Well, I want you to think with me, if you will, about a time when you've been in your house dusting or sweeping perhaps the floors or furniture. Or maybe for some of you, you were watching someone else do that. Either way, when that happens, you know that the dust in the air is virtually invisible unless it's in the light. So whether it's a single ray of sunshine or you pull back the curtains and light comes flooding into the room, you know what happens. All of a sudden, what was once seemingly invisible becomes quite obviously visible. In fact, if you look close enough, you're able to see every single particle of dust you missed flying through the air, particles that without the light were previously imperceptible. And so not only is that what the Word of God does for us as we look at the situations and topics of life through the lens of scripture, and it exposes those things which were once hidden in the darkness, but through our passage for today, we're going to see that take place to an even greater degree. As the Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper once said, if once the curtain were pulled back and the spiritual world behind it came to view, it would expose to our spiritual vision a struggle so intense, so convulsive, sweeping everything within its range, that the fiercest battle ever fought on earth would seem by comparison a mere game. Not here, but up there. That is where the real conflict is waged. Our earthly struggle simply murmurs in the backlash. And so that's what we're going to see today from Daniel chapter 10. We're going to see the Lord, as it were, pulling back the curtain, pulling back the curtain. And in doing so, what we're going to find behind that curtain has the potential to be a life-changing reality. If we will take seriously the truths that we find in Daniel chapter 10, they will fundamentally change the way we see the world around us. And in doing so, we will be better equipped to fulfill our God-given purpose here on earth. So with that as a segue into our passage, look with me once again at verse one. It's there as we begin to walk our way through this text that I want us to first recognize the gift of divine revelation. recognize the gift of divine revelation. Our text there once again says, 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. And so first and foremost, it's important for us to understand that these final three chapters in the book of Daniel are really one unit. Here in chapter 10, it is the preparation for the final vision that we will see next week from chapter 11. And then in chapter 12, it will be the culmination of both this final vision and the book as a whole. So not only has God inspired and preserved the very word that we have before us today, but he first revealed it to Daniel. And our text tells us that it came to him in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia. So this would have been about two years prior to the events that we saw last week from chapter nine. So to help us understand where we are in human history, the year is around 536 BC. Babylon has fallen to Medo-Persia three years before, and Cyrus is now the king. Daniel has been in captivity for over 70 years of his life, and he is now an 85-year-old man. Although his Babylonian name, our text reminds us, is Belteshazzar, which means the false god Bel, protect the king, he has seen kings rise and fall. So Daniel, which literally means God is my judge, knows that it is the one true and living God and God alone who has graciously preserved his life all these many years, from evil tyrants to ferocious lions and everything in between. And it's that knowledge of God that is reflected in his relationship to the word of God. We see here that Daniel has been given understanding to comprehend the vision he's been provided with, and he knows because that word has come from God that it is true. And although we will not see a description of that vision in its entirety until next week, our text tells us that it contains details of a great conflict. Another way to translate that would be intense military warfare. So this is not a flippant or lighthearted vision. And to help us today grow in our appreciation and recognition of this gift of divine revelation we've been given, I wanna connect for us some prophetic dots from God's word. So if you look back to chapter nine from last week, you'll recall from verse two, what Daniel said about the prophet Jeremiah. Namely, that Jeremiah prophesied that the Lord would return the Jews to their land after 70 years of exile. Well, if you're taking notes, that prophecy is found in Jeremiah 29, verse 10. And it was given in around the year 597 BC, which is about 60 years earlier. Of course, we know that in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy, King Cyrus issued a decree for the first of three groups of Jews to return to their homeland. In fact, in both 2 Chronicles 36 and in the book of Ezra chapter one, it tells us essentially the very same thing. Ezra chapter one verses one and two says it like this. in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing. Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. But the obvious question that you and I should be asking ourselves today is this, why would a pagan king simply release thousands of people from captivity simply because some prophet wrote it down 70 years before? Why would he care? In addition, why would he feel so compelled to rebuild the temple of a God he does not believe in, when both the releasing of the captives and the rebuilding of the temple would come at great cost to his kingdom? Well, this is where it gets good. Because you see, King Cyrus did not simply decide on his own volition to start letting the Jews go back to their homeland. Remember, both 2 Chronicles and Ezra say that God stirred up his spirit for that purpose. So how did he do that? Well, that takes us to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah was a prophet during the time period when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings over Judah. So just to keep our wits about ourselves here, that's actually before Judah was taken into captivity by Babylon, okay? And not only did he prophesy that Babylon would come and conquer Judah, but he also prophesied of their subsequent redemption, which we can read about in Isaiah chapter 44. In other words, that they would return to their homeland after the exile. And yet even more profound than that is what God specifically spoke through the prophet Isaiah, both there and in the very next chapter. So Isaiah chapter 44, beginning in verse 24, here is what the Lord declared through the prophet Isaiah in approximately 700 BC. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb. I am the Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens and spread out the earth by myself. Then down to verse 28, who says of Cyrus, He is my shepherd and he shall fulfill all my purpose. Saying of Jerusalem, she shall be built and of the temple, your foundation shall be laid. And then on to chapter 45, thus says the Lord to his anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed. I will go before you and level the exalted places. In other words, I will give you kingdoms. I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes and secret places. Why? That you may know that it is I, the Lord, who have done it. the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel, my chosen, I call you by your name. Not just do I call you by your name, the next verse, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. Besides me, there is no God. I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I wanna make sure we understand what's happening there. The Lord is speaking through the prophet Isaiah about this man named Cyrus about 150 years before Cyrus was even born. He's talking about the cities of Judah being in ruins and Jerusalem and the temple being rebuilt about a century before Babylon even came and captured the people of Judah. And the Lord says that he calls Cyrus by name to demonstrate specifically to him and the watching world that he is the sovereign Lord of all. Think of that. So how did Cyrus know about this prophecy? It's not like he was just opening the scroll one day and reading his Bible. Josephus, who's a very well-known Jewish historian who lived in the first century, wrote that the Jews who were in captivity, i.e. Daniel and his people, showed King Cyrus the prophecies in scripture that referred to him, and it was because of that, seeing his own name in the prophecy, that he was compelled by God to issue the edict, which brings us back to Daniel and his recognition of the gift of divine revelation. My friends, as we consider the nature of God's word, a word that transcends time in all of its wisdom and in all of its power, we need to understand that it intentionally compresses against our comforts. It pushes against our personal conveniences and it challenges us to change to be more like Christ. But as professing believers, we will either lean in to the sanctifying work of God's word on a daily basis, or we will rebel against it. And it is your relationship to the word of God that will tell you everything you need to know about your relationship to the God of the word. For Daniel, that relationship is crystal clear. And it leads us to verses 2 and 3 of our text, which is where I want us to understand the importance of godly devotion. understand the importance of godly devotion. Our text continues there saying, 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. And verse four will go on to tell us that Daniel is recounting this on the 24th day of the first month. And so what's the significance of that? Well, again, we wanna keep in mind that King Cyrus issued this decree for that first wave of Jews to return to Judah two years earlier. And in Ezra chapter two, we learned that the total number of that group with great specificity was about 50,000 people. So this is a monumental event in the lives of the Jewish people, not the least of which being Daniel. As an 85-year-old man, he did not return with that first group of folks, but he was obviously instrumental in their return, perhaps being the very one who showed Cyrus the prophecy about him. And as a man of prayer, he was certainly petitioning the Lord on their behalf. But this is an event that he has been anxiously anticipating for 70 long years, ever since he was a teenager entering the land as an exile, and now it's finally here. So why is he sad? What is there to be grieving and mourning about? Well, we learn from Ezra chapter four that around this same time, the Jews back in Jerusalem were beginning to experience some intense opposition. Those who would come to be known as the Samaritans, that is this group of those Jews who were left behind intermarrying with the Gentiles, had attempted to insert themselves into the building of the temple. And the connotation seems to be with a bad agenda. But when the Jews refused to compromise in allowing them to take part, it tells us in verse 4 that these Samaritans began to discourage the people of Judah and made them afraid to build any further, and even bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose. Later, even orchestrating the halting of the temple's construction at all. And so it's likely that that news of the opposition had reached Daniel back in Babylon, which would have been devastating to the Jewish hope of full and ultimate restoration. Remember, the temple represented the presence and the glory and the blessing of God. So to see it halted would have seemed to them to not be a good thing. So because of that, it seems, Daniel has entered in to this season of intense mourning. And for three weeks, he eats no special foods. He has no meat, drinks no wine. He doesn't anoint his body with any type of moisturizing oil, which would have been very important during that climate. In other words, Daniel is intentionally restricting himself of the best foods and of the luxuries he is accustomed to, and he's disciplining his body and humbling himself before the Lord as he devotes himself to prayer. And not only would that be significant on its own, but it's even more significant when we recognize the date on the calendar. You see, the first month of the year for the Jews would have been the month of Nisan. And so if Daniel's been doing this for three straight weeks, that means that he's been doing it during one of Israel's most holy feasts. And that is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which begins with Passover on the 14th of the month and then runs through the 21st of the month. And of course, what does the Passover commemorate? Well, it is the celebration of Israel's redemption from Egyptian bondage. And so it seems then that Daniel has essentially concluded, how can I possibly allow myself to celebrate the redemption of our people when some of us are still in bondage and those who have returned to our homeland are experiencing such intense opposition? So while other Jews are feasting, Daniel is fasting. And what that points us to is the seriousness with which Daniel took his belief in the sovereignty of God and the great love that he has for his people. Recognizing that God is sovereign, which he brilliantly demonstrated by saving Israel in the past, Daniel is now humbly seeking the Lord's favor for the salvation of his people in the present. And brothers and sisters, this should be an example for us as believers and members of the body of Christ today. Just ask yourself the question, how often do I genuinely mourn when I see other brothers and sisters in Christ suffering? How often do I do that? How frequently do we enter an intentional season of fasting and humble devotion to the Lord when we see a need that's not our own? but instead the suffering and the needs of those within the body. So may we be a people who believe that God is sovereign, yes, but instead of just giving lip service to that idea, tangibly demonstrate that belief through our love for one another by practically humbling ourselves before the Lord. And for Daniel, it's while he's in that season of devotion that we see what takes place beginning in verse four. And it's there that I want us to see the holiness of God in the vision. See the holiness of God in the vision. Our text continues there saying, on the 24th 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 Euphaz 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, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell on 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. So 10 days after Passover, as Daniel is standing along the banks of the Tigris, devoting himself to the Lord, he sees this vision of a man. And just like the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus, which we read about in Acts chapter 9, the men who are with him can't see the vision that he sees. They're experiencing something because trembling and fear falls upon them. But for Daniel, the men who are with him, they flee. They leave in fear of what they're experiencing. And so now here is Daniel completely alone with this man and all of his radiance. And the question is, who is he? Who is this man that Daniel sees in the vision? Some say it's Gabriel coming to Daniel once again, but we have to recognize that Daniel has seen Gabriel before, and this was not the description of his appearance, nor does Daniel call him by that name like he did in chapter nine. So although we cannot be dogmatic about it, I believe that this is none other than a vision of the pre-incarnate Christ. It's the fourth man from the furnace that we saw back in chapter three. It's the glorious son of man who comes in the clouds to the ancient of days to receive a kingdom. Daniel has been devoting himself to the Lord with great concern for the salvation of his people. So the Lord now comes in all of his splendor to reveal himself as the all-sufficient glorious savior of his people. I just want us to see this description that we find in Daniel in parallel to the vision we find in Revelation chapter 1 witnessed by John. Because when you lay them side by side, the similarities are remarkable. So for example, in Revelation 1 verse 13, it tells us that Christ is wearing a long robe down to his feet. And here, this man has a linen garment, the kind worn by a priest, perhaps pointing us to his role as mediator between God and sinful man. In Revelation, we see Christ wearing a golden belt around his chest. And here, this man is wearing a belt of the finest gold, the kind that only the wealthy and the royal would wear, perhaps pointing us to his role as exalted king. Here, this man's body looks like Beryl, it says, which is one of the precious gems listed in the wall of the New Jerusalem from Revelation 21. In Revelation 1, Christ's face shines like the sun at full strength. And here, this man's face has the appearance of a lightning. In Revelation, Christ's eyes are like fiery flames. And here, the eyes of this man are like flaming torches. In Revelation, Christ's feet are said to be polished bronze refined in a furnace. And here, this man's arms and feet are like the gleam of burnished bronze. And in Revelation, the voice of Christ is like the roar of many waters. And here, the sound of this man's voice to Daniel's hearing is like the sound of a roaring crowd. Have I convinced you yet? My friends, just as the ascended Christ appeared to John to authenticate his revelation, I believe that the pre-incarnate Christ appears to Daniel here to do the same. In fact, some of the things he will tell him in this vision are overlapping. And the result we find in parallel of the Lord appearing this way to both of these men is very similar as well. John falls down like a dead man. And our text tells us that Daniel falls face first into the ground, into a deep sleep. And although there's much that could be said about this vision of Christ, I simply want us to take away this. When you have an encounter with Christ, your life is changed. No, I do not think that any of us that I know of have seen a vision of Christ like the one we see in our text, but if you have been rescued from your sins by this Holy Savior, then your life will begin to reflect His holiness, and you will be different, you will be changed. For Daniel, we'll see the impact that this vision has upon him as we keep reading. So look with me at verses 10 and 11 now, and it's there that I want us to sense the focus of God's affection. Sense the focus of God's affection. Our text continues there. 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. So notice that Daniel is now awakened from his state of fear-induced sleep, but it appears that this vision of Christ across the tigress is no longer present. Instead, he is awakened simply to a hand touching him, likely the hand now of an angel. And we'll see that in the language he uses. So Daniel sits up on his hands and knees, still trembling understandably from the experience with Christ, and the angel begins to speak. And his words are filled with reassurance and gentleness as he tells Daniel that he is a man greatly loved by the Lord. And so I simply want us to sense the immense affection of that statement, especially in the context of what he has just experienced. If we try to put our shoes into the experience or ourself into the shoes of Daniel, we think about Isaiah chapter six and the vision of Christ that Isaiah saw of the Lord high and lifted up with his train, filling the temple. And when he saw that vision of Christ, it tells us that he recognized how unworthy he was to even be in the presence of Christ's holiness. And yet here in this text with Daniel experiencing and sensing much of the same, the angel wants him to know that he is actually the focal point of God's affection. In fact, he's the very reason that he's there. Not because he deserves it, not because he's worthy, but rather because God is abundantly gracious. He shows his love to us even though we do not deserve it. And we see the same theme woven throughout scripture. It tells us that John was a disciple whom Jesus loved. Abraham is called a friend of God. Moses had such an intimate relationship with the Lord that he spoke to him face to face. And here, Daniel is a man who is greatly loved. My friends, may we never forget that eternal life, as Jesus says in his high priestly prayer of John 17, at its very core and foundation is about knowing God. It's about being in a genuine relationship with the one true and living God of the entire universe, that you know him and that he knows you. And if we truly love this God, it is because he first loved us. And he places his divine love upon you in Christ, not to have you perform some sort of religious obligation or to check off some box of religiosity like your daily chores, but rather to invite you on an adventure of an eternal lifetime. a life that begins in the here and now and stretches on forever and ever and ever for eternity, to truly know Him and to make Him known. And for Daniel, as he begins to stand up in the assurance of this affection, still trembling, he is exhorted to listen and understand the words he's about to hear. We'll see that as we keep moving, picking up at verse 12. And it's from there that I want us to realize the impact of fervent petition. Realize the impact of fervent petition. Look with me at verse 12. Then he said to me, fear not, Daniel, 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 21 days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. For I was left there with the kings of Persia and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come. So this passage unfolds for us from the physical to the spiritual. As we see here, Daniel is encouraged not to fear, which I believe is part of the reason Christ appeared to him across the Tigris, as if to say, I am the gloriously sovereign Lord who's in control of all things. You do not need to be anxious. You do not need to fear. I am in control. But the angel explains to Daniel that there were two specific aspects of his prayer that were effectual and instrumental in his coming. And I want us to key in on those two aspects as application points for our own life. First, Daniel, it says, had set his heart to understand. Although he was 85 years old at this point and experienced so much in his life, Daniel did not live in such a way as if he had somehow arrived intellectually, as if he was no longer teachable or was still a student of what the Lord wanted him to know. But then second, notice it says that he humbled himself before the Lord. Daniel didn't see the power of his political position or his knowledge of foreign policy and all that he had witnessed and experienced as a kind of self-sufficiency to manipulate and bring about his own desired goal for the Jewish people. No, instead of being proudly pragmatic, Daniel humbled himself in prayer. He sought the Lord and simultaneously expressed both his own inadequacy and the Lord's all sufficiency. To put it simply, I can't do it, Lord, but you can. And in response, not only did the Lord hear Daniel's prayers, but he acts on his behalf. You see, sometimes we struggle, even if subconsciously, to reconcile how it is that God is sovereign, and yet how that's compatible with our own responsibility, right? Especially as those who believe in the sovereignty of God. But I wanna offer up to you the example of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, right? He knows why he came. He knows the purpose. He knows his mission. He knows what he has been sent to do, and yet what does he pray? Does Jesus believe in the sovereignty of God? Of course he does. And yet three times he says, Father, if this cup can pass for me, but your will be done. So we have to be careful not to think that because God is sovereign, we don't need to pray. On the contrary, what we need to understand is that the Lord loves to use the humble prayers of his people to accomplish his sovereign will. He delights to use our prayers to accomplish his will. And so that should cause us then to ask the question very pointedly, why don't we pray more? If we have an intercessor and mediator to the Father who is Christ, and there is not a limited amount of time throughout the day that we're allowed to come to Him, why don't we pray more? Why don't I pray more? If there are people in your life that you want to see saved, and there are things in this world that you want to see changed, then why don't we pray more? If James 5.16 says that the prayer of a righteous person has power as it is working, then why don't we pray more? We make time for the things that we care about, do we not? We feel the weight of that question even more palpably from our text as it transitions here from the familiar to the unfamiliar very quickly. And all of a sudden, we are thrust into an environment of which we are largely unacquainted. Because this angel begins to tell Daniel about a battle that he has personally been engaged in with this figure he calls the Prince of Persia, which seems to be a reference to an evil angel, which we know as a demon. In fact, he explains to Daniel that this battle is the very reason that he was not able to come to Daniel sooner. And so this angel is, in this moment, pulling back the curtain, if you will, and revealing to Daniel the reality of angelic warfare. And this parallels the words we find in Ephesians chapter 6. There, the apostle Paul exhorts the church at the very end of this very theologically rich and practically relevant letter saying, finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. put on the whole armor of God. And I think we often gloss over that when we read and we think of it in very cliche terms, but he tells us, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood. We're to put on this armor so that we can stand against the schemes of the devil. And so with our eyes, that's who we see. We see flesh and blood. But our wrestling is actually against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. And so from our text, we are catching a glimpse of those cosmic powers. And although it is relatively foreign to us, we need to understand that the concept is not foreign to scripture. In fact, Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse eight, speaks of nations being allotted to heavenly beings. It says there, when the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to what? According to the number of the sons of God, a reference we see in scripture referring to angelic beings. So here in our text, we find that certain fallen angels or demons have an influence over the affairs of particular nations. And this angel, he says, was battling for 21 days against the demon of Persia. And it was only after Michael, the chief prince, whom scripture refers to as one of the archangels of God, came to help him, that he was then able to leave the fight and come to Daniel. Now, with that in mind, let me ask you, what was Daniel doing for 21 days? Unbeknownst to him, as a cosmic battle of epic proportions is being waged in the spiritual realm, he is simply but persistently and diligently seeking the Lord in prayer. Something that is very common to us has supernatural influence. He's fasting, as one commentator said, Daniel prayed and angels went to war. Brothers and sisters, do not underestimate the purpose of prayer. For Daniel, although he was clearly a man of prayer, as we have seen repeatedly, not even he realized fully the effectual nature of his prayers, as we will see in the next section of our text. So picking up in verse 15, next, it's important that we acknowledge our need for spiritual transformation. that we acknowledge our need for spiritual transformation. Our text continues saying, when he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward 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 my 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. So Daniel is clearly shaken by the magnitude of what he's just been told, and understandably so, like it should be for us. He's left speechless when he realizes the gravity of the cosmic battle that is taking place in the unseen realm. But the Lord, in his infinite grace, much like he did for Isaiah, purifies his lips and gives him strength to speak. And all that Daniel can say initially in response is basically, how can a mere mortal like me speak to you? And I love how the angel responds. Once again, bringing strength to Daniel's soul, he uses the same words of gospel comfort that you and I need to hear today and every day. Notice that his words begin with Daniel once again being greatly loved. And my friends, Romans 5, 8 tells us that God shows his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And it's because of that magnificent, gracious love that the angel can tell Daniel, you have nothing to fear. Fear not, you are loved. As 1 John 4, 18 says, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. If God is for us, as he's demonstrated in Christ, then what can anyone do to us? Because of God's great love for his people, we have nothing to fear. And then the angel speaks to Daniel words of peace, saying, peace be with you. And this is exactly, if you recall, what the multitude of the heavenly host came declaring to the shepherds at the announcement of Jesus's coming, his incarnation in Luke 2 14. At his birth, they said, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, among those with whom he is pleased." My friends, it is because of this peace that we are able to have with God by his grace. As the angel says to Daniel that we can be strong and of good courage. Like Daniel, we can do nothing on our own. We are completely impotent, but in the power of Christ, we are strong in the Lord. And with his strength returned, Daniel lets the angel know that he is now ready to hear the words from the Lord that he has for him. So as we continue in our text to the final two verses of this chapter, it's there that I want us to lastly grasp the reality of cosmic contention. Grasp the reality of cosmic contention. Continuing in verse 20, then he said, do you know why I've come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia. And then, 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. So before the angel tells Daniel about this vision of intense war between physical kingdoms, which we will see next week from chapter 11, he tells him about the cosmic battle that is taking place in the spiritual realm. And he explains that he'll be returning to continue fighting against the prince or demon of Persia. And after he battles the Persian demon, he'll then engage the evil spiritual forces of Greece. And interestingly, with the benefit of hindsight, we can look back at human history and realize that the Persian empire lasted from 539 BC, around this time he's talking to Daniel, to 331 BC, so about two centuries. And during that time, men like Haman, no doubt influenced by demonic forces, would plot and conspire against the Jewish people. But as we see from the book of Esther, as the angel of Israel fights, what do we see happening? Well, we see the Lord in his powerful providence orchestrating circumstances in his sovereignty to prevail against the enemy in the protection of his people. And then just as the angel declared, the kingdom of Persia would fall to the kingdom of Greece in 331 BC, led by Alexander the so-called great. But in the midst of all those earthly military battles, the things that we see with our physical eyes, the angel declares that there is one angel who is always fighting with him for the sake of Israel, and that is the archangel Michael. So the very one whom Jude 1.9 speaks of when it says that he contended with the devil for the body of Moses, he is the chief angel and protector of the Jewish people. And we need to recognize that although spiritual warfare is on a level and a domain above our own. All of this is taking place under the sovereign power and dominion of God, who, as we've seen from Daniel, raises up kings and removes kings. The same God who has established the everlasting dominion of Jesus Christ, whose kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. And so for you and I today, in the midst of all that we see and experience with our physical eyes as Americans living in the year 2024, on a weekend when we have seen an attempted assassination of our former president, when we peek behind the curtain, what should we see? Well, it is vitally important, first of all, that we recognize the privilege and responsibility that we have been given as a gift from the Lord in prayer. As John MacArthur has said, we need to remember that prayer is battle. It wages war against the status quo, against sin and fallenness and the flesh and devils. We are called upon to a constant, diligent, zealous, passionate battle in prayer, striving, agonizing together as a body in a fight against evil and Satan and demons and the pervasive darkness that rules this world system. But at the same time, as we are diligently engaging in prayer, as we see what's happening around us, we should never, ever, ever be dismayed. Why? Because as we see in Psalm 2, even when the nations rage and the peoples are plotting in vain and the kings of the earth are setting themselves up and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, the Lord is sitting on His throne in heaven, Psalm 2 says, laughing. He's laughing. Why is he laughing? Because he is in absolute and complete control. He has already established Christ as King of Kings, and he has already given those very nations which are currently and temporarily led by demonic influence to his son as an inheritance and the ends of the earth, including all of his people as his possession. And soon, very soon, this very king, who is the son of God, is going to return. He is going to break them with a rod of iron and dash them into pieces like a potter's vessel. And that is why Psalm 2 concludes with these very sobering words of warning, both to the kings of the earth and to us today. Kings, be wise. Be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way. For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you today recognizing your absolute sovereignty over all things. We thank you for this opportunity that you've given us today to see behind the veil, behind the curtain, to recognize the purpose and the power that you have ordained for prayer and that you've given to us as a gift. May we recognize it as such, and may we approach your throne often, frequently, diligently, and fervently. And as we do, I pray that we will increase in our affection for you, and our trust, and your absolute sovereignty over all things, including the intimate details of our lives. Help us, Lord, to honor you in these ways, and it's in Christ's name we pray, amen. Hey, thanks for tuning in to our Redeemer YouTube channel. 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