There was a stream of fire flowing and going out from before him. There were a thousand thousands that kept ministering to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand that kept standing right before him. The Court took its seat, and there were books that were opened. I kept on beholding at that time because of the sound of the grandiose words that the horn was speaking; I kept on beholding until the [fourth] beast was killed and its body was destroyed and it was given to the burning fire.

Daniel 7:9-12.

20. Why does “the Ancient of Days” need no books to consult?

²⁰ It is only here in this vision to Daniel that the immortal God who is without beginning is called “the Ancient of Days.” He has priority over everyone and everything else, he being their Creator. (Psalm 90:2) As the all-wise, all-righteous One who preceded all his creations, he rightly sits as the Judge of all things, our earth included. Since his days extend into the ancient past, he knows all past human history as if it were written in a book. Thus he has observed all four of those beastlike world powers in their course of action. He passes judgment upon them, not on the basis of what others testify, but according to what he knows about them directly. He does not have to consult a written record, containing accounts written by angels. In earthly human courts, lawbooks and reference books would have to be consulted. But not so with Jehovah, “the Ancient of Days.”