Daniel has a better understanding (Daniel 10:14-21)

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Welcome to Kootenai Community Church Adult Sunday School. We'll be delving back into Daniel, and it's been three months almost to the day since we left last, spent some time in the book of Daniel, so we'll be reviewing chapter 10 up through verse 13, which is where we left off, and then we'll take off from verse 14.

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The review will take a bit of time. But before that, would you turn, before we pray, would you turn with me to 1

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Corinthians 14 .3. So what is the purpose of prophecy besides alerting

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God's people to their deviations from the biblical commands from the word of God?

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That's the primary purpose of a prophet, to remind the people of the time, and anybody who reads it later, that you must follow

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God's word, you must believe his word, and you must act on his word. And when you don't do that, prophets call you back to that.

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A secondary purpose of theirs is to predict the future back when prophets were doing that. And 1

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Corinthians 14, chapter 14, verse three says, but one who prophesies, prophesies, speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

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Edification is based in the concept of architecture. It's to build us up. To create a firm foundation for us to understand what is happening and what is to come.

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Exhortation is to entreat, to plead with, to ask.

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And consolation is for comfort. Prophecy is for comfort. And what comfort can you derive from prophecy?

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Well, when the God of the universe continually calls you back to his word, and his word is infallible and correct every time, that's got to be a comfort.

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When he predicts something 200, 300, 2 ,000 years into the future, and it comes true exactly as he said, that reminds us his sovereignty, and that is a comfort.

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Because if he said this, and it comes true, then when he says this, it will come true as well.

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That is a comfort. And then further than that, 1 Timothy, or 2 Timothy, chapter three, verse 16, one of my all -time favorite verses in the entire scripture, except for my other all -time favorites, and I better turn there, since it's my favorite,

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I don't want to mess it up. 2 Timothy, chapter three, verse 16. All scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.

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So the purpose of scripture, previously mentioned, is to draw us back to the word of God, back to his sovereignty, and back to his comfort.

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And it is to give us a basis for doctrine, line upon line learning.

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It is to reprove us, to rebuke us, when we deviate from that. It is to correct us, that is to reform us.

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And finally, it is for training. It is to disciple us into, with instruction, into living the kind of life that the

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Lord Jesus Christ patterned for us. And so with that as kind of an introduction, I just want us to be reminded that when we go through Daniel, he's going to predict, he's going to talk about some terrible things.

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But God, in his sovereignty, has predicted those things. Every single one of them, line upon line, specifically.

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So much so that critics said Daniel can't be prophecy, it has to be a history, it's too accurate.

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No, remarkably and comfortingly, a new adverb, it's exactly what we need today.

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God is in control of this crazy planet, this messed up place, and he's going to restore it.

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Let's open in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. It is infallible, it is a rock, it is the granite upon which we plant our feet, and your son is the living word.

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It is him whom we trust in. He has paid the price so that we might be your sheep.

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He has awakened us, quickened us, so that we could hear your word and trust it and believe in it. This morning, as we look into your word in Daniel, as he prophesies and as he speaks to an angel, can we derive,

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Lord, from this comfort, instruction, doctrine, reproof, and correction so that we might walk the walk you have chosen for us from time immemorial, as it says in Ephesians?

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And we'll thank you for it. We'll thank you for what we're going to learn and for what we're going to be able to put into practice.

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And it's in the name of Jesus, and for his sake we pray, amen. So let's read Daniel chapter 10.

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So we're going to, like I said, we're going to review Daniel chapter 10, and that will take a bit of time.

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I think it's very important that we have a good, solid, actually, to have a perfectly solid foundation, we'd review from chapter one, but I'm not going to do that to you.

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So let's read chapter 10. It's on page 1156 of the authentic Bible.

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In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named

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Belteshazzar, and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision.

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In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did

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I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. And on the 24th day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is the

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Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.

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His body was also like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.

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Now, I, Daniel, alone saw the vision while the men who were with me did not see the vision. Nevertheless, a great dread fell on them and they ran away to hide themselves.

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So I was left alone and saw this great vision, yet no strength was left in me for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor and I retained no strength.

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But I heard the sound of his words, and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face with my face to the ground.

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Then behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.

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And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your

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God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days, and behold,

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Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Now, I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet future.

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And when he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless, and behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips.

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Then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, O my

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Lord, as a result of the vision, anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can such a servant of my

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Lord talk with such as my Lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.

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Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me, and he said, O man of high esteem, do not be afraid.

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Peace be to you, take courage and be courageous. Now, as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, may my

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Lord speak, for you have strengthened me. Then he said, do you understand why I came to you?

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But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia. So I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.

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However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces, except Michael, your prince.

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So chapter 10 brings us to the fourth and final of Daniel's revelations.

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The revelation takes three chapters, with the introduction being chapters 10, one, verse one, through 11, chapter 11, verse one.

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It describes the vision with the first part being Darius, Cyrus, through Antiochus, Antiochus Epiphanes, that is.

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We're gonna see, if you've studied the book of Daniel at all you'll see that there's a lot of kings named Antiochus. They took the same names, they named their kids that, whatever it was.

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But at any rate, this is specifically, I'm specifically talking about Antiochus Epiphanes during the

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Maccabean period. Then the distant future takes up chapter 11, verses 36 through 12, verse four.

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Chapter 12 closes out the revelation with a final message given to Daniel in verses five through 13.

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So this revelation is given by God in excellent, as we would expect, systematic form.

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Each time God revealed the future to Daniel, he gave Daniel a general picture, dealing with the information about humanity in general, and then followed up with details about Israel.

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Thus, he then gave Daniel time to think about what he had received, what Daniel had received from him.

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Then he followed up with more detail. God does that in this instance as well. To this particular detailed revelation, in this particularly detailed revelation,

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I should say, we will receive information not only about the future, but about God's operation on planet

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Earth, and in some limited information on how angels interact with each other and with history.

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Granted, the information is sparse, but it does give us at least a picture of what goes on in the spiritual realm. There is not enough here to build elaborate doctrines, like some of the science fiction books you and I have read, but there is certainly enough to form a general understanding of God's dealings with us through his emissaries, the angels, especially as we cross -reference these with other sections of scripture.

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This message, for in this particular case, it's not called a vision, but a message covers the same periods of history as the visions of chapter eight, which is

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Medo -Persia, Greece, and the Great Tribulation, and it gives us significant detail about Israel's future.

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And that is going to be, as we will see, throughout chapter 10 and 11 and early chapter 12.

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It's been called many things, this message has. The critics, of course, believe it is nothing short of a scam, although they would not say that, well, some of them do.

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For if this was not written in the sixth century BC, then it is a complete fabrication, and we must understand that.

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This is claimed to be prophecy, so it either is or it isn't. As all of scripture is, it is either true or it is not.

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And if it is not, then we need to put it away and play video games, because life is a scam.

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But it is true. All of it is true. Daniel knew that. So the critics call it that, but the fact is it is inspired message from Yahweh to his people

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Israel through their prophet Daniel, and by extension to us as we read it today. So conservative

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Bible -believing commentators have said things like this. They said, the final three chapters of the book of Daniel record an extensive revelation of the prophetic future that is without parallel in scripture.

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This final vision is a grand prophetic panorama of events from the time of Cyrus to the final establishment of God's kingdom, which is coming soon.

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I don't know how soon. I understand we're not supposed to predict dates, so I won't use months, but maybe years.

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No, I won't even do that. To the final establishment of God's kingdom. Another commentator said this.

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There is hardly anything in the Bible that is just like these chapters, especially like chapter 11.

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The word, the vision, and minutiae, the word, the vision, and minutiae, and the minute predictions are combined in a manner that is found nowhere else in the scriptures.

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And it's the book we're in right now, so it's the best book in the Bible. The decree of Cyrus to rebuild the temple, getting into the text here now, occurred in 538

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B .C. Sacrifices were reinstituted in 537 B .C., and the temple work began a year later.

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This would have been the setting for the beginning of this chapter. The temple work has begun. Cyrus has allowed people to go back into Jerusalem, back into Israel, and begin rebuilding.

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So that's the setting for this section. Verse one, and we're gonna kinda, if you have questions, go ahead and stick your hand up, but we're gonna kinda blast through these first 13 verses so we can finish out chapter 10, because I'm really excited to get into chapter 11, because it's as good as chapter 10.

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In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar, and the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision.

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So Daniel starts this section by giving the date, because he believed that chronology was important. The date corresponds to 536

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BC, which was about two years after the end of the Babylonian captivity of the Jews. Daniel would have been 80 -plus years old, probably 84, 85, 86,

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I don't know exactly, but somewhere in his mid -80s. And it is likely this, remember when

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I say this, it is likely this that prevented him from returning to Jerusalem as the other Jews did. That's only one thing that probably prevented him.

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We'll talk about another later on. But he was also the man for which duty was important, and he still had responsibilities to the king.

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And so I guess this is later on. This would be the other reason he didn't go back to Jerusalem. He makes the statement that the message was true and one of great conflict, getting the reader to focus on the fact that it was a direct revelation from God.

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So it is common with difficult sections of scripture for critics to try to undermine it.

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They've attacked every part of this section, as you might guess. The first attack concerns this first verse.

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Critics take verse 21 of chapter one to mean that Daniel died in the first year of Cyrus the king. Let's look at that.

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Chapter one, verse 21. You'll notice the word death, dying, or anything is not in chapter one, verses 21.

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And Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king. It has already been noted the verse does not say

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Daniel died. It simply means he was around in the first year of Cyrus the king and continued until this important event which ushered in the kingdom of the

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Medes and Persians and the kingship of Cyrus. There's been even objection to the word Cyrus the king saying it wasn't used.

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That terminology was not used in those days. Now we went through quite an extensive reproof of that or discovery and correction of that.

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And I'm not gonna do that. Again, it's on the internet. It's on the web in the

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PowerPoint if you wanna look at it. But basically, a scholar named

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Robert Dick Wilson showed that that's just patently untrue. It was commonly used in those days.

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So this vision would have been two years after Gabriel's appearance to Daniel in the previous chapter and Daniel would have been in his early to mid 80s, possibly 84, 85.

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Two years before this, the Jews had returned to Jerusalem. Still being one of Cyrus's top three presidents,

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Daniel would have remained in Jerusalem, in the kingdom to see to the king's affairs and needs.

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The word translated as conflict in verse one, this is a message, was one of great conflict.

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The word conflict implies warfare of the kind in which an army engages.

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This would have been hard for Daniel and his contemporaries to connect with. And so the message is portrayed as true to convey that this must be believed.

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Daniel had remained puzzled at the earlier visions, but at least at this point, he makes the statement that he understood the message and its subsequent connection with the previous visions.

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Now Daniel didn't understand all of it. We'll see later on that some of it is shut up. It's shut up until the end.

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And people will not really understand what's happening until they are in those particular historical times. So the use of Daniel's Babylonian name,

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Belshazzar, Belteshazzar is likely to convey to the reader that this is the same Daniel from the earlier portions of the book.

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It is another excellent verification that the book comes to us from the sixth century BC. Verse two, in those days,

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I Daniel had been mourning for three entire weeks. Very different from chapter nine, where Daniel details his preparation and prayer before receiving the vision.

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Here he starts the details about the visions and then explains the preparation.

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Note that he says three entire weeks. This is to be compared with chapter nine, where we are looking at weeks of years.

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Daniel is not specific in that, and it's intentional because the weeks were weeks of years. Heptad, hepta, heptads,

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I believe that's called. This was 21 days, three weeks.

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He uses the term for three sevens of days. So verse two, he says, in those days,

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I Daniel had been mourning for three entire weeks. His mourning would have been understanding,

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I think, some of the horrifying prospects that lay ahead for Israel. And Daniel meditated and began to understand more of the previous visions he was given, because God gave him time to do that.

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He loved his people, and the future that they had was not what he would have wanted for them.

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Now, as a man of God, he would understand that God would only be giving this kind of a future to Israel for their good, but it's still hard.

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When you know one of your loved ones is going through a difficult time, and it's best for them, it's still hard to watch it.

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Sometimes it's hard to stand by and keep your mouth shut and let them, let them suffer the things that will correct them.

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Israel needs correction. She's on a wrong path. So a lot of this is detailed in Ezra, and if you want to, you can, you can get a better clicker than I do, and you can turn the page to Ezra chapter one.

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There it is, Ezra chapter four. I'm not gonna go through that this time, because we did last time, and again, that's online in the

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PowerPoint. So in this particular section, really quickly, locals lied about the

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Jews, that they were cheating the king, that they were building things he didn't sanction, that they were doing all kinds of nefarious things, and it was all untrue.

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And these lies were sent to the king in the form of a letter, and the use of lies and innuendo to thwart the lives and activities of God's righteous is nothing new, but the rebuilding of the temple was exactly on schedule for God's purposes.

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The deportation of the Jews and the destruction of Jerusalem had a 20 -year interim. This is explained by Walvoord in his commentary.

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Humanly speaking, he said there was ground for anxiety, but Daniel did not understand that the 70 years of the captivity that expired with the return of the exiles in Ezra 1 did not fulfill the 70 years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the temple.

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This required an additional 20 years, the difference between 605 BC and the first deportation of the

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Jews, and 586 BC, the date of the destruction of the temple. From God's point of view, things were moving exactly on schedule.

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In a sense, the vision that followed was a reply to Daniel's questions concerning God's purposes for the future of Israel in relation to the

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Gentiles. And so there's a series of, here's the Persian king timeline. You'll notice

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Cyrus, Xerxes, Esther's husband, Artaxerxes. And then we have, that's the same thing, timeline

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B. And you can see the Bible reference, the Bible name, the Persian name, the BC date, et cetera.

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Those are online if you want to look at them. And then the chronology of Ezra, I provided that so you can see how that relates to the timeline.

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And last, that would have been last. As a side note in this section, there are two ways of looking at the history that transpired here.

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Some scholars believe that Ezra chapter four is strictly chronological, and Ezra is describing events that happened within a few years of the return to Jerusalem, which would be 536

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BC to 520 BC, about 16, 17 years. This would require the

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Ahasuerus of verse six to be another name for one of the Persian kings in that area, such as Cambyses.

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Others believe that there is a telescoping historical format and that the Ezra chapter four, verses one through five, describes conditions in Jerusalem during Daniel's life around 535 to 520

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BC, and that at verse six, Ezra is noting that the opposition to rebuilding continued all the way down to this time during the reign of Ahasuerus, Esther's husband.

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Either one works biblically, so I'm not concerned about the timeline necessarily. The timeline works either way.

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And if you have an interest in that, that's online in the PowerPoint. Verse three, I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did

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I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed. So Daniel's three -week preparation, he didn't eat any tasty food, which is a translation of the

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Hebrew for food of delights, with the plural accenting the idea that it was the equivalent of a beans and rice diet.

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Now, I kinda like beans and rice, but that's just me. As one of the presidents directly under the king, he would have had access to the king's menu and the best food in the realm.

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He would have also had access to standard fare, such as meat and wine. He ate neither during the preparation time.

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And it would also consist, his preparation time, of anointing himself daily. He did not do that. He was preparing his heart for what was to come, and this is how he did that.

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Now, I'm not advocating that you fast and stop eating your vitamins and stop putting on ointment, but if this is what

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Daniel used to be prepared for God's message to him, then fine. Verse four.

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Yes, yes.

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So this is one of my opinions on that. So this is not scripture, this is my opinion. When God gives us partial information like that,

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I believe he's driving us to his word and driving us to prayer. If God gave us everything we needed right now, well, let's just sit down and wait for it all to come, but we shouldn't be doing that.

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We should be praying, we should be anguishing, which will come naturally, unfortunately, and we should be seeking his wisdom in his word.

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And so Daniel was given an opportunity to reflect on what was said in the previous visions, to search his word, read

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Jeremiah. Oh, 70 years, the 70 years is gonna end really soon. Why is the temple not being rebuilt?

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And so he would have had to study timelines in history. I don't believe God wants to spoon feed us every little bit of history.

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I believe it's important that as he gives us information that we spend time going to him, asking him in prayer and in diligent study of the word.

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So that would be, that's my opinion, I believe. He drives us to him so that,

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I think it reminds us of our humanity and of his sovereignty and I think that is something that we need to be all of us need to be reminded of daily, that he is sovereign, he is perfect, he is all knowing, we are not.

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But we can ask him and he says in James, it won't be refused. So does that help? On the 24th day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is the

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Tigris, so in a careful manner, Daniel gives us the timeframe. He began on the third day of Nissan, no, not the car, the first month of the

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Israelite calendar. The 14th of Nissan was Passover, followed by the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, which lasts seven days.

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He would have incorporated these feasts into his preparation time. He would have trekked to the banks of the

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Tigris, which in the Hebrew is the Hidakkel. It is likely he would have gone there with other faithful Jews, which gives us context for the verse that says that he was with other people who heard the noise, heard the voice, but didn't see the vision and freaked out and ran.

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Returning to the critics, another objection is raised in this verse that Daniel did not return to Jerusalem as the critics assumed, and we've talked about that.

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He was old and he had responsibilities. That's a clear explanation as to why he didn't return to Jerusalem.

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He had much to do. His influence was great and his wisdom was revered, and I believe that in wisdom, he used that wisdom to advise the king in those times.

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Cyrus didn't, I believe he was given the injunction by God to send the Jews back to Jerusalem, but how

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God did that may very well have been through wise counsel from his advisors and such, as well as direct revelation.

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A second little liberal criticism is the naming of the river. Critics allege that only the Euphrates was called the

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Great River. This is a simple assumption, and the Tigris is seen in history as being called the Great River numerous times in history.

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When you're trying to undermine something of scripture, the best you have is lies.

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So just make them up as you need it, is basically what's going on. I'm serious, that's what happens.

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Scripture defends itself ably, and people attacking that defense just make up things as they go along, in many cases.

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And we would do well to think that, remember that, when we're witnessing, when we're spending time to give God's word to people.

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Oftentimes, they're retailing what they've heard, which is a series of lies that have been built up over generations, and they actually might believe them.

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Not all of them are the liars that start the lie. Some of them are the liars that believe the lie, and that's the river.

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That was this next slide. Verse five, I lifted my eyes and looked, and sorry,

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I'm not asking questions. We've done, we've asked all the questions, or you've asked all the questions you needed to ask the last time we went through this, right?

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I wanna get to verse 14, where we can finish chapter 10. I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.

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So even here on the bank of the river, Daniel was still in an attitude of prayer. He had to lift his eyes to see what appeared to be a man.

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He had the verse, in verse 13, Daniel will record that the delay in response was because of some battle.

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We'll look at that when we get there. It's hardly likely, though, so let me back up.

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Some believe this was Gabriel. Others believe it is a pre -incarnate appearance of the

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Lord Jesus Christ. But in verse 13, I guess I should go there. Daniel records that the delay was in response from this emissary was a result of combat with the

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Prince of Persia, Prince of the Kingdom of Persia for 21 days. It's my belief that it's hardly likely that the

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God of the universe, the sovereign second person of the Trinity, would have lost a battle to the

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King of Persia. That's my belief. Now, I have seen some interesting arguments to the contrary that sort of make sense.

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He is sovereign and he could have used that in his sovereign purpose to create the delay. I just think it was one of the angels and he was nearly matched for a while until Michael came to relieve him.

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Being dressed in white linen is likely an appearance of a depiction of purity.

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It was worn by the priests, by Jeremiah the prophet, and by angels. It would not be a stretch to assume, based on the scripture and the rest of the accoutrements this man was wearing, that this white linen was extremely bright, an extremely bright white, like as clean as linen has ever been, and beautiful.

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The gold mentioned here came from a place identified as Uphaz, which is likely a reference to Ophir, a region in the east that supplied much gold.

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This particular word is a translation of a Hebrew word for carved out, which implies the method of getting the gold.

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It doesn't just appear on the ground. Sometimes it does, but most of the time you gotta mine it. Verse six, his body was also like beryl, his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.

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He was, I don't think I got, maybe. You know, we can come up with depictions and don't focus on the depiction is the main thing.

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Don't make an idol, if you will, of the depiction. He must have been an amazing, strange, horrifying, beautiful, unbelievable thing to look at.

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And it would have been, to a humble man of God like Daniel, totally disarming and frightening to some degree.

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So, and it does say that when he spoke it was like the sound of a multitude. And I went online and tried to come up with something like that, and there was some interesting,

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I thought about playing a recording here, but none of them got it for me. Just his voice would have been unnerving to listen to.

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We'll leave it at that. So, whether it was a high angel, Christ himself, the appearance that Daniel describes was majestic indeed.

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I believe it was a high angel. Now, I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, verse seven says, while the men who were with me did not see the vision, nevertheless a great dread fell on them and they ran away to hide themselves.

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For some reason, Daniel's companions did not see the vision. So, it was either a vision or an actual appearance.

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Either way, the eyes of his companions were veiled so they couldn't see it. And later in verse 10, and again in verse 16, this being, if it's the same one, and I think it is, actually touches

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Daniel. So, this mitigates the idea of just a vision. This was an appearance. This was an interaction between a human and an angel.

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Even so, the word years here is the word for vision. Daniel's companions were terrified and they ran away.

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This is reminiscent of Acts chapter nine, where God struck Saul. God waited for Saul's free will to respond to him and seek

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God in a way that only men of great vision seek God before they're saved. That doesn't happen. God wanted

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Saul to be his emissary, so he knocked him off a horse and converted him. Interesting, interesting, interesting section.

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And the same thing happened. The people around him heard the voice, didn't see what was happening, freaked him out.

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They stood speechless, it says, hearing the voice but seeing no one. God's purposes were to convert

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Saul, so he did it. The fact that the men who were with Daniel were filled with great dread and sensed something happening, even though they could not see the being,

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Otto also mitigates against the idea of this being a vision. Something happened, Daniel saw it, the men sensed it and ran away in great fear.

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So something along the shores of the River Tigris frightened several men who ran away and enlightened

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Daniel who gave us this book by God's grace. Verse eight, so I was left alone and saw this great vision, yet no strength was left in me for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor and I retained no strength.

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He's unwavering in his commitment to the truth. Well, I took it like a man and I stood there and I talked to Yahweh face to face.

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No, he says, I retained no strength, but the blood drained from my face,

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I fainted, I fell. So God's purpose was for Daniel alone to see this.

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So the men were driven away. It's very possible that he was accompanied by pious Jews, but it's just as likely that because of his position of a high government official, that he was accompanied by pagan

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Babylonians. It should be noted that the word for vision does emanate from a root which simply means a mirror, a looking glass or an appearance.

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In fact, one translation renders this, so I was left alone and saw this great appearance. He saw this great appearance.

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The power of the appearance left him weak, the blood draining from his extremities, leaving him in a deathly pallor.

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Lack of strength is mentioned twice in this book. I talked about the fact that the word strength comes from the

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Hebrew, which means a small lizard of unknown species. Lizards were thought to be very hardy and strong because of their ability to survive in the difficult desert conditions.

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Word etymologies are amazing when you look at them, but we'll leave that for another time. Verse nine, but I heard the sound of his words, and as soon as I heard the sound of his words,

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I fell into a deep sleep on my face with my face to the ground. So Daniel, even in his mid -level incapacity,

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I should say, could still hear the words, and when they came forth, basically they caused him to faint.

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He fell down with his face to the ground. This is a polite way of saying, I fell.

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Like, my wife thought I'd killed myself this morning. I was walking out of the bedroom in our camper, and it wasn't very graceful.

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There's three steps down into the kitchen, and I was carrying a bunch of stuff, and then all of a sudden,

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I wasn't carrying a bunch of stuff. I fell on my face, and this is what happened to Daniel.

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He fainted. He fell face first, so it must be assumed that the angel protected him in his fall.

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Daniel's experience illuminates the difficulty that mortal, sinful creatures, even a prophet like Daniel, have when encountering the glory of God, or even one of his heavenly messengers in relation to which the holiest of people come short.

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This is in one of the commentaries about what happens when people come face to face with a real angel.

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Then behold, verse 10, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. Another indication that it was not a vision, but rather an actual corporal being that Daniel experienced.

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The angel reached down and strengthened him up on, so now he's coming up by stages. It's what

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I did this morning. I had to sit there for a minute because my knee hit the heater register. Guess which one won? Yeah.

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And I had to sit there for a minute and kind of gather my senses. So Daniel had to, he got to his knees, hands and knees, and I picture him shaking a little on his hands and knees and just wobbly.

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Verse 11, he said to me, yo, Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.

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That's what my wife said to me this morning. I'm not leaving until you stand upright. And when he had spoken this word to me,

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I stood up trembling. This is either the same angel or another, or as some have surmised, the first being that was a theophany, and this would have been a messenger angel.

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Either way, I believe it's pretty much the same angel all the way, but it could be a different one. He begins to speak, and Daniel records these words.

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Unlike verse nine, where we simply know that the being was speaking, the phrase man of high esteem is the same as the expression used in chapter nine, verse 23.

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The angel reassures Daniel and counseled him to stand all the way up, seeing as how the angel was sent to Daniel to speak to him.

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The angel wanted to speak to him on a face -to -face basis, and I don't think the angel wanted to get down and say, how you doing, Daniel? He said, stand up, and he strengthened him to stand up.

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Verse 12, then he said to me, do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your

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God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. Another indication to me that this is an angel.

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So he directly stipulates that Daniel doesn't have to be afraid, and he uses the same word for understand as he did in verse 11.

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Daniel's fasting and praying prepared him for this. Now is the time to be listening. He says, your words were heard.

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I believe God sent a high -ranking emissary to bring this truth to Daniel. We should make no more of this than that, though.

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God responds to our prayers, and this is a clear indication of that fact. He does respond to our prayers.

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That's one of the comforts that prophecy gives us, that Scripture gives us. Daniel's desire was only to understand and to glorify

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God, and for that reason, he received a response, even if it was, shall we say, a bit unnerving.

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And this is often the result. Isn't this often the result of answered prayer?

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But the fact is, God's answers are always the correct ones, no matter how we may feel about them.

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Verse 13, but the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days. Then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

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So that verse is very involved, and it's several pages in my text here. I'm basically going to tie it up by saying this.

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There was a battle going on between this angel and the demonic prince of Persia.

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Humans didn't witness this. This was in the spiritual realm. There were no humans involved. There were angels involved.

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And if you look at online, I have a whole series of Scriptures showing different instances where this kind of thing happened.

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So now understand that Michael came to free this emissary so that he could continue to Daniel. There are several different ways that this has been looked at.

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One translation would yield the idea of being left there that means the angel was now unnecessary because the battle had been won by Michael.

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So being no longer needed, he proceeded to Daniel. One scholar stated that it rendered the angel with nothing more to do there.

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Another is that the root of this particular word conveys the idea of being left in a position of preeminence as on the field of battle.

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Leon Wood explains it in his commentary. I won't read the whole thing, but basically the angel was in control of that situation and then had to be freed and helped by Michael.

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But the situation was left in the control of God's forces and the angel proceeded. It's important not to make more of this than what the

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Holy Spirit has given. Clearly behind the scenes, unseen forces are battling one another. There's nothing in this verse about the involvement of humans in angelic battles.

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In fact, it explicitly demonstrates that this type of behind the scenes spiritual warfare is conducted by angelic beings alone.

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If nothing else, we should take that from this section. The fact that there was a territorial angelic demon over Persia in no way, shape or form suggests that humans should attempt to take control over territorial demons.

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I don't see that here. Do you? Thank you. This is not a stretch.

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It is an elastic morphing of scripture into something it never even intimates. People have built false spiritual warfare doctrines out of whole cloth over this single verse, injecting into it the lies that they need to sustain the money -making schemes they are engaged in.

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It's that simple. If we have given ourselves to this particular period in prayer, then we should persist for that time.

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That's what this verse is conveying to me. If you have given yourself to prayer, persist in it. What if Daniel had stopped praying on day 20?

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He might never have received this incredible message. Now, we know what ifs presuppose that God isn't sovereign.

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He is sovereign, but Daniel persisted. Now, this is where we ended on December 18th, 2022.

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So we're gonna try and get through the last few verses. We might not make it, but we'll get through most of them.

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Thank you for your patience up to this point. Verse 14, now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people.

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Now, whose people are Daniel's people? Israel. The church is not mentioned here.

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This is Israel. We will be involved in the end days, and that is given to us in other sections of scripture.

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But he says, give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to days yet future.

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And here is where so much comfort comes from. Daniel predicts things that happen 200, 300 years later, and they came true in precise detail.

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Names, details, dates, places. Amazing, amazing.

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So the things that are predicted to come to fruition several millennia later are going to happen.

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It is as certain as the chair you are sitting on is holding you up right now.

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Once the angel has subdued the wicked prince of Persia and continued to Daniel, he was able to encourage

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Daniel with the fact that he would now give him an understanding of what would happen to Daniel's people, which are the

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Jews, the Israelites, in the latter days. The phrase the latter days is the same as it is in chapter two, verse 28, which says, however, there is a

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God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days.

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This was your dream and the visions in your mind while you were on your bed. Daniel is interpreting that dream for him, remember?

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So many months or years ago. The phrase latter days is used 14 times in the

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Old Testament, and it generally refers to the closing times of history, the closing time that the speaker is referencing.

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In this particular context, it refers to the close of history with the advent of the millennial kingdom.

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The days yet future refers to days coming after Daniel's time, including the wicked days of Antiochus Epiphanes, and then on to the final days of history with the coming of the

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Antichrist. Daniel's desire to understand more, coupled with his great love for Israel, which most likely provoked the three weeks of prayer spoken of at the beginning of this chapter resulted in this message.

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In his commentary, Walvoord says this, Daniel's concern for his people, which probably occasioned his three weeks fast and prayer is now to be somewhat relieved by a specific revelation in addition to that already given in Daniel 9, verses 24 through 27, which includes the 70 weeks.

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The particulars of the vision include the experiences of Israel in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes and culminate in the great tribulation just before the second advent.

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Although Daniel probably did not understand the details, he could be reassured that God had a plan that ended in the ultimate victory of divine power.

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Although the prophecies made clear that there were powerful forces at work against Israel that would afflict upon them much suffering and loss, in the end, the power of God would triumph and Israel would be exalted as a nation.

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I'm gonna have to end there, but this chapter 10, which is the best chapter in the

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Bible right now, it's so remarkable. These are statements.

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God doesn't, we use the word predictions, but in Yahweh's mind, they're not predictions, they're statements about what he wrote down in time immemorial.

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I don't even know how to reference that. How do you write something down in eternity past? But at any rate, this is not something that he's thinking will come to pass.

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This will come to pass. And that should be a marvelous comfort to us. What he has said will be.

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And so many people don't leave it at that. What if? And I understand why do doubts arise in your minds?

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And Thomas had to be told to the face, that you've seen me.

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And what did he do? He got on his knees and he said, my Lord and my God. That's what we need to do.

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I know it's hard. There are times in our lives when our loved ones are going through difficult times and we can't see the future and you don't want to see the future.

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You don't, you don't. You need to want to rely on God because he's reliable.

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Let's pray. Father Daniel is but one of 66 fantastic testimonies of your sovereignty, your love, your grace, and your conclusion of history according to your word.

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We need to trust in that. We need to trust in that today. We need to trust in that tomorrow. And we exalt you as the

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God of prophecy, which to you is simply the God of speaking. Thank you for that in Jesus name, amen.