Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Opening Quote: Thailand — Coming to Faith in Christ

I’ve shared this story once before but I’d like to share it again.

Years ago I was a missionary in Thailand and there was one particular evening.

I had been investing my time in a Thai friend, deeply Buddhist, for a number of months.

One evening, my friend was staying at my apartment on the extra bed.

We had a deep study in the Scriptures that evening and I could see his heart was softening.

As I was preparing for bed that night, I had the overwhelming that my friend was about to accept Christ.

I got into bed, and suddenly a feeling came over me that I can only explain as a tremendous fear.

I was terrified, of what, I’m not sure.

But I still remember to this day feeling anxious and afraid.

The next thing I know, I’m out.

I wake up in the morning, and my friend who had stayed over said, “I’m ready to accept Jesus.”

I said, “What happened?”

He said, “Last night before I fell asleep something was telling me to leave.

But before I could, I felt a finger on my forehead, essentially telling me I was His.”

Personal

I think we in the Western Church often fail to live with a Biblical worldview.

A worldview that recognizes that there is far more happening in this world, both in the smaller relational issues we face, to the larger issues that we face with work and finances and health, all the way to the political issues we face as a city, and as a nation.

The Biblical worldview is that there is this crossover happening of the phsyical world we see and the spiritual battles taking place underneath those issues.

I believe that night in Thailand there was a tremendous battle happening for my friend, and it ended the moment the Lord claimed him

Contextual

In our passage today Daniel has a vision of an angel that sheds light on the spiritual realities taking place behind what Daniel could see with his eyes.

Daniel 10 begins this way:

Daniel 10:1 “1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar.

And the word was true, and it was a great conflict.

And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision.”

This gives us the context of the passage.

This date is placed right around 536BC.

About two years has passed since the events of chapter 9 where the angel Gabriel appeared to Daniel and told gave the prophecy about the coming of the messiah who would take away sin.

Since those events, the first wave of Jewish people had been taken back to the land of Israel from Babylon.

Daniel was not in that first resettlement crew.

Rather he was still serving in the courts of Persia.

Again, Daniel is in his early 80s.

Big Idea

Today’s has one very simple Big Idea that I want us to take away.

Behind every earthly trouble lies a spiritual battle.

I’m going to try to show you three insights from Daniel 10 to help you understand this.

1 God Reigns Supreme Over Your Battles (2-9)

The first insight is that God is Bigger than your Biggest Trial.

Daniel 2:2-10 “2 Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams.

So they came in and stood before the king.

3 And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” 4 Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever!

Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.”

5 The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.

6 But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts and rewards and great honor.

Therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.”

7 They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.”

8 The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, be…”

This Begins with Daniel Praying Fervently

What is happening in this text?

This incident begins with Daniel praying fervently.

Consider how fervently Daniel was praying.

He was “mourning” for three weeks.

He was fasting from meat and wine for three weeks.

Verse 4 even seems to indicate that he had left his post in the center of Persia to go to the banks of the Tigris River.

He is likely on a spiritual retreat of sorts when these events take place.

Here’s the point.

Daniel was seeking God and seeking answers from God.

He was troubled over circumstances and he was pouring his heart out to God.

What exactly was he troubled about.

The text doesn’t say exactly.

What Was He Mourning Over

The question is ‘What was he mourning over?’ and the answer is, ‘We don’t know exactly.’

But it seems likely that Daniel is overwhelmingly nervous for his fellow Jews who have been released to be part of the first wave of migrants to go back to Jerusalem after the 70 years.

This would been an incredibly dangerous trip.

Daniel is likely in angst over the condition of his people.

Are they okay?

Will they survive once they get to Jerusalem.

Some Believe He is an Angel

And then, while Daniel is praying, he looks up and he has a vision of a heavenly being.

this is a being that far surpasses any created being we see in scripture.

His face is like lightning.

His eyes like flaming swords.

His voice sounds like a chorus of millions speaking simultaneoulsy.

There is debate over who this being is.

Some believe that the identity of the being that Daniel is seeing right now is an incredibly high ranking angel but I don’t think so.

I Believe it is God

I believe, as do many others, that this is a vision of God.

What Christians would call a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ.

The significance of this is quite important.

This is not the only time that God has appeared in physical form to prophets in the Old Testament.

In Exodus 33 God makes his glory pass by Moses.

But because his glory is so powerful he hides Moses in the cleft of a rock so that Moses would not be overwhelmed.

God permits Isaiah to have a vision of the throne room of God in Isaiah 6 where God appears in physical form to Isaiah.

The prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 1 had a nearly identical experience.

And so, its not uncommon in the Old Testament for God to appear to his prophets in some physical glorified form.

We call that the the pre-incarnate Christ.

Revelation Supports this View

Further, the book of Revelation in the New Testament has a passage that describes a scene where Jesus in heaven.

And we read the following words:

Revelation 1:13-15 “13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.

14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow.

His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.”

It’s almost the same description.

What is God doing here?

Daniel is mourning, broken, deeply hurting.

He’s been waiting for some answer to God.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

And then finally God shows up and presents himself to Daniel.