Daniel 10: Behind the Curtain

Amen. Please remain standing and turn in your Bibles once again to the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter 10, beginning in verse 1. Hear now the inspired word of God. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar.

And the message was true and one of great conflict, but he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision. 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 I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed.

On the 24th day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the 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 euphaz.

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 tumult.

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. 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. 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.

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

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 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. Then behold, 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.

When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face to the ground and became speechless. And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him who was standing before me, O 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 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. Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me.

He said, O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you. Take courage and be courageous. Now as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, May my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me.

Then he said, Do you understand why I came to you? 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. 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. Let's pray. Father, once again as we look into your word, and especially these words that are difficult to understand, but it's an important message revealed to Daniel, and we pray that you would open our eyes and our hearts, that we would see, that we would hear, we would understand what you have to say to us this morning.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated. A number of years ago, a good friend of mine invited me to go to the opera with him. He was a good friend, and so I went. I had never been to the Met before.

I had never seen a live opera performance. But just walking in for the very first time into the Metropolitan Opera House, I have to tell you it was breathtaking. It was so majestic, so ornate. And it was much larger than I had anticipated.

And the house was packed, and it seemed like there was a beehive of activity, people milling around and talking. It was quite breathtaking. Then a hush came over the whole audience as the concertmaster walked up and assumed his position on the podium to a big round of applause.

During the performance, I found myself more excited and more moved than I would have thought. The opera that I was watching was Aida by Giuseppe Verdi. What I was not expecting, though, was Act II, if you're familiar with the opera at all, the triumphal march of the victorious Egyptian army entering Memphis.

There was a cast of hundreds of people in costume, and that is a literal hundreds, upwards of 300 cast members up on the stage. Besides the singing, there were dancers, men riding horses, yes, live horses up on the stage, as well as other animals.

It was certainly a spectacular event, which served to make an opera fan out of me, much to my friend's delight. There's nothing like being at the Met live to experience an opera and to be there in person.

However, that being said, modern technology has brought another option to us. During the opera season, they record certain operas and actually live stream some of them to local theaters. Besides being a more economical option for opera fans, there's another benefit.

They frequently show interviews with some of the opera performers, and you get a glimpse of the backstage, which is incredible. It's amazing to watch the sets moving on wheels from side to side. Some come up from the floor, some come down from the ceiling.

It's amazing, and the crew moves all these things flawlessly, almost like a ballet behind the scenes, as it all goes unnoticed by those observing the opera. Watching the behind-the-scenes view one time when I was sitting in the theater, it reminded me of the reality of the spiritual realm.

We live in a material world, but we recognize that behind the scenes there's a whole spiritual realm where a cosmic battle for good and evil is being waged. In general, we don't get to see that. We don't know what goes on in the spiritual realm.

But occasionally, God pulls back the curtain and gives us a peek into the spiritual realm. For example, take the Book of Job. The people featured in the Book of Job know little. They don't know about the scene in heaven that the book opens with.

We have access to that, but they didn't know. They're not privy to that information. They do not realize that Job was in his position because he was a favored servant of the Lord. He was blameless and upright.

In fact, just the opposite. His friends said, Job, you've got to be one of the greatest sinners in the history of the world to have all these things come upon you. Job himself is not aware of these things either.

Interestingly enough, if you read the whole Book of Job, God never tells him of why he did it. But that book was given to us for comfort and an encouragement to understand that there are things happening behind the scenes that we do not know about.

Daniel is another one of those books that pulls back the curtain between the spiritual realm and the material realm. And we get a glimpse of what God is doing behind the scenes. We've seen this for nine chapters now.

And now in the final three chapters, God gives Daniel one final yet extremely important prophecy. But there's a question that arises. Why was this prophecy entrusted to Daniel? There are many other prophets in Israel, but Daniel seems to be selected for these very specific prophecies.

It's actually one of the easier questions to answer because one of the consistent themes of our course of study in this book of Daniel has been the character and the faithfulness of Daniel. We've seen his steadfast faith and his commitment to God from the first day he set foot in Babylon.

He had choices to make and he chose to follow God. And God granted him wisdom and understanding far above any of the Babylonian wise men. Granted him favor with the greatest king in the world at that time, Nebuchadnezzar.

And even though he was threatened, he was conspired against, he never wavered in his faith. So it should come as no surprise to us that God chose Daniel to impart this important information to. It's an important message.

A .W. Tozer, a saint of the last century, wrote an essay once that was titled, God Tells the Man Who Cares. He writes, The Bible was written in tears and to tears it will yield its best treasures. God has nothing to say to the frivolous man.

It was to Moses, a trembling man, that God spoke on the mount. And that same man later saved the nation when he threw himself before God with the offer to have himself blotted out of God's book for Israel's sake.

Daniel's long season of fasting and prayer brought Gabriel from heaven to tell him the secret of the centuries. When the beloved John wept much because no one could be found worthy to open a seven-sealed book, one of the elders comforted him with the joyous news that the lion of the tribe of Judah had prevailed.

So I ask again, why entrust this prophecy to Daniel? Because he was a faithful servant who would comfort and encourage others even as he was comforted and strengthened during these prophecies. Look at verse 19.

He said, this is the man said to Daniel, O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you. Take courage and be courageous. Now as soon as he had spoke to me, I received strength and said, May my Lord speak for you have strengthened me.

But let's go back and start at the beginning of the chapter. I've called the verse one is a prologue. Look at verse one. 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. I call this a prologue to the last vision because we know that the book was written by several authors, the primary one being Daniel.

But since Daniel is referred to in the third person in verse one, it appears that this may be one of the other authors who is introducing this last vision. And once again, we're given a time frame of the vision.

It's the third year of the reign of Cyrus. Later on in verse four, we'll see a specific day. It was the 24th day of the first month. So we can date it pretty well. And this being the last vision, the author reminds us that Daniel, this is the same Daniel who was brought from Judah to Babylon and was given the Aramaic name Belteshazzar.

Why was that information in there? Well, I believe it's there because the mere fact that Daniel was able to be identified by his Hebrew name after 70 years in captivity says something about him and his character.

He never lost sight of who he was and he never let anybody else lose sight of who he was. He was a servant of the Most High God. He was a man of great wisdom and discernment. And he received this message from God.

And the text tells us the message was true, but it spoke of great conflict. And then one statement of commentary before we get into the vision. Daniel understood the message and the vision. That's an important point.

Daniel understood it. And here's the context for the vision. Look at verse two. In those days, I, Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. Again, we should not be surprised. Daniel was a prayer warrior.

And along with his prayers, he fasted, and he did that many times. Back in chapter 9 we see, so I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplication with fasting, sackcloth and ashes.

Now, two years later, he goes on another extended fast, a slightly different one. He says, I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine enter my mouth, nor did I use any ointment at all until the three weeks were completed.

But what's important is these are all signs of mourning. Daniel knows that though the allotted period of captivity was over, and the decree to return and rebuild had already been given two years ago by Cyrus, why is he mourning?

Because Daniel knew that the people had learned little from their captivity. And they were not ready spiritually to reoccupy the beloved land. Now, for different reasons, Daniel himself did not return.

And we know this because verse four tells us he was standing on the bank of the Tigris River, which obviously is in Babylon. But there's a lot going on with the return. We know from scripture that relatively few people actually went back into the land at this point.

And those who did go encountered serious, serious opposition. Why is that if Cyrus gave the command to rebuild the city? Well, history tells us that Cyrus was away from the city for a period of time, leaving his son Cambyses in charge of the kingdom.

Cambyses was against the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem, so the captives could expect no help from him. Then remember, Daniel is an older man at this point, and the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem was not for the elderly, nor was it for the weak.

And Daniel, being a leader and used to being the point man, had concerns about the progress of the restoration. He knew that the plan of God could not fail, so he did what he could from where he was. And what was that?

He fasted. And he prayed with fervor and discipline. Sinclair Ferguson addressed this situation in his commentary. He said, What is so remarkable about Daniel here is the way in which he consecrated himself to advance the kingdom of God.

Even though he was not directly involved in the rebuilding of the temple, nor would he ever live to see it, that is a hallmark of true faith and commitment. He believed but did not receive what was promised.

Sounds like Hebrews 11 .35, doesn't it? He prayed for blessing. He would never personally witness what commitment his decision to remain in Babylon displayed. Daniel's concern. So Daniel remains in Babylon, but his concern never varies for the status of the people of God.

One can only imagine what his prayers looked like during that two years since the vision of 70 weeks. He is standing on the bank of the Tigris River with some of his companions who are not named. And the text continues in verse 5 of Daniel 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 Euphrates. His body also was 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 was a tumult. He calls him a man, which means he was at least in human form. But his description is not the norm for describing a mere mortal.

Look how he's described. He was dressed in linen. We'll get back to that later. But he wore a belt of pure gold from Euphrates. Apparently, according to ancient literature, including the Bible, the gold from Euphrates was of a superior quality gold.

This gold is also mentioned in Jeremiah in the same context of being the best possible gold when it was put into the hands of expert goldsmiths. His body was like beryl. Beryl is a precious gemstone and very valuable.

It was one of the gems on the breastplate of the high priest. It was also the color of Ezekiel's vision of the wheels at the beginning of his vision. His wheels are described as sparkling beryl. His face had the appearance of lightning.

His eyes were like flaming torches. His arms and feet like the gleam of polished prawns. Remember, this is a vision and given in very poetic language. And as Daniel describes his figure of a man, he's using descriptions that he is familiar with and would mean something to the original recipients of the book.

Who is this being? Nowhere in scripture do we find a human described in such majestic and glorious manner. And the commentators, as usual, are not all in agreement as to who this man is either. Some say it was Gabriel.

Some say it was Michael, the archangel. Others say it was a Christophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Christ. Personally, I lean more towards that it was Jesus Christ, but I'm certainly not dogmatic on that.

But here's why I believe we can make that presumption. Look how Jesus is described by the apostle John in his vision on the Isle of Patmos. John hears a voice telling him, write what you've seen. And look what he writes.

It's Revelation chapter 1, verse 12. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to his feet, girded across his chest with a golden sash.

His head and his hair were like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it had been made to glow in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.

In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength. Wow, that sounds very similar, doesn't it? And what was John's reaction to this figure?

When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. And he placed his right hand and he said, Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last. Now keep that in mind as we move along in the text. It's not very fruitful to try to interpret each descriptor of this man.

But two of them I think would be helpful. One, the figure wore linen. Linen garments were worn by the high priest, particularly when he entered the holy place. Jesus is our great high priest. Secondly, his face had the appearance of lightning.

Thunder and lightning symbolize power and are often descriptors of God coming from his throne. There are four such references in Revelation, two in Exodus and one in Ezekiel. And if this is not Christ, the description is one of a glorious being dispatched from the throne of God and one that deserves to be heard.

Whatever the case, whoever this being is, something important is about to take place. And Daniel has been chosen to hear and to understand exactly what comes next. But even the words, even the words of this heavenly figure are glorious.

Daniel says they're like a tumult. That's like a roaring sea. Have you ever been on the seashore during a violent storm? It's not only awe-inspiring, but you can hardly talk to the person next to you because the roaring of the crashing of the waves is so loud.

John's description of the voice was that it was of many waters. Again, similar to what Daniel experienced here. Daniel has already received visions from God, but this one is different and rises above all the rest.

And it came with a message for your eyes only. Daniel was the one who this vision was for, Daniel alone. And we see that that happens in verse 7. Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision.

Nonetheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves. Not exactly the same, but that's kind of close to Paul's conversion, isn't it, on the road to Damascus? There the men couldn't see the vision, but they stood speechless.

Here they don't see the vision, but they experience great dread. So much dread came over them, and we don't know exactly why, but they ran away. They were frightened at this vision. When God manifests His glory in such ways as visions, it causes mere mortals to fear and to quake at His presence.

I just want to pause there for a second. As believers in Jesus Christ, as those who have been born again, we've been redeemed. We must never forget the glory and majesty of our great God. Yes, we come boldly and confidently to His throne of grace because we are His children, and He loves us.

Don't ever forget that either. But we must still remember that our loving Heavenly Father is the King of creation. He is the King of the universe, and He deserves our respect, and we should come before Him with reverence and awe.

Case in point, verse 8. So I was left alone, Daniel says, and saw this great vision, yet no strength was left in me. Here's faithful Daniel. Is there any more godly man than Daniel? He says, My strength left me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength.

John fell at his feet like a dead man. Daniel loses his strength and looks like a dead man. But verse 9. 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.

Here is Daniel, who was a prayer warrior, always in prayer to God, always has God in mind. And yet, at this revelation, like a dead man. We haven't reached the vision yet, but I think there's a couple of lessons that can be learned, even so far.

First, Daniel is as close to a single-minded person that we will find in Scripture. From the beginning of his captivity, his number one focus is serving his great God faithfully. Second to that is his love and devotion for the city of God, Jerusalem, the temple city.

Remember when he prayed, he had his windows faced so they faced Jerusalem, so that when he prayed, he could keep Jerusalem in mind. Not out of command or not out of requirement to do so, but as a reminder of the promises of God that one day God's people would return to the city.

The appearance of this visionary, this visionary being, is a reminder that God is the covenant-keeping God. Just think about it, Daniel seeing this visionary being. Remember the manifestation of God on Mount Sinai?

When God is giving the Ten Commandments, lightning, peals of thunder, as the law was written in stone. Now these words remind Daniel that God keeps his law. He keeps his word. And later on in the vision, Daniel will be comforted by these very facts, that God is a covenant-keeping God.

Part of that comfort is the reminder of God's past faithfulness to his people. Sinclair Ferguson again said this, an important spiritual principle is enshrined here. Knowledge of God's work of grace in the past encourages us to trust him and seek his blessing in the present and for the future.

This is a reminder to us of the importance to know church history. We've been going through a lot of church history and it's important that we learn it. Because we can learn and be encouraged from the entire history of the post-apostolic church.

We have more than just the scriptures, which were special and important and of course inspired. But we can still learn today from great saints. Then we get to the reason for the vision. Perhaps the best way to proceed is to look a little peek behind the curtain again.

Daniel is asked a question in verse 20. The question is, do you understand why I came to you? And I want you to pay close attention to this because this is an important section. It says, do you understand why I came to you?

The answer actually begins all the way back in verse 2. Daniel had been mourning for an entire three weeks. He was fasting and praying. The answer continues in verse 11, where the being says, O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you.

Daniel was highly esteemed, even in heaven. And then the answer continues into verse 12. The being said to him, Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard and I have come in response to your words.

Do you get what he's saying? The bottom line, Daniel, I'm here because of your prayers. I'm here because of you. Now granted, Daniel was a prophet, a man chosen by God to accomplish marvelous things, but his life is still instructive for us.

So let me ask you a question. Do you want your prayers to be answered? Pray like Daniel. Pray like Daniel. Look at his intensity in prayer as it is accompanied by fasting and mourning. That's fervent praying.

Scripture tells us the fervent prayers of the righteous man avail much. Those type of prayers bring results. And the heavenly being tells him that from the first day he began praying, he was heard. From the first day his prayers were heard.

Then why the delay in the response? Well, that's a fair question. And the answer may be surprising to many people. The answer is spiritual warfare. Look at 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. In other words, he says, I was sent immediately. As soon as you prayed, I was sent.

But the prince of Persia detained me for three weeks. But then Michael came and helped me or I probably wouldn't even be here now. You get the point? It's spiritual warfare. Now look at verses 20 and 21.

Then he said, Do you understand why I came to you? 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. However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth.

Yet there is one who stands firmly with me against those forces except Michael, your prince. Now the curtain is pulled fully wide. It's open. And Daniel is told about the spiritual warfare going on as a response to his prayers.

He's given a glimpse of the reality of the spiritual realm. Much as Elisha, remember Elisha's servant, was bemoaning the fact that the Aramaean army was surrounding Jerusalem and, whoa, what are we going to do, Elisha?

It's just you and me. And Elisha prays that his eyes would be opened and God opens his eyes and the whole forest, the whole mountain was filled with the army of God. One of the principles that we've seen in our study of Daniel is the connection between the spiritual realm and the material realm.

How you live your life and how you pray is important. What you do and how you do it have spiritual consequences. Abraham Kuyper, the old Dutch theologian, said, if once the curtain were pulled back and the spiritual world behind it came into view, it would expose to our spiritual vision a 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. Our earthly struggle drones in its backlash. With those thoughts in mind, I'm going to close with some thoughts on spiritual warfare. But we're not finished with chapter 10 yet, by any stretch.

We're just scratching the surface. But there's some lessons we can learn on spiritual warfare. First, the events of this world cannot properly be understood apart from the knowledge of the spiritual realm.

We have to keep that in mind. For example, every time the church has been the subject of persecution, what happens? It prospers spiritually. You can't explain that if you don't take into consideration the spiritual realm.

Second, Christians are inevitably caught in spiritual conflict. Why is this so? Because from the moment you are born again, you are in the spiritual kingdom of heaven. Paul says in Ephesians 1, 3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.

And later on in that same epistle, he warns, therefore, that we don't wrestle in verse 12 of chapter 6. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

That's what the being was telling Daniel. I've got to go. There's a battle to fight. And that battle is going to affect what happens to the people of God. But I'm here because of your prayers. Third, don't underestimate the power of prayer.

Daniel learned this lesson during the last vision from God. His prayers were important enough to be heard in heaven and, of course, to be answered by Almighty God. Mary, Queen of Scots, no friend of Christianity, by the way, and if you don't know your history, she's reputed to have said that she feared the prayers of John Knox more than she feared an invading army.

She at least got that right. But remember this, the power does not dwell in the prayer itself. The power is in the one who answers the prayer. Fourth lesson from this vision, God's people are never alone.

Speaking about angels, the author of Hebrews says, and are they not all ministering spirits sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? They're ministering spirits to us.

I mentioned a few weeks ago, I think it was, I don't believe in the doctrine of a guardian angel. Each one of us have it assigned. I believe in the doctrine of guardian angels. How many angels do you need?

That's how many you're going to get. People of God are never alone. Look at the story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They weren't alone even in the midst of the blazing furnace. And then of course, most importantly, we have the promise from God himself who said, I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you.

If you do decide to ever, if you've never been before, and you do decide to go to the opera, may I suggest that the first one you see is Aida? It's a great opera for a first-timer. Why? Because it is truly spectacular.

But just remember that while you are watching the actors, there's an army of stagehands working feverishly behind the scenes for your enjoyment. Christian, don't forget, you're involved in spiritual warfare.

And that can only be waged with spiritual weapons, not material ones. Reading the Word, prayer, fellowship of the saints, partaking of the Lord's Supper. These are the weapons of our warfare. Yes, we have a lot of work to do in the material realm.

We have things we have to do. Keeping our politicians in check, doing all of these type of things, bringing the Word. But remember, it's primarily the ministry of the Word and prayer. If you're here today and you're not a believer, you're under the domain of the Prince of Darkness.

Repent of your sin and be translated from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's dear Son. Let's pray.