Today we begin with a vision that starts here in chapter 10, and runs all the way through chapter 12:4. We are going to look at this vision in three sections: first chapter 10-11:1 then chapter 11:2-12; and finally chapter 12. The first section which we will be looking at today really is more of an introduction to the vision.
The Battle of the Ages
- Prayer
- Presence
- Power
Prayer
We have in Chapter 10:1 “In the third year of Cyrus (this would put Daniel around the age of 90), a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar).” A revelation is something revealed by God that would not have become known had God not revealed himself. And we read “the message of this revelation was true and concerned a Great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.” And here we come again to the understanding that was given to Daniel.
Throughout our study of Daniel this theme of understanding comes back again and again. And really it is a Biblical principle that we understand the times in which we are living, that we live discerning lives, that we study the scriptures, and God’s revelation, to come to a deeper understanding of who he is for his people, past, present and future. The work of the Christian is to think, to meditate, to discern the times. And to respond in prayer. Jesus tells the people of his own day that they know how to forecast the weather better than the times in which they are living.
Sometimes I am afraid that we run that danger too. We know the seven-day forecast, but as a church we just keep living our lives, without considering reality and what it is all about. This chapter contains vital insight into the nature of reality.
We must understand the events of this world from a Christian perspective. We must think Biblically, and not just let the world wash over us till we become part of it. You see this chapter is going to show us that behind all that happens in this world, is a cosmic war. Daniel was called to discern the times, work faithfully, and live expectantly, and walk courageously.
This understanding comes from God, through prayer and study of his word. When we look around us and we see the evil, the injustice, the sin, taking place around us, in the church, in our own hearts, this should be our response. Lord show us, teach us, help us to understand what is going on so that we might make sense of it all, let your word speak into our time, into our day, into our lives.
There are times of rejoicing and times of mourning. This vision caused Daniel to mourn as we read in verse 2 and three, “At that time, I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until three weeks were over.”
We know that in the third year Cyrus left his son, Cambyses, in charge, who made a law to stop the temple building. Here he shows true concern for the people. This time was supposed to be a time of rejoicing, the first month was the month of the Passover, celebrating God’s deliverance. But Daniel is in mourning. He sets himself to seeking the God of heaven, with great self-discipline and a clear vision of the needs of the kingdom.
We totally miss the point of the constant emphasis on Daniel’s wisdom and understanding if we fail to see that it led him to become a man of prayer. What he saw drove him again and again to his knees. All this knowledge did not puff him up, it only made him more fully realize how dependent Gods people really are.
O dear church we can learn so much from this. Sometimes in the church great personalities can be prized more than wisdom and understanding. Weaknesses in the church are quickly patched up with a program or committee, rather than prayer. We rarely think about our ultimate goal as the body of Jesus our Lord, because we are so focused on making ourselves visibly active. And so, we turn the church into a business with programs and all we add is busy-ness. O may the church of Jesus always know that He is sufficient, and run to him.
Presence
But about three weeks later as we read in verse 4, “On the twenty fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen.” So he is standing along the river and he looks up and he sees this “man dressed in linen with the belt of finest gold around his waist, his body is like chrysolite, his face shone like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze and his voice like the sound of a multitude.”
Here is Daniel, an old man, and he sees this man in linen with a pure gold belt, fire is shooting from his mouth, his body is like a gemstone, face like lightning, eyes like torches, arms and legs of bronze, and his voice like a multitude. Who is this? To be honest we do not know. Some say it is the preincarnate Jesus himself! It does have a lot in common with other images of Christ or God like Ezekiel 1 or Revelation 1. Others say it is one of the mighty ones in heaven, who reflect the glory of the Lord. Either way, whether this is God or a messenger from heaven he is seeing the glory or a reflection of the glory and might of God himself.
Dear Church. God is real. I shouldn’t need to say that in the church. But we forget. We think money, and importance, and fame is the stuff of reality. O how that will change the first time you encounter his glory. He exists. In the absolute sense. I know you say of course. But sometimes we live so much like he is not, that I think it is important to say that. He is for real He is awesome in power, overwhelming in glory, breathtaking in beauty, fearsome in holiness. He is infinite in all his attributes. If we as sinful man, saw him, we would perish in an instant. There would be nothing left. You need to see him in order to know who you are. This book keeps talking about Daniel’s humility. How could he be so humble – not because he tried so hard, but because he knew his God. Knowing God makes humility far more automatic. Don’t try to be humble, read your Bible and ask God to reveal himself.
Even his angels that minister before him, are beings that reflect who he is, and beings at which us mere humans who sit here, would tremble in fear like Daniel does throughout this chapter. These are not cute little creatures flying around with their wings and playing harps. They are awesome beings who serve the living God. They are beings at which sinful man is terrified every time they come into contact. Just like the people are here.
And Daniel is the only one that is allowed to see this vision. We read in verse 7, “I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.” They could not see, yet were terrified and wanted to hide. This is like the vision Paul had on the road to Damascus, where the others with him couldn’t see, knowing that they were standing in the presence of Holiness. I think it is for this reason that this is a picture of the preincarnate Christ. We have a similar picture in the NT where Jesus talks about the day of his return and on that day the unbelieving will cry for the hills and mountains to fall on him.
So there he is, left all alone, gazing at this man, He had no strength left, his face turned deathly pale, and ‘I was helpless’. This is the image of a sinner in the presence of holiness. Knowing that death awaits him. When you meet the living God it makes you weak, it makes you small, it scares sinful man to stand in the presence of perfect holiness. It is in Daniel’s weakness that he receives strength. God does not destroy him, rather he speaks to him. His word is comfort, because it is the word of Truth. A man that knows God and has seen God cannot be the same though. They begin to lose the taste of the trivial and learn to live nearer to their God.
Power
Then someone, wakes him up from the deep sleep, and tells him, “Daniel you are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” WOW! Here again we have someone from Heaven calling Daniel highly esteemed or loved. And told to consider carefully the word he is about to hear. This is the word of God, he who hears and does not consider stands condemned. But he who hears and considers finds in the words of God a deep and everlasting comfort.
So Daniel gets up and this angel continues to speak, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.” Daniel, do not be afraid. I know you are trembling. But do not fear. Not today. Not for the future. God hears you. He loves you. And since you have been reading and meditating on my word and speaking to me in prayer I have heard you. Your voice Daniel is heard in the throne room of God.
I like how he says, “since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and humble yourself before God.” This is a true characteristic of a disciple of God. This is something that he consciously did. He set his mind. Just like he turned his face to God in prayer. Just like he resolved not to eat of the king’s food in chapter one. Here is a man that knows he must not follow his instinct, and just go along with the Babylonian cultural flow, but he is deliberate in life. He is purposeful in his Christian life. Making commitments to follow the way of his God.
The angel continues “But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained by the prince of Persia.” The prince of the Persian kingdom is probably the demonic power that stands behind the political and national structure of Persia. Here Daniel is allowed to see into the heavenly archives of History. What happens behind history. The greatest battle of all.
As Abraham Kuyper once wrote, “If once the curtain [of history] were pulled back, and the spiritual world behind it came into view it would expose our spiritual vision to a spiritual struggle so intense, so convulsive, sweeping everything within its range, that the fiercest battle ever fought on earth would seem, by comparison, a mere game. Not here, but up there – that is where the real conflict is waged.”
These are not forces that are to be lightly dealt with, and at the same time not powers you are to fear. For from heavens perspective even the guardian of Israel may do battle and conquer the angel prince of mighty Persia. They are real powers, and they are really at work, in this country, in this city, trying to work against the kingdom of God. And we cannot fight it alone. As the hymn goes. Did we in our own strength confide our striving would be losing. The ultimate power struggle is taking place in a realm of which most people know nothing. The power struggle of this world is not between Washington DC and Beijing, or found in the Middle east. These world crises are reflections of a more ruthless, perpetual conflict, namely the city of God with the host of heaven and the city of darkness.
Maybe he heard about some of the events in Ezra four and so he prayed. While Cyrus and his son Cambyses opposed the reconstruction of the Jewish temple in the terrestrial sphere, spiritual warfare was being waged in the heavenlies as the angel Gabriel countered the malevolent influence of the angelic prince of Persia on the political situation on earth.
The might of the prince of Persia was so great that Michael the arch angel of the Lords armies comes in to defeat him. Notice this is the angel of the Lord. The battle was fierce, for before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ we can be sure that Satan was self-deceived and believed he could win, so he was throwing everything at him. Little did he know that God himself would one day enter the fight, and when he did it would not take more then one word to get rid of him. AS our Lord cried out that victory cry that echoes through the ages! IT IS FINISHED! Telesthai.
Daniel was caught up in this conflict. It is amazing that the LORD revealed to him that his own activity in prayer had inevitably linked him to the cosmic confrontation with far-reaching historical and spiritual effect. You see involvement in this conflict is simply not an option for Christians. It is a battle field that they have been brought to by entrance into Gods kingdom.
It is in Christ alone that victory is assured, and since that day the kingdom of God has been fighting at the gates of hell, against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
O may we put on the armor of our God in Christ and go forth! For as long as the church is lethargic it can be Satan’s playground. C.S. Lewis in the Screwtape letter shows us how this can be Satan’s tact. In one chapter he has a demon speaking to a younger demon and saying,
“Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves….I have great hopes that we shall learn in due time how to emotionalize and mythologize their science to such an extent that…belief in us, (though not under that name) will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The “Life Force”, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis, may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work – the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but… worshipping, what he vaguely calls “Forces” while denying the existence of “spirits” – then the end of the war will be in sight.”
You see when we fight against those who destroy the Bible’s authority, the militant atheism, the anti-truth relativism, autonomous individualism, we are not fighting flesh and blood! When there are governments that set themselves against God’s work, that pursue the church, that make it illegal to worship, that support persecution: we are not fighting against flesh and blood!
But the LORD OUR GOD is on our side. We do not fight in our own strength, but in the strength that he gives. Daniel confesses after seeing the veil of history opened to him that he is speechless, without power. But what happens. God opens his mouth. The man touches his lips that he may speak and gives him strength that he may stand. And says, “Shalom! Peace! Wow, in the midst of all this war, he tells Daniel PEACE! This is the child of God in the middle of the storm. Peace. When the world is raging, he is our peace.
And he tells him to be strong. What was Moses told before he led the people out? and what was Joshua told before he entered the promised land? Be strong and courageous for I am with you! God with us! They needed courage and strength, this was a cosmic fight they had involved themselves in. And now Daniel is told be strong. Be STRONG! Why? Because there is a new exodus and new entrance into the promised land that is about to happen, and these battles are leading up to it! Which is what the angel tells him in verse 20.
And this is what the book of truth is all about that we read of in verse 21. It is Gods story of his kingdom building. His plans cannot be thwarted. His will is from everlasting to everlasting! This is comfort! So, don’t look for comfort first, find the truth and you will have comfort. As one author says, “In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth -- only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair.”
So before we end let me give you four points to sum up.
- The events of this world cannot be interpreted by the books of historians alone. You need the book of truth
- Christian: You will be caught up in this Spiritual conflict, as Paul shares; the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. Let’s make this church not only a hospital for sick sinners, but a training ground for mature soldiers of Jesus Christ. Teaching, equipping, and discipling each other for this warfare.
- The vision underlines the power of prayer. Mary Queen of Scots is said to have feared the prayers of John Knox more than she feared the invading army. But please remember it is not prayer that changes thing. It is God. Daniel 10 teaches us this. And your life should match your prayer. As James says, the prayer of a righteous man is powerful in its working.
- And finally, Gods people are never alone. The hosts of heaven are fighting and ministering to Gods children, as Hebrews says, his angels are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul. AMEN