Daniel 10:11-14

Daniel 10

Vision of Jesus

The vision - Why did it take so long to answer

Daniel 10:11-14

Do you trust God?

"Next year in Jerusalem", in Hebrew לשנה הבאה בירושלים‎ (leshaná habaá birushaláyim) is a phrase that appeared in Jewish culture at the Late Middle -Ages and became a part of the Passover and Yom Kippur, even a prayer. At those times, Israel - Jerusalem included - was part of the Mamluk Sultanate (Egyptian) after three successive Arab caliphates, the Sasanid Empire (Persian) and the Roman Empire, that had been in control there. After the fall or the Mamluk Sultanate in 1517, Israel became part of the Ottoman Empire (Turkish) until the end of WW I, when it became the "British Mandate of Palestine" together with Jordan. The border between Israel and Jordan (which is the Jordan river) was the outcome of the San Remo Conference in 1920, when the "Mandates" of Syria-Lebanon, Mesopotamia and Palestine - territories the Ottomans lost and the Allied Powers won - would be established under French and British control until the creation of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Israel and Jordan. 

Those European Jews who first said "Next Year in Jerusalem" in the Late Middle Ages didn't know that God would create Israel anew in 1948, that the old Judaea, Samaria and Galilee would be united again under the name "State of Israel" and that Jerusalem would be again the capital of Israel, recognised in 2017 by President Donald Trump, who relocated US Embassy to Israel's de facto capital. Those Medieval Jews didn't know the times of God's answer to their prayer, but they trusted God. So did the diaspora Jews during the times of the Reformation, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the French and American Revolutions, WW I and WW II.  And God answered.

There is a reason why God answered. In the book of Ezekiel chapter 47, the Most High gave the prophet the future boundaries of Israel - roughly between Lebanon and Egypt, and between the Mediterranean and the Jordan river. Few, if some, territories in the world have been the subject of so many discussions, hostility and even wars and terrorism, as this little strip of land which is less than 30 000 km2. If this area seems big to you, let me tell you as a comparison: Jordan - the other part of the "British Mandate of Palestine" that was intended to be the "Arab country" as Israel was intended to be the "Jewish country" - has an area which is more than three times larger. Israel's area is smaller than Costa Rica, Equatorial Guinea, Albania, Taiwan, or Belgium. God didn't destine for His people a land the size of Brazil, China or Canada. He destined for them an area that is smaller than Vancouver's. And Satan has been fighting God since 1948 by any possible means to cause that little country to disappear. 

In the previous message we have spoken about God's answers to prayer. The Lord answers "yes" when our prayers are according to His will. But not always. He can answer "not now" to certain prayers according to His will but not to His timing. And this "not now" could be as long as some centuries, as it was for those Medieval Jews praying, "next year in Jerusalem". 

How long have you been waiting for God's answer for some prayers of yours? How long are you going to wait? Today's passage is about a prayer of the prophet Daniel, the time he had to wait for the answer and the reasons for this delay. This is Daniel 10:11-14 in the New International Version:

"He said, 'Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you'. And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, 'Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come' "

The original Hebrew for these verses is this:

ויאמר אלי דניאל איש חמדות הבן בדברים אשר אנכי דבר אליך ועמד על עמדך, כי עתה שלחתי אליך. ובדברו עמי את הדבר הזה עמדתי מרעיד. ויאמר אלי אל תירא דניאל, כי מן היום הראשון אשר נתת את לבך להבין ולהתענות לפני אלהיך נשמעו דבריך ואני באתי בדבריך. ושר מלכות פרס עמד לנגדי עשרים ואחד יום. והנה מיכאל אחד השרים הראשנים בא לעזרני ואני נותרתי שם אצל מלכי פרס. ובאתי להבינך את אשר יקרה לעמך באחרית הימים, כי עוד חזון לימים

The pronunciation is like this:

Vayómer eláy, "Daniel, ish xamudót, havén badevarím asher anóxi dovér eléxa, vaamód al amedéxa, ki atá shuláxti eléxa". Uvedaberó imí et hadavár hazé, amádti maríd. Vayómer eláy, "al tirá, Daniel, ki min hayóm harishón asher natáta et libbexá lehavín ulehitanót lifné elohéxa, nishmeú devaréxa, va-aní báti bidvaréxa. Vesár malxút Parás oméd lenegdí esrím veexád yom. Vehiné Mixaél, axád hasarím harishoním, ba la-azréni, va-aní notárti sham étsel malxéy Parás. Uváti lahavinxá et asher yikrá le-ammexá be-axarít hayamím, ki od xazón layamím"

The translation of the original to English in the NIV is pretty much accurate for these verses. We want only to stress two expressions with a wider meaning. The first one is איש חמדות (ish xamudót) which means "greatly beloved man" as it is translated in the American Standard Version. It comes from the root חמד (xamád) which means "to desire, to take pleasure in", as more intense and personal than "highly esteemed". It is the word which describes God's love for Zion, the mountain "God has desired for his abode" (Psalm 68:16, ASV) and in a negative meaning, the action of "desiring" things or persons belonging to another person, to covet them (as in the last of the ten commandments, not to "desire" the house of your neighbor, his wife, etc. in Exodus 20:17) 

Another word which is to be noted is בין (bin) which we find in verse 11 as "consider carefully" and in verse 14 as "explain". The basic meaning of this word is "to discern", and "discernment" or "understanding" (בינה, biná) comes from the same root. As the Lord is telling Daniel, "consider carefully" or "understand" the words He would say, a long prophecy about Israel's destiny was about to follow. This is the "explanation" He gave Daniel - and He wants to give us - about the holy land and the final resurrection of Israel. 

The main theme of this chapter and the next two, until the end of the book, is the history of Israel and the final salvation of God's people. It is explicitly said in verse 10:14, "I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come". The next chapter begins with a prophecy about the last Persian kings, the conquest of the Persian Empire by Alexander the Great, and the "Syrian Wars" between Alexander's successors. Together with Rome, those were the Empires conquering the Holy Land until Israel was erased as a nation. The prophecy mentions Rome also and the last times, the Antichrist and the resurrection of Israel. The certainty Daniel was seeking in his prayers for his people came to him in this prophecy, delivered by the Lord Himself. But... why would God take three weeks to answer?

In verse 13 we find the reason of the delay, "the prince of the Persian Kingdom" was resisting God. The resistance was defeated by the arrival of Michael, "one of the chief princes". 

Who are these "princes"?

In the message corresponding to Daniel 10:5-6 in this blog we have been talking about the "Angel of the Lord" and other angels. The "chief prince" Michael, who is called by name here and is coming to defeat the prince of Persia, is also found in a prophecy that would be fulfilled after many centuries, a prophecy that we find in Daniel 12:1 and where Michael will arise to protect Israel - as a matter of fact, he is called there "the great prince who protects your [Daniel's] people". He is also found in Jude 1:9 and is called "archangel", from Greek αρχαγγελος (arxángelos) which is a compound of αρχων (arxón) and αγγελος (ángelos) These words mean "ruler, commander, chief, governor, official" and "angel", respectively. Then an archangel is a chief upon other angels, or a "great prince" among them, as it is given in Daniel 12:1. The fact that he protects Israel, as we find in this verse and in Revelation 12:7, shows us that God, who is the King of the universe, has appointed a commander upon the angelical hosts whose mission is the protection of His people. 

But.. why then another "archangel", the "prince of the Persian kingdom", would resist God? 

What's the difference between Israel's prince and Persia's prince?

Not all of the angels belong in God's hosts and obey God's archangels. In Matthew 25:41 Jesus is speaking about persons who didn't serve Him, the ones going to eternal damnation: "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels' ". Three revelations are to be noted here: 

1. There are angels who rebelled against God and serve Satan

2. Hell was created for such ones, not for us...

3. ...but not serving God is a reason to get there

These angels - who we find also fighting Michael in Revelation 12:3-9 - have chosen to follow the head of the fallen angels which is Satan, and they receive several other names. Jude 1:6 calls them "angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling". This verse reveals that there are proper and improper dwelling places for the angels, which are spirits (Hebrews 1:14, Psalm 103:20-21) As God created them, they can manifest themselves in human gestalt. But some of them want to dwell in humans or even animals. We find one of them in king Saul, who was tormented by an "evil spirit" (1 Samuel 16:14) when the Spirit of God left him. In the gospels and the book of Acts we read about many persons who were also tormented by them and who were delivered by Our Lord Jesus or by the apostles. 

Our Lord calls the fallen angels "impure spirits" (Matthew 12:43; Mark 5:8) which comes from Greek ακαθαρτον πνευμα (akátarton pniúma) which is often translated as "unclean spirit" (with the connection to "unholy", "defiled", "desecrated", "sinful" that we find in the Torah in many laws concerning ceremonial purity, applied to persons, places, things, etc.) Last but not least, they are called "demons" (Matthew 7:22; 10:8; 12:27-28; Luke 11:18) and the people tormented by unclean spirits are "demon-possessed". Our Lord defines them as belonging to the kingdom of Satan, and says that Satan is not divided against himself - otherwise his kingdom couldn't stand - because He was accused to deliver the demon-possessed ones by the power of Satan. 

Now as we find hierarchies in the Kingdom of God (a King, archangels and other angels) we find a similar structure in Satan's kingdom. That's why the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6:12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". Those rulers and authorities are not the human kings, but the unclean spirits working through every one who is sinning against God. In Deuteronomy 18:9-13 and in Titus 1:1-14 we find that the actions of the demons are attributed to whole nations. There is satanical influence in the whole world, more specifically in nations, and more specifically in individuals. As Satan is called "prince of this world" (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) and "ruler of the kingdom of the air" in Ephesians 2:2 ("prince of the powers of the air", ASV) his satanical officials govern upon nations, and his satanical soldiers upon persons. In the message corresponding to Daniel 7:1-2 in this blog we have spoken about the unclean spirits - or "winds" - inciting whole populations to vote for servants of Satan and follow them, even after they've seen their evil acts and knowing their evil hearts. 

Because of the malign influence of the "prince of the Persian kingdom" the Lord himself had to move the heart of king Cyrus in his first year, to cause him to allow the Jews to go back to Judah and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple of God (Ezra 1:1) two years before this vision of Daniel. God was still working in Persia to bring this revelation to the prophet, "in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia". Michael, Israel's protector, fought the Persian demon in this chapter. This points to a spiritual war between God's will - the return of the Jews to the holy land - and Satan's will, implemented by his fallen angels (unclean spirits, demons) in those who wanted to keep the Jews in exile. God works in his people by His Spirit or by sending angels to give us His word, and Satan works against God's people using his demons in those who fight us. The devil deceives even us sometimes (as in 1 Chronicles 21:1 and Matthew 16:23, where he incited king David and the apostle Peter respectively, to do something against God's will)

The fight between God and Satan, good and evil, our salvation and our damnation, is the reason of the commandments, warnings and promises God gave to mankind in the edenic, prediluvian, postdiluvian, patriarchal, mosaic, ecclesiastic, septennial and millennial dispensations we read about in the final NOTE to the message corresponding to Daniel 10:1-4. In a nutshell, that fight is the reason He gave us His word, to save our souls. God makes mandatory certain rules of life through commandments (precepts, laws, statutes) so that we think and behave as we should in His presence, and do His will (to make us "holy") 

God admonishes us through warnings about the final outcome of our rebellions (a.k.a. the consequences of "sin") and He gives us precious promises about the reward which awaits those who obtain salvation, even about the blessed outcome our obedience will bring here and now.  

Do you trust God? Are you waiting for Him to act? Do you believe He will answer your prayers? Do you act according to your faith in God? Do you think as God wants you to, speak as God wants you to, pray as God wants you to, act as God wants you to? Are you faithful to God's call in your life?

If this list of questions is too overwhelming to you, there's a way to make it very simple: do you live as Jesus did? 

There are several reasons God sent His Son to die on a cross, and His Spirit to guide us so that we can receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and live as He did. Two of them should be clear to us through the revelations of Daniel 10:11-14:

1. Two spiritual forces are fighting for our souls. We obey and follow one of them all the time. If we don't follow God, we'll be serving Satan.

2. Delayed answers to prayers can be caused by spiritual battles between those two forces. Our persistence in prayer is a requisite to win those battles. Even if the answer is delayed, if our prayers are according to God's will, He has promised us to answer them affirmatively. 

If this message sounds like Chinese to you (assuming you're not familiar with that language, of course) let me tell you, we need Jesus. It doesn't matter if we want to be in Jerusalem next year, or in the New Jerusalem on eternity, we need Jesus. If you have not received Jesus yet as your Lord and Savior, do it today! He wants to heal you, to forgive your sins and to make you to a victorious believer. He is able to destroy the curse Satan has brought on you, and deliver you from satanical bondage. He loves you and wants to be with you on eternity. Receive Jesus, and the power of His resurrection!

In the love of Christ, your brother

Israel Leonard

PS. Jesus is coming soon!