All right, Daniel chapter 10. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long, and he understood the thing and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all till three weeks were fulfilled. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hittikal, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like barrel, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like the color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, For the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. yet heard I the voice of his words. And when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face and my face toward the ground. And behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel, for the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard. and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days. But lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet this vision is for many days. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground and became dumb. And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spake and said unto him, that stood before me. O my Lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For now can the servant of this my Lord talk with this my Lord, for as for me, straightway there remain no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, and said, O man greatly beloved, Fear not, peace be unto thee. Be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak, for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I came unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia, and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grisha shall come. but I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth and there is none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your prince. Let's pray. Father we thank you for these great revelations that you sent through Daniel and this this glimpse we get of your angelic host and your plan there just help us to understand your Scriptures and that You would strengthen us to do according to Your will. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen. Okay, last week we finished off Daniel chapter 9, just the last 7 verses, but the last 7 verses contains what has been maybe one of the most commented on prophecies in all Scripture. It's Daniel's 70 weeks. the 70 weeks of Daniel, which really is 77 of years. So it's a period of 490 years. Daniel was praying about the 70 years that Jeremiah said that Israel would be in captivity in Babylon. That end was approaching. So Daniel was praying that God would restore Jerusalem and restore his people to the land. But when God sent his angel Gabriel to Daniel, he said the angel said that as soon as you began praying, I was sent, the command was sent for me to travel, fly speedily. And so he was, the angel was there by the time of the evening sacrifice. So we don't know exactly how long that was, but it takes a certain amount of time for an angel to travel from heaven to earth. And so he did travel and he came and he revealed to Daniel an incredible revelation that the 70 years in captivity were really because of 490 years of disobedience of not letting the land lay fallow every seventh year, the sabbatical year there. And so God moved them out of the land for 70 years to regain those 70 years that the land should have been fallow. Now, Daniel has prayed for those 70 years, but he said, what I'm gonna reveal to you is the next, not just 70, but 70 times seven years, or 490 years in the future. So he says here, there's first there's 69 weeks, and then the 70th week. Those 69 weeks, from our perspective, are already past. They happened. They started when the king sent Nehemiah back to rebuild the city, the walls of Jerusalem, and you can actually count them out and men have done it many times over, and basically you count those weeks, you come out, those years, that 483 years comes out from Nehemiah to Jesus' triumphal entry right before the crucifixion. Okay, so it comes out exactly, it comes out right there. But then it says that at the end of the 69 weeks, Messiah will be cut off. And we know that Jesus Christ was crucified then and cut off from the Jewish people. They rejected their Savior, their Messiah. He was cut off and crucified. And then what we most look at is that 70th week, which did not happen immediately. He broke them out. He said 69 weeks. And then that 70th week, we are still looking forward to that 70th week, which is basically the seven year, what we call the tribulation. The seven years of tribulation when various things are going to happen. The Antichrist is going to rise and make a covenant with Israel. He's going to defile the temple. But what we know is at the end of that 70th week, Christ is going to return to rule and reign. Okay, so that part is still future and we look forward to that. So God has fulfilled the 69 weeks. I'm sure he's going to fulfill the 70th. We just don't know when it starts. Now Daniel chapter 10 is an introduction to visions that Daniel has for the rest of the book of Daniel, the last three chapters here, chapter 10 is kind of the introduction to that, and then we get into the exact visions in the next two chapters. So we see some very interesting and unique things in Daniel 10. It says, in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, remember Nebuchadnezzar's dead, and Babylon has been overtaken, the Persians, the Medes and the Persians have taken over, so that part of the world. So Cyrus is the one who's in charge now. A thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar, and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long." So the vision is true, but it's not going to happen for a long time yet. But the time appointed was long, and he understood the thing and had understanding of the vision. In those days, I, Daniel, the first person, was mourning three full weeks. Okay. Last time he spent a day in prayer and then God revealed the meaning. This time he actually spent three weeks in prayer and fasting. Okay. He says, I ate no pleasant bread. So he didn't, he didn't start, he didn't go completely without food and drink, but he did not eat any pleasant bread. In other words, he didn't have any of that nice Aroma that that yeast bread that you bake and smell so good. He ate that unleavened Crackers, so just instead of instead of having fresh hot rolls. He's having Club crackers, okay, so he's eating but it's not the same he's denying them because he's spending his day in prayer again and Neither came wine flesh nor wine. So he's not eating meat He's doing like he did when he first came to Babylon and he said just service pulse or vegetables And he's not drinking wine grape juice. He's drinking water Neither did I anoint myself at all? So he's not getting all fixed up and cleaned up and putting on his perfume and ointment and all that kind of stuff till three whole weeks were fulfilled so this time he didn't get an instant answer and The other one, he started praying, the angel was sent, and he got an answer that day. This time, he continues for three weeks. Sometimes we have to persist in prayer for God's own reasons. We don't know why, but it's up to God. Sometimes you ask a prayer and you get an answer right away, but sometimes you have to keep persisting until God answers. And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hittikal, so he was out and he was by the river, I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uthans. So as he was out by the river, he saw a vision. And this vision, this person he sees, sounds very much like the description of Jesus Christ that John saw in the first chapter of Revelation. OK, it sounds very much like that. So we're not sure here whether this is a manifestation of Jesus Christ or whether it is just a great angel. His body was like beryl, his face as the appearance of lightning, his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and feet like the color of polished brass, the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude." So very much like the revelation of Jesus Christ there. So he is seeing a holy being here. Whether it's an angel or Jesus Christ, we're not completely sure. And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision. So he's the only one that sees it. It's a vision, it's not reality in the physical sense, but it's a vision that Daniel sees. For the men that were with me saw not the vision, but a great quaking fell upon them, so they ran and hid themselves. So he has people with him. I mean, he's a high official in this country, and so he has people with him. So when this vision came, Daniel saw the vision. They didn't see the vision, but they sensed something they were afraid of, and they took off. They found some place to hide, to get out of there. So they felt this holy presence, and they fled. Therefore, I was left alone and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me, for my comeliness was turned into corruption, and I retained no strength." So this vision is more than he can handle. The vision of the holy, we take the holy for granted so much. It's more than we can handle. When you see angels appear, men fall on their faces dead. When you see a distant angel or something, he sees this vision and it's too much because God's holiness and the holiness of his holy angels make us look like rotting flesh by comparison, okay? He said his comeliness, the best things about him turned into corruption. And so he was just totally wiped out. He had no strength to stand before this great and holy being in front of him in this vision. Yet I heard the voice of his words. And when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, my face toward the ground. So he is in as humble a position as you can get face down on the ground. And behold, a hand touched me. and set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands." So, I picture you grabbing by the collar of the back of the neck and pulling him up, you know. Now, I pull him up to his hands and his knees, anyway. He's that far. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved. He didn't say, Daniel, you're a great person. You're a wonderful man. You're a powerful official. It's like, he said, Daniel, God sure loves you a lot to call you out in these special ways. understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright, for unto thee am I now sent." So he's talking to an angel now. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. So he's now able to stand on his feet, but he's still shaking. It's just this holy angel in front of him is just more than he can handle. It'd be more than we could handle. It's no fault of Daniel's. It's not that, oh, he's just old and shaky. No, this is a holiness that's greater than he can stand. He sees his own corruption and unworthiness. For from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." Gabriel told him in chapter nine, from the minute you started praying, I was sent. And he got there by the time of the evening sacrifice. So he got there about three o'clock in the afternoon. This time, it's been two weeks, three weeks, 21 days. But he said, your words were heard when you first settled. You think, boy, God is slow to hear. He's not slow to hear, but he acts at his own time. He said, thy words were heard, and I'm come because of your words. If he hadn't prayed, the angel would not have been sent. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty-one days. Who is the prince of the kingdom of Persia? Is he talking about Cyrus? I don't think so. I don't think Cyrus could stand before this angel either, any more than Daniel can. He is talking about a demonic power. He's talking about a fallen angel. Remember Paul talks about that there are principalities and powers. There is a spiritual realm out there. It's beyond our sight and our understanding, but this angel is revealing it to Daniel that he said, I was sent and I started as soon as you started praying three weeks ago. But, satanic forces intervened and have been keeping me from getting to you. Okay? There are regional powers and demons. Now, be careful because some people these days have all these regional powers and you're supposed to go and bind this one and bind that one and this and that. I don't hear Daniel doing any of that kind of stuff. This battle was going angel to angel. Okay. It's on their level. Let an angel deal with it. Okay. It's not on our level. We're not fighting. But as this angel came, even this great angel, probably Gabriel, this great angel who has come, this demon had enough power to keep him from coming. Okay. Didn't do him any harm. but he could keep him from getting there. This world, these forces, especially as Satan's been allowed to control kingdoms on the earth, he has more and more power, and it's harder and harder for God's angelic forces to get through. And so he said, I've spent 21 days battling a demon. I don't want to go in beyond what the scripture says here. I know that some people, you know, some pastors I know of have written whole books and they give whole discussions here including the dialogue between the angel and the demon and all that. That's made up. I can't tell you what happened on that level and I think we're on very shaky ground at the least when we try to envision that, but we do know that this demonic being kept this angel from God from reaching Daniel for three weeks, okay, but he can't thwart God's will. But the prince, okay, Persia kept him 21 days, but lo, One of the chief princes, okay, Michael, the archangel, we hear of him as far as we know, he's the mightiest of the angels. He came to help me and I remained there with the kings of Persia. So he said, I spent three weeks there unable to get through to you. That was my mission, I was trying to, but I couldn't because it's demonic force. But God sent Michael to come deal with him. Okay, or Michael has dealt directly with Satan. Okay, he's in that kind of league. He's directly dealt with Satan, but even then, it says that even Michael didn't rebuke Satan directly, but he said the Lord rebuked thee. Let God rebuke Satan. He knew not even to take that on himself. So God sends Michael down there saying, hey, Gabriel's got a job to do. Go down there and take care of it. Make sure he gets through. So Michael comes there. And once Michael gets there, he says, I remained there with the kings of Persia. That sounds a little strange, but you could almost say that once Michael got there, I was left over. Okay, he was stuck in this battle with the demon, but once Michael got there, Michael took that over and now he remained, he was free to go about his business. Okay, he was freed up. Now I am come to thee to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days, for yet the vision is for many days. So remember, this vision is about the Jews. It's about the nation of Israel, Daniel's people. But it's not until many days. It comes much later. It comes at the end of times. And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. So this is overwhelming Daniel again. And behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spake. So again, he's unable to speak before this angel, but another angel touches his lips like Ezekiel. He brought a fire and touched his lips so he could speak. I opened my mouth in spake and said unto him that stood before me, O my Lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me and I have retained no strength. He said, this is too much for me, it's overwhelming, I can't handle it. For how can the servant of this, my Lord, talk with this, my Lord? It's like, I'm not even in your class. How can I even speak and have a conversation with you? As for me, straightway there remain no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man and he strengthened me." And we often see angels coming to strengthen. Remember Elijah, when he was fleeing from Jezebel, the angels came and strengthened him so he could continue on. When Jesus, after the temptation in the wilderness, the angels came and strengthened him. After his temptation in the garden, angels came and strengthened him. Angels do come and strengthen us. And said, oh man, greatly beloved, fear not. Peace be unto thee. Be strong, yea, be strong. So he said, It's okay, but to be able to even tolerate this vision from this great holy being, Daniel had to have special strengthening sent by an angel to do that. And he said, don't be afraid, be at peace and be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened and said, let my Lord speak for thou has strengthened me. So he says, okay, you've strengthened me enough that I can hear what you have to say. So it takes even that even just to hear God's Word, we need God's grace and God's strength. We need that every day. Just as we read our Bible, don't forget to pray, Lord, speak to me through your word. Enable me to hear what you have to say to me through that. Here, he gave him the strength to listen to this holy angel. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I came unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia, shall come." So he said, okay, I'm come to give you understanding of the future. Well, that only comes from God. We try to fake that. Satan tries to fake that. You can go to fortune tellers and palm readers and card readers and you can read horoscopes and you can read various things, but those are all phony. They're not accurate. They don't come true. It's got to be 100%. It's got to be right. And if it's 100% right about the future, I guarantee you it's from God. And so he said, okay, I'm going to reveal this, but when I get through speaking with you, I've got to go back to my fight. It's not over. Michael just came so that I could finish this mission, but then I've got to go back. So here we are, there's this powerful Prince of Persia. Remember, Persia is the most powerful kingdom in the world right now. So I think probably Satan's most powerful demon is the Prince of Persia. It's not the Disney movie or whatever. It's this powerful demon that's there and he said when I leave here I've got to go back to battling with him. So there's all these events happening here on earth But in an unseen world Above that there's a demonic conflict and it's real. It's very real. They're demonic conflicts There's things going on with man and it's far beyond our ability to do anything about it. But we have to trust that God is in control of those things. And he has his mighty angels that will accomplish his will. But he says that I've got to go back. When I leave you, I've got to go back and battle with this prince of Persia again. And when I've gone, lo, the prince of Grisha shall come. So what he's saying is, he's already told him in previous visions that Greece is going to take over Persia. which is the next kingdom coming. He says, I've got to go back and fight this fight against the prince of Persia until the prince of Greece comes. Then I got to fight him. Okay. So there's, we see these things on earth, but there's really demonic battles and angelic battles that are going on in heaven that are above that. So he says that he's going to go back and that would happen. Then Greece is going to come. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. Okay, God's scripture is the scripture of truth. And there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael, your prince. So he says, I've got this battle to fight, and it's all mine except for Michael. Okay, who's Michael? Well, Michael is the particular angel over Israel. He is their prince. He's their angel that's there to guard and direct them against these forces, so he says, You know, I'm the one that has to battle the Persian principalities, and I'm going to have to battle the Grecian ones when they come. But there's nobody else to help me except Michael. Because why? Because all these things affect Israel. And so, therefore, Michael, the guardian angel of Israel, is there to work on their behalf. So he says, I'm in this alone except for the prince, your angel, Michael, the archangel. And so, wow, that's, you know, we wish we knew more. We knew more what God's will about that, but God gives us just a little glimpse behind the curtain to this angelic world. And there are great battles going on in that world. And that's why we need to be so careful what we do here. Because we mostly walk around obliviously about what's going on. But we need to be careful not to give openings and strongholds and footholds to the demonic forces. Because when you do, you just give them more of an inroad in their battle against the forces of good that God has arrayed. That's why it's so important. That's why these mind-altering drugs are so serious. Okay. That's why this meditation and mindfulness and yoga and things like that are so serious. Okay. I'm not against yoga because it's a stretching exercise. Okay. It's not a stretching exercise. If you want to stretch, stretch. Okay. But yoga is a religion. And it's a religion that opens you up to demonic forces. It's what it's intended to do. If you want details, I can give you lots of details. They talk about the snake coiled up at the base of your spine that you're trying to release, the kundalini spirit, all of this kind of stuff. That's in yoga. And then nowadays, they try to slip things in, and it's everywhere, just mindfulness. They just say, oh, well, it's good to breathe. My Apple Watch has an app that I don't have on there. that's supposed to make you pause and breathe deeply and meditate and this and that. It's there, it's everywhere. It's in a lot of school programs. You tell the kids to, you know, they need to relax and meditate and breathe. It's in the business literature that you need to be mindful and relax and breathe. Those are just openings into this Eastern mysticism, which is all an opening into allowing demonic forces into your life. Drugs are the same way. I don't care if they legalize marijuana, it's still a mind-altering, hallucinogenic drug that helps open you to demonic spirits. And apparently in Texas now, CBD is legal. And marijuana is not at this point. But I still expect it to come because of the tax revenue, just like the liquor sales and this and that. But in the majority of states now, I think marijuana is legal. But CBD is being sold. I know I see it being sold everywhere. But I don't want to touch it. Now, they say, well, it's not supposed to be addictive. It's not supposed to be hallucinogenic. It's a derivative of marijuana, though. Now, I can see that you can get things from the plant that could be useful. I'm not against hemp rope. Okay, that's not gonna cause your mind to be affected. But anything you consume, whether you eat it, or smoke it, or inject it, or whatever that affects your mind. is taking your control of your mind away and making an opening for a demonic force to come in, okay, through meditation, through mindfulness. If they say, you know, meditate is a good biblical word, but meditate in the Bible is not the same as when you hear meditate in the world. Meditate in the Bible means memorize scripture, think about it, think, you know, You know, memorize a passage of scripture, rehearse it over and over, think about it, think how it applies to your life. It's very much thinking and control. And that meditating, in the world sense, means empty your mind. Go blank. Try not to think anything. Well, if you disengage your mind and don't think anything, something's gonna fill it, because your mind is a perpetual motion machine. It's always going. It even goes when you're sleeping, right? Dreams, and your mind is always going. If you clear your mind, something's gonna move in. It's like a vacuum. It's hard to pull a vacuum. Even space isn't a complete vacuum. If you're in science, you get a bell tube and you pull a vacuum on it. You only get a partial vacuum. And the second anything happens, air rushes in. Well, if you clear your mind, something's coming in. Okay? And God doesn't force himself on you. So I'll tell you who it'll be. We need to be careful not to allow satanic forces a foothold in our lives. There's books you shouldn't read, kinds of music you shouldn't listen to, things you shouldn't think about, movies you shouldn't watch. You're just opening for Satan. Disney Plus, you think that'd be about as good as you get for family-friendly entertainment. And they even have a young children's section. And you look at the young children's section, but one of the most popular shows on there is called Vampirina. It's about this, I don't know what it's really about, but it's a little girl that's a vampire. Vampires are just representations of demonic forces. This is what you wanna raise your kids on? I don't think so. Okay? It's all around us in this world. So the thing is, Satan's getting every foothold he can get, everywhere he can get it. And the thing is, there's a great battle going on. And if it takes an angel like Gabriel who's in a deadlocked struggle with these powerful demons, we don't want to put holes in our protection and give ways in. We want to leave that protection there instead of allowing demonic forces to have influence in our lives. But more and more in our world, the protection that you've had just in general from living in a, quote, godly country is going away fast. It's not there anymore. There is no more, you know, there used to be a board before all the movies that had to be approved by the board. There was a board that had pastors and other people on it that Hollywood couldn't make a movie without them, okay, their approval. And they disbanded and went with the rating system instead. So now there's nothing stopping Any kind of trash and filth fooling them. But we need to be careful to keep ourselves clean and pure and be prepared to meet with God. Because Daniel has just gotten through seeing... It's brought Daniel... I mean, Daniel's pretty holy, right? He's been fasting for 21 days. And this is Daniel that's had these great revelations and been a great godly man, respected. And even he fell apart for his own sinfulness in front of this holy being. Okay? We need to remember God is holy. And we need to recognize that. We need to repent of our sins. We need to allow God to strengthen us that we can stand even before His holiness. And remember that we have to stand in the blood of Jesus Christ. That is our only way to stand before God. It's not all our good deeds. It's not our years of church attendance and membership, our service, this and that. It's the blood of Jesus Christ. is the only thing that's going to allow us to stand before a holy God, because Satan is still after it, and it's not over yet. That 70th week that we call the Tribulation is still coming, and we need to be right with God so that we're under the protection and power of Jesus Christ.