Daniel 10: 7-11 “Grace”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, and the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell on them and they fled in hiding themselves. ⁸And I was left alone and I saw the vision the great the this and no strength remained in me and my glory was turned to corruption and I kept no strength. ⁹And I heard the sound of His words and as I [was] hearing the sound of His words, and I was one being dropped into deep sleep upon my face and my face earthward. ¹⁰And behold! A hand touched me and set me trembling on my knees and the palms of my hands, ¹¹and he said to me, “Daniel, man greatly valued, understand in the words which I [am] speaking to you and stand on your place, because now I am sent to you,” And in his speaking with me the word the this, I stood up trembling.

There is so much more to observe in these verses! Here are some more thoughts, not necessarily in any order. In v.8, I’ve translated the Hebrew to say, “And I was left alone and I saw the vision the great the this and no strength remained in me and my glory was turned to corruption and I kept no strength.” Notice the “my glory was turned to corruption.” The phrase is a bit tricky to translate as the Hebrew words have a very wide range of meaning. The old KJV translated it, “All my comeliness became corruption,” while the NIV translates it “my face turned deathly pale.”

I’m not at all persuaded that Daniel is referring to his appearance, as in “my face turned deathly pale.” I say that for at least two reasons. First of all, Daniel can’t see his face. Why would that particularly strike him? As he records the ways this vision profoundly affected him, I doubt “his appearance” would even come to his mind. The second reason is his age. Remember he’s somewhere around 90 years old. I’m sorry, but that is one of the effects of aging – to turn deathly pale! With young people and all their naturally vivacious color, when they’re sick or deeply frightened, there may be a very pronounced change in their countenance. They really can turn “deathly pale,” but I’m not so sure that’s true of us old folks. I seriously doubt there’s enough difference to even notice – and since Daniel probably wasn’t carrying around a mirror, again I doubt that his appearance was of any concern at all to him.

What would concern him about himself? As we noted earlier, this vision carries our Daniel into the presence of Jesus Himself and the pure holiness of heaven and angels. Frankly, I think the old KJV translators got it right: “All my comeliness became corruption.” Daniel would not be struck by the condition of his face, but rather of his soul! What he’s saying is that everything which perhaps had appeared to him noteworthy suddenly turns to ashes. Let’s stop and acknowledge that he was in fact a model believer. He was, by our standards, a truly faithful man. Although he clearly was not swallowed up by his pride, he had to be aware of his life and how it compared with others around him.

Suddenly he is in the presence of not a bunch of other (worse) sinners, but rather pure holiness. Whatever even he himself might have considered “comeliness” would be reduced to “corruption.” As Isaiah said, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). As Paul says, “Comparing themselves with themselves, they become unwise” (II Cor. 10:12). Even the very best of the best of us are still fallen sinners, desperately in need of grace. Only when Jesus “makes our lowly bodies like His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21) will we be able to stand unashamed in the presence of pure holiness. Until then, let Daniel remind us, we never come to God on the basis of what we perceive to be “our merits.” We can come boldly to Him, but we come “to obtain mercy and find grace to help…” (Heb. 4:16). Even if we could be as godly as Daniel, we still come to God on the basis of Jesus’ merits, not ours!

And what grace we see even here in these verses! While Daniel is crushed by the awareness of his own sinfulness, what does the angel tell him? The angel calls to him, “Daniel, you who are highly favored…!” This appellation will get repeated again in v. 19. I’ve noted before how the Babylonians tried to rename him Belshazzar, but even angels call him by his name Daniel! I’ve also noted how important it was for the angel to simply “touch” him. Touch itself can be an expression of grace and affection. I still marvel at the angels themselves. As we’re told in Hebrews 1:14, angels are “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation.” They are pure and holy. They surely can see how sinful we are, how we rebel against God and resist Him, how we fail constantly. I suggested before, I wonder if, to them, we even stink! Yet, what they show us is pure grace. “You who are highly favored…!”

Although we would rarely “see” angels, let us be reminded by this passage, they are always there, and they are very specifically and very deliberately expressions of God’s grace toward us. They are, like us, created beings with names, intelligent beings who think and observe, and who, as servants of the Most High God, are constantly trying to help us, strengthen us, protect us, and help us along the path of grace. Daniel would remind us, though we realize what failures we are, to focus not on ourselves and despair, but rather to embrace the Lord’s grace and accept that even His angels are actively seeking to help us live for Him.

Last thought for whatever it’s worth, beginning in v.10, I think the “hand that touched me” and the voice speaking to him is now an angel and not the Jesus of vv.5,6. Someone may object, “But it doesn’t say that.” The last voice Daniel was hearing was that of the Jesus vision. If we read, “and he said,” that surely refers back to Jesus. My answer would be, if we were writing in English, then, yes, that would be important to us to clearly distinguish between the words Jesus spoke to Daniel and then the shift to that of an angel. However, what we’re reading is not originally written in English but rather in Hebrew and this sort of thing happens all through the Bible, where the dialogue often shifts from one speaker to another with no notation that has happened.

As I have often noted, English is a very technical language. We love to line up all the facts, clearly present them in order, and make our case with what we think is all our very tight logic. Hebrew was none of that. It was a picture language, much more suited to verbal story-telling than to any idea at all of “presenting facts.” With Hebrew, it’s like “you had to be there.” To really understand, you have to let yourself get drawn into the story, listen to what the speaker is trying to relate to you, and then, for us modern American English speakers, lay aside our iron-clad determination to get “all the facts.” As they say, “It just ain’t there.”  In this passage, I am suggesting the shift occurs with the words, “A hand touched me…,” leading to “he said.” Who said? In Hebrew I’m suggesting it would be the person whose hand just touched him. One of them would probably say, “Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it?” We might say, “Not to us!,” to which they might respond, “Why do you have to be told every little fact? Don’t you have a brain?”

So, anyway, let’s let Daniel remind us again that all of our hope is in Jesus, that God is very real, that His angels are very real, and that, though we are sinners and too often miserable failures, we have been swallowed up by grace! Then let us, like Daniel, live that grace ourselves.

 

Daniel 10: 7-11 “Careful What We Wish For!”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses: 

⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, and the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell on them and they fled in hiding themselves. ⁸And I was left alone and I saw the vision the great the this and no strength remained in me and my glory was turned to corruption and I kept no strength. ⁹And I heard the sound of His words and as I [was] hearing the sound of His words, and I was one being dropped into deep sleep upon my face and my face earthward. ¹⁰And behold! A hand touched me and set me trembling on my knees and the palms of my hands, ¹¹and he said to me, “Daniel, man greatly valued, understand in the words which I [am] speaking to you and stand on your place, because now I am sent to you,” And in his speaking with me the word the this, I stood up trembling.

These verses are so full of practical jewels, it’s hard to zero in on any one of them! I think I’ll just dive in. No particular order – just the things I think I see and learn from the passage. First of all, and for whatever it’s worth – it’s interesting how Daniel records the response of the men who were with him. They didn’t see the vision, yet we’re told, “Such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.” The same thing happened to Saul of Tarsus when he met Jesus. We’re told, “The men traveling with Saul stood speechless; they heard the sound, but did not see anyone” (Acts 9:7).

In a sense, in both cases, the other men are witnesses. Someone could say of both Daniel and Saul, “Nothing really happened. They just made up their stories of these incredible visions.” Yet, how would anyone explain away these other men’s responses? Even though they didn’t hear or see the visions, in both cases they would all testify that “something happened.” I would bet, if you could ask them about it, they would all assert that whatever it was, it was something other-worldly, something supernatural.

You and I believe our Bibles, so we don’t need to be convinced the visions were true, yet, in both cases the Lord saw fit to confirm His truth with some witnesses.

That makes me wonder how often the same thing happens to us, whether we know it or not. What I mean is that, everywhere we go as believers, the Lord is doing His amazing supernatural work through us. I wonder how often someone else senses that supernatural presence, even if we were totally unaware of their reaction? I think we’ve all experienced that ourselves – where someone said something or did something and we just knew in our hearts it was way bigger than simply what we saw or heard. For those around us, could that be something the Lord is using to melt another person’s heart, to in some way “crack their armor,” to create even a tiny opening for grace to shine into their hearts?

He says He draws us with “the cords of His love.” Would that not be the effect both of these visions had on those around our friends? In the case before us, they knew Daniel and we can be sure they knew of his faith and his excellent character. Now add to that this “supernatural” experience and how do you suppose it affected them? Could it not have moved them to think seriously about this God of Daniel? May the Lord do the same in the hearts of people around us who need to know Him – in our case, even if we often don’t even realize just how much our Lord is up to.

Then we need to wade into the whole subject of how all of this affects Daniel. I think there is a part of all of us that would say, “I wish I could see angels. I wish I could see visions of heaven and what is going on in the spirit world around me.” Yet, as we’ve noted before, we’d better be careful what we wish for. Daniel has already recorded several visions in the first nine chapters and here we are in the tenth, and what has been his experience? Remember in 7:15 when he said, “I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me,” then in v. 28, he concludes, “This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself.”

Then in chapter 8, the first time Gabriel appears to him, he says, “As he came near the place where I was standing, I was terrified and fell prostrate,” (v.17) then he concludes, “I, Daniel, was exhausted and lay ill for several days…I was appalled by the vision; it was beyond understanding.” The next time Gabriel appears to him in chapter 9, he doesn’t record such an adverse reaction, but here we are in chapter 10 and he’s telling us, “And I was left alone and I saw the great vision, and no strength remained in me and my glory was turned to corruption and I retained no strength…And as he spoke with me this message, I stood up trembling” (vv. 8,11).

As we said, perhaps we’d better be careful what we wish for! Maybe we should all count it a blessing our God doesn’t allow us to see into the spirit world! As we grow in our knowledge of the Lord, we learn to thank Him not only for the gifts He gives but also for those He withholds. There is a grace in receiving, but also in withholding, and it would seem this is one.

And why is that? Hmmmm. How easily we forget that we’re sinners! Oh, yeah. Although I am born again, I am still a child of Adam and always will be until Jesus Himself “transforms our lowly bodies so that they be like His glorious body!” (Phil. 3:21). I know I quickly forget that my heart is “desperately wicked and deceitful above all things,” (Jer. 17:9) and that “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). Even our friend Daniel, as godly as he seems to us, is still one of us – born rebels, prone to wander, broken images of the people God created us to be.

Although it can be variously translated, in v. 8 of our passage Daniel says, upon seeing the vision of the glorified Jesus, “all my comeliness became corruption,” or “all my glory became corruption.” It isn’t just simple fear that drives Daniel to the ground. It is the sudden realization of his horrific sinfulness. Can we imagine what it must really be like as sinners to suddenly be in the presence of pure holiness? It isn’t even close, but I’m reminded of times where I was working outside getting very hot, dirty, and sweaty, then having to step into an office full of well-dressed pretty secretaries, men in office attire, the smell of the ladies’ perfumes, and spotlessly clean furniture and carpets. When I was outside, I didn’t notice how disgusting I was, but suddenly I did and I felt so completely out of place. I was quite happy to get back out into my dirty, stinky world!

That must be about one millionth the horror we would feel to suddenly be in the presence of holy angels! I would suggest that’s just another one of the Lord’s graces to us – not allowing us to really comprehend who we are. He probably allows us just enough of a sense of our sin to keep us humble (if we’ll let Him), but hides most of it, lest we be driven to despair. Thank God for Jesus! As the song says, “Nothing but the blood of Jesus…” “By His will we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ…” (Heb. 10:10).

The day will come for all of us, either through our death or the Coming of Jesus, when “this robe of flesh we’ll drop and rise, to gain the everlasting prize.” It will be that day when “We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed…Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (I Cor. 15:51,57). However, until then, it is a mercy of God that He doesn’t allow us to see the full enormity of this awful sinfulness, and He Himself chooses to see us through the blood of His Son – as “dearly loved children.”

Perhaps Daniel’s example would teach us to be thankful for what we don’t see with our eyes -- that our Father “knows our frame, that we are but dust,” and in mercy instead makes us live by faith and not sight! I believe Daniel does teach us to in fact “see” the spirit world, but then to be content that we must, in this world, see it by faith.

Let us then go forward in faith and see what else Daniel does teach us about that spirit world swirling around us, yet out of our sight!

 

Daniel 10: 7-11 “Personal”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, and the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell on them and they fled in hiding themselves. ⁸And I was left alone and I saw the vision the great the this and no strength remained in me and my glory was turned to corruption and I kept no strength. ⁹And I heard the sound of His words and as I [was] hearing the sound of His words, and I was one being dropped into deep sleep upon my face and my face earthward. ¹⁰And behold! A hand touched me and set me trembling on my knees and the palms of my hands, ¹¹and he said to me, “Daniel, man greatly valued, understand in the words which I [am] speaking to you and stand on your place, because now I am sent to you,” And in his speaking with me the word the this, I stood up trembling.

It’s interesting to note Daniel’s words, when he tells us, “And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision.” He then says, “The men with me did not see the vision, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.” Then he repeats, “So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision.”

Alone. That is an interesting word. Just to type it makes my heart cringe. I hate being alone. I can’t be “alone” for very long and I have to find some people to be with. Even if I don’t know them, it doesn’t matter – I just need to have people around me. Being “alone” just takes something out of me. I know other people are just the opposite, that being around people exhausts them and sooner or later, they just have to get alone, and that is what recharges them. Obviously both can be a strength and at the same time a weakness, so one isn’t necessarily better than the other, but it just is. I suppose everyone is one or the other – what are called extroverts and introverts.

Anyway – alone. What struck me as I’ve been thinking about these verses is noticing how God almost always speaks to people alone. There are just a few instances in the Bible where He actually spoke audibly to a group. He spoke to the Israelites from Mt. Sinai in Exodus 20 giving the Law, and He spoke to Peter, James, and John on the Mount of Transfiguration when He told them in Matthew 17, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him!” There may be other instances I’m forgetting, but even so, I think anyone who knows their Bible would agree with me – He almost always speaks to people as individuals. There are a number of instances where He might send angels to speak to a group, such as the shepherds at Jesus’ birth, but even with angels, they most often speak to people alone.

What can we take from that? What strikes me is how our God is a personal God. We can all say, it is a wonderful thing to be part of a church, part of a worship service or Bible study with other people (which I love), seeking the Lord together. However, if I am to have a real relationship with God, even corporate worship must be simply an expression of my personal relationship with Him. When He saves us, He saves us alone. It’s just Him and me. I can’t accept Jesus for someone else. That is a transaction that must take place in each of our hearts individually. Even if the Spirit works mightily and brings a number of people to salvation at the same time (as the 3,000 in one day in Acts 3), in every single case, that moment of salvation is totally individual, totally personal between the Lord and each person.

Is that not true of everything about our relationship with the Lord? While it is true He is our God (in a collective sense), yet is it not also true, in order for it to be real, He must be my God – in a totally personal, individual, private way – just between Him and me? That needs to be something going on all day every day in our hearts, yet I wonder if that isn’t why there must be regular times in our life when we deliberately, intentionally spend time with Him alone?

Back to our passage, Daniel tells us twice the vision was for him alone: “And I, Daniel, saw the vision alone…I was left alone...and a hand touched me…and he said to me…”

As I said at the beginning, it has been true my whole life, I hate being alone. I am so thankful the Lord gave me my beautiful wife. When the Lord said of Adam, “It is not good for the man to be alone – I will make for him a fitting helper…,” I could shout, “Amen!” Just to be with her, to have her next to me, to spend my life with her is the very, very best cure for my aloneness. I treasure my relationships with anyone and everyone I know, yet she is the crowning joy to satisfy my need for togetherness.

However, even saying that, and I’ve never really thought about this until seeing it in Daniel, yet it is still true I need my alone time with God. I suppose it’s my farmer genes, but the Lord has blessed me my whole life with waking up early. It’s been years since I had to set an alarm clock, as I go to bed knowing I’ll wake up some time between 4:30 and 6:00-ish. It’s been a blessing, because that is particularly when I’ve been able to find my alone time with God. That is when I do most of my studying and when I can enjoy some serious prayer time – before the hustle and bustle and frantic madness of American culture sweeps me away.

God dealt with Daniel alone. In the desert, He called Moses alone. “In the year that king Uzziah died…,” He called Isaiah alone. When He met Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, it notes in Acts 9, the men who were with him “…heard the sound but did not see anyone.” Even in Jesus’ case, when a voice spoke to Him from heaven, it is recorded, “The crowd that was there and heard it said it thundered…”(John 12:29). John was alone on the Isle of Patmos when Jesus gave him the book of Revelation.

How amazing is it that our God is a personal God? He’s not just our God. He is my God. And if they were but willing, He would be “my God” to each and every one of the supposed eight billion people on earth. All at the same time! All day, every day, I have 100% of His attention, His care, His love, His presence! He gives me His. What He wants most of all is for each of us personally to give Him ours!

Daniel 10: 5-9 “Two Witnesses”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁵And I lifted up my eyes and I looked and, behold, a certain man clothed in linen and His thighs wrapped in the gold of Uphaz. ⁶And His body [was] like beryl and His face like an appearance of lightning and His eyes like torches of fire and His arms and His feet like sight of polished bronze, and the sound of His words like a sound of a multitude. ⁷And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, and the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell on them and they fled in hiding themselves. ⁸And I was left alone and I saw the vision the great the this and no strength remained in me and my glory was turned to corruption and I kept no strength. ⁹And I heard the sound of His words and as I [was] hearing the sound of His words, and I was one being dropped into deep sleep upon my face and my face earthward.

For several days, I have been noting the similarities between Daniel and the Apostle John and trying to ascertain if there are in that observation lessons for us to learn. In Revelation, chapter 1, John wrote:

¹³…and among the lampstands was someone like the Son of Man, dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around His chest. ¹⁴His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. ¹⁵His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. ¹⁶…His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. ¹⁷When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead…

As I related earlier, I cannot arrive at any other conclusion than that the Person in view is none other than Jesus Himself. As I said, I admit there remains an element of mystery and so say this with all due respect to those who would disagree with me. However, I’m personally convinced this is the case. That being said, both Daniel and John got to see Jesus in this glorified form and then were given astonishing visions into the angelic world and the future of the human race.

There are a number of times in the Bible where the Lord appeared to people in various forms and ways, but no one recorded as clearly what they saw as did Daniel and John. Moses asked the Lord, “Show me Your glory,” and the Lord replied, “There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen” (Ex. 33:18-23).

Isaiah wrote in chapter 6, “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and lifted up…” (v1). Like Daniel and John that vision had a similar effect on Isaiah in that he cried out, “Woe is me! I am undone! For I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty!” (v.5). In that case, he didn’t record exactly what he saw, only that it was overwhelming to him. John says in his 12:41, “Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.” Perhaps Isaiah did see this same vision, but we are not told specifically what he saw or what form Jesus took in that case.

Ezekiel was also given astonishing visions into the spirit world and even of the glorified Lord. He says, “…high above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. I saw that from what appeared to be His waist up He looked like glowing metal, as if full of fire, and from there down He looked like fire; and brilliant light surrounded Him…This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. When I saw it, I fell facedown, and I heard the voice of One speaking” (vv,26-28).

Then there was the Mount of Transfiguration where Matthew records that “There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (17:2). Then it says, “When the disciples heard [the voice from heaven], they fell facedown to the ground terrified” (v.6).

For whatever it’s worth, I think it is also significant to note that these are the visions which were recorded for us. This is not to say they were the only times the Lord appeared to various prophets or people. We should all realize much, much, much more happened and much, much, much more was said and seen than was recorded for us in the Scriptures. I would love to hear more of all that, but we are told, “These things happened to them as examples and were written down for our admonition, on whom the end of the ages has come” (I Cor. 10:11). So, as always, we’ve been told as much as we need to know, not necessarily everything we’d like to know! What is important is that we, in fact, take heed to those “admonitions,” and so much more so as we clearly approach literally, “the end of the ages.”

The similarities in these visions which were recorded and the clear identifications with Jesus only further confirm in my mind that the Person Daniel and John saw was, in fact, Jesus Himself. What I suppose intrigues me is the very detailed similarities between Daniel and John. What the others saw certainly correlates to Daniel and John’s visions, but no one recorded what they saw in as much detail as them or with as many clearly similar details.

It is interesting too to note they were probably both around 90 years old when they saw these visions. Once again, if we can believe ancient timelines Daniel would be something close to 90, assuming he was 15 when drug away to Babylon, followed by 70 years of the Captivity and this is the 3^rd year of Cyrus – that would put him at 88. At the point of John’s revelation, he was exiled on the Isle of Patmos (Rev. 1:9). It is believed that occurred in about AD 95 or 96. If John was 30 around AD30 (with Jesus), then obviously he too is somewhere around 90+. Ancient timelines are dubious at best, but I’m thinking it is safe to say, in both cases they were quite elderly men.

That brings to mind Psalm 92:14: “[The righteous]…will still bear fruit in old age…” Think about it – here are two old men who are given some of the most important and detailed prophecies in the entire Bible. Where would we be today without John and Daniel’s prophecies? So much of what we know of “the end times,” we only know because of what these two men wrote down. Should not great, important prophecies like these be given to strong, vigorous, young men? Old people should be allowed to sit calmly in their rocking chairs and rest, shouldn’t they? Who would think to give them some monumental task that literally drives them to the ground? Yet here are John and Daniel “still bearing fruit in old age.”

The Lord still had work for these two men to do, even in their advanced age. I’m quite sure the Lord would want you and me to notice this and be encouraged ourselves. The older we get, the more and more we have to accept, “I just can’t do that anymore.” In a world that values strength and speed and “accomplishment,” we feel we’re getting more and more useless. Yet what would the Bible tell us? “His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor His delight in the legs of a man; the Lord delights in those who fear Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love” (Ps. 147:10,11). “‘It is not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord” (Zech. 4:6).

I wonder sometimes, if that isn’t part of the reason why the Lord does let us grow more and more feeble, the longer we live? When we were young, we could hear Him say, “My strength is made perfect in weakness,” (II Cor. 12:9), and we thought we understood it and could take encouragement from it. However, it is a completely different experience reading that and thinking about it, when it seems that is all I have left to offer the Lord – my weakness. Jesus asked His disciples, “What do you have?” and they replied, “Just these five loaves and two fishes.” Then what did He say? “Bring them to Me.” May Daniel and John encourage us all to scrape together what little we have to offer the Lord and “bring it to Him!”

Another observation we could make is that Daniel’s vision of Jesus was before He came to earth, while John’s was after. Yet they are the same vision. They saw the same Jesus. We all know this, but it’s worth pointing out – Jesus didn’t change. He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” He only appeared as a helpless baby and as a suffering servant, because He had to in order to be the Savior of the world. Uninformed people would tell you the God of the Old Testament was a vengeful, angry God, while in the New Testament He is a God of grace and love. That is, of course, ludicrous. God didn’t change. Jesus didn’t change. Our God is the eternal “I AM.” The same Jesus who walked with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace walks with us today in whatever feels like our own ”fiery” trials! We can read Daniel chapter 10 and Revelation 1, and see our same mighty eternal Jesus!

For whatever it’s worth, I would also notice that Daniel and John are serving as “two witnesses.” All the way back in Deut. 19:15, the Lord established for Israel the standard, “A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses,” and Jesus Himself refers to that principle in Matt. 18:16, when He said, “…take one or two others along, so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.” I would suggest that is why Matthew, Mark, and Luke are such similar accounts of the life of Jesus. They are the three witnesses. That done, John was free to write an almost entirely different account of Jesus’ ministry.

Many people, especially Jews, back in John’s day, would have sat in their churches listening to someone read the book of Revelation, being themselves very familiar with the book of Daniel, and when they heard this vision of Jesus, would have noted the similarity. John was then to them the “second” witness. Our God tells us to “do all things decently and in order” (I Cor. 14:40). Interesting that He takes His own advice!

I suspect there is way more to learn from the similarities between these two visions, but, for now, these are the things I have noticed as I studied. If I live long enough, perhaps I’ll come back to this in years to come and see much more, but this will have to do for now. I’m looking forward to diving in to the rest of this chapter to learn all I can from our good friend Daniel!

 

Daniel 10: 4-6 “Cause to Worship!”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁴And in the day of twenty and fourth to the month of the first, and I was upon the side of the river the great – it [is] the Hidekel/Tigris. ⁵And I lifted up my eyes and I looked and, behold, a certain man clothed in linen and His thighs wrapped in the gold of Uphaz. ⁶And His body [was] like beryl and His face like an appearance of lightning and His eyes like torches of fire and His arms and His feet like sight of polished bronze, and the sound of His words like a sound of a multitude.

It was certainly a thrill to study through these verses. The similarities to John’s description in Revelation are undeniable. Commentators are very divided over whether this is actually Jesus or merely a great angel. On the one hand, I personally am persuaded this is, in fact, a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus Himself, but on the other hand, I have to admit, both here and in Revelation, there remains an element of mystery.

More on that later. First of all, I notice Daniel is back on the bank of a major watercourse – in this case the Tigris River, which is about 35 miles from Babylon at its closest approach. Back in 8:2, he was beside the Ulai Canal, which was actually in Elam, near the city of Susa, more like 350 miles from Babylon. If we can believe ancient timelines, that would have been about 550 BC and this “third year of Cyrus” (10:1) would now be about 536, so 14 years later. As I said back under chapter 8, I’m not surprised to see Daniel beside a watercourse. The text doesn’t tell us why he was there, but, as I noted there, watercourses were extremely important in that dry ancient world to provide irrigation for the farming and orchards.

One of the fearsome powers the kings held over their people was the authority to open and close gates along the water courses. He could keep a gate open and grant you abundant crops or he could order your gate shut and ruin you (Prov. 21:1). It doesn’t surprise me, then, to find Daniel, a man high in government, beside a watercourse. He is probably on some kind of mission from the king, perhaps checking which gates are opened or closed.

Other commentators note that people back then liked to maintain places of prayer next to rivers (Acts 16:13) and that could be why Daniel is there. I personally doubt that just because of the distance, the 35 miles. That may not be far for us, but, back then it would have been a considerable journey for our near 90-year old Daniel. The Euphrates River flows right through Babylon. If Daniel was just going to one of these “places of prayer,” you’d think he’d just go to one right there on the Euphrates. Rivers were all about power, so it’s not surprising to find Daniel there or to have the Lord appear to him “beside a water course.”

As I mentioned above, the vision Daniel relates here is almost identical to what John saw in the book of Revelation. Here is the chain of verses in Revelation that I think would lead us unmistakably to conclude this is none other than Jesus Himself:

 “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (1:8).

“And among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around His chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters…His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance…and He said, ‘I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades’” (1:13-18).

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End…I, Jesus, have sent My angel to give you this testimony for the churches” (22:13,16).

In 1:8, the speaker is “the Lord God Almighty” who tells us He is “the Alpha and the Omega.” In 1:13-18, the person in the vision tells John He is “the first and the last…I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever!” Then later in 22:13,16, Jesus tells John, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and Last.” Clearly, the person in the vision is Jesus, who “was dead and is alive forever and ever” – the Lord God Almighty, and, as John’s and Daniel’s visions are so obviously identical, I am persuaded to conclude this is in fact Jesus Himself, appearing to Daniel in His eternal, pre-incarnate self.

As I mentioned above, however, there yet remains an element of mystery. In all of these accounts, there are things that happen and things that are said which are hard to assign to Jesus. As one reads, there are times where it would be much easier to conclude this is not actually Jesus, but some mighty angel representing Him. That is why many commentators conclude the vision is not Jesus. Personally, I think, based on the chain of verses above, it is almost impossible for me to come to any other conclusion. With all due respect to those who differ with me, I would suggest the mystery itself is there precisely because it is in fact Jesus.

What do I mean? Is there not always an element of mystery any time we consider God Himself? For instance, although we are all very comfortable with the Trinity, is that not an endless mystery to us? How can One be Three? I cannot understand that with my finite mind, yet it is so obvious from cover to cover of the Bible, I know it is true. I will gladly say that I know God, and yet, even as I say that, I also know I do not. I can understand the things He has revealed to me, yet it’s like drawing a teaspoon from the ocean. There is so much more I am keenly aware I don’t understand. “‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor My ways your ways,’ says the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My thoughts above your thoughts, and My ways above your ways.’” (Isa. 55:8,9). “His ways are past finding out” (Rom. 11:33).

What I’m suggesting is that simply to “know” God is to also live in mystery. Especially when it comes to Jesus, the God-man, it’s no surprise anytime He specifically appears in the Bible, there is an element of mystery that surrounds Him. And I would also suggest that is good for us. He is God, the infinite, eternal One who lives above time and space and matter, and in fact created those things for us to live in. Just like angels, we are eternally created and finite beings. He is and was and always will be infinite. There is a humility in us to worship our God in what we do know of Him, then to accept the mystery that will also always surround Him.

And what of this vision? This is our mighty Jesus! We think of Him as the man Jesus, the suffering servant, yet let Daniel remind us when He was here on earth He had “made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant” – the Great Kenosis or “emptying” of our Savior (Phil. 2:7). He is even now back in heaven, seated at the right hand of the Father, glorified, and once again this “man” whose face is “like lightning” and His eyes “like flaming torches.” Daniel saw Him before His “emptying,” John saw Him afterward – and note: He hadn’t changed. We see He is in fact, “the Great I Am!” Our Jesus! The One of whom John says, “Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations” (Rev. 19:15).

It does us good – as it did both Daniel and John -- to pause occasionally and remember that our humble Jesus who went to the Cross for us is the glorified King of kings and Lord of lords. He’s no one to mess with! And yet He remains our gentle Savior. Is that not in itself yet a mystery? Personally, I’m glad I can’t understand all of who He is. I need Him to be both – a God of flaming justice and yet a Savior of grace and kindness – and the fact that He is beyond my feeble understanding is just one more reason to worship Him!

Daniel 10: 1-3 “Your Work”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In the year of the third to Cyrus the king of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel, who was called [by] his name Belteshazzar, and the word [was] true and a great conflict/burden, and he understood the word, and understanding [was given] to him in the vision. ²In the days of those, I, Daniel, was mourning three sevens of days. ³Bread of desires I did not eat and meat and wine did not come to my mouth and anointing I did not anoint [myself] until were full the three sevens of days.

One more thing I want to note before I leave these first three verses. Here is our Daniel, as always actively, passionately being a godly man. I have pointed this out before, but I never want to lose sight of it –where has he been from the very beginning of this book? Let us all be reminded, he’s been at work. He has been doing his job. In these final chapters, and in the verses before us, there’s no indication that what he is doing is necessarily related to his work, but we see the same Daniel we have seen since chapter 1 – a man whose faith calls forth our deepest respect.

We first found him forcibly enrolled in Babylon U. to study what was really in essence witchcraft, only to be found one of the valedictorians – along with his three friends! Then again and again, he has been using his God-given gifts to interpret the visions of his kings, while doing his own job with such integrity that not even his most vicious enemies can find any fault in that work.

In all of this, you and I are presented with a man who models for us what it means to be a man of faith, whether in the privacy of his own personal relationship with God or in the day to day life he’s living in a very secular (in fact wicked) workplace.

Of course God wants you to have a personal relationship with Him – which Daniel models for us as a man who personally studies the Scriptures and invests much energy and time in prayer. Certainly all of modern Christianity would do well to note and follow Daniel’s example in this – but what about your job? Does God care who you are at work? Does God care what kind of worker you are? Does He want you to use even your spiritual gifts to bless the people you work with and work for? Daniel would tell us the answer is a resounding yes!

Notice Titus 2:9,10: “Teach workers to be subject to their bosses in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” Did Daniel not model this for us? Back in chapter 6, his accusers “could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (v.4). Also, again, please notice he was at work, doing his job. The NIV calls it “making the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” The old KJV called it “adorning.”

In the Christmas story, have you ever wondered about “the wise men from the east”? Who on earth were these guys? The name “wise men” is translated from “magoi,” a Persian word. If they came from Persia, we’ve already learned that is a four month trip to get to Israel. They made a trip like that and asked “Where is He who was born King of the Jews, for we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him” (Matt. 2:2). This seems crazy, but obviously there were people in Persia who knew about the promised Messiah, who somehow knew about this star business, and would travel four months to worship Him when He was born! Who on earth were these guys and how did they know all this?

We won’t know until we get to heaven, but can I suggest that these men were some of the fruit of Daniel’s ministry back in Persia? What was Daniel’s job in Babylon? He was a “wise man.” In fact way back in chapter 2, not long after he and his friends graduated valedictorians of Babylon U., Nebuchadnezzar promoted Daniel “and placed him in charge of all his wise men.” He was actually the head over all the “wise men.” The group in general of course were not “wise” at all. They were a bunch of soothsayers and necromancers and literally warlocks, but in the end nothing but charlatans.

As of the chapter before us, Daniel has been “one of them” for over 70 years! You can think it through yourself, but I find it no stretch at all to believe that some of those charlatans saw this man who “adorned the Gospel” and “made it attractive” and became his disciples. Being a prophet, not everything Daniel ever said or taught was written down. Perhaps it was him who gave them the knowledge of this “star” which would announce the birth of the Messiah, that the Messiah would actually be God Himself come in the flesh (they came “to worship Him”), and taught them to watch for it. By the birth of Jesus, it had been over 500 years, but I don’t doubt the “wise men” of Matthew 2 could have been some of that “fruit that remains.”

That is all conjecture, of course, but, in my mind, the pieces sure fit together and would perfectly illustrate what we’re trying to observe – it is very important to the Lord what kind of person we are at work. In the New Testament, what do we learn the Lord is trying to nurture in us? Is it not “the fruit of the Spirit?” Is it not, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22,23)? During our working years, we all spend on the order of fifty hours a week taken up with our “work.” That’s basically half our waking hours! If we don’t learn to practice “love, joy, and peace” at work, where will we?

And back to Titus 2, when we do truly live our faith at work, live that life of love and joy and peace, what do we do? We make “the teaching about God our Savior attractive.” We “adorn” the Gospel! I don’t think there’s any question, like Daniel, our work drops us straight into the very middle of this world that desperately needs to see Jesus. Our churches are very important and certainly our families are also important, but let none of us overlook that it is our jobs that will bring us into the most extensive exposure with the people of this world. Actually living our faith there might land us in a lions’ den, but it also might be used of the Lord to draw many people to Christ.

So, whatever your “work” is, my friend, rest assured it is very important to the Lord. Whether you actually  work at a job, stay home and take care of your babies, or simply putter around in your retirement, Jesus tells us, “And whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Col. 3:23,24).

Naomi was “just” a wife and mother and she won a Ruth. David was a king and wrote the Psalms. The Centurian was a Roman soldier and won his whole house to the Lord. What do you “do”? May you be like our Daniel, do it for the Lord and win a few Ruths of your own!

 

Daniel 10: 1-3 “Embracing”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In the year of the third to Cyrus the king of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel, who was called [by] his name Belteshazzar, and the word [was] true and a great conflict/burden, and he understood the word, and understanding [was given] to him in the vision. ²In the days of those, I, Daniel, was mourning three sevens of days. ³Bread of desires I did not eat and meat and wine did not come to my mouth and anointing I did not anoint [myself] until were full the three sevens of days.

I think it worth stopping for a minute and thinking about our friend Daniel. As I have often said, the Bible is a book of discipleship. It is on the one hand a book of truth (like Daniel’s vision) and we should certainly be alert to those truths, but, at the same time, it is provided to us in the setting of human lives. That said, some of those people make good decisions and some make bad – and it is of great value to learn all we can from them. They show us how all those truths work out in daily life.

Here we see our friend Daniel. He provides us with a profound prophecy of the future. Yet we see the man Daniel who provides it. As we have often noted, Daniel is no young hotshot.  He says this is the third year of Cyrus. That means it has been 73 years since Daniel was hauled off to Babylon. If he was 15 at the time, that makes him 88 years old. If he was 20, it makes him 93!

It is crazy to me to note that his life spanned the Babylonian Captivity. Note he was just the right age to be one of the “young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning…and qualified to serve in the king’s palace,” whom Nebuchadnezzar had charged Ashpenaz to gather (1:3,4). Now, some 73 years later, we find him still alive and actively serving the king and his people.

My point would be to note, as it says in Psalm 139:16, “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” Daniel was born specifically to be who he was. The Lord’s plan for his life was for him to be born of the royal family in Jerusalem, then to be hauled off to serve in the court of the Babylonians and to live through the entire Captivity. He was born to be there in the highest echelons of Babylonian government, to be God’s man in the very epicenter of evil in this world. We can all be quite sure that wasn’t Daniel’s plan as a young man. He no doubt had plans for a career – what trade he would learn – and probably had his eye on some cute Jewish girl he would marry, have a family, and live and die there in Jerusalem. One day all of that got uprooted and instead, he lived out his life in a wicked city, serving as the chief of the warlocks!

One wonders what wrestling of faith he had to go through, to accept that this was the Lord’s will for him. Then I wonder if it isn’t true of all of us – that life doesn’t turn out “like we expected?” I would guess, in many ways, we all have to go through those same “wrestlings of faith,” to finally come to grips with this reality – that this was always God’s plan for us, this “ALL the days ordained for me…” Like Daniel, we may not know why these things had to be. We may deeply wish it all could have been different. Yet, we must trust in the wisdom of our Heavenly Father that He has put us in the best possible life to do the most possible good for Him. The Jewish people needed a Daniel high in that government. Our Daniel was chosen to be that man. You and I are chosen to be who we are and, like him, we must come to accept our Father’s will.

Even I myself, as I sit here, wish Daniel could have been allowed to marry that cute little Jewish girl, have his family, and live a long, happy life in Jerusalem. Of course, in my mind, I think he deserved it. What an awesome guy he is. Yet that wasn’t the Lord’s will for him and, I have to admit, I’m glad he was where he was, so we have a book of Daniel to read and from it to learn so much. Then I look around and there are so many people I wish I could rewrite their story too. Joni Erickson comes to mind. She’s just a little older than me, so she basically has been there my whole life always, always, always encouraging me and all of us to trust the Lord and serve Him with whatever lot He gives us. I wish she didn’t have to be a quadriplegic; but then, I feel it would have been a terrible loss not to have lived all these years with her example always there in the background of my life. I could go on and on with other examples that come to mind, but I’m sure you have a multitude yourself.

I guess it’s a good thing I don’t run the universe, huh? It all just makes me want to sit back and exclaim with Paul, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!” (Rom. 11:33). It’s a good thing HE runs the universe! As the old illustration goes, all of us are always looking up at the underside of the tapestry. All we see is the tangle of all those different colored threads. He is the only One looking down and seeing His amazing design becoming more and more that beautiful tapestry He has planned from the beginning!

So may we all learn from Daniel and from the Joni’s of our world to trust the One who orders our lives, who, as the Bible says, “determines the times of our lives and the exact places where we should live” – “so that men would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him…” (Acts 17:27). Though we may wish we could rewrite our own lives, let us lay aside our “darkening counsel without knowledge” and embrace the life He has given to us. Then, like Daniel and Joni, may we joyfully trust the One who sees the end from the beginning and wait our turn to go and join Him (and Daniel and Joni) in that world where “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain…” (Rev. 21:4).

In literal Hebrew, Prov. 3:5,6 says:

“Trust (be recklessly confident, live in a state of unconcern) upon the Lord in the all of your heart,

and do not rely on your understanding.

 In the all of your ways know Him,

and He will make your paths straight.”

Daniel 10: 1-3 “Prayers”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹In the year of the third to Cyrus the king of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel, who was called [by] his name Belteshazzar, and the word [was] true and a great conflict/burden, and he understood the word, and understanding [was given] to him in the vision. ²In the days of those, I, Daniel, was mourning three sevens of days. ³Bread of desires I did not eat and meat and wine did not come to my mouth and anointing I did not anoint [myself] until were full the three sevens of days.

These verses are actually the beginning of a revelation which runs to the end of this book – including chapters 10, 11, and 12. I can’t help but notice that how these chapters read is very similar to the book of Revelation. Daniel presents to us a prophecy of world history – of the actual events yet to occur in this world, yet revealing also to us the vast spiritual battle raging behind those seemingly purely human matters – much like the book of Revelation. Looking ahead, it seems like this chapter is the prologue to Daniel’s vision which is related in chapter 11, then chapter 12 forms, as it were, an epilogue to it. There must be some significance to the fact this is the last vision of Daniel – his last chance to write down inspired Scripture and minister to not only his generation of Jews, but also the Babylonians and Persians around him – and to us!

If our understanding of secular history is correct, this “3^rd year of Cyrus” would have been around 536 BC. Cyrus had conquered Babylon in 539 BC and that same year had issued the proclamation that the Jews could return to their home and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-4). It is now some 2-3 years later.

Daniel is still in Babylon. Some commentators question why he is still there if Cyrus had decreed that the Jews could return. I have noted before that, in all likelihood, he is well into his 80’s by now and would have been physically unable to make the 4-month journey (Ezra 7:9) around the Fertile Crescent back to Jerusalem. It is also possible that, because he was at this time serving as Prime Minister of Babylon (6:3), he would have chosen to stay in Babylon either because he wasn’t allowed to leave (Neh. 1:6), or because (and especially at his age) he was convinced he could do more good for the Jewish people by remaining at the court, than if he were to leave.

In any case, he is still in Babylon – and he still knows enough grief to keep hard at prayer! We will learn later in this chapter that the people of Israel have an angel named Michael specifically assigned to watch over them and fight for them in the spiritual world. What we see here (and have all through the book) is that, here on earth, they also have someone watching and praying for them – our Daniel! It makes me want to say, what a blessing for any people to have someone like Daniel high up in their government hard at prayer for their good!

Then I realize that mantle falls on you and me! Jeremiah had urged the people to “pray for the city in which you live” (Jer. 29:7). Right now, it would seem to most of us there is no good news about our country. Everywhere we look there seems to be corruption and seemingly unrestrained wickedness and, unless something changes soon, I fear there will be no turning back. What to do? Be Daniels. Head to prayer. One wonders how long prayer has upheld America? How long would our nation have lasted if it weren’t for people praying? Perhaps that is the key to the proverb, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” – such a nation would contain a lot of pray-ers! Daniel has never stopped praying for his Jewish people and, at this point, he could easily be 90 years old. May you and I never stop praying for our nation, even if we have to follow it down to the very gates of hell!

While we’re thinking about that, let us all not forget the same applies to individuals and families. Most of us who are older might often wonder why the Lord leaves us here. Compared to when we were younger, it seems as if there is very little good we can do in this world, then all our aches and pains more and more make us long for the day when we will be allowed to leave this world and be with Jesus. So why does He leave us here?

I believe our very elderly Daniel is teaching us perhaps the most important reason – to be prayer warriors. Most of us probably have no idea how much of the blessings we’ve enjoyed in life (perhaps even our very salvation) was wrought through the prayers of our godly grandparents and even great-grandparents. Now it’s our turn. Israel had their Daniel. May you and I be our families’ Daniels – watching and praying as long as there is breath in our lungs and a shred of presence in our brains! They NEED us. And let us take up that mantle proudly, even if we find we can do nothing else!

While I’m on the subject, that reminds me of something else I’ve observed lately. There are people and families I pray regularly for and I wonder if anyone else in the whole world is praying for them? There are people who, as far as I know, have no Christian presence in their lives besides me. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Lord does have someone else (I Kings 19:18), but what if He doesn’t? What if that person you pray for has no one else lifting up their name and praying down the very angels of heaven to guard them and help them? I especially pray for the young people I know. What an awful world this can be. There is a roaring lion seeking to devour them and, too often with our young people, we sadly watch it happen right before our eyes. May that never be because you or I failed to pray for them!

We can’t pray for everyone in the entire human race, but the Lord has given each of us a nation, families, and friends. While we seek to do all we can to be a blessing to all those around us, may we be encouraged by our Daniel’s example. Let us be lifting up those people’s names to heaven and may we never despise the enormous blessing our prayers may be – even if much of that blessing we’ll never know until we’re in heaven ourselves!

Then let us also realize that many of those prayers may be answered only long after we’ve departed this world. You and I may well die while our family members and friends are still a “work in progress.” The Lord does His great saving work in peoples’ lives according to His schedule, not ours – but may our schedules always include much heartfelt intercessory prayer.

Pray on, my Daniel-friends!