Now to Daniel chapter 10. Daniel chapter 10. Daniel has very similar experience to the Apostle John here in the Old Testament nearly 500 years before. Daniel chapter 10. In the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar. And the word was true, and it was a great conflict. And he understood the word and had understanding of the vision. In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all for the full three weeks. On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river that is the Tigris, I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man, clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude. And I alone, Daniel, saw the vision. For the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves. So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength. Then I heard the sound of His words, and as I heard the sound of His words, I fell on my face in deep sleep, with my face to the ground. And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. And he said to me, O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you. And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling. Then he said to me, Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, One of the tree princes came to help me, for I was left there with the king of Persia, and came to make you understand what it is to happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision is for days yet to come. When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face towards the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, O my Lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can the Lord's servant talk with my Lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me. Again one, having the appearance of a man, touched me and strengthened me. And he said, O man, greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you, be strong and of good courage. And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, Let my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me. And he said, Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth. There is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince." May the Lord add His blessing to the reading of His word. You may be seated. Here in Daniel chapter 10 we begin what is really the final section of the book of Daniel. What we find in Daniel chapter 10, 11, and 12 really is one unit. It is an extended introduction to the vision, what we find here in chapter 10, we have the lengthy vision itself in chapter 11, and then we have a kind of post-script, final words to Daniel there in chapter 12, but it really is one extended unit. And here in chapter 10 through the end of chapter 11, it is really a parallel to Daniel chapter 8. Daniel chapter 8, if you recall, we saw visions and understanding of the Medo-Persian and the Greek kingdoms, what events would take place in the future for Daniel and for us in the past. And the prologue here, chapter 10, reveals something quite amazing to us. In chapter 10, we have an inside look at what we might call spiritual cosmic warfare. Read it. We'll spend more time, though, next week, Lord willing, seeking to understand that aspect of chapter 10. Who are these princes that are warring with one another? But tonight, our plan is to focus really on verses 1 through 9. Focus on verses 1 through 9, this self-revelation of God to Daniel in preparation of the vision of the events that were to come. as chapter 11 will unfold. So very simply this evening, what I would like for us to see from the text is that in the midst of our own sin and misery, the Lord strengthens us with glorious visions of Himself. that in the midst of our own sin and misery, the Lord strengthens us with glorious visions of himself. And we're gonna see this under four headings this evening, four headings, two of which are focused on humanity, two of which are the Lord's work. The first heading is this, man's frailty and sin is confessed by prayer. And that's what we find in verses 1 to 4, this introduction. Daniel is living still in Babylon, the third year of Cyrus, the king of Persia. And he's given to this vision, this understanding. But in verse 2 we find that Daniel is in a state of mourning. A state of mourning, what he says, for three weeks. For three weeks he does not eat any delicacy, he doesn't anoint himself, he does not eat meat or wine. He is in a state of mourning for 21 days. The question that is before us is, why is this the case? Where are we in the flow of Daniel and the flow of redemptive history? Why is Daniel in this state of mourning? What we find in the book of Daniel and comparing Scripture with Scripture is there is actually a number of reasons why Daniel could have been in mourning. In fact, why is he in mourning? Well, certainly he would be in mourning for the trials of the people of God. Recall chapter 9 and even chapter 8. He's had these visions. These visions that describe the hardship of the people of God. The fact that the people of God are going to experience persecution. Yes, they will return. And in fact, by this point, they have returned physically to the land of Jerusalem. And yet Daniel has just been shown that they will face opposition. They will face persecution. And as a godly man, Daniel mourns. He mourns for the trials of the people of God. But also we see in Daniel chapter 9 that Daniel is one who mourns for the sins of the people. We just saw in chapter 9 that extended prayer of confession, that Daniel was on behalf of the people pouring out his heart, that God would be merciful because the people of God had been sinful, and in fact still are sinful. But also Daniel certainly by this time in history would be mourning for the slowness and the smallness of the work of restoration. Notice it is the third year of King Cyrus. If you recall what happens in the first year of King Cyrus, they receive a decree in which they are to go back to the land of Jerusalem. They are given documents that enables them to go back to Jerusalem and begin the laborious task of clearing away all of the rubble, of rebuilding the walls, of rebuilding the temple. And now, two years later, As we compare the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, what has taken place? They began the work. There was opposition. There was discouragement. And so the work had stopped. I don't think it's an accident that it's two years later. The timing makes sense. Certainly by now Daniel had begun to receive, as an official in the kingdom, reports of what had been taking place back in Jerusalem. The work was going nowhere. That enthusiasm, which certainly would have accompanied the beginning, had faded away. There was strong opposition. Those who had returned to Jerusalem had been discouraged. It was difficult than they had anticipated, and so there is mourning. Certainly, what we find also brought out in the text is the timing of this, that this was the first month. What's significant about that? I do believe, in part, Daniel is mourning because he has been separated from the people of God not able to join with them in the celebration of Passover. That you would expect Daniel to be there, to be there with the people of God, and yet what we find is he is still in Babylon. He is not with the people who had gone back, perhaps because he is too old, more likely the Lord had called him to stay here and to pray on behalf of the people, to help them in that way. But he is not there. which means he's not there the first month would be the celebration of the Passover that could only occur in Jerusalem. And it's during that time, instead of celebrating, Daniel is in mourning and fasting. What we find is Daniel, the great servant of the Lord, the man of prayer, the faithful servant for now nearly seven decades, is not with the people of God, is mourning There are many parallels for God's people. We think about reasons for discouragement, reasons for mourning. It could be a result of our sins. It could be a result of the sins of others against us or the sins of others against others. That certainly can bring discouragement in our walk with the Lord. We can think about the state of God's people. Whether that be local or global, you look at the state of the church and the impurity that is so often in the church, the way in which the church is a church in name only. They tempt us to despair. Think of the state of God's people, of persecution, where the gospel has gone forth, but instead of a glad reception, there is an opposition, there is a seeking to kill God's people. Think about the smallness and the slowness of the work of God and His kingdom. Answers to prayer being delayed. All these and more certainly may lead a godly man or woman to be tempted to be discouraged. But what we find is that Daniel is in mourning, but he is in prayer and fasting. And he has cried out to his God. And it's in response to that, that this person comes. Now 24 days later, 21 days later, our sin and our frailty is to be confessed by prayer. What follows that then, secondly, is God's greatness and goodness is revealed to the people of God in Christ. So man's frailty and sin is confessed in prayer, but God's greatness and goodness is revealed to God's people in Christ. And that is certainly how I understand this passage as I've given away my understanding of it there in verses 5 to 6, but it is worth unpacking further. I lifted up my eyes and behold a man clothed in linen with a belt of fine gold from Euphaz around his waist. His body was like beryl. face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude." Daniel has poured out his heart to the Lord, he is in mourning, and in response to that, what does the Lord do? He gives to Daniel a glorious vision of a certain man. A certain man. Someone that Daniel, upon seeing, really struggles to convey what this man looked like. How does He describe him? Well, He borrows from the vocabulary of precious metals, of these precious stones, to describe this manifestation of the glorious beauty that was in front of Him, that this was certainly no mere man. Everything, as we see in this text, everything about this person expresses power, It expresses glory, beauty, majesty, honor. This is a regal figure. This is a glorious figure. What exactly does he see? Well, he sees a man clothed in linen. Same vocabulary, the same imagery that we think of or should think of when we hear that to think of the priests who served in the temple, that they were described as those who were clothed in linen. particularly the high priest who would enter into the presence of God, enter into the holy place. Even here, Daniel is reminded, though he is in exile of the temple and it sacrifices the great day of atonement, the way of forgiveness that's ordained by God, this figure also is clothed with a belt of fine gold, Perhaps most striking of all, his body was like beryl. His body like beryl. That's one of those precious stones that, just the word itself, I don't have any idea what it looks like. I had to look it up. It comes in a variety of colors, most commonly a blue sort of color, the color of the sky, as Matthew Henry puts it. But it is a precious stone. Precious stone. And in the Scriptures, Beryl is seen on the breastplate again of the high priest as a representation of the people of God, one of the tribes of Israel. But it's also seen in places like Ezekiel chapter 1. The throne of God, the chariot of God there that goes back and forth, its wheels are described as being radiant like Beryl. The description continues, the face like the appearance of lightning. Of course, this one suggesting of power and glory in general, but lightening frequently in accompaniment to the coming of the Lord in Scripture as we see in places like Ezekiel and Revelation, but supremely at Sinai and Exodus. His eyes like flames of torches, His arms and His legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, the sound of His words like the sound of a multitude, What a glorious description of this certain man. What we need to keep in mind is that the glory here described is not merely external. That we in our own artistry, not mine, but others, artistry or AI, can conjure up some sort of image that would match these descriptors of precious metals and of precious stones. And if you were to make a figure literally that looked like these things, it would be a monstrosity in some ways. Daniel is not here saying that his skin was literally beryl or that his legs were literally bronze, but this is the best in which Daniel could describe the glory of this person that is then appearing before him. That he is trying to convey to us the wonder and the beauty of this certain man. As best he could describe, he's describing that glory of the person's appearance. But the big question is, who is this person? I think it is obvious it's not a mere man. The other option really would be of an angel. But what's striking is that Daniel has encountered many angels. Not many, but a few. More than all of us. Gabriel. And none of those angels are described in this way. None of them are presented as being such a glorious figure as this one. I take this to be a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ Himself, a Christophany. We're told, we're not told His name, It does seem to be more than an angelic being. The impact of His presence on Daniel, and even the others that are there that don't see it, they also are affected. That's what we see in this text, but particularly as we compare this text with other texts. Places like Ezekiel chapter 1, again, there we have a description of the throne of God, its appearance like sapphire, and seated above there is a likeness with a human appearance, but still it is glorious. There's fire enclosed all around, and there's great brightness around Him, even like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain. But I think most clearly of all is what we read there from Revelation chapter 1. That the image that John saw there, the person who was there, is such a close parallel between what he saw and what Daniel saw that to me it is a case closed. They're also clothed with a long robe. They're also a golden sash around His body. They're also His eyes were like a flame of fire, His feet like burnished bronze, His voice like the roar of many waters. The same descriptors that are spoken of, of this certain one in Daniel 10, is what John sees and declares to be the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. Especially when we consider the response. Daniel loses all strength and he falls on his face in deep sleep. So also John falls on his face before the Lord as though dead. So while Daniel himself here does not say definitively, this is Christ pre-incarnate, I do take this to be the case. And even if the figure is not divine, Even if perhaps you disagree on that point of interpretation, this vision that Daniel receives is still God's revelation of himself. Because if an angelic being is such a glorious figure and is such an effect on Daniel, how much more so God himself? That if his creatures, angels, are as glorious as this, how much more the one who created them? And it reveals God's own absolute sufficiency to meet the needs of His people. It's a point of application here, seeking to understand why this vision. Daniel is in mourning. He's in prayer and fasting. He's about to be shown these challenging and difficult visions of world history in chapter 11. But as it were, at first God sends His Son in this form and tells Daniel first, see my glory. See my glory. Now Daniel is rightly concerned about the state of God's kingdom on earth. He's mourning deeply over the sins of God's people, their shortcomings. God gives this vision of Himself to declare to Daniel, I am the same. I am the glorious One. God has not changed. The God of the past, the God of the covenant at Sinai in which He manifested His own glory to His people, the same One is still the God of Israel. And He is sufficient to meet the needs of His people. He is altogether glorious. There is more. We've seen man's frailty and sin confessed by prayer. We've seen God's greatness and goodness revealed in Christ. Thirdly, man's frailty and sin exposed by glory. He's confessed it. God has manifested His glory to man, but then man's response is what? His frailty and sin is exposed by that same glory. Notice what does not happen here. God does not come to Daniel, pat him on the back and say, it's alright son, everything will be okay. What we find, in fact, is God's self-revelation humbles Daniel further into the dust. that by seeing the glory of God manifest in this vision of the Son, it does not at first build Daniel up, no, at first it brings him further down before that Lord of glory. Notice again how the text describes the response of Daniel to this glorious vision. In verse 7, those around him try to flee even though they don't see the vision. They flee in terror. In verse 9, he's overwhelmed with shock and he falls to the ground on his face. He confesses that there was no strength left in him. In verse 8, that his very appearance changes, is visibly altered. He falls on His face in deep sleep in verse 9. And He trembles even when the hand is placed upon Him. He's on His hands and His knees. And He trembles in verse 11. And then again He turns to the ground in verse 15. And pains come upon Him. And He has no strength in verse 16. Daniel here is brought low. He's brought low as a creature before such glory and a sinful creature at that by what is, in fact, a brief and fleeting manifestation of the glory and the majesty of God. And what we ought to see in this text and throughout the scriptures is this is how humanity reacts throughout scripture when confronted with the glory and the majesty of God. Just a couple of examples, both from the Old and the New Testament. Think of Isaiah chapter 6, another glorious vision in which the angels are crying out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory and the foundations of the threshold shook at the voice of Him who called and the house was filled with smoke and I said, woe is me, woe is me. For I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, a mere creature, and a sinful one at that." What we're told in John 12, verse 41, is that Isaiah saw the glory, not of the Father, but of the Son. He saw there the glory of Christ on the throne, and it undid him. It caused him to confess his sinfulness and humbled himself before the Lord. We read in Revelation, John also fell before him at his feet as though dead. Think of Paul on the road of Damascus in which the great light shone from heaven, and Jesus confronts Saul. And those who were with Saul saw the great light but did not understand the voice. Think of the disciples in Matthew 17 and the transfiguration. Though Christ in whose humanity His glory was hidden, there was for a brief moment again a manifestation of who He is truly. So we read, He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them also Moses and Elijah talking with them. And He was still speaking, when behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. that when the Lord reveals to man His own glory, this is the common response. Think of Sinai. Think of other occasions in which that is the case. The glory of God truly is overwhelming. It is overwhelming. It is too much for us to bear in ourselves due to our frailty as creatures, but certainly also because of our sinfulness. Man's frailty and sin is exposed by glory. But fourthly and finally this evening, we see God's greatness and His goodness experienced by grace. Notice the flow of this passage and so many of the ones we've seen already. A man is frail, he's sinful, that's confessed. God's greatness and goodness is revealed in His glory in Christ. Man's frailty and sin is exposed by glory. Something is needed. Something is needed to be able to comprehend in some way, to receive even that manifestation That is by God's grace. Notice again the text. We've seen the weakness that comes upon Daniel. Here is truly an elderly man. He's feeble in his flesh. We see the flow of the text. He's hardly able to stand up. Not necessarily because of his age, but because of the manifestation of the glory of God. But there is no strength in Him. There is no breath that is left in Him. But then there is a building up, a strengthening outside of Him by the grace of God. One pastor, he observes, he says, one might wonder if this helpless, sleeping, shaking, speechless, breathless man will ever be in a shape to receive the revelation Even when He's encouraged, He trembles. But what we see finally there in verses 17, 18, and 19, that when all of His own strength is emptied, He's robbed of any sort of self-confidence of His own resources. He's strengthened by grace. He's given the ability by grace to be strong. One touches Him and strengthens Him. And he spoke, and I was strengthened and said, Let my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me." That even the ability to stand before the glorious vision of Christ is given by God Himself. And notice that is a common theme, once again, in the many passages that we've referenced, that man is overwhelmed, and then the Lord, in His grace, touches them. thereby strengthening them. That's what happens in Revelation 1. That's what happens in Matthew 17. Jesus came and touched them and said, Rise and have no fear. That's what happens there in Isaiah. The angel was sent and touches the lips of Isaiah so that he can then speak. What we find here truly is a lesson on what we would call proper fear. Proper reverence for the right things. Daniel, you're not to fear or to fret about the things that are taking place, the trials of your people. Your sins will be dealt with. There will be One who will come fully and finally to deal with sin and the cutting off of the Messiah, as we saw in Daniel chapter 9. My people, Daniel, will be cared for by that One that has eternal dominion and power and honor and glory. That One who is on the throne, He will care for His people. Even consider the smallness, the slowness of the work of rebuilding. It's not outside of my control. It will be done as He has promised. But all of these promises, all of these things summarized in this overwhelming vision of the glory of God in which God Himself enables Daniel to perceive this is His God, this is the one that He serves. It's not all for naught. He is the same and He is God. So again, a further point of application here as we draw this to a close this evening. Such people, as one pastor says, such people who have seen God's glory and grace can never be the same again. Such people who have seen God's glory and grace can never be the same again. Why does God not send Daniel a different message? There are certainly many other things that God could have said to Daniel But what he chose to send to Daniel was a vision of his own glory. A vision of his own wondrous beauty. And truly that is what is most needed. A clear and a beautiful, a glorious picture of who God is. All revealed to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. that to come to know who God is, and to be in His presence, certainly that one who is in the presence of God comes to know what we are in ourselves, that we are needy, and we receive aid only by His grace. The one who comes to know the glory of Christ, the supremacy of Christ, that changes, Those things that we thought we did need. The things we thought we wanted. We lose our taste for that which is trivial and small. We begin to live for something that is greater and more glorious. The glory of God Himself. Wherever you are, Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But a question that we must answer is how. How do we gain this glorious vision of Christ? We do not expect to receive the same kind of Christophany that Daniel himself received in this particular way. But dear friends, the reality is we don't need such an in-person manifestation. Perhaps you're thinking, well that's great what I'm saying, not for me though. I have not recently received a vision like this one. Well, consider what Peter says. Consider what Peter says in 2 Peter chapter 1. Perhaps a familiar passage to you. Peter, one of the apostles who was there, as he says here in 2 Peter 1, he was there when Jesus Christ was transfigured before his face. He saw the glory of Christ in a way which few people in all of human history have ever seen. Verse 17, he says, For we received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was born to Him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven, for we were with Him on that holy mountain. With His ears He heard, with His eyes He saw, but what does He say? He doesn't tell the people that he was writing to, and too bad for you, you missed out. Once in a lifetime opportunity gone for good. No, he says, and we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed. that what he saw with his eyes and what he heard with his ears is actually not as firm as the prophetic word which was given through the apostles to the church. For he makes it abundantly clear what he's talking about. where He says, "...to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your heart, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." that the very Scriptures in which you possess in its complete form as a more firm word of prophecy, and even that which Peter and the other apostles saw with their eyes and heard with their ears, meaning that we come to see the glory of Christ through the written Word. that God reveals Himself through the Scriptures which we have in completed form. That as glorious as the image that Daniel saw was, and it was, We have seen more manifestation of the glory of God through the Son and the sending of the Son and the full account of how He went to the cross, how He rose again, how He spoke to His people. He is the very manifestation of the Father. We have more revelation than Daniel had in these things. that one who saw the Lord and His transfiguration trembled before Him in the glory of Christ says that the Word of God is a more sure word of testimony. And that's very similar to what John says there in Revelation 1. We read it's beginning. You need to understand that John was there, again, in exile for his own testimony to who Jesus is and was. And he was there in exile. The people of God were being persecuted at that time by the Romans. It did not look good for the people of God. And so God sends to John a vision. But again, it's not, oh, too bad we missed that vision that John saw. No, we're told that the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show to his servants the things that soon took place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near." John received the vision so that it would be recorded, so that it would be read in the hearing of all God's people for the remainder of history. That we are blessed in the reading and the hearing of the very Word of God, which gives to us these visions of the glory of Jesus Christ. We are to read the word of the one who was, in fact, eyewitness. So what then are we to do this day? As we read even this morning from Colossians chapter 3, very simply, we are to set our minds on Christ who is above. to set our minds on those heavenly realities where Christ is, that we have been raised with Him, and we are then to seek the things that are above where Christ is, not to be fixated on the things of this world, not on this earth, but know our lives are hidden with Christ and God, and when Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. When we think about the glory of Christ, again, it's not merely the shininess of a medal. It's not merely the physical descriptors. It's not merely His outward appearance. Those are but manifestations of His glorious person. So when we think about meditating on the glory of Christ, yes, it does include those glorious visions of His manifest glory, but also, perhaps even more so, His glorious attributes, who He is. That as God, He is holy, He is just, He is good, He is powerful, He is true, He is love, He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever. So dear saints, let us meditate also on the glory of Christ. It's worth it. It's not all as it appears to the eye alone. We meditate on Christ by faith, particularly and perhaps especially when we are tempted to discouragement. Tempted to discouragement because of your own sins, because of the sins of others, because of the state of the church at large, because perhaps of the smallness or the slowness of the work, let us commit ourselves to prayer. but also remembering, as we have been shown, that in the midst of our own sin and misery, the Lord strengthens us with glorious visions of Himself. Let us pray. Our great Heavenly Father, we pray, O Lord, that You would fill our minds and our hearts with a love for Christ. Lord, that our affections would be stirred up in our loving devotion to Him and for Him. But all that we see around us and all that we are engaged in, it is not useless, it is not worthless, but it is all done for Christ is worthy. He is worthy to receive all glory, for he is the Lord of glory. Lord God, we pray that you would help us, Lord, to have a taste also for these glorious visions of who Christ is, manifest even in the flesh, but now ascended on high, seated at your right hand, from which he will come to judge the living and the dead. Lord, help us in these things to know them truly and rightly, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.