidency and authority from the Lord, but cannot receive a fullness until Christ shall present he Kingdom to the Father, which shall be at the end of the last dispensation.

In 1838 the Prophet pointed out that this is anticipated assembly will be held at a place known to Latter-day Saints as Adam-ondi-Ahman. Of the location of that place in the state of Missouri and how it was initially designated, Joseph Smith wrote:

This morning we struck our tents and formed a line of march, crossing Grand River at the mouth of Honey Creek and Nelson’s Ferry. Grant River is a large, beautiful, deep and rapid stream, during the high waters of Spring, and will undoubtedly admit of navigation by steamboat and other water craft. At the mouth of Honey Creek is a good landing. We pursued our course up the river, mostly through timber, for about eighteen miles, when we arrived at Colonel Lyman Wight’s home. He lives at the foot of Tower hill (a name I gave the place in consequence of the remains of an old Nephite alter or tower that stood there), where we camped for the Sabbath.

In the afternoon I went up the river about half a mile to Wight’s Ferry, accompanied by President Rigdon, and my clerk, George W. Robinson, for the purpose of selecting and laying claim to a city plat near said ferry in Daviees County, township 60, ranges 27 and 28, and sections 25, 36, 31, and 30, which the brethren called “Spring Hill,” but by the mouth of the Lord it was named Aam-ondi-Ahman, because, said He, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken by Daniel the Prophet.

Those present in the council of Adam-ondi-Ahman are expected to include all those who, in past ages of the earth’s history, have held keys of priesthood and responsibility, with many then living in mortality on the earth. Orson Pratt marvelled at the vast number Daniel reported would be present that that meeting:

How much is ten thousand times ten thousand? Only a hundred millions; but that would make quite a large congregation. All the inhabitants of the United States only number about forty millions, counting men, women and children. If they were assembled in one place, it would present a grand spectacle; but suppose we double that number, making it eighty millions, what a vast congregation that number of people would make, we can hardly grasp in our comprehension its extent; and still we will add to it another twenty millions so as to equal the size of the congregation which the Prophet Daniel saw standing before the Ancient of Days. Such a body of people must extend over a great many miles of country, however, closely they may be collected together. I doubt whether the extremes of such a congregation could be seen by the natural eyes of mortals; they would be lost in the distance.

However, Joseph Fielding Smith says that this meeting, even though it will be gigantic in its scope, will be held in secret:

When this gathering is held, the world will not know of it; the members of the Church at large will not know of it, yet it shall be preparatory to the coming of the clouds of glory of our Savior Jesus Christ as the Prophet Joseph Smith has said. The world cannot know it. The Saints cannot know it—except those who officially shall be called into this council—for it shall precede the coming of Jesus Christ as a thief in the night, unbeknown to all the world.