Daniel 10 – Allen Hood
The Four-Fold Strengthening of God for the End Times Pt. 2 Page 8
I. Daniel’s Final Vision – Daniel 10-12
A. Daniel receives his fourth and final vision during the third year of Cyrus in 536 B.C. At the opening of the chapter we find Daniel mourning with fasting and prayer for three full weeks during the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. His mourning seems unjustified in light of the Passover Celebration and Cyrus’ recent decree in 537 B.C. that allowed the Israelites to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. However, Ezra 4:24 tells us that in 536 B.C. the foundation was laid but the work on the Temple had ceased due to the great difficulty and adversity from the surrounding peoples. The work would not begin until the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah in 520BC.
B. The Lord revealed in his third vision that Israel has not dealt with the core problem that led them to go into exile. While cured of blatant idolatry in the Babylonian exile, they have yet to truly turn to the Lord with all their hearts. In fact, when their Prince comes, Israel will cut Him off. They will reject and kill their Messiah. A deep issue has to be exposed. In this fourth and final vision God reveals the context in the end times it will take to forever turn Israel’s heart back to Yahweh.
C. On the twenty first day of his fasting and prayer, Daniel receives a vision of a glorious messenger clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold, his body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. This angelic messenger has a similar description to the mighty angel in Rev. 10. See Ex. 14:19-20, 23:20-22; 1 Chron. 21:12-30; Rev. 15:5-8, 18:1, 19:17, 20:1-3 for other portraits of angels with great amounts of authority and glory.
II. The Result of the Vision – Dan. 10:7-9
A. Whereas the first vision left him troubled, the second left him sick without understanding, and the third left him silent, Daniel informs us that the vision is true and that he understands both the vision and its message. He also testifies that the vision is one of great conflict and warfare for God’s people.
B. The vision leaves Daniel with no strength. His vigor was turned to frailty as he lay prostrate on the ground. At first glance one is tempted to assume the weakness is merely a result of his interaction with the heavenly messenger. Often times in the Bible the prophet is left without strength on the ground after an encounter with an angelic being (Dan. 8:15-18; Rev. 19:10, 22:8-9). However, Daniel himself reveals in Dan. 10:16 that his strength is gone due to the vision and the words of the vision leaving him in a deep state of sorrow. He is left overwhelmed with sorrows and the whole event caused the others with Daniel to flee in terror.
And suddenly, one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to him who stood before me, "My lord, because of the vision my sorrows have overwhelmed me, and I have retained no strength. (Dan. 10:16)
C. Daniel receives the most detailed revelation in the Old Testament concerning the drama and culmination of the end of the age and the salvation of Israel. He views the 3 ½ year period referred to by Jeremiah (30:7) as Jacob’s Trouble, in which the saints will be refined through severe persecution. A world ruler will deceive the nations and persecute Jerusalem, the saints will be worn down and purified, God will unleash His judgments, and Jesus will return to set up His everlasting Kingdom on earth. There will be great conflict as Satan himself is cast to earth with great rage and will do all he can to keep from going to the Abyss/Bottomless Pit. The prophets who saw this period trembled because of its severity (Jer. 23:9; Jer. 30:5-7; Hab. 3:16; Dan. 10:11-16).
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Mt. 24:21)
III. Four-Fold Strengthening of the Saints for the End Times
A. Daniel sees the end time drama and is undone. Daniel in his mid-eighties is left shaken by few things. He has survived death decrees, evil tyrants, the transition of empires, and a lion’s den but is left distressed and overwhelmed by sorrow from the vision. We must take this very seriously. If Daniel needed divine intervention to receive the vision, how much more will we need divine intervention to live through the fulfillment of the vision?
B. Daniel 10 is the preparation of Daniel for the reception of the revelation in chapters 11 & 12. Daniel is completely unable to process the weighty and severe information concerning the end time context. It will take divine strength for him to perceive and assimilate the truth of chapters 11 and 12.
C. Four realities in this chapter served to strengthen Daniel for understanding and assimilating the truth of the end time vision. These same four realities will serve to strengthen our hearts to move beyond fear and offense into fervent sustained love and understanding.
IV. Fasting and Prayer
A. We alone must initiate the first strengthening, and it is the key to receiving the other three, of which only God can provide. Fasting and prayer is the doorway and the escort into the final three pathways for divine strength. The messenger clearly states he has come because of Daniel’s words in prayer. The angel also identifies Daniel’s prayer and fasting as that of humbling himself.
Then he said to me,"Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words. (Dan. 10:12)
B. The first act that brings strengthening can only be chosen by Daniel through voluntary weakness. This seems like a contradiction. How can one be strengthened through weakness? In an hour when God is reducing the strength of the nations to nothing, fasting and prayer sets our hearts towards understanding in a posture of humility.
For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up -- And it shall be brought low -- (Is. 2:12)
The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day, (Is. 2:17)
In that day you shall not be shamed for any of your deeds In which you transgress against Me; For then I will take away from your midst Those who rejoice in your pride, And you shall no longer be haughty In My holy mountain. 12 I will leave in your midst A meek and humble people, And they shall trust in the name of the LORD. (Zeph 3:11-12)
C. The posture of humility in fasting and prayer guards our hearts from offense and puts us in a position to receive understanding. When we fail to understand God’s actions and are left distressed, the flesh moves us to rise up in offense and question God’s leadership. “God, how can You do this? Why do you lead the way you do?” It is much easier to accuse God from a place of strength. Whereas, fasting and prayer sets us in a place of voluntary weakness where we cast ourselves upon God alone. We may not fully understand, but we refuse to accuse. Rather, we seek for understanding in the context of worship.
D. From his early days Daniel embraced a lifestyle of prayer (Dan. 6:10) and fasting (Dan. 1:8). As a young slave in Babylon, he “purposed it in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s delicacies.” Dan. 1:17 informs us that he studied all the literature and wisdom of the day, including other religions and their ceremonies, yet Daniel chose food as key the battleground. Why? Food was a key issue for Israel (see Deut. 32:15) and will be a key issue at the end of the age. Overeating and self-indulgence will leave many spiritually lean and dull. This over-consumption on the spirit of this age and under-nourished in the Word disposition will leave many unprepared for the trial coming upon the whole earth.
"But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat, you grew thick, You are obese! Then he forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. (Deut. 32:15)
E. Fasting quickens our spiritual appetites, sharpens our spiritual discernment, combats our trust in our own strength, and weakens the cravings of our flesh. Overeating and overindulgence causes the spirit to grow dim and dull. Spiritual sharpness is diminished, and spiritual discernment wanes (i.e. what you watch on television). Daniel wanted his spiritual discernment to be strong as he entered his Babylonian enslavement. He needed all of his spiritual wits about him in such a Yahweh absent culture.
F. Prayer and fasting while physically weakening one’s body, expands the heart to receive God’s revelation and breaks off spiritual dullness. In fasting and prayer the spirit is sharpened and focused on the things of God. Sensitivity to the things of God arises and lifts the soul into God whereby we are able to resist the assaults of the enemy. Two examples from the life of Jesus display this.
1. The Temptation of Jesus. Jesus prepares to bind the strongman by entering into a season of fasting. Jesus embraces the wisdom of the Father as shown in Deut. 8:3.
So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. (Deut. 8:3)
Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." 4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.'" (Luke 4:1-4)
2. The Garden of Gethsemane – Verse 45 tells us that the disciples’ hearts were weighed down from sorrow causing them to sleep in an hour when they needed to be spiritually sharp and physically awake. Jesus exhorts his disciples to pray that they might not enter into temptation.
43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 45 When He rose up from prayer, and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. 46 Then He said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray, lest you enter into temptation." (Luke 22:43-46)
3. Fasting tenderizes our hearts, softens us to the ways of God, and sharpens our discernment to recognize the difference between the holy and the unholy. In fasting we refuse to satisfy our souls with our usual comforts which drain our strength and hinder us from moving forward in the grace of God. Fasting is the great detox of our soul. We starve ourselves from our usual spiritual dietary poisons, and as we give ourselves to fasting, God increases true spiritual hunger and expands our capacity for intimacy, revelation, and spiritual discernment. In fasting we embrace voluntary weakness in order to embrace God’s strength as our solution. Increasing our spiritual clout before others is not the purpose of fasting. In fasting, we place ourselves weak before God asking for a breakthrough in His strength. His strength becomes our true hope and ultimate solution to our problems.
G. We see in the life of Jesus an embracing of voluntary fasting in order that He might have discernment in the day of severe affliction. God is going to make fasting front and center again in the Body of Christ. We will embrace a lifestyle of voluntary fasting in order to provide leadership in a day when involuntary fasting abounds.
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. 15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. (Is. 7:14-15)
It shall be in that day That a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep; 22 So it shall be, from the abundance of milk they give, That he will eat curds; For curds and honey everyone will eat who is left in the land. 23 It shall happen in that day, That wherever there could be a thousand vines Worth a thousand shekels of silver, It will be for briers and thorns. (Is. 7:21-23)
H. Prayer, Fasting, and the Release of Angelic Resources. Daniel humbles himself before the Lord in prayer and fasting, and it releases a divine directive. This divine directive dispatches angels and causes the dislodging of principalities and powers. Imagine the top demonic resources of the day are shifted and reallocated due to the prayer of one eighty year old Jewish slave.
V. Divine Strengthening by the angels of God
A. Three times Daniel is touched by an angel to receive strength from the Lord. This is a necessary step for Daniel to be able to have strength to bear the weight of the revelation’s meaning.
Suddenly, a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. (Dan. 10:10)
Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me. (Dan. 10:18)
B. Two times at critical points in the life of Jesus we find Him strengthened by angels.
1. After the Temptation. Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.'" 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. (Matt 4:10-11)
2. Garden...
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