Daniel 10:9-10

 Daniel 10

Vision of Jesus

The vision - Daniel is strengthened

Daniel 10:9-10

Do you want to live by faith?

There are believers and nonbelievers. The first ones have some kind of faith (in God or in false gods) and the other ones don't believe in spiritual things; everything is material to them, they think they descend from the amoeba and that they will dissappear when they die. The believers in false gods are traditionally called "pagans", and the nonbelievers "atheists". Atheists don't pray because in their eyes there is nobody to pray to, and pagans pray - if they do - to their demons. Obviously that's not the faith we are talking about in the question at the beginning. If you don't have any faith, or if you have some faith in other "god" which is not the God of Israel, then you need to repent and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. He will pardon your sins, and make you to a child of God. Then you'll start praying to God. Your relationship with God through prayer and the study of the Scriptures will transform you, if you listen to the voice of God and follow Him. 

Why the "if"?

When you pray to God, you may discover that as in many other relationships in your life, God not always says "yes" to your prayers, and your faith is set on trial because of your frustration. I say you "may" discover, because many believers never reach that basic knowledge. There are at least three answers to your prayers: "yes", "no" and "not now". That's why God sends prophecies covering your needs according to His answer: "he that prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, and exhortation, and consolation" (1 Corinthians 14:3, American Standard Version) 

Why doesn't God always answer "yes"?

God says "yes" when your prayers are according to His will and timing. God says "no" when your prayer is against His will. God says "not now" when your prayer is according to His will but not to His timing. And you'll need edification, exhortation and consolation to act on God's "yes", to repent and give up on God's "no", and to wait - and probably to pray more or to prepare yourself in some way - on God's "not now".

One of the most known examples about God's negative answer is in 2nd Corinthians 12:9, where God says to the apostle Paul, "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness". Paul had been praying to God about a "messenger of Satan" which tormented him. God didn't take the torment away, but ensured Paul that His power would work in him even in his weakness. 

Life is not about being free from inconveniences, as Our Lord Jesus said to the apostle Peter in Luke 20:31-32, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers". Peter's mission was to be performed at the same time he and his brothers were "sifted as wheat" by Satan. Many people believe that God's protection implies that Satan can't touch them, but it is not what we find in the Bible, or in the history of the church or Israel. Christian and Jewish believers were persecuted and even put to death because of their faith in times of the Roman empire, and they are persecuted and put to death even nowadays. We are at war with Satan, and God hasn't deprived the evil one of weapons. God's strategy is to arm us, to enable us to win. And it works, because God's weapons are more powerful than Satan's. 

The book of Daniel shows us an example of God's "not now" answer in chapter 12. When Daniel asks, "My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?", the answer is "Go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end". He won't reveal to the prophet the end of the last days, because Israel's restoration and final salvation would take place many centuries after Daniel's death, and it was not relevant for him or his contemporaries to know that, but to cling to their hope: "You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance". 

When the disciples ask Jesus the same question, they received a similar answer (Acts 1:7-8) "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth". Both Daniel and the disciples would know all things they wanted to know at the Messiah's return, but they didn't need to know every detail about that future blessing, only to trust God. 

The biblical passage we bring today has to do with a "yes" answer of God to Daniel's prayer. From this chapter to the end of the book, the prophet receives a very detailed prophecy about the history of Israel, Europe and the Middle East, from the times of Persia to eternity.

These are the verses in Daniel 10:9-10:

"Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees"

The Hebrew of the original is this:

ואשמע את קול דבריו וכשמעי את קול דבריו ואני הייתי נרדם על פני ופני ארצה. והנה יד נגעה בי ותניעני על ברכי וכפות ידי

And it sounds like this:

Vaeshmá et kol devararáv, uxshameí et kol devaráv, vaaní hayíti nirdám al panáy, ufanáy ártsa. Vehiné, yad nigeá bi vateniéni al birkáy vexapót yadáy. 

Verse nine is translated like this in the American Standard Version:

"Yet heard I the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground". The idea this version - as the original Hebrew - conveys is that the sound of the words of the Lord were perceived by Daniel but not enough to awake him from his deep sleep, not that the words caused him to sleep. This is so because ואני הייתי נרדם על פני (vaaní hayíti nirdám al panáy) means literally "then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face" as it is in the ASV. The NIV has an alternative rendering that conveys another sequence in the events of the story. Verse ten is almost literally translated in NIV ("on my hands" is וכפות ידי, vexapót yadáy, which literally means "on the palms of my hands") 

Why did the prophet faint?

God's holiness can be overwhelming. Daniel fainted at his vision. John saw the resurrected Jesus and "fell at his feet as though dead" (Revelation 1:17) The people of Israel begged Moses to be their ambassador with God, because they feared the Lord so much that they didn't want to hear His voice. For them and for many more believers, the encounter with God has been a frightening experience. That's because God's absolute holiness is frightening to us, as it would be our parents recrimination when we as children did something very wrong, as it was for Joseph's brothers the knowledge that the powerful Egyptian official who could send them to death was their brother, the same one they wanted to kill and finally sold as a slave. Our sins make us afraid and embarrassed. 

But let us overcome our fear! When God says he has forgiven our sins, He means it, even when for us those sins could be like a sword of Damocles that could kill us anytime. They are not. Satan's work is to accuse us. Jesus' work is to justify us. And God's desire is our good. In Romans 8:28 we read that "to them that love God all things work together for good", which is illustrated by millions stories of Jews or Christians both in the Bible and in later times. 

Joseph had been sold by his brothers as a slave and, after many years of prison, he became Pharao's right hand. When he was in such a position of power, his brothers came to Egypt to seek food and talked to him, without recognizing him. Their lives were in his hand. When they knew he was Joseph, they were frightened to death. But he said to them, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives". They received Joseph's forgiveness and brought their father to Egypt, so the whole family was gathered around Joseph, the same brother they had tried to kill. 

When king Hezekiah got ill and the prophet Isaiah came to him and told him he was about to die, he earnestly prayed to God for his life. Then God answered, "This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city". The king's illness was not to death, but great good came from it: God would give him a longer life and He would act in Judah's favor in Hezekiah's lifetime, delivering them from Assyria. The king wrote about this event, "Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind your back". He understood that death was the right punishment for his sins, and that God's salvation included erasing those sins and pardoning him. 

God's pardon has a healing action in our lives. That's why it is very important that we are so forgiving as He is, if we are going to become His instruments on earth. And that's why we can't abide in the past, harboring plans of vengeance for those who have hurt us, or losing our faith because "God was not fair to us", which means "it was all a lie". As Joseph, who didn't seek vengeance, and as king Hezekiah, who didn't lose his faith, we should keep loving God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. Even more, our salvation depends on our pardon. Jesus said, "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins"

How do we live by faith?

God's answers to this question are many. The first one is to align our prayers after God's will. In 1 John 5:14-15 we read, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him". The key phrase in these verses is "according to his will". For those who don't humbly receive God's "no" and "not now" answers, prayer could become a dead religious exercise. God doesn't accommodate His will to our desires. He guides us to do His will, because it is "good, pleasing and perfect" for us (Romans 12:2) If you're one of those who pray like "my will be done", let me tell you that God is the boss, you are not. That's why Our Lord taught us to pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The hosts of heaven obey God as their supreme commander. 

A remarkable example of a prayer according to God's will is found in 1 Kings 3:4-14, where king Solomon asked God for wisdom to rule over the people God had entrusted him. God was very pleased that the king didn't ask for personal advantages (wealth, long life or death to his enemies) but for wisdom to do God's work in the right way. He gave Solomon not only wisdom, but riches, long life and power - the things he didn't ask for. Our Lord Jesus said, "do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well". 

Everything in our prayers has to be according to God's will. Jesus came to Daniel and revealed those extraordinary prophecies because in spite of his weakness, in spite of being an exile in Babylonia and Persia for most of his life, destitute from seeing Jerusalem or the temple again, and seeing his people in exile too, away from the land God had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he was praying to the same God who permitted all of this, trusting God's word and the covenant He made with Israel through Moses. 

God's will shall be done. Our will shall be done if it is the same as His. Therefore we better align our prayers with God's will, if we don't want to receive many negative answers from Him. 

This is hard for many people. They have an image of God as an overprotecting father who spoils His children. If you read in the Bible the way God dealt with Israel through Moses' leadership and the prophets' admonishing, with the disciples through Jesus' leadership or with the church through the apostles' leadership, you'll hardly find this overprotecting or spoiling paternal figure anywhere. 

There is a carnal propensity in us to ask God for "safe spaces", or to remain in our comfort zone, a desire to not grow as we should. Even the apostle Paul prayed to God three times to take away his "thorn in his flesh" or "messenger of Satan", but the Lord didn't do that. The trials or conflicts that God is using to form you and bring you closer to Him are not going to go away because of your prayers. That didn't happen to Paul, and that will not happen to us. 

The prophet Daniel was strengthened by the voice of God and the touch of His hand, but not to make him "feel good". God's purpose was the great revelation that the prophet would receive, remember and write in his book, and He took away Daniel's weakness and gave him clarity, the perfect mental disposition he needed. That's why the great revelation begins when Daniel said to God, "speak, my lord, since you have given me strength".

Do you want to live by faith?

The prophet who received this word ("but the righteous shall live by his faith") which is Habakkuk, ends his book with this words:

"Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

    he enables me to tread on the heights"

Do you rejoice in the Lord?

Are you joyful in God your Savior?

Is the Lord your strength?

Do you tread on the heights with a deer's feet?

Have you forgiven those who have sinned against you?

If you can't answer "yes" to these questions, remember that God's purpose is your salvation, including your well-being, peace, love, joy and everything that belongs to the faith. Repent! Your sins have separated you from God, they have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. Because He doesn't answer prayers against His will. There is a great promise for those who confess their sins and repent from them: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9) May the Lord lead you and restore you, and may His blessings return to you!

In the love of Jesus, your brother

Israel Leonard

PS. Jesus is coming soon!