Daniel 11:1-4 “Thankful”

Here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, [was] standing to strengthen and to [be] a protection for him. ²And now I will tell you: Behold! Yet [there will be] three kings standing to Persia and [the] fourth will be far richer from all and according to his strength in his riches, he will rouse up all of the kingdoms of Greece. ³And a mighty king will stand and he will rule from great rule and he will do according to his pleasure. ⁴And when he stands, his kingdom will be broken up and it will be divided to the four of the winds of the heavens and not to his descendants and not according to his rule which he ruled, because his kingdom will be rooted up and [it will be given] to others separate from them.

This is quite a chapter before us. It reminds me a lot of the book of Revelation. I say that because it is so detailed. Ever since Nebuchadnezzar’s vision of the statue in chapter 2, Daniel’s prophecies have been getting more and more detailed and more and more specific. However, there was never before anything like this chapter. It is so intricately detailed and so historically accurate, scoffers can do nothing but say it had to be written after the fact. To a large extent, such is the book of Revelation. It is not just a chapter, but an entire book of such detailed prophecies that, for those alive at the time, they will be constantly seeing the Sovereign hand of God in the events of their world as one by one its prophecies are precisely and accurately fulfilled before their very eyes.

It is just one more testament to the kindness of God that, before horrific times, He would give His people such a detailed prophecy. It gives them the peace of knowing, while their world convulses around them, yet our great God knew it all beforehand and rules over it. That certainly would have been true in the five hundred or so years from Daniel’s day until the coming of Jesus, and it will be true during “the Day of Jacob’s trouble,” those horrible last seven years – the Great Tribulation – the “Seventieth Week of Daniel” as predicted for us by John in the book of Revelation. As I have often said, that book is, in essence, Daniel Vol. II! Daniel’s chapter 11 and John’s book of Revelation are both gifts to believers “that we might understand the times and know what God’s people ought to do.”

On the other hand, I believe it worthwhile to note here that this chapter is a continuation of chapter 10. All of chapters 10-12 are recording Daniel’s vision by the Tigris River. In fact, this chapter 11 is the main content of the message which the angel is bringing to Daniel, while chapters 10 and 12 relate for us the events and discussions before and after.

We begin with the angel telling Daniel, “And I, in the first year of Darius the Mede, [was] standing to strengthen and to [be] a protection for him.” Ignoring the chapter division, people debate whether the “him” is referring to Darius or back to Michael in the last verse of chapter 10. Personally, I am confident the angel is talking about Darius, not Michael. Back in 10:13, it was this angel who needed Michael’s help to stand against the prince of Persia. Michael is an archangel. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think Michael needs our angel’s protection. Darius certainly does!

It is good to pause here and think about what we learn. Why does Darius need strengthening and protection? He may think he has earthly enemies, but he has no idea there is a powerful demon, this “prince of Persia,” determined to use him for great evil and ultimately to kill him and drag him down to hell. Like us, all Darius can see is this world of men around him. He has no idea there is a cosmic spiritual battle swirling around him. What’s worse is, he doesn’t even realize he’s on the wrong side! He not only needs protection from this demon, he needs protection from himself!

Are you and I any different? I may not have the likes of this prince of Persia assigned to destroy me and my family, but we can be quite sure the devil has (at least) one demon assigned to do exactly that. In fact, this is precisely why the Lord warns us, “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12). If we would for a minute realize the enormity of the danger we’re in, we’d understand just how important is Hebrews 1:14: “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” As important as it may be to know they are there, protecting us from all kinds of harm – only the Lord knows how many times they’ve protected us from demons! Surely for each of us, the words of an angel are written somewhere in heaven: “And in the first year of  (your name or mine) , I took my stand to support and protect him/her.” Only in heaven will we truly know just how much good the Lord’s angels have done us, but let us more and more (by faith) appreciate them here.

I’ve said this before, but I truly wonder if part of the secret to Daniel’s faith was that he saw this. He was allowed to see into that spirit world, and how did it affect him? It drove him to prayer! It drew him closer to the Lord. And what a glorious gift that he wrote down some of what he saw – so you and I could read his words and “see” (by faith) what he saw. I honestly feel that is exactly the effect he has had on me. He has truly helped me to “see” the great cosmic battle of that spirit world around me, and it has had the same effect on me – to drive me to prayer and make me love the Lord all the more. I am eternally grateful to our good friend Daniel and all he and his three friends have taught me!