We are engaged in an intensive study in the book of Daniel throughout the month of January as a church family. We are nearing the conclusion of the book, looking this morning at chapter 10, and God willing tonight at chapter 11, and chapter 12 Wednesday evening. So do please take your Bibles and turn there with me – Daniel chapter 10, page 748 in the church Bibles. As we’ve seen a few times already, Daniel is a remarkable man of prayer. In chapter 6, remember, his diligence in a three-times a day prayer routine gets him thrown into the lions’ den. In chapter 9, we had an extended sample of the content of Daniel’s prayer. And now here in chapter 10, we meet Daniel persisting in fasting and in prayer on behalf of God’s cause and God’s people, although this time as we’ll see, the focus falls mainly not so much on the content of his prayers as it does on the impact of his prayers on the unseen spiritual realm. The curtain is lifted, as it were, and we discover the connection between Daniel’s prayers and the spiritual battle that has been raging in the heavenly places. Demonic powers seek to thwart the designs of God, while the forces of heaven seek to advance them.
Sometimes we struggle to pray. If we’re honest, we are sleeping in our prayers, we are distracted in our prayers, we are half-hearted and bored in our prayers. Reading through Daniel chapter 10 might provide an antidote as it reveals the intimate connection between the faithful prayers of the people of God and the spiritual battle raging all around us. It shows us that our prayers and the execution of the divine purposes for the nations, they are bound together as means and ends. I dare say, if we understood all of that better we would likely give ourselves to prayer with far greater vigor and zeal than we often do. And so the encounter that Daniel has here with heavenly beings is deeply instructive for us. Although before we look at it, it’s worth noticing that chapter 10 really is only the first part of a vision that will unfold over these three concluding chapters. Ten, 11 and 12 are really all of a piece, and I would encourage you, particularly given the challenging nature of chapter 11 and 12, I would encourage you perhaps this afternoon to read them through in one sitting for your own help just to see how they all fit together.
Well as we look at chapter 10 this morning, we are going to consider its teaching under four headings. First, we’ll consider Daniel the mourner, verses 1 through 4. That’s how he describes himself – mourning and fasting. Then, 5 through 9, Daniel’s heavenly visitor. The mourner, then the visitor. Next, 10 through 12 and again in 15 through 19, the comforter. The mourner, the visitor, the comforter. And finally, 13 and 14, 20 and 21, the warrior. Of these four, only one of them relates to Daniel. Daniel is the mourner; fasting and praying and mourning. All of the rest – the visitor, the comforter, the warrior – are the roles fulfilled by this mysterious heavenly figure who comes to Daniel in answer to his prayers. And as we will see, we should be so very grateful that he is all three – visitor, comforter and warrior.
Before we read the passage together, let’s bow our heads and ask for the Lord’s assistance. Let us all pray.
O Lord, to whom else shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. And so now we come to You, Lord Jesus, and ask You to give us understanding and grace to receive and rest upon You as You are offered to us in the Gospel, for the glory of Your own name. Amen.
Daniel chapter 10 at verse 1. This is the Word of God:
“In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision.
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris) I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.
And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, ‘O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.’ And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.’
When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, ‘O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can my lord’s servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.’
Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, ‘O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.’ And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, ‘Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.’ Then he said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.’”
Amen, and we praise God for His holy, inerrant Word.
Well let’s think about the mourner first of all. The vision that occupies the last three chapters of the book of Daniel, verse 1 tells us, came to the prophet “In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia.” That locates the vision very precisely in 536 BC, two years after Cyrus had allowed the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild the ruined city and its temple. Verse 4 adds further precision to the timing. Look at verse 4. The vision commenced on “the twenty-fourth day of the first month.” That means that as Daniel puts it in verse 2, he is mourning for three weeks throughout the period, actually the period of the Passover celebrations and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. This is the month for the Passover. That’s striking, isn’t it? Daniel, remember, had prayed earnestly in chapter 9 for the exiles to return home, and the Lord has answered that prayer. And now it is the month of the great commemoration of God’s deliverance of His people during the exodus from their bondage in Egypt. Surely, if ever there was a Passover that should have filled Daniel with joy, this was it. The God who saved His people from Egyptian bondage had done it again and brought the exiles of Babylon home.
We expect to find Daniel celebrating, but instead we have him mourning. He says, “For three weeks I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself with oil at all for the full three weeks.” Daniel is fasting. He is mourning. Later in verse 12, the heavenly visitor remarks that during this period Daniel has set himself to understand, he has humbled himself before God, and his words are heard in heaven. And so this is an extended period of intense, focused prayer and Scriptural study for Daniel. It has understanding the purposes of God as its focus.
And likely, the careful mention here of the precise timing of these events is meant to clue us into the specific, historical circumstances that have driven Daniel in his urgent quest for understanding. In all probability, word has reached him – remember, he is a government official, would have seen these reports – word has reached him that the small band of Jewish exiles now back in Judah are not doing at all well. Severe opposition has arisen to the rebuilding project, which is now ground entirely to a halt. In Ezra 4 verse 4, we read, “Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia.” It looks to Daniel like the promise of God has stalled. It looks like the enemies of the people of God were winning. The project of restoring the temple now hangs by the slenderest of threads. And so instead of celebration, Daniel throws himself into this intense season of fasting and prayer and spiritual inquiry that lasts three weeks long.
Now remember as you take that in, remember Daniel’s age. He’s well into his eighties at this point. Perhaps that’s why he hasn’t returned to the land with the other returning exiles. It would have been an arduous journey, well beyond his capacity to endure perhaps. And once he got there, there would only have been hard, manual labor waiting for the exiles, more than he could have sustained perhaps. Daniel couldn’t wield a sword to help defend them or a trowel to help them in the construction project, and so he stays behind. He has ached for the renewal of the city that he loves. For sixty-eight years in exile, he has prayed every day with his windows open toward Jerusalem. Never a day has gone by when he has not thought longingly of God’s great city. But it’s not mere homesickness that makes him mourn. Neither is it resentment that everybody else has got to go home and he is still stuck in Babylon that is grieving in his heart. No, no. Daniel mourns and fasts and prays because of a profound conviction that though he cannot help by laying the foundation slab of the temple or rebuilding the city wall or defending its ruined gates from enemies all around them, nevertheless, prayer that prevails with God can still prove mightier than armies. The returned exiles were stuck in the mud, as it were. They were making no progress, under real threat. But it’s actually Daniel’s ministry of secret intercession on their behalf that proves decisive in changing everything.
In the early days of the China Inland Mission, of the various mission stations, one seemed to outstrip all the others in the numbers and in the spiritual character and depth of the converts that had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ through the testimony of the missionaries. Nobody could quite account for it. The missionaries in the other, less fruitful stations, they were no less consecrated to the service of Christ, no less faithful in their diligent duties, no less committed to the cause of the Gospel in China, and yet this one station enjoyed remarkable fruit that the others did not. And no one would understand exactly why. One day, Hudson Taylor, who was the founder of the China Inland Mission, was on a visit to England, and at the conclusion of one of his addresses, a man came to meet him. As the conversation progressed, Taylor was impressed by the detailed knowledge this Englishman possessed regarding the details of that one particularly fruitful mission in China. “But how is it,” Taylor asked, “that you are so conversant with the conditions of that work?” “Oh,” the man replied, “the missionary there and I are old college mates. For years we have regularly corresponded. He has sent me names of inquirers and converts and these I have daily taken to God in prayer.” And now the secret of the success of the mission station was discovered. It did not lie in the gifts of the missionaries, nor in their preaching, nor in their disciple making, nor in their personal holiness. As vital as all of those were, the secret of the extraordinary fruitfulness of that station lay in this one man, thousands of miles distant, cut off from his friend, but pleading with heaven every day for the blessing of the living God.
And that was Daniel’s ministry here precisely, wasn’t it? On the fulcrum of his faithful prayers, the fortunes of the cause of God in Judah pivoted. It may be that some of you, because of age, like Daniel are less able to go and do as you once did. Others of you, because of illness or temperament or circumstances are resigned never to stand in a pulpit or lead a mission trip or make motions on the floor of the session room as the elders meet together. Well let the example of Daniel teach you that it is often the quiet, persistent prayers of the unseen saints that make the crucial difference in the purposes of God. If God has shut down every avenue for service except the ministry of prayer, then you must see that as His call on your life in this season and give yourself to what may in eternity prove to be the most vital work you ever performed in the service of the Gospel. May God raise up an army of limping, humble, out of sight prayer warriors. We need a Seal Team 6 of men and women who will storm heaven’s gates unceasingly for the sake of the Gospel cause in this place and all over the world. You cannot go and do? Well, okay, but you can plead and pray. And beloved, the ministry of prayer may yet be your great work in the service of King Jesus. The mourner, first of all.
Then secondly, notice the visitor. Look at verses 5 through 9. Daniel is on the banks of the Tigris River when he sees a man. Look at the description – “clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist, his body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words were like the sound of a multitude.” Now who is this heavenly figure? Some people suggest that it is Gabriel who visited Daniel in the chapters prior to this one. Others suggest Michael who shows up later in this chapter and later in the book. Others suggest another unnamed angel. But there are various problems with those suggestions. First of all, it is true that in the book of Daniel, Daniel at least thus far has never described an angel but all his descriptions are of the Ancient of Days and of one like a Son of Man back in chapter 7, and those descriptions bear a remarkable similarity to the description of this person who meets him here.
And more than that, for me this is decisive – when the apostle John sees the exalted Christ in Revelation chapter 1, walking between the lampstands of His church, he draws directly on the language that Daniel uses here to describe this man who appears to Daniel on the banks of the Tigris. Listen to Revelation 1:3 and compare it as I read it with the description of the man that Daniel sees. Revelation 1:3, “John saw one like a Son of Man,” that immediately connects it to Daniel, “one like a Son of Man, clothed with a long robe with a golden sash around his chest, the hairs of his head were white like wool, like snow, his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet like burnished bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.” The only other person, interestingly, the only other person in the whole Bible who is described dressed like this with a golden sash around his chest other than the figure here in Daniel chapter 10 is Jesus Christ in Revelation 1:3. I think we have to conclude that Daniel is meeting here with the preincarnate Christ, the Son of the living God, the second person of the blessed Trinity. The linen robe and the golden sash give him the appearance of a priest, one who intercedes on behalf of His people. His body, His face, His eyes, they shine, don’t they? Daniel plunders the vocabulary available to him to find suitable metaphors that will convey something of the dazzling radiance of this figure. His body was like beryl. His face like the appearance of lightning. You can’t look at it! His eyes like flaming torches. His arms and legs like a gleam of burnished bronze. Strength and beauty, ferocity and power, penetrating and purifying – that is the character of Daniel’s heavenly visitor.
And he tells Daniel in verse 11 that he has been sent to him. Now some people have objected that if this is the preincarnate Son of God, surely this language would be inappropriate. Jesus is no mere messenger, they say. But this is the language that Jesus used of Himself, especially in the gospel of John, over and over again, when He describes the mission given to Him by His Father. John 12:45, “Whoever has seen Me has seen Him who sent Me.” John 8:18, “The Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.” John 20:21, “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.” Fundamental, actually, to His work, the eternal Son is sent from the Father to His people to care for them and minister to them and to deliver them. This is His mission. He is the sent one. And here we see a glimpse of that in the experience of the prophet Daniel.
And the question posed by verses 5 and 6 and the dramatic description that Daniel affords us of the preincarnate Christ, the question is really very simple but profoundly important for each of us. These verses, this description of Christ’s dramatic, exalted, fear-inspiring, these verses demand to know if your Jesus is really up to the challenge. The people of God are hard pressed as Daniel is writing. As we are about to see, spiritual enemies in the heavenly places and not just political enemies on earthly thrones. They are working hard to undermine God’s good purposes. The promise of God, the honor of God – they seem to hang in the balance. Is your Jesus up to the challenge? Do His eyes blaze with fire? Does His face flash with lightning? Are His arms and legs bronze burnished till they shine? When He speaks, is His word the deafening roar of multitudes, the head splitting thunder of waterfalls? Or is your Jesus effete and puny? He must be gentle, yes, but is He also mighty? If you have no room in your understanding of Jesus Christ for Daniel 10:5-6 and Revelation 1:13-16, then you may find when the enemy comes in like a flood and the battle rages hot all around you and the temptation and opposition and discouragement and trials build and build and threaten to overwhelm you, you may find that your Jesus is just not up to the job. It is a mighty Christ that Daniel sees.
His presence, in fact, is so overwhelming that Daniel is almost undone by it. Isn’t he? Notice verse 7. A bit like Paul’s vision of Christ on the Damascus Road, do you remember, Daniel is the only one who sees the vision but everyone with him falls under the weight of the divine presence, suddenly pressing down, and they bolt in shear terror. Daniel, for his part, has his strength stripped away. Verse 8, his radiance appearance was fearfully changed, and when in verse 9 he hears the voice of the Son of Man, he face plants on the ground. His mind is short circuited. He collapses into unconsciousness. A hand, presumably the hand of this heavenly visitor, the divine Son, touches him, helps him. He manages to get up onto his hands and knees, verse 10, and he is still shaking violently. In verse 11, Daniel finally makes it into a fully upright position, but the tremors haven’t gone. Despite telling Daniel to “fear not,” verse 12, we read in verse 15, “When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute.” He says later, “The breath has been stolen from my mouth.” Meeting Jesus was a harrowing experience. Standing in the divine presence is never, never easy for a human being.
I think we need to take caution from the experience of Daniel and of John after him. Whenever we hear reports of people telling us that they have had an in person encounter with Christ, exchanging, you know, casual pleasantries with Jesus as if it was nothing more extraordinary than facetime with a much loved old uncle. Beware of modern claims to see Jesus and meet Jesus and talk to Jesus face to face. In Scripture, meeting Christ typically feels like the end of the world. In Isaiah chapter 6, the prophet thought he was going to die. Daniel had the worst night of his life. When Christ directed every fish into Peter’s nets, Peter cried, “Away from me, Lord! I am a sinful man!” When John met the exalted Christ, walking between the lampstands of His church, he fell at His feet as though dead. Christ, in all His untamed power and glory, alone, alone is up to the task of marching into the spiritual battlefield and winning the victory. As fearsome as He is, He is the one that we really need, but we must not try to tame Him. We must not try to tame Him. The mourner. The visitor.
Then thirdly, the comforter. The preincarnate Christ is overwhelming, but He is also so very kind. Isn’t He? Look at verses 11 and 12, “‘O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.’ And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up, trembling. Then he said to me, ‘Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard and I have come because of your words.’” And verse 19, “O man, greatly loved, fear not. Peace be with you. Be strong and of good courage.” Now I find these verses to be simply staggering, don’t you? First of all, they tell us Daniel is greatly loved. You see that in verse 11, again in verse 19. To hear those words even one time from anybody melts the heart, but to hear them twice over from the one whose eyes blaze like flaming torches, whose voice is mightier than waterfalls, that is something else entirely. He speaks for the throne of heaven itself. But believer in Jesus Christ, make no mistake, this is the Word of God to you; the Word of God to you.
In 1751, the forty-nine year old preacher, hymn writer, Philip Doddridge, was dying of consumption; that was the diagnosis back then. His doctor had no help for him. He prescribed instead a change of scenery, suggested he should go somewhere like Lisbon, which was a place of hot, dry air. Maybe that would help. And so he made plans to go to Lisbon. Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, the great supporter and patron of evangelical Christianity, she invited Doddridge to visit her in her home before he left for Lisbon. On the morning of his departure, she came in unexpectedly upon him and found him weeping over his open Bible. “You are in tears, sir,” she remarked. But Doddridge replied, “I am weeping, but they are tears of comfort and joy.” Doddridge was reading, “O Daniel, man greatly loved.” Doddridge grasped what we all need to see. He understood the same Jesus who loved Daniel, loves him, loves you. He loved you and gave Himself for you. God has demonstrated His love for you in that while you were yet a sinner, Christ died for you. You are greatly loved. Never forget it.
The other thing that is so striking here in verse 12 is that the heavenly visitor, the preincarnate Christ, comes, He says – this is mindblowing – because of Daniel’s word. Isn’t that astonishing? “I have come because of your words.” The Lord of glory comes at Daniel’s call. But that is, after all, the bond of love in action. “Here is the evidence that you are a man greatly loved. You have been calling upon Me. I’m here for you. I’m here.” When His people cry to God, Jesus still, He still comes to us by His Word and Spirit to comfort and sustain us and give us understanding. Cry to Him. Cry to Him. Plead with Him. Bring all the burdens of your heart to Him and know from the moment that you first begin to speak your words are heard and Christ will always come to His own to keep them and guide them and lead them on. The mourner. The visitor. The comforter.
And now finally, the warrior. Jesus reveals to Daniel that behind the scenes of his faithful prayer, a supernatural battle has been raging. Remember we were told back in verse 3 that Daniel has been fasting and praying for three weeks. Now look down at verse 13, “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me,” says the heavenly visitor, “twenty-one days.” For three weeks, the enemies of the returned exiles, laboring under Ezra’s leadership to rebuild the temple, they have faced terrible opposition. The local Samaritan population have written to their Persian masters to impede the construction project from continuing. And standing behind the king of Persian on his throne is a figure named here “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” who withstood the divine figure who was speaking to Daniel. This prince is clearly a demonic being, manipulating the powers of the Persian Empire for his own ends. And so for twenty-one days, as Daniel has prayed, there has been war. The Son, the divine Son waged war against the prince of Persia. Only Michael, he says, came to assist him in the struggle. Michael is called one of the chief princes in verse 13. In chapter 12 later, chapter 12 verse 1, he is named “the great prince who has charge of your people.” Jude 9 names him an archangel. The point is, heavenly forces are marshalled, and they are marshalled in response to the prayers of Daniel, enlisted under the banner of the Son of God in overthrowing the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.
With the coming of Michael, the divine visitor tells Daniel he as “left alone with the kings of Persia,” presumably meaning that in place of demonic influence, because Daniel has been praying, now in place of demonic influence manipulating the Persian rulers to inhibit the progress of the work, now there is the influence of the Lord for good. Later in verse 20 we learn soon the battle will resume, and after the struggle with the demonic powers involved in Persia there will be a similar struggle with the powers of the emerging Greek Empire.
And as you ponder all of this and these mysterious details, let me very briefly suggest three attitudes that we must be careful to adopt in response and then we’re done. Modesty, sobriety and certainty. Modesty, sobriety and certainty. Modesty first. Let’s not construct from this chapter an overly elaborate theology of territorial spirits or see it as somehow giving us a manual for spiritual warfare. There is so much we do not know about the unseen realm and godly wisdom dictates a certain modesty and reserve in how we speak about it, think about it, and engage with it. Some Christians, I fear, are more curious about the demonic than they seem to be about knowing Jesus Christ and learning His holy Word. Do not get sidetracked by the fascinating mysteries of demonic powers about which the Word of God itself is cautious and reserved. Modesty, first of all.
But then secondly, sobriety. The fact remains that the demonic is real and supernatural evil, meddling in human society and in world affairs, is absolutely the picture this chapter gives us, and we can never afford to forget Ephesians 6:12. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” I do believe, as I said at the very beginning, that if we understood the instrumental role that prayer really has in the spiritual combat all around us, we would all engage in it both corporately and privately with far greater attention and vigor and zeal than we typically do. Modesty. Sobriety.
And then finally, certainty. The main takeaway from this chapter is not to provide us with a detailed theology of territorial spirits; it certainly isn’t to terrorize us with Hollywood visions of demonic powers hiding under the stairs. The point is to remind us of the glory of the Son of Man who does battle with the enemy of our souls and triumphs. Indeed from our vantage point, not Daniel’s but from ours, this side of Calvary, the decisive victory has now been won. First John 3:8, “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” He is the seed of the woman who, at the cross, crushed the serpent’s head. “Christ’s victory,” wrote Martin Luther, “is the overcoming of the law of sin, our flesh, the world, the devil, death, hell and all evils, and this, His victory, He hath given unto us. Although then these tyrants and these enemies of ours do accuse us and make us afraid, yet they cannot drive us to despair nor condemn us, for Christ, whom God the Father hath raised up from the dead, is our righteousness and victory.”
That’s the big point here, surely. Because Jesus has triumphed over sin and death and hell by His cross, we really can sing, “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fell him.” You can go now and face a dark world “with devils filled,” as Luther put it, bold and confident that the One whose eyes are like flaming torches, whose voice is like a multitude, He stands in triumph at the right hand of God the Father, King of kings and Lord of lords, and everyone who trusts in Him is secure under His dominion forever. “The Lord will shortly crush Satan under your feet,” the apostle Paul reminds us, because Jesus wins. Let’s pray.
Our Father, we bless You that the Lord Jesus Christ is not tame. He is not safe. He is mighty. His eyes blaze with fire. His face has the unbearable brightness, the dazzling glory of lightning, and His voice is mightier than many waterfalls and larger than the den of multitudes. Help us, O God, to tremble before Him and never to try and tame Him, but to see that it is a mighty, conquering Christ that we so badly need in these dark days. Teach us to rest secure under His victory in His death and resurrection, for we ask it in His name, amen.