Daniel (17)

Read Daniel 10:1-21

Pray

Introduction: Hebrews 4:12 tells us…

Hebrews 4:12 ESV

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Transition: Those belonging to Christ know the firm reality of this truth. We know the joy of God’s word increasing our love and devotion. We know the cutting of God’s word correcting our thoughts and intentions. We know the sharpness of God’s word to cut through the fluff of our lives that often distracts us from pursuing Christ.

Daniel chapter 10 contained a prelude to his final vision which is detailed in chapters 11 and 12. Chapter 10 serves as a kind of introduction to unfolding of the last two chapters. This prelude records Daniel’s posture and personal interaction with a glorious angelic messenger who explains why he has come, and why he has been delayed, and the nature of the message.

Transition: In verse 1 we discover an outline for the rest of the chapter. Specifically, 4 key attributes about God’s word. As we read.. “a word was revealed to Daniel, the word was true, it was a great conflict, and lastly he understood the word. With God’s help, today we are going to work through these four attributes of God’s word. First of which, God’s word is…

Attributes of God’s Word

1. Revealed

The word was revealed at a specific time. The historical context is recorded as the third year of of Cyrus, which would have been about 2 years after the vision in chapter 9. Also, the events of chapter 10 would have been close to time in Lions den. Notice also, 10:4... 24th of 1st month. According to the Jewish calendar, Daniel would have been fasting during the festival of Passover. (briefly explain) As we have noted before, Daniel was still living according to his his people’s calendar even while away from his homeland and being subject to the schedule of pagan kings, he still operated according to God’s agenda.

Also notice that the word was Revealed by a glorious messenger whch is described in verses 5-6. A man clothed in linen is wearing a belt of fine gold from Uphaz. he has a body like beryl, which was a precious stone. his face was like lightening His eyes were like flaming torches. His arms and legs were gleaming like burnished bronze. And his words sounded like multitude. It’s no wonder the men with Daniel trembled and fled, and Daniel himself eventually fell on his face.

This heavenly being may have been the angel Gabriel who had appeared to Daniel twice before. He was the message bear of God, just as this one came bringing a revelation. But Gabriel wasn’t described with this much glory previously, so it could have been another warrior angel. Many have suggested this could have been a pre- appearance Jesus before his coming to earth with a human body. The apostle John gives a vivid description of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1 that looks very similar to this. Other encounters that people had with the Angel of the Lord in the Old Testament offer similar descriptions of Jesus. However, it doesn't seem like Jesus’ business to bring messages when he Himself is the word that would become flesh. Further more, we can hardly imagine Jesus needing help from Michael to fight against a demonic prince of Persia in verse 13. Whatever our conclusion is about this glorious messenger the emphasis here is that…

The subject of revelation is crucial. According to Romans 1:20 ,God has revealed Himself in general way through what He has created. the existence of God can be clearly known because of what He has made. The result being that all of humanity is without excuse. However, Hebrews 1:1-2 tells us…

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

This is the special, or particular revelation of God. He has revealed Himself know through the word that became flesh and dwelt among us. Also, we note that God has granted us His special revelation in what has been written and preserved in the Bible.

Transition: God’s word was revealed to Daniel, and the word of God is revealed to us in the truth contained in Scripture. Which takes us to the second attribute of God’s word. It is…

2. True This means the word was faithful, firm, trustworthy, dependable, and permanent. We see in 10:21 the word is inscribed, or written in a book of truth. This means that God’s word is determined, solidified, and unchanging.

Now, we have His word written for us on ink and page , completed and contained in the 66 books of the Bible. Thankfully, we do not need to have an angel appearance in order to know what is true. This is one of the reasons we do not need to be concerned about having encounters with angels and why it may seem like we do not encounter angels as often as is recorded in Scripture. Simply, we have the message of the gospel contained in Scripture, and we have God the Holy Spirit/ the Spirit of truth in our hearts teaching us this truth.

We live in a context that desperately needs truth. So often we are slammed with the false notions of subjectivity and moral relativism. We think we can make our own truth. We may even doubt the possibility of absolute or unchanging truth. We experience this sad reality in our schools, conversations with our families, in politics, in …

Christians, we are people of truth. This doesn't make us dogmatic and disruptive. But it does make us confident and capable of speaking into the situations of our day with hope and help in a time of need.

Transition: God’s word is revealed, it is true, and third…

3. Conflicting. A Great conflict This means both that the word was delivered to Daniel with great distress as observed in verse 13. However, it was also conflicting is what it contained; as we will discover from chapters 11 and 12 and the future details of great warfare.

Application: How often do we consider the conflict that surrounds our study of Scripture? Certainly, we contend against our own flesh in order to press into the discipline of studying the Bible. That may be at home in your private worship, together for family worship, or even as we gather here on Sundays for corporate worship. We face the conflict of our own flesh distracting us, deluding us, and deceiving us to place more priority on other things that we think give us life. However, just as often we are also contending against spiritual forces, demons, principalities, unseen powers of the air that comes against us to keep us away from the life giving nourishment of God’ word. Thankfully, greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world. So we can resist and win these battles! And we have ministering , holy angels fighting for us. All this to say, the Word of God is available to us, but do not think it will get deep down into your heart without some conflict! We are blessed to have this sword available to us, and we dare not let it collect dust! If your waiting for the prime opportunity.. it will never come. If you only pick it up when there are obstacles, you are too late. If you are a Christian, feast upon God’s word as you would a physical meal. Drink from this fountain as you would from a cold spring on a hot day. Oh God, make us hungry and thirsty for your word!

4. Understood (vs. 11) (the Hebrew word for understanding (Byn) is used 5 times in this chapter. It has the connotation of perception, examination, paying attention, or mental discernment. This means that God’s word is not confusing.. rather it is crystal clear. Notice how Daniel understood....

a. Daniel was strengthened to understand .Read verses 10:17-19

Don't think too much of this, because genesis 32 tells us, when Jacob was touched by an angel he walked with a limp for the rest of his life. If you were watching any TV dramas during the 90’s we should note that Daniel’s “Touch by an angel” was far more meaningful than the TV show could have ever captured.

Daniel’s record reminds us that God’s word is powerful and we are weak. We need His help, His mercies, His grace, to understand His word. The kindness that the messenger is showing Daniel in verse 19 is the same kindness we need to be strengthen in the power of His might so that we should not only comprehend God’s word but also obey it.

Transition: Daniel understood because he was strengthened, but also because he…

b. Daniel set his heart to understand! Read 10:12. The hebrew word for heart has to do with the inner attitude or thoughts. The combination of the emotions, the mind and the will. So we ask..

How did he set his heart to understand? Specifically, by humbling himself before His God. We must pause at this point to ask ourselves a very important question. Can you say with certainty, “God is my God”? If you are not a Christian, the reality's we are focusing on about God’s word will not be true for you until you are first humbled before your Creator. If your not a Christian here are some questions that you should be thinking about. Who is Jesus? Why did He die and raise from the dead? Am I ready to give an account of my life to Him when He returns? We’d love to chat with you about these questions and I would encourage you to talk with someone today before you go home.

Daniel, set his heart to understand by humbling himself before his God. How did he humbled himself? In first person, Verse 2 says that…

The way he humbled himself before God was through mourning (vs. 2); which means he was grieving with sadness. What caused him to grieve? Why was he sad? According to verse 14.. the understanding that was being given to Daniel, concerned “what is to happen to your people in the latter days.” Knowing that this word came to Daniel as a result of him setting his heart to understand shows us the reason Daniel was grieving and fasting was the condition of his people.

Church family, we should recognize the blessing of being able to grieve. We may not like feeling sad, but it is a blessing to have this emotion so long as it turns our hearts to God. laments, and grieving, and experiencing sadness is a way for us to have our hearts adjusted to the very things that concern God.

For example: Turn with me to Psalm 137 In consideration of this song… Sinclair Ferguson poses this question, “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

Application: Sadly, often we don't sing for Zion because we are too comfortable with Babylon. Perhaps we forget and need reminded that our hope is in our future glory with Christ. To be together forever in Heaven; our eternal Zion.

Our hearts are prepared for truth by grieving what grieves God. Lamenting and feeling the pain ad problems of God’s people softens our hearts to receive His word. Perhaps, one reason we do not experience the transforming power of God word is that we are too often sad about the wrong things? Church, we can sing in tragedy. We can understand and discern our days with God’s truth by humbly being concerned about the things that concern God. And we know from His word that he is concerned about His glory and His people.

Transition: 4 keys realities about God’s word. It is communicated, correct, conflicting, and clear.

Closing questions: What hinders our understanding of truth? What hinders our prayer from being heard? What keeps us from being strengthened in the Lord? Are we serious enough about grieving with God that we would give up delicacies and conveniences of our lives? We are far too concerned about health and safety which is obvious by the things that consume our prayers. Do we surrender our hearts to understand His truth? Will we humble ourselves before our God?

Extras:

As I've studied over the years, and received instruction from others, I have been told that Daniel and revelation are very similar, and in order to understand the latter, we should comprehended the former. Notice some of the similarities between the two.

Summarized Bible: Complete Summary of the Old Testament Chapter One Striking Facts: This book is written by a man “greatly beloved” (9:23), and deals with much the same prophecies as those of Revelation written by “the beloved disciple,” (John). Note similarity between the two: 1. In captivity. Dan. 1:6 ; 8:2 ; Rev. 1:9 . 2. Beloved. 10:11; John 13:23 . 3. Heard the Lord’s voice. 8:16; 10:9; Rev. 1:10 . 4. Saw the Lord’s face. Dan. 10:6 ; Rev. 1:14 . 5. Prostrated. 10:8–9; Rev. 1:17 . 6. Quickened. 10:10, 18; Rev. 1:17 . 7 Angel taught. 10:11, 12; Rev. 1:1