Daniel 10
McGeeCHAPTER 10THEME: Time, place, and preparation of Daniel for the vision; the vision of Christ glorified; transforming effect on Daniel; message of an unidentified heavenly messenger; Daniel assured and strengthenedThese last three chapters should be treated as one vision. The version relates to the nation Israel in the immediate future and also in the latter days. For example, there is the historical “little horn” and also the “little horn” of the latter days. Some expositors consider this last vision to be the greatest of all the visions of Daniel. Although it may not have such stature, it is indeed the most unique section. There are features here which are different from all other chapters. In this last vision even the method of revelation was changed. Another outstanding feature is that it fills in much detail of the preceding visions. While all was prophetic when it was given, at the present time much has been fulfilled and belongs to history. There is also a great deal that is yet propheticto be fulfilled in the last days. The line of demarcation between what has been fulfilled and what is yet to be fulfilled is not always clear. We have already seen the priciple of double reference, which refers to predictions that have a near and local fulfillment and also have a distant fulfillment. Of course, the fulfillment in the immediate future gives us the key for the far future fulfillment. For example, the historical fulfillment in Antiochus Epiphanes gives us a picture of the future fulfillment which will be in Antichrist. The key to understanding these last three chapters is found in the explanation the angel gives to Daniel: “Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days” (v. Dan_10:14). In other words, it will be a long time before this will be fulfilled, and it concerns Daniel’s people, the people of Israel. (Let me caution you against trying to put the church in this section, because Daniel is making it very clear that he is talking about his people.) We are moving into a very eerie section. Maybe you would call it weird or strange. The veil of the spiritual world is partially and momentarily pulled aside, and we get a look into the unseen world. There is nothing here to satisfy the morbid curiosity of an idle spectator. However, there is enough to produce a beneficial and sobering effect upon the humble believer similar to the effect that it produced upon Daniel. This intrusion into the spiritual realm introduces the believer to the order of angelsboth good and bad angels, fallen and unfallen. We will see something about the kingdom of Satan, which is about us today. There has been a great deal said and written about that recently. Many people take a little fact and then add a whole lot of fiction to it. We are going to stick to the facts that the Bible gives us here. Apparently angels exercise a free will, since some of them by their own volition followed Satan in his rebellion against God. Some of these belong to the order of demons to which frequent reference is made in the Gospels. The angels are in different orders, ranks, and positions and have various powers and abilities. “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” (Col_1:16). This makes a separation in God’s creation, not only of that which is in heaven and that which is in earth, but that which is visible and that which is invisible. There is a great realm today that is invisible. We are discovering that there are a great many things in this world of energy that we know very little about. We are told that He created thrones, which would be the archangels like Michael and Gabriel and other special envoys. There are dominions, which would be the cherubim and seraphim. There are principalities, which would be the generals, “the brass” of the angel hosts. And powers would be the privates such as serve as guardian angels (Heb_1:4). Some angels in the rank of principalities, that is, the generals, fell away to join with Satan. Notice what is said about “principalities”: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph_6:12, italics mine). Satan also has his angels organized according to rank. Just as one army is set over against another army, there are generals on both sides. Satan’s “principalities,” or generals, seem to have the oversight of nations. His “powers” are the privates of his army who are demons who seek to possess human beings. The “rulers of the darkness of this world” are demons who have charge of Satan’s worldly business, and I think he has a lot of monkey-business going on down here. Then there is “spiritual wickedness” in the heavenlies, which are the demons who have charge of religion.
You may not realize it, but Satan’s department of religion is the largest department of all. He is in the business of religion. Many folk think Satan is against religion. No indeed, he is promoting religionnot Christ, but religion. These two groups move in the arena of this universe in which we live. They are engaged in ceaseless warfare to capture the souls of men. We will see more of this as we go through this section.
Daniel 10:1
TIME, PLACE, AND PREPARATION OF DANIEL FOR THE VISIONThe “third year of Cyrus” was 534 B.C., which was about four years after the vision of the Seventy Weeks. Daniel was an old man by this time and probably retired from public office. “A thing [word] was revealed unto Daniel” suggests a new mode of communication. “The thing [word] was true, but the time appointed was long” indicates that the final fulfillment was in the distant future, not the immediate future. “He understood the thing [word], and had understanding of the vision” means that this vision was made crystal clear to Daniel.
Daniel 10:2
Daniel didn’t take a bath for three weeks! The cause of Daniel’s mourning is not told us, but we can speculate. Remember that it was the third year of Cyrus’ reign, and in his first year he had made the decree which permitted Israel to return to her land (see Ezr_1:1-4). Two full years had passed and only a paltry few had returned to the land of Israel under Zerubbabel. This is before the group under Ezra and the group under Nehemiah had returned. This was a rigorous time for Daniel. It brought grief to the heart of this aged prophet of God, now past ninety, to see that his people did not want to return to their homeland.
Probably retired now from active participation in office, evidently having served through the first year of Cyrus, he gave himself entirely to the service of God. He fasted for three weeks because he did not get an immediate answer to his prayer.
Daniel 10:4
Now he gives us the exact place and date when he received his vision and revelation. He was by the great river Hiddekel, which is the Tigris River. The time was the twenty-fourth of Nisan, April 24. Daniel is dealing with exact dates. This makes it difficult for the critics to wrestle with, because the one who wrote this was dealing with specific dates and he was not giving a late date for the Book of Daniel!
Daniel 10:5
THE VISION OF CHRIST GLORIFIEDI think that Daniel saw the transfiguration of Christ before either Moses or Elijah saw it. You see, there have always been three representatives: Moses represented the Law, Elijah represented the prophets, but Daniel represented a very particular group of those who had been in exile, and now he is given this vision of the glorified Christ ahead of time for his encouragement. This is a new method of revelation. No longer does Daniel see an image or visions of beasts or weeks. He sees a certain man. Who is that certain man? Some very excellent expositors hesitate to identify him, and they dodge the dilemma by saying he was a heavenly visitor. Well, that is really generalizing, and you can’t be very wrong if you call him a heavenly visitor. But that is not an exegesis of the passage. I believe this Person is Christ. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He gave many parables, and some of them concerned the activity of “a certain man.” That “certain man” was either God the Father or God the Son. In the verse before us the “certain man” is identified even further by His person and His dress. What a striking similarity there is to the vision of Christ after His ascension into glory as it was seen by John in the Revelation! “And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength” (Rev_1:12-16).
Now that is a vision of Christ, and I believe Daniel saw Christnot in His preincarnation, but he saw Him as the postincarnate Christ, in His office as priestly Intercessor and Judge and the great Shepherd of the sheep. After all, both Israel and the church are called His sheep. It is interesting to recall that Moses and Elijah were present at the transfiguration of Jesus as recorded in the Gospel records, but Daniel was not present. Why? Well, I think it may be because he had already witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus, and this is the record of it.
Daniel 10:7
TRANSFORMING EFFECT ON DANIELI do not think that any ordinary angel or even an archangel would have this effect upon these men. Although others were with Daniel, he alone saw the vision. It is evident from many recorded incidents that only the Holy Spirit can identify Christ for men, and that is what He is doing for Daniel. The Lord Jesus said, “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (Joh_16:14). The apostle Paul had a similar experience on the road to Damascus. “And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus” (Act_9:7-8). Paul was blindedhe had seen the glorified Christ.
Daniel 10:8
Daniel was left alone. That is the marvelous, wonderful experience of that man of God, and many have shared eagerly and joyfully a like experience. Abraham left Ur, and finally his kindred, and he was alone with God. Moses was sent to the backside of the desert of Midian, and at the burning bush he was alone with God. Elijah was disciplined by the Brook Cherith, and God was with him. Jeremiah walked a lonely path, but God was with him. John the Baptist was in the desert alone, but God was there. Paul had two years of solitary confinement on that same desertthat was God’s opportunity to train him. The apostle John was exiled on the lonely isle of Patmos, but God was with him. There are so many people who want to get together to have a great prayer meeting or other great gatherings. Friend, have you ever tried being alone? That is where God will meet with you. Take the Word of God and go off alone with Him. It will do you a lot of good. I love speaking on my radio program. I have been asked, “Dr. McGee, are you speaking to an audience when you make those tapes?” The answer is, “No. I am all alone.” I am in the studio with all the doors shut. I am alone, alone with God. It is wonderful. I think this is when God speaks to me. It is at this time that God has been able to use this weak bit of clay to get out the Word of God. He makes that Word go out, and He gives it its effectiveness. In contrast, the ungodly and the unbeliever are gregarious. They want to go to the nightclubs to have a drink with somebody. They run in packs, and they like to have people around them. They don’t like to be alone. You remember that Jacob tried to avoid being alone, but God pushed him into a corner so that one night God wrestled with him and finally crippled him in order to get him. Now in this Scripture before us Daniel is alone with God, and he has this vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, “there remained no strength in me"it had a tremendous effect upon him.
Daniel 10:9
Daniel apparently lapsed into unconsciousness. I don’t know how long he was there. The Lord Jesus left him, and when Daniel regained consciousness, he found that an angel had come and ministered to him.
Daniel 10:10
MESSAGE OF AN UNIDENTIFIED HEAVENLY MESSENGERDaniel apparently is just sprawled down, prone on the earth. Then a hand touches him. This heavenly messenger was sent by the postincarnate Christ to answer Daniel’s petition. Who could he have been? Well, I suggest that he was Gabriel, since Gabriel was sent to Daniel on other occasions; yet he could have been any other angel.
Daniel 10:11
You see, at first Daniel was horizontal with the ground. Then he was brought up on all fours, and now he is told to stand up. “A man greatly beloved"again Daniel is reminded of the fact that he is greatly beloved of God. That is a nice reputation to have in heaven, by the way!
Daniel 10:12
Here a veil is lifted momentarily, and it reveals a heavenly warfare going on. It reveals there is a great deal more about this universe in which we live than meets the eye. There is a great deal more to it than we know. Very little is revealed to us, and we should not try to know more than is revealed about the unseen world. This reveals that in the world which is unseen by us there is a conflict going on, a conflict of the ages between good and evil, light and darkness, God and Satan. It reveals that there are satanic forces and heavenly forces. “From the first day …thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.” The angel is saying that Daniel’s prayer was heard immediately and he was sent as a messenger with an answer. But on the way his pathway was blocked; he couldn’t get through to Daniel. This is an amazing statement! This throws some light on what Paul said to the Ephesian believers: “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph_6:11-12). Again, here are the gradations of rank in the forces of Satan. Their power may explain the reason your prayer and my prayer have not yet been answered. Actually, prayer is fighting a spiritual battle always. Paul made it clear that prayer was a spiritual battle for him. “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me” (Rom_15:30). “Strive together” is the Greek word sunagoµnizomfrom this root we get our English word agonize. You and I are to agonize in prayer. Prayer has been made a light sort of thing today. Most of the prayers I hear are either very flowery or very theological, and I think we could do without both kinds. Real prayer is agonizing. It is getting through the barriers to release spiritual power. It is not done by trying to entertain the Lord with flowery language or by trying to be very profound and theological. My friend, we are fighting a spiritual battle!Again, the angel said to Daniel, “When you began to pray, God sent me to answer your prayer, but I couldn’t get through to you because on the way the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days.” Who is he?
No earthly or human prince could do such a thing. This evidently was an envoy of Satan, one of the demons. We know that God has His angels organized, and apparently Satan also has his demons organized like an army. There are the generals and the colonels, the lieutenants and second lieutenants, sergeants and corporals, and so on. Apparently this angel was outranked by the satanic angel who was the prince of the kingdom of Persia, and so he couldn’t get through and had to send back for reinforcements. In fact, Michael, the archangel, had to come to open up the way for him. Why would the way be blocked? Daniel is going to be given information about the kingdom of Persia and about the kingdom of Greecewe will see that when we get to the next chapter. Satan didn’t want that kind of information to get out. It was secret information that he didn’t want released to the human family. But God wanted the information to be gotten through to Daniel. “Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” Apparently there was a conflict going on involving the kings of Persia (remember that Daniel was in Persia), and there needed to be some heavenly forces to help. This was about the time that Daniel had the experience of being put into the den of lions. You see, the Lord was active on Daniel’s behalf without his knowing anything about it. Oh, my friend, we need to recognize as believers that we are in a spiritual warfare. It is amazing how many times the Devil short-circuits our prayer life. One of the reasons that public prayer and prayer meetings are so dead is because those who go there say some pretty little prayers without realizing that there is a battle going on. There is a war that must be fought and won. Paul mentions this again in 2Co_10:3-5: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Friend, the Christian life is a bigger undertaking than any of us ever dreamed it to be. You and I need to recognize how much we need the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and how much we need the presence of Christ. We need to be more conscious of the fact that we are engaged in a spiritual warfare.
Daniel 10:14
This is the key which opens the door to the understanding of the remainder of the Book of Daniel. There are three features which characterize this closing vision.
- The vision concerns “thy people.” I think we can dogmatically and categorically identify the prophecy as having Israel as its subject. If anyone tries to interpret this in any other way, then semantics and syntax are meaningless. “Thy people” means Israel.
- It will be accomplished “in the latter days.” This places the final fulfillment in the period of the Seventieth Week, which is the time of the Great Tribulation period. The “latter days” places it at the end of that period.
- “Yet the vision is for many days.” This emphasizes the fact that a long period of time is involvednot only in fulfillmentbut before the vision will be finalized. We will come to the two parts of the vision: the historical (it was prophetic when it was given, but now has been fulfilled) and the prophecy yet to be fulfilled.
Daniel 10:15
DANIEL ASSURED AND STRENGTHENEDThis was having a tremendous effect upon Daniel physically, as you can see.
Daniel 10:17
When I hear people today tell me that they have had a vision of an angel but it doesn’t seem to have affected them very much, I know they didn’t really see an angel. The experience of seeing an angel certainly had a tremendous effect upon Daniel.
Daniel 10:19
Another angel that represents Greece will comeanother satanic principality. The angel who was speaking to Daniel had to get back to the battle that was going on.
Daniel 10:21
“That which is noted in the scripture of truth"the angel turns Daniel to the Word of God. Noted means “recorded or registered.” In other words, Daniel will not hear or see anything that is contradictory to the Word of God. My friend, the Word of God is the only weapon available to the child of God for effective use in our spiritual warfare. It is called the sword of the Spirit, and some of us don’t know how to use our swords.