Message of the Week

The Little White Community Church

Scripture:  Daniel 10: 1-21             

Oct. 13, 2024

Message: “War in the Heavens!”          

By Pastor George Gnade

Intro: 1. In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, he made a decree allowing the Jews to return to their own land. This was an answer to Daniel’s prayer in Dan. 9. 

a. But many Jews did not choose to return, and Daniel himself could not return because of his position in the government.

b. In the 3rd year of Cyrus the Great, Daniel still had a great burden for God’s people.

2. As a result, he felt led to fast for 21 days. When suddenly, “a man appeared to him who was clothed in linen, wearing a belt made of gold…His body was like chrystolite, his face like lighting, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like gleaming bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude” (Dan. 10::5-6).

a. In Dan. 7:13, Jesus appeared as the “Son of Man” who was ascending into heaven to receive power and glory from God the Father.

b. Many believe that “the man with a face like lightning” that appeared to Daniel in Dan. 10 was another picture of the Jesus working behind the scenes with His angels under Him.

3. Other people were with Daniel when the vision occurred. They neither saw nor heard anything. But a sense of fear overwhelmed them, causing them to flee and hide (Vs. 7). This is similar to what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).

a. Daniel himself “fell into a deep sleep” with his face to the ground. That is when a hand touched him and told him “he was highly esteemed” and “to listen carefully” (Vs.10-11). Then he was strengthened and told to stand.

b. Since he was still trembling, he was also told not to be afraid. This was to remind us that this story is not about how great Daniel was but how great Jesus was. 

A. Let us begin by considering how this vision was an answer to Daniel’s prayers.

1. In vs. 12, this Son of Man says: “Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding…., your words were heard, and I have come to respond to them. The prince of Persia resisted me for 21 days.

a. Daniel had been fasting for 21 days (Vs.2). During those same days, the prince of Persia resisted Jesus.

b. To resist Jesus does not mean he was stronger than Jesus. It means he was against Jesus. But Jesus, in answer to Daniel’s prayers, was holding him back.

2. In vs. 13, Jesus says, “Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me because I was detained there by the king of Persia. So I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia.”

a. Michael is an archangel. In Dan. 12:1, he is also called the prince of Daniel’s people. Jesus commanded him to take his place while He came to speak with Daniel.

b. Many scholars believe we are being told of a heavenly war paralleling the wars between the kingdoms on earth. It may very well be that there are angels assigned to different countries to oppose evil angels who are opposed to the Lord.

c. In John 1:51, Jesus told Nathaniel: “You will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Jesus controls and assigns how the godly angels will assist Him. 

3. God had been telling Daniel what to expect. Daniel reacted by praying all the more for God to help His people. In response, God revealed even more to Daniel about the effectiveness of his prayers and how He would overcome all the forces of evil that would rise up against His people.

B. Having shared with Daniel, how He was answering his prayers, Jesus goes on to now explain what He planned to do next.

1. In vs. 20, He says: “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I do, the prince of Greece will come.”

2. Let me address what Jesus was telling Daniel in reverse order. Jesus plan was to return to Persia and finish what He had begun.

a. In plain words, Jesus was not being defeated by the opposition. He was simply biding His time, keeping matters under His control, until the right moment arrived. 

b. In previous visions, the Lord already told Daniel what to expect next. He told him that the prince of Greece would arise and put an end to the kingdom of the Persians. 

3. But Jesus also wanted Daniel to understand why it was so important to the Lord to come and speak with him in answer to his prayers. It was so he could be used of the Lord to aide Him in writing His Word of Truth (Vs. 21). 

a. God’s Word of Truth is the Bible that He was using the Holy Spirit to help Daniel write. As a prophet called by God, Daniel was given all these visions and their inter-pretations so God’s people would be prepared for the next 500 years.

b. God would use Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther to guide God’s people through the rule of the Persian kings.

c. He would use Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi to teach His people more about the work of God that had to be done by the Jews themselves before Jesus came to earth on the first Christmas morning. 

4. But God wanted to use Daniel to help prepare His people for the trials that would arise during the reign of Greeks and the Romans before Jesus was born. These times would be very difficult, but God did not want His people to be scared. He would still be in control.

a. This was God’s way of preparing His people for the first coming of Christ, just as the Book of Revelation would be used of God to prepare us for the second coming of Christ.

b. After all, we live in scary times too. But God does not want us to be scared either. So the Bible tells us what will happen before it happens so we will go on believing.

5. In Rev. 10:1-4, we are told of seven thunders that the Apostle John heard, but he was told not to tell us what he learned. It was God’s way of teaching us that God does tell us what we need to know, but some things we do not have to know. We simply have to keep on trusting Him.

In Conclusion: 1. There was a four hundred year gap between the O.T. writings and the N.T. writings. The O.T. tells us about how Jesus would come while the N.T. tells us all about how He came and what we should believe about Him.

2. These N.T. writings were completely written before 100 A.D. And the whole Bible was compiled and put together by around 300 to 400 A.D.  That was around 1600 years before our own day and age. 

a. It is certainly true that Jesus and His apostles have told us many things to look for as the climax of history approaches.

b. But our relationship to Christ will always be a matter of faith. There will always be things we don’t understand, and questions we can not answer.

3. But there is no “Book of Truth” more complete and greater than the Bible we have. Therefore, we should read and study and learn all we can from it. Amen.