We're going to continue with biblical prophecy, post-millennialism, historical expectations according to the Bible. This is the 10th part. It's in Daniel, part 5, the prophetical section of public prayer before the sermon from the Directory for Public Worship of God. We are commanded to pray for the propagation of the gospel and kingdom of Christ to all nations, for the conversion of the Jews, the fullness of the Gentiles, the fall of Antichrist and the hastening of the second coming of our Lord, for the deliverance of the distressed churches abroad from the tyranny of the anti-Christian faction, and from the cruel oppressions and blasphemies of the Turk." That last comment is aimed at Islam, in case I haven't mentioned that. We're going to continue with chapter 10 of Daniel. And this is really the beginning of the end of Daniel. Next time we will wrap up Daniel. So Daniel 10 is, in a sense, preparatory for the remainder of the book. I want to point out a couple of things about the contour of Daniel as we've looked at it so far. One is that we had visions in the beginning about the four kingdoms, and we were also told about the kingdom of Messiah. And then we had Daniel and his take on those four kingdoms, and last time what we looked at was exactly the second component, that was the kingdom of Messiah. So if we understood the 70 weeks of Daniel in Daniel 9, it was right around 459 BC that Ezra returns to Jerusalem and three years after that there's a command in 456 to build the walls. If you remember that Daniel talked about the 70 weeks. He had gotten to the end of the 70 years that Jeremiah had prophesied. He was interested in what was coming and he showed 70 weeks had been determined. The 70 weeks were 70 weeks of years, so that it was 490 years. And if we add that 490, to the 456. Remember, BC, we're counting backward. We arrive somewhere right around the year 35 AD, which is three years after the crucifixion of Christ. So that 490 years, that accounts for all of the time that Daniel was looking at that point. He's focused on the inauguration of the kingdom of Messiah. So Daniel now has had visions or prophetical visions of both the four kingdoms like Nebuchadnezzar and he's also been given more information about the the inauguration of that kingdom of stone that Nebuchadnezzar also saw, but which represented the kingdom of Messiah. He's given a time frame. He's told exactly, in fact, when it's going to begin. And his dating of the inauguration falls right in the middle of the 49, excuse me, the 69 That takes us, 483 years, that takes us to approximately the year 2829, which is around the time that Christ's ministry begins. And three years into that, he's crucified. Three, three and a half years into that. So in the midst of the week, as I said, he caused the sacrifice and oblation to cease. It became pointless. With that information, Along with previous information that Daniel had received regarding both what would occur at the end of the Roman Empire, the fourth kingdom, as well as that little horn that was going to come out of the Greek Empire in the east, Daniel, in chapter 10, is positioned to receive more information. That's really what chapter 10 is. It's a positioning for the rest of the book of Daniel, chapters 11 and 12. So when we begin looking at Daniel 10, we're brought again back to actual history. The narrative returns to the historical line and we are told Very specifically, context, time, Daniel is once more joined, timing-wise, to the unfolding of these four empires. We're not yet to the inauguration of the Messianic era, but we are at the beginning of chapter 10, We're clearly out of the Babylonian Empire and now find ourselves in the Medo-Persian Empire. In fact, we're even a little further along than that, right? We are actually at the Persian part of the Medo-Persian, where the Persians have now become ascendant, as will be clear in a moment. So I want to look first at Daniel 10 verse 1 and make a few comments on that. So the first thing I want to note is this. We do know from this verse that now we are in the Persian part of the Medo-Persian Empire. The Medes are no longer the Ascendant Party, the Persians are. Cyrus the Persian is king. Furthermore, it's the third year. Now why is that significant? Well, in the second year of Cyrus, it turns out, right around the year 535 BC, the foundation of the temple was being laid in Jerusalem. Remember, the 70 weeks have to do with the command to rebuild the walls. The command to rebuild the walls. The walls are not going to be rebuilt until the temple has been rebuilt, and that begins with Cyrus. Cyrus has commanded there to be a rebuilding of the Temple. He's given an edict and given an allowance to the Jews to make this part of the agenda in returning to Israel. We need to remember again, the Jews have been in Babylonian captivity. A lot of them are sent back. among whom were Ezra and Nehemiah. But in 535, the foundation of what would be the rebuilt temple is laid. And the thing that is revealed, the matter that's revealed, he's referring, I believe, back to some things in chapter 8 as will appear in just a moment. The first thing that we understand about the vision is Daniel says, look, it was true. He had come to the point he knew it was the truth of God. Had there been any doubt whatsoever, had there been any reason for him to call into question, that had been removed by this point. The foundation of the temple now is underway. The problem, from his point of view, is that the time appointed was long. That time appointed, while it may have a typical reference, that time appointed that he's talking about is at 2300 morning and evenings that we talked about in Daniel 8.14, which as I pointed out at the time, that's 1150 days. It's not 2300 days, it's 1150 days. and those days are years. And the start of that really is going to count from the time of the rising of this little horn in the east. So the 1150 day year count is a count that has to do with Eastern Antichrist, which as I pointed out, is ultimately the ultimate fulfillment, as we'll see when we get to the Book of Revelation, is pointing to Islam. And the cleansing of the Temple then, ultimately that is in view, is the cleansing that will be necessary preceding or sometime around the time of the calling and converting of the Jews prior to the millennium. So it's a vast period of time. Daniel knows it's far, far down the road. And that idea of distance in time is going to come up in the last two chapters. We will revisit that. We want to look next at Daniel 10 verses 2 and 3. Daniel 10 verses 2 and 3, 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 whole weeks were fulfilled. What is Daniel doing in order to understand the vision? He understood the thing, he had some understanding, but it's not complete. He wants to know more. The way he does it is he continues in prayer but he adds to it fasting. He's fasting and praying. He's focusing the attention of his soul through prayer. He's focusing the attention of his body through fasting. What is he doing? Well, he's doing what prayer and fasting together are always trying to do. He's trying to bring heaven down from earth. He's trying to gain insight into this vision. He's trying to bridge the gap between heaven and earth so that the interpretation, the understanding of the vision becomes clear. And that requires, on his part, an exercise of faith. Now if we look next at Daniel 10 verses 4-6 Daniel 10 verses 4-6 And in the fourth and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hittikal, then I looked up mine eyes, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose lines were girded His body also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. So the first thing when this fasting and prayer period, when this is taking root in him, what do we see? Well, he lifts up his eyes and he says, look, I saw a certain man. There's a certain man clothed in linen. And we should begin to notice some things about the character of the man. For example, his feet like in color to polish brass, the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. This is language that we're going to find again in John's Apocalypse. It's significant because the man in question here is almost certainly a theophany, that is a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ. And ultimately Christ is the one, the person in whom heaven and earth are joined. striving after that through fasting and prayer. But in Christ, that's where there's an intersection of heaven and earth. That's where there's a joining, a conjoining. And that's really where and from whom all of the Revelation is. He's the eternal Word of God. His identity is held out in the feet like the color of polished brass. Here's the one that was walking in the furnace of fire with the Hebrew children earlier on in Daniel. His voice is like the voice, his words are like the voice of a multitude. It's thundering. It's full. It's very full. It's a voice that's filling that space. So that behind this vision there is an understanding of Christology, that is, there is a Messiah and he's coming, that he is also the center, the center of history, the center of God's, the intersection of God's providence and his precept. He's clothed in linen and his face is as the appearance of lightning, his eyes as lamps of fire. These are all descriptions of a figure that appears again and again both in the Old Testament and I believe is pretty clearly held forth to us as the Lord Jesus in John's Apocalypse. So the vision is significant because it represents the beginning of an answer. That is, the beginning of understanding. Daniel, notice he says, as I noted before, that the thing was true, but the time appointed was long. He understood the thing, and yet he's still looking for more. He believed it. And That was the beginning of his understanding. His understanding then is following his belief throughout. He's focused on Christ here now. I want to look at Daniel 10, verse 7. Daniel 10, verse 7. And I, Daniel, when I saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision, for the great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Yet Daniel isn't alone. He's with some others, he says. And yet, despite that, he's the only one who sees a vision. But they must have perceived something else. Because they were hit by the Great Quaking. So what he heard as a voice of multitude for them was like an earthquake or like the ground rumbles when there's a big thunderclap. It's loud. There's something about this vision that's loud. This is getting his attention. Now, he has the vision. They only hear. They're only hearing it. They're not seeing it. They're hearing it. It's so loud or so shocking that Daniel says they fled to hide themselves. They didn't know what this was. Daniel is standing there, probably looking up. After all, if we look to the New Testament, the parallel here is pretty close to what we have when Paul is converted, if you remember. Paul in Acts 9, He's on the road to Damascus. He sees a great light. But he's the only one that hears the voice. Everybody else, we're told they hear thunder. They fall down on the ground. They're not able to take it in. Only Daniel's able to take it in. And the reason, again, in all likelihood, has to do with what we've already been told. What did Daniel do to prepare himself? He was fasting. Undoubtedly, that was attended with prayer. He's denying the flesh. He's reordering the the desires of the flesh. He's really mortifying the desires of the flesh so that they don't get the upper hand as he's seeking an answer, seeking an increased understanding. We want to look next at verses 8 and 9. Daniel 10, 8 and 9. Daniel's vision is such that it shakes the very core of his being. He's telling us that it really sapped him of whatever strength was in him. He'd already been fasting for quite some time. He'd already been denying any kind of strength to the flesh, and this vision takes it out of him. In fact, it reduces him, it sounds like, to a dreamlike state. so that he is in a better position to receive instruction. In dreams, when we're asleep, we're very passive. We're not arguing. We're just absorbing. There's no resistance. So the voice is such that it scares the others away, but it drives him to the ground. It puts him down on the ground on his face, It may be that he began to prostrate himself, but in the end we're told that he was in a deep sleep on his face and his face was toward the ground. So we want to look now at verses 10 and 11. So what's the purpose of the vision? It's to reduce him to a point of compliance, humility, He's not going to offer resistance to the word that's being sent to him. Now, who's behind all of that? We've already said there was a theophany, but is that the one who is touching him now? I don't think so. In fact, I think it's very clear as we go on that that's not the one. It's not the same one that he saw and that spoke to him. Rather, it's a different voice. And it's a hand now touching him. And that corresponds, I believe, to Gabriel, who appeared before. Gabriel is reaching down to raise him up again. And what we see here is the dependence of Gabriel on that man. that we saw back in verses 5 and 6 in particular. Gabriel himself is doing the bidding of that one, which is another reason why I believe that we're looking at a pre-incarnate Christ. And what we're really seeing here is a behind-the-scenes look at providence. We're seeing how God is conducting providence through the agency of angels, how he's carrying it out, how he is opening and closing doors and directing courses of men and so on. Behind it all is Christ, but here is this angel and he's there now, Gabriel is there, lifting Daniel up and preparing him, preparing him to understand what it is that Gabriel's been sent to help him understand. Gabriel's name literally means, it's Gavriel, it's the Aramaic word for mighty man of God, or man of God, or mighty man of God, or warrior of God. Gabriel, in fact, appears in the book of Daniel to, in some respect, represent the nations. Just as we're going to see in a moment, Michael very clearly has respect to Israel. And so in the division of angelic activity, Gabriel seems to have something to do with the nations and particularly perhaps with these four succeeding kingdoms. But he's he has some part to play in the unfolding of Providence. So we're seeing a behind-the-scenes vision, if you will. We're getting a glimpse of what goes on, and we're getting that because Daniel has fested and prayed. Daniel has subdued both soul and body and prepared himself to gain an understanding He wants to understand the vision more. He wants to understand what it is that's happening. And we're going to have to come back to that again in a moment. So, in Daniel 10, verse 12. We want to look at Daniel 10, verse 12. Daniel 10, 12. Then he said unto me, Fear not, Daniel, 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. What things are we told here? First of all, we're told that in order to bring heaven to earth, the first thing is when we begin to pray, we are told that our prayers are heard from the very beginning. We're also told that in fact this prayer and fasting that he was chasing himself before God. But that his prayers were heard and that Gabriel was sent at that time. The answer was on the way. As soon as we begin to pray the answer is on the way. Now what is it that's holding that up? Well there's a lot. There's a lot more going on. Particularly when we're talking about nations. And we're talking about the unfolding of this broad line of prophecy. Gabriel has a lot to do. But he tells Daniel very clearly. At the beginning of that three weeks, that he was mourning, that Daniel was mourning, the word went forth. He was heard and the answer was forthcoming. What is it that's troubling Daniel? Why is it he's mourning, by the way? If you remember what happened, as soon as they started to lay the temple, the foundation of the temple, As soon as that foundation was laid, the opposition started to move in. The enemies of the people of God started to tamper. So every time in the providence of God, the wicked are being moved in a direction to help forward. The fact is that there are all kinds of forces trying to resist that. Daniel sees all of this. He sees the resistance that's being given to rebuilding the Temple. And that's why he's mourning here. And he wants to see that Temple re-established. He wants to see the re-establishing of the Temple and really the cleansing of the temple. Ultimately, the cleansing of the temple is going to come first when Christ is on earth. He'll come into his temple to cleanse it, but that too is still typical. Ultimately, it represents the cleansing that will transpire in the church during the millennium. Daniel doesn't see all of that right now. He knows it's a long way off. He's trying to understand. He's trying to join these concepts together. But he can see the resistance that building the typical temple is receiving. Imagine the resistance that Christ is going to face when he comes. We see that in the Gospels. Imagine the resistance leading up to that prior to the millennium. We may be living through that even now. We're going to look next at verse 13. What is going on? The prince of the kingdom of Persia. Who are we talking about here? Are we talking about Cyrus? Highly unlikely. I think it said we're talking about The diabolical forces, the demonic forces that are said to rule over the nations, that each of the nations was appointed one of the 70 angels that are talked about There were 70 original nations and there were 70 fallen angels that the Jews talked about that were appointed to each of them. Persia evidently has one of them. He's the real ruler. Osiris has broken out and done things on behalf of God, but he's withstanding Gabriel. Gabriel is in fact involved in spiritual battle, spiritual warfare going on that's being presented to us here. And so that's one thing that we can see that there are behind the thrones of the wicked, there are in fact evil forces, demonic forces at work, demonic powers that have in fact control of these kingdoms. And these are the ones that need to be dispossessed. Now, in addition to that, Michael, one of the chief princes, Michael's name means who is like God. He is, in fact, what Gabriel is as a good angel to the nations, Michael is to Israel. And here, because of the connection, because of the rebuilding of the Temple, Michael comes to aid Gabriel in this spiritual contest. So, the people in Israel must be praying as well. You know, Gabriel is being sent to answer the prayers of a Daniel in Persia. There must be people praying in Israel because Michael is sent, and he too intervenes. Again, we can see that there is some spiritual warfare going on. And Gabriel says then, he remained there with the kings of Persia. Had he left at that point, before what was needed to be accomplished was accomplished, it would not have come to pass. Gabriel, spiritually speaking, Gabriel is the one that holds the door open for Cyrus, for the Persian kings, to do what is needed to be done to help forward the cause of the building of the temple. The kingdom, the prince of the kingdom is denominated that because ultimately the nations that don't serve God are worshipping devils. Ultimately they're devil worshippers. Their gods are demons. The gods of the heathen are really demons. They're demon worshippers. They're not worshipping nothing. I mean at some level idols are nothing. But behind those idols, and as so many of the stories in pagan antiquity demonstrate, they see answers to prayer. Demons are doing things on behalf of nations when they pray, when they offer up sacrifices to their demonic gods. Sometimes their prayers are answered. because there is a spiritual warfare going on. But the point of what we're told in verse 13 is this, God's purposes are going to prevail. After all, Michael, who is like God? And the answer is Jesus, really. He's the one who's going to answer that. He is the great Michael. Ultimately, Michael is pointing to Him. He's also that man of God, that mighty warrior of God. we'll see both Gabriel and Michael in that sense are typical of Christ. But there's a warfare going on at this time. The nations are in darkness. They're in bondage to sin and to Satan. And so Daniel is engaged in this three-week program of fasting and prayer. He's engaged not only to understand which is true. But it turns out he's actually engaged in a battle far beyond what he would have conceived. Very much like what Paul says when he says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities and powers, things, spiritual things that are powers of darkness, way beyond flesh and blood. It's more than we may initially conceive, but here Daniel sees why. He says, why is it so hard for thy will to be done in earth even as in heaven? Because there is a devil and a lot of demons working overtime. to see that that doesn't come to pass, because the moment that is accomplished, it's the end of the demonic liberty, if you will. Their time will come and they'll be cast into the pit. So Daniel is concerned with that, and I think we need to keep that in mind when we think back on those four kingdoms. The fact is those four kingdoms represent demonic activity as well as the progression of pagan or heathen empires. There's a spiritual dimension that Daniel is now telling us is behind all of this. And he tells us this This is revealed to us in Daniel, I think, somewhat significantly, once we are assured that the kingdom of Messiah is going to come. When, in fact, the one who is to come and break the back of this demonic rebellion when that's been guaranteed, when that time frame has been established. Daniel 70 weeks does that, and now we can hear about this without becoming overly concerned. At least we shouldn't be. All right, we want to look next to Daniel 10, 14. Daniel 10, verse 14. Now I am coming to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days. Free entertainment is for many days. Okay, so the next thing we're told here, Daniel is told by Gabriel that he's come to let him know, give him understanding of what shall befall thy people. That is the Jews in the latter days. So the first thing that we're told is that he's going to understand, he's about to give him understanding, and I believe that in fact this has some bearing then on the last two chapters of Daniel. And furthermore, this vision, according to verse 14, according to what Gabriel is saying, this vision is concerning what will befall the Jews, in particular, in the latter days, or perhaps the people of God. Furthermore, he says the vision is for many days. In other words, it's not going to be accomplished yet. The things that you're seeking are far off. They're down the road. It's quite some time. This is a vision for the end of time. In fact, the latter days, as I said, the latter days is a reference to the New Testament era. So we should be seeking the ultimate fulfillment and the ultimate understanding, which is really the true or the actual fulfillment, not just the typical fulfillment. That's going to occur in terms of the New Testament era. it's going to have reference to the people of God in particular, and probably the Jews, as he puts it here. So those are things that he's telling us, those are things I think we need to keep in mind in verse 14. Now we want to look next at Daniel 10 verses 15 to 17. Daniel 10, verses 15 through 17. When he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. 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 visions of my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can the servant of this, my Lord, talk with this, my Lord? For as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me." Daniel's response tells us that it's probably not necessarily what he wanted to hear. It required for him to be able to open his mouth. Remember his face, he said his face toward the ground. And he was as a dumb, someone dumb. And then one like the similitude of the sons of men touch my lips. This is again, this is something transpiring in the spiritual realm. And Daniel doesn't know what to say. He's hearing this, he's understanding it's a long way off, and he doesn't really know what to make of that as a result. He understands, remember, he understands that he's in the midst now of the Persian kingdom. He's seen the Babylonian, He knew the Medo-Persian was coming. He knows he's at the Persian end of the Medo-Persian. And he's waiting. He's expecting, in fact, that he's going to end up, if he lives long enough, he'll see the Greeks. He knows that it's after this third kingdom, that there's this period of time, the time count is going to begin sometime toward the end of that third kingdom. There's going to be this little horn. and he knows that the cleansing of the sanctuary, that's really in view, that is somehow tied to the demise of this little horn in the east. Now, Gabriel has just informed him that this is for the latter days. The reason you're not understanding is ultimately this, history interprets prophecy. And there's too much in the future yet for you to come to a solid apprehension or understanding of what's going to transpire. It's very shadowy for you yet. It's far off in the distant future. So what I can tell you is this, I want you to understand what's going to befall your people in the latter days, that is, during the messianic era. Now at this point, again, Daniel has a couple of points of reference from what we know. He knows that the Messianic era, that Christ appears sometime toward the end of that fourth kingdom. He now actually has some sense of how far off that is. It's at least 490 years. It's actually more than that, because the decree has not yet gone forth to rebuild the walls. The decree has gone forth to build the temple, but not the walls. The decree to build the walls, as I said, it doesn't occur until 456 BC. We're at 534 BC, approximately. So this isn't even, from his point of view, this isn't even in the knowable range of the prophecy yet. Which is why he's struggling to understand it at the beginning of the chapter. He needs more information, he needs help bringing all of this into focus. He wants to understand more, and Gabriel does tell him, look, I am going to help you understand more, but it's limited. It's necessarily limited because it's so far off in your future. It's sometime in the Messianic era that we're talking, and the latter days is even talking about the latter end of. The Messianic Era. Probably the Millennium, if we were to define it. It's not what Daniel wanted to hear. Daniel wanted to hear and see more, even though he'd already seen a lot unfold. There had been a lot that had transpired. We want to look at verses 18 and 19. Daniel 10 verses 18 and 19. 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. The knowledge that the fulfillment was far off was initially disheartening. Evidently, Daniel began to focus on the providence, began to look toward the unfolding of things in history. rather than focusing on the word and the precept of God. He was turned out of the way by that. He was dispirited by that. He says it sapped him of his strength. He was cast down in himself. It was a very distressing, very disturbing revelation. then he's touched, he's strengthened, he's given a new perspective because he's reminded that he is beloved of God, that in fact, The things that were unfolding in history, as important as they were, the fact is, for Daniel, knowing that he was beloved, that is the point at which all the things that could have been dispiriting are turned around. He's assured of the grace of God, he's assured that God loves him, that God, in fact, has been making his path straight. He's really being assured here that he is not the reason or the cause, he's not the one holding up the agenda. Daniel did what he could do. Daniel was privy to a lot of information about the course of history. Daniel was never content to sit back and see what would happen. He was always on the edge trying to understand. Remember last time we talked about he was trying to understand the prophecies in Jeremiah. Now he's brought back to that question of the cleansing of the temple and the vision that he had in Daniel 8. So Daniel is not the problem, he's not the impediment. But Daniel needed to be assured of that. Daniel needed to know that he was not going to be the one, that he was not the cause, if you will, why he wasn't understanding. This is God's way of saying that the reason isn't because you didn't fast enough, you didn't pray enough, you're not beloved of God, or some other thing. The information to the extent that it is being withheld or things aren't happening fast enough, it's not you. Things are transpiring according to the divine clock. And you have played your part. Daniel is strengthened by that. Now I know that seems strange, maybe that kind of language when we think about it, or if we think about it in terms of predestination. But remember, the language of our public prayer before the sermon is talk of hastening of the second coming of our Lord. Really, how do we do that? Hasten it. Isn't it an appointed time? It's an appointed time that we somehow can hasten. So Daniel obviously has some idea that there's perhaps some way he can hasten. Some way he can bring this to pass quicker, perhaps. The delay isn't Daniel, it's not because of him. All right, we want to look at Daniel 10 verse 20. Daniel 10 verse 20. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia? What's the point here? Well, again, we're really being told that the end of the Persian Empire is not too far distant. Gabriel is going to return to fight with the Prince of Persia. He says, when I'm gone forth, the Prince of Grecia shall come. In other words, there's going to be that succession. Now why is this language important here? I think one thing it shows us is this. At no time is Gabriel saying, clear sailing yet. The fact that he's going to go back and fight with the Prince of Persia, the fact that the Prince of Grecia and If we understand the Prince of Greece to be similar to the Prince of Persia, again we're talking about demonic activity. It may be a different empire, but the people of God are going to be suffering, faced with the same kind of opposition. Changing empire isn't in and of itself going to change the position of the people of God. Not until Messiah comes. Not until there's a principle to replace these heathen nations, these heathen empires. Nothing is going to do the trick. So, it's a situation where he's saying, You know, I'm going back to fight with the old boss, but the new boss is going to be more of the same. Because these empires are being run by demonic powers. It's not just the guy on the throne. This is supernatural, demonic resistance to the divine will of God. The last thing we want to look at here for now is in Daniel 10.21. Daniel 10.21. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. And there is nothing that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your prince. I'll show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth. There's none that holdeth with me in these things but Michael your prince. In other words, Michael and Gabriel are in an alliance, a spiritual alliance, if you will. He tells him, in fact, he's going to show him that which is noted in the scripture of truth. He's going to give him an understanding that's rooted in scripture. He's not going all over the place with this. He's not going to be giving him all kinds of of other information, but he's going to be, his interpretation, what he's going to, the understanding he's about to give him is in fact an understanding that is going to grow out of the scripture of truth. He's going to take what Daniel already has, what's already is a matter of scripture, and that's where the understanding begins. You have to begin with the word of God if you want understanding, right? You can't begin somewhere else. And that holds here even for Gabriel or Michael for that matter. They're on the same page. The fact is that Michael and Gabriel understand this the same way because they're in a spiritual league. They're on the same side in the spiritual warfare. So they see what's happening. on the other side. They understand the plan. They understand the direction that everything has to go. It's from that position that they're really equipped to help him understand what and how the precept or prophecies of God impact and how they ought to shape the future providentially. So that's what they're trying to do here. What we want to do next time is we're going to finish Daniel. I want to finish Daniel looking at chapter 11, which is a relatively long chapter, and we'll take in chapter 12 as well. We'll pick up the theme. Remember, Gabriel is saying, as soon as I leave you, what happens? I go back to fight with the Prince of Persia. The Prince of Greece is coming in. That transition from Medo-Persia to Greece is very, very close to transpiring. I think this is why Daniel is such a significant book. In the Jewish scriptures, we tend to think of Daniel as a prophet. We tend to think of them as belonging with the prophets. But the fact is, in the Jewish scriptures, Daniel is put in the third division, which are called the writings. He's in there with Job, and Proverbs, and all of that. He's not in with the prophets. He's not in there with Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or the Twelve, for that matter. He's not taken up in that. But Daniel is very significant because Daniel, because of where he is, Daniel's literally at the center of the cyclone for this transitioning from Babylon to Medo-Persia to Greece and finally to Rome. And because of where he is providentially, where God has placed him, as well as when he is. He's at the end of Babylon, he's living through Medo-Persia, and he's right at the beginning of Greece. He's really joining the flow of these empires. He's seeing the shifted empire from one to another. And he's in a position then to paint better the situation the church is in leading up to what we call the intertestamental period. Intertestamental period is approximately 400 years between the end of the writings that we have in the Old Testament and the beginning of the New. Daniel takes us prophetically, he's taking us right up to the edge. of that period. What he's saying, what he's talking about, in some sense, some of this is overlapping with Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, which are our latest historical books in the Old Testament. The only place we can go from there to bridge the gap to the New Testament is to start looking at apocryphal books. But Daniel is giving us that prophetic eye on the shift that is occurring leading up to the Messianic era, and he's an eyewitness to it. God has, in fact, inscripturated this via an eyewitness to so many of these things. Here's a guy who actually knew Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Cyrus, Here's a man who witnessed the massive deportations in the Babylonian captivity. He saw all of the adjustments that had to be made. He was part of that, remember, at the beginning of Daniel. It's talked about there. It was alluded to. That brings him into conflict with these empires, and that really sets in motion this whole series of events that's going to lead us up to Messiah. And it's also telling us something about the nature of the unfolding of providence. Providence is not unfolding without purpose. Daniel is very clearly pulling the curtain back so that we can see the unfolding purpose of God in history. Daniel's giving us a glimpse and now he's given us a glimpse of the spiritual warfare. This is the beginning then of where we go to gain an understanding of how it is and why it is that that Christ has come and that he's not only come as king of the Jews, but he is king of the nations. And every king will bow before him. The only way that's going to happen is for the dispossession of all of these demonic forces. So next time, as I say, we'll take up Daniel 11 and 12. We'll finish off with what Daniel has to say before we move on. Still Waters Revival Books is now located at PuritanDownloads.com. It's your worldwide online Reformation home for the very best in free and discounted classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, mp3s, and videos. 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