Daniel 10:10 Suddenly, a hand touched me and set me shaking on my hands and knees. Daniel 10:11 He said to me, “Daniel, you are a man treasured by God. Understand the words that I’m saying to you. Stand on your feet, because I have now been sent to you.” After he said this to me, I stood trembling. Daniel 10:12 “Don’t be afraid, Daniel,” he said to me, “because from the first day that you purposed to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your prayers were heard. I have come because of your prayers. Daniel 10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me after I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Daniel 10:14 Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the last days, for the vision refers to those days.”
treasured by God
Oh, to be a man or woman treasured by God! Angels will fight battles with demons for days over you. Things will be revealed to you that defy the mind of a genius. Ask nothing more of this life than to be valued by your creator.
Daniel 10:1 In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. The message was true and was about a great conflict. He understood the message and had an understanding of the vision. Daniel 10:2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks. Daniel 10:3 I didn’t eat any rich food, no meat or wine entered my mouth, and I didn’t put any oil on my body until the three weeks were over. Daniel 10:4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris, Daniel 10:5 I looked up, and there was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of gold from Uphaz around his waist. Daniel 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the brilliance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. Daniel 10:7 Only I, Daniel, saw the vision. The men who were with me did not see it, but a great terror fell on them, and they ran and hid. Daniel 10:8 I was left alone, looking at this great vision. No strength was left in me; my face grew deathly pale, and I was powerless. Daniel 10:9 I heard the words he said, and when I heard them I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground.
I was powerless
Barnes writes “It is certain that such visions as those which appeared to Daniel and John would have this effect; and, though we are not to expect that they will now be vouchsafed to men, no one can doubt that there may be such views of God, and heaven, and eternal realities presented to the eye of faith and hope; such joy in the evidence of pardoned sin; such a change from a sense of condemnation to the peace resulting from forgiveness, that the powers of the body may be prostrated, and sink from exhaustion. Indeed, it is not much of the revelation of the divine character that in our present state we can bear” (421).
God’s character is like an active volcano. It is easier to study it from a great distance because getting closer can be dangerous. Oh, but we need to get closer. We need the power of his presence, even if it renders us powerless.
Barnes Albert. Notes Critical Illustrative and Practical on the Book of Daniel with an Introductory Dissertation. Leavitt & Allen 1861.
Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city – to bring the rebellion to an end, to put a stop to sin, to atone for iniquity, to bring in permanent righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the holiest place. Daniel 9:25 Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an Anointed One, the ruler, will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with a plaza and a moat but in difficult times. Daniel 9:26 After those sixty-two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the coming ruler will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come with a flood, and until the end, there will be war; desolations are decreed. Daniel 9:27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”
The seventy weeks of years were fulfilled in history from 458 BC to 30 AD. We are not waiting for a phantom 70th week to be fulfilled after Christ’s return. We are now waiting for the one who put a stop to sacrifice and offering and will return to take his place as the permanent king.
Daniel 9:20 While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before Yahveh my God concerning the holy mountain of my God – Daniel 9:21 while I was praying, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the first vision, reached me in my extreme weariness, about the time of the evening offering. Daniel 9:22 He gave me this explanation: “Daniel, I’ve come now to give you understanding. Daniel 9:23 At the beginning of your petitions an answer went out, and I have come to give it, because you are treasured by God. So consider the message and understand the vision:
an answer went out
An answer to Daniel’s prayer had gone out as soon as he started praying, but he did not receive that answer until later. We often don’t know why there is a delay in God answering our cries for help. But more often than not, it takes a while before we see the answers we seek. Our God is teaching us to trust him.
Our Father in heaven has demonstrated patient love by not immediately administering justice and pouring out his wrath on us. He is looking for children who will demonstrate this same patient love in our prayer lives. Daniel demonstrated this trait. By the time Gabriel visited him, he had become extremely weary. But he was still praying.
Daniel 9:16 Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, may your anger and wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem, and your people have become an object of ridicule to all those around us. Daniel 9:17 Therefore, our God, hear the prayer and the petitions of your servant. Make your face shine on your desolate sanctuary for Yahveh’s sake. Daniel 9:18 Listen closely, my God, and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before you based on our righteous acts, but based on your abundant compassion. Daniel 9:19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, listen and act! My God, for your own sake, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your name.
his abundant compassion
The heart of the gospel is that God’s compassion seeks us. Daniel recognized that God’s abundant compassion was the only hope to restore Jerusalem. We need to realize that his abundant compassion is the only hope for our restoration as well.
Daniel 9:3 So I turned my attention to Yahveh God to seek him by prayer and petitions, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. Daniel 9:4 I prayed to Yahveh my God and confessed: Ah, Lord – the great and awe-inspiring God who keeps his gracious covenant with those who love him and keep his commands – Daniel 9:5 we have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled, and turned away from your commands and ordinances. Daniel 9:6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, leaders, fathers, and all the people of the land. Daniel 9:7 Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but this day public shame belongs to us: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel– those who are near and those who are far, in all the countries where you have banished them because of the disloyalty they have shown toward you. Daniel 9:8 Lord, the public shame belongs to us, our kings, our leaders, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you. Daniel 9:9 Compassion and forgiveness belong to the Lord our God, though we have rebelled against him Daniel 9:10 and have not obeyed Yahveh our God by following his instructions that he set before us through his servants the prophets. Daniel 9:11 All Israel has broken your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. The promised curse written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, has been poured out on us because we have sinned against him. Daniel 9:12 He has carried out his words that he spoke against us and against our rulers by bringing on us a disaster that is so great that nothing like what has been done to Jerusalem has ever been done under all of the sky. Daniel 9:13 Just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this disaster has come on us, yet we have not sought the favor of Yahveh our God by turning from our iniquities and paying attention to your truth. Daniel 9:14 So Yahveh kept the disaster in mind and brought it on us, for Yahveh our God is righteous in all he has done. But we have not obeyed him. Daniel 9:15 Now, Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand and made your name renowned as it is this day, we have sinned, we have acted wickedly.
we have sinned against you
What a prayer of repentance! Daniel acknowledges the sin of his nation along with the righteous judgment from God. He does not plead for God to reduce the suffering, because God is the judge who has brought it about as a just sentence.
LORD, nothing is happening that we do not deserve, because our sins are great, and you are fair in punishing us for them. Restore us for your name’s sake.
Daniel 9:1 In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, a Mede by birth, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans – Daniel 9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books according to the word of Yahveh to the prophet Jeremiah that the number of years for the desolation of Jerusalem would be seventy.
understood from the books
There are 66 books that you and I need to understand. God has revealed himself and his plan in them. We ignore them to our peril and shame.
Daniel 8:18 While he was speaking with me, I was in a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me, made me stand up, Daniel 8:19 said, “I am here to tell you what will happen at the outcome of the time of wrath, because it refers to the appointed time of the end. Daniel 8:20 The two-horned ram that you saw is the kings of Media and Persia. Daniel 8:21 The shaggy goat is the king of Greece, and the large horn between his eyes is the first king. Daniel 8:22 The four horns that took the place of the broken horn are four kingdoms. They will rise from that nation, but without its power. Daniel 8:23 Near the end of their kingdoms, when the rebels have reached the full measure of their sin, a ruthless king, skilled in intrigue, will come to the throne. Daniel 8:24 His power will be great, but it will not be his own. He will cause outrageous destruction and succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the powerful along with the holy people. Daniel 8:25 He will cause deceit to prosper through his cunning and by his influence, and in his own mind, he will exalt himself. He will destroy many in a time of peace; he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken – not by human hands. Daniel 8:26 The vision of the evenings and the mornings that has been told is true. Now you are to seal up the vision because it refers to many days in the future.” Daniel 8:27 I, Daniel, was overcome and lay sick for days. Then I got up and went about the king’s business. I was greatly disturbed by the vision and could not understand it.
the burden of knowing
If there’s anything worse than not knowing your future, it’s knowing the future and feeling helpless to change it. Daniel’s dilemma made him physically sick for days and left him greatly disturbed. Are you facing a problem that is overwhelming you? Do you find yourself saying “How can I go on?” You are not alone. Some of the greatest people in the world have faced the challenge of living with — not the unknown, but the known.
Daniel eventually found the strength to go on doing the king’s business despite the terrible burden of his knowledge. I pray that you will find that strength as well.
Daniel 8:15 While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me someone who appeared to be a young strong man. Daniel 8:16 I heard a human voice calling from the middle of the Ulai: “Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.” Daniel 8:17 So he approached where I was standing; when he came near, I was terrified and fell face-down. “Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision refers to the end time.”
the end time
The end time that this vision referred to was not the end of the world, but the eventual end of the exile. We need to be careful in our interpretation of prophecies. Many mistakes have been made by not allowing the context to provide the necessary clues to a prophecy’s future fulfillment.
Daniel 8:5 As I was observing, a male goat appeared, coming from the west across the surface of the entire land without touching the ground. The goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. Daniel 8:6 He came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed at him with savage fury. Daniel 8:7 I saw him approaching the ram, and going into a fit of rage against him. He struck the ram, breaking his two horns, and the ram was not strong enough to stand against him. The goat threw him to the ground and trampled him, and there was no one to rescue the ram from his power. Daniel 8:8 Then the male goat grew even more arrogant, but after he became powerful, the large horn was broken. Four conspicuous horns came up in its place, pointing toward the four winds of the sky. Daniel 8:9 From one of them a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the beautiful land. Daniel 8:10 It grew as high as the sky army, made some of the army and some of the stars fall to the land, and trampled them. Daniel 8:11 It acted arrogantly even against the Prince of the sky army; it revoked his regular sacrifice and overthrew the place of his sanctuary. Daniel 8:12 In the rebellion, the army was given up, together with the regular sacrifice. The horn threw truth to the ground and was successful in what it did. Daniel 8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the speaker, “How long will the events of this vision last – the regular sacrifice, the rebellion that makes desolate, and the giving over of the sanctuary and of the army to be trampled?” Daniel 8:14 He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be restored.”
tested and found to be true
The first invasion of the Holy Land by Antiochus IV was on September 6th, 170 BC. The temple was cleansed and restored on December 25th, 164 BC. The prophecy was fulfilled exactly as his oppression of Israel took 2,300 literal days. The fact that this revelation is in the Hebrew section of Daniel also corresponds to the subject matter of the prophecy: the oppression of Israel under a Gentile king.
Our Bibles can be trusted. The word of God is reliable, and its messages to us have been tested and found to be true. We can trust what the gospel says about the eternal destiny of those who put their faith in the Messiah revealed in the Bible.
