Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

We’ve been studying the book of Daniel for a while and one theme has come up more than any other: God is the King of kings and He rules in the affairs of men.

From the very beginning of Daniel’s story we find God‘s fingers in the middle of everything—helping Daniel and his friends with their troubles, troubling the king and wooing his heart, revealing his plans for the future, and guiding the course of history.

Paul said it this way:

God has determined the times and boundaries of nations.

Which is why we saw the Babylonian empire grow and then be conquered by the Medes and Persians just like God said it would be.

And then we saw the Persian empire grow, and then be conquered by the Greeks under Alexander the Great just like God described.

And then the Greek empire divided into four pieces after Alexander’s untimely death, just like God predicted it would.

Then Rome conquered Greece with its iron military.

And then Rome assisted the Jews in killing the Messiah, just as Daniel 9 predicted.

All the big players and time frames for this story were predicted and determined by God.

He is the one who rules in the affairs of men.

Today we’re going to explore the last three chapters of Daniel in a big-picture finale to this amazing book.

Prayer Warrior

There are very few things that Daniel is described as doing.

One of the most prominent is prayer.

As much or more than anything else we find Daniel in prayer.

We find him praying for an answer to the dream in Daniel 2, and praying in Daniel 6 despite the death decree, and praying again in Daniel 9, and again in Daniel 10.

If the central theme about God in Daniel is the fact that He guides the course of history, then the central theme about people in Daniel is our need to humble ourselves to God’s rule and surrender our needs to Him in prayer.

And the amazing thing Is that God actively answers Daniel’s prayers.

We saw that in Daniel 2 when Daniel faced death, and again in Daniel 6 when he was going to be thrown into the lion’s den.

But in Daniel 9 and 10 he prayers for a different reason.

Look back at Daniel 9:

now skip forward to verses 16 and 17

The vision that Daniel received in the previous chapter was all about the sanctuary and desolation and Daniel interpreted that vision to mean that the sanctuary wouldn’t be repaired for another 2,300 years.

That thought was devastating to Him, and so he prayed that God would honor his 70 year prophecy from Jeremiah.

He prayed this for “the Lord’s sake.”

Not for his own needs, but for the sake of God’s mission.

The conclusion to Daniel’s prayer is the ideal that we all want when we pray—an angel came to talk to Him And show him God’s plan.

It didn’t take long.

He started praying, and by the time he was done there was the angel, dispatched from God’s throne.

Now skip forward to Daniel 10.

He goes on to describe how he was fasting and seeking God.

This wasn’t a single prayer, but three weeks of prayers.

And notice that he was praying about the vision that he had in Daniel 9 because the angel had revealed to him that the promised Messiah would be “cut off,” and killed.

So Daniel prayed and fasted and prayed and fasted.

Day after day, with no answer.

The last time he prayed like this was just a little over a year ago, and when he prayed the angel came right away.

But this time, no angel.

And so he persists in prayer.

And still no angel.

Every difficulty is a call to prayer.

If you‘re having trouble at home, pray.

If you’re fighting to have victory over a sin, pray.

If you’re dealing with doubt and discouragement, pray.

if your finances are a mess, pray.

If you’re feeling lonely, pray.

if you’ve just had a fight with a friend, pray.

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But there’s something different about Daniel’s prayers in Daniel 9 and 10.

He’s not praying because HE himself is having trouble, he’s praying for the bigger concerns of God’s kingdom.

He’s praying the way that Jesus taught his disciples to pray,

Matthew 6:9–10 (ESV)

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Daniel’s chief concern is for the glory of God, and for the fulfillment of His covenant promises.

And at the same time, he’s praying for wisdom and understanding.

He’s saying, “Lord, for your name’s sake forgive and have mercy, and please help me understand what your doing.”

We need to pray because it puts us in the place of surrender to the will of God, and because it gives God the opportunity to give us understanding and peace.

God will do more in answer to the prayer of a believing person than He could have done if they hadn’t prayed.

But what if God doesn’t answer your prayer?

It’s far too common for God’s people to fall into doubt and cynicism when God doesn’t answer their prayers in the time or in the way they want Him to.

Let’s examine two important principles from Daniel’s experience:

Daniel’s prayer in chapter 9 reveals his ignorance of God’s plan.

We don’t come to God with great wisdom and knowledge, we come to Him in prayer recognizing that He sees the master plan, and we don’t.

We pray in ignorance.

We have a few of the big picture prophecies, some grand principles to guide our lives, and the promises that God is just and merciful and loving.

But we don’t see the details.

Which means its not wrong for us to feel uncertain or even question our circumstances or the things we find in Scripture.

But instead of wallowing in our doubt And uncertainty, God invites us to take our difficulties and questions to Him in prayer.

and it’s important for us to recognize that we don’t know the right outcome to our prayers.

Which means we need to submit ourselves to God‘s best plans for our lives.

Daniel’s experience in chapter ten shows us that God is dealing with a much bigger struggle than we can comprehend, and far beyond our present concerns.

And yet, he’s still very interested in our prayers and wants to help us with our problems.

Let’s see how that plays out in this story:

Daniel was praying for three weeks and then, on April 23rd, while he was praying by the Tigris river he saw a vision of a messenger from God.

What he saw was a being clothed in brilliant white and wrapped in gold.

His skin shown and his face was like looking into a lightning bolt with eyes shining even brighter than his face.

He looked around him and all his companions fled in fear for what they heard, but they didn’t see the being Daniel saw.

Even Daniel had a little fear and he fell to the ground without strength.

The angel reached down and lifted Daniel up off the ground and gave him supernatural strength.

And then he said something amazing…

The moment Daniel started to pray this messenger was sent from the throne of God to answer Daniel’s questions, but he was delayed along the way.

Who can delay an angel?

Can swords or bullets or magical spells prevent an angel?

No.

Only another angel, a wicked angel, could withstand one of God’s messengers.

And notice how God intervened to ensure the answer to Daniel’s prayer got to him.

Michael, the archangel, the chief over all the armies of God, the co-eternal 3rd person of the godhead, and the one who would one-day become God incarnate in Jesus Christ, came to assist His angel messenger.

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Do you understand what this means for you and me?

God knows no delay and no haste, but we are so impatient.

We pray once or a few times, but quickly lose heart and stop.

If we could just see the bigger picture and wait on the Lord, praying persistently for God to reveal His plan, then God will answer our prayer.

Sometimes He will answer immediately, like he did in Daniel 9, and sometimes it takes him a while because there are evil forces at work, battling against us, and God himself must intervene to bring us the answer.

God always answers our prayers.

Sometimes it takes a while, and sometimes we get an answer we don’t like.