Daniel 10: 7-11 “Angels”

 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.

Before leaving these verses, we should note that Daniel chapters 10,11, and 12 contain some of the most informative accounts of angels in the entire Bible, along with the books of Ezekiel and Revelation. I have long anticipated getting to this section of the book precisely for this reason. I want to learn all I can from God’s Word about angels and the spirit world around us, particularly because, as we definitely see in this book, all of that is profoundly affecting us here on earth. The very fact that the Lord has chosen to reveal these things to us means He wants us to know it, and then to know how to maturely integrate that knowledge into our daily lives and our relationship with Him.

There will be much to learn as we study through these chapters, but, concerning angels, I’d like to record some thoughts which I have gathered in my studies to this point. It particularly amazes me to realize how much they are like us. As the angels told John in Rev. 19:10 and 22:9, “I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers…” They are “fellow servants.” As you or I would stand in the presence of God, let us realize we actually are standing beside angels.

We learned in 8:16 that they have names. There Daniel heard the Lord calling to Gabriel and addressing him by his name, just like Jesus when, on the Damascus Road, He called to the man who would become our Apostle Paul, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?” (Acts 9:4). We see that angels are real, intelligent beings who are, like us, each one an individual with a specific name. Back in chapter 8, when Daniel met Gabriel, he says of him, he was “one who looked like a man.” Certainly from Ezekiel and Revelation, we are aware that there are some pretty bizarre looking “angels” in heaven, particularly the cherubim and the seraphim, and there is no way to know if Gabriel actually does “look like a man,” or if he just appeared that way in order to communicate with Daniel. On the other hand, maybe there are angels that actually do “look like us.” Perhaps they were created specifically for this task of appearing to us humans – so as not to totally terrify us when they do! That is pure speculation, of course, but certainly fun to think about!

We also learn from this passage (and many others, of course) that angels speak. Dogs bark, horses whinny, cows moo, lions roar, but angels and people speak. Angels are fellow beings who are clearly intelligent and who possess the power to communicate their thoughts, just like us. Out of all of God’s creation, it is us and the angels who possess this power. Here on earth, we may be “the only ones,” but in God’s great creation, there are others – the angels. Though we usually cannot see or hear them, let us be constantly reminded they are there – and they are thinking and would no doubt have much to say, if only they were allowed to speak with us at this time.

Along that same line, I’m reminded of I Peter 1:12, speaking of the Gospel, where it says, “…Even angels long to look into these things.” So, along with the ability to think and speak like us, they are also curious – like us. People often say, “When we get to heaven, we’ll understand everything.” I don’t think so. Angels don’t “understand everything.” Why would we. Actually what that tells us is that even in heaven, intelligent thinking beings (us and angels) will still be learning. That should actually be very encouraging, I think. Isn’t it fun to learn? I love to learn. I think most people do. How great that, in heaven, instead of instantly “understanding everything,” we can go on learning for all eternity? We can, like angels, be curious forever!

It is also interesting to note that, like us, angels can only be in one place at one time. It’s actually very familiar for them to say to someone, as this angel does to Daniel, “for I have been sent to you.” We’ll see this again several times in these chapters, but it is interesting to me to realize that even angels can only be in one place at a time, and even that somehow they, like us, live in time. I’ll leave that one to observe later, but we should note that God alone inhabits eternity. God alone is omnipresent and lives above time and space. Somehow angels have to live in time and space – like us.

There will be much, much more to learn about angels as we study on through these last three chapters of Daniel, however, I want to end by pointing out again the one thing that amazes me the most – their grace. It just amazes me to think they are pure, holy, good beings who can stand (even at this very moment) in the presence of God Himself, and you would think when they come here they’d find us utterly repulsive in all our sinfulness and stubbornness and rebellion. As I’ve suggested before, maybe to them we even stink! Yet, see with what grace they treat us. “A hand touched me,” Daniel says. The angel tells Daniel, just like Gabriel did, that he is “highly favored.” And their entire purpose even being here in this fallen, broken, sin-blackened world is to be “ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14).

You and I have to learn to be gracious to those who might to us be naturally repulsive. Jesus loved prostitutes and tax-collectors and “sinners.” So do angels, and so should you and I. Angels are just like us in so many ways. We need to let them encourage us to be gracious – like them!