Daniel 10:19 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Daniel 10:19

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Verse 19 is a preacher’s text. Here is one of those texts, of which there are many in Scripture, just made for the preparation of a sermon. There is a four-point sermon all ready for you to avail yourself of there, with so much devotional suggestion.What comfort there is in these words: ‘O man greatly beloved, fear not’ – the assurance he was loved, helped to remove his fears which surely in part had to do with his sin. If he was loved by God then he could not at the same time be punished and sent away from the presence of the Lord as he knew he deserved.‘And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me.’ So that tells us that the ‘be strong, yea, be strong’ are imperative pronouncements, imparting strength to him, rather than exhortations that he is to try to be strong himself, though we may take them as exhortations also.‘Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee?’ That is not patronising; that is the gentlest reminder, after Daniel has recovered somewhat from his crushing experience. His mind is refreshed, and we are back to the spiritual warfare. ‘And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia.’ The one speaking with him is about to resume the battle against the principalities and powers that oppose the people of God and stir up their enemies against them. Cyrus, by nature – having been heavily influenced by the one tempting him, the demon general – was antagonistic to the Jews. You go into the British Museum; you look at the Cyrus edict. You read all about it there, and you read about it in the Book of Ezra, and you think, what an enlightened man! Emperor Cyrus! What advanced thinking! Liberation of the captives, return of a whole captive society – or the minority that were prepared to go – to their homeland. What a generous hearted man! But the hint given you here is that, by nature, he would have been vehemently against the people of God, and so Christ says, I return to fight with the prince of Persia, to bring Cyrus to a better mind. He been brought to a better mind, issuing the Cyrus edict, but he had fallen back again, evidently. He been influenced by the Samaritan representatives. He had turned against the Jews. Now he has got to be turned back, in answer to prayer, and by the power of Christ. ‘And now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia, and when I am gone forth the prince of Grecia shall come.’ What does that mean? We know from earlier visions in the book that the Greek empire was to follow the Medo Persian. What is the Son of God is saying here? but that each of these kingdoms is represented by and led by some demonic power seeking to overthrow the purposes of God and the people of God. The Lord says, I will fight with the prince of Persia; I will give him so long; I will steer his thinking from time to time, so that benevolent things are enacted. And then, when, in my judgment and will his day has run its course, I will bring down Persia. Already I am preparing the ground for Alexander the Great to bring in the next empire, and to be conquerors of Persia. So there is telescoped into one sentence, years of history. One empire will be followed by another. But I will be acting for my people; that is what Christ, in effect, says.‘But I will shew thee’ – and this will follow in the next chapter – ‘that which is noted in the scripture of truth.’ The Hebrew says, ‘the writings of truth’, the Holy Scripture. ‘And there is none that holdeth with me in these things.’ Where were Gabriel and the others? Perhaps only Michael could stand spiritual warfare with such enemies. I think the sense there should be something like this: ‘and there is nobody quite like Michael your prince’, in other words, the archangel who by God was assigned for the care of the Jews, or at least those in Babylon. I have appointed over Israel a guardian angel, says the Lord. This is a very comforting truth.So that is an insight into spiritual warfare. We get a rare glimpse behind the scene of world history. There are spiritual forces at work that are far in excess of what men who disregard revelation would suppose. There are battles in heaven concerning kingdoms on earth. Why? Because God’s purposes are bound up with the history of mankind.

Application

These are things that are encouraging to us today. If authorities are against us, if other people are against the cause of Christ, it is because a certain amount of that is going to be permitted. But ultimately if we pray, and if it is God's will, he will cause their minds to be turned round and changed. We have never seen anything quite like this entire anti-moral gay lesbian crusade internationally. It is seemingly so internationally organised, and yet it never was in real terms. It has always been a disparate sort of collection of individual national societies and interests. And yet, throughout the Western world, in the United States, here in Britain, even in Europe in the EC councils and so on, so many things have run in parallel with the development of this massive international campaign. The influence upon the legislators, the passing of laws, using virtually the same terms. At present there is much more evident central organisation, but it wasn't like that in the beginning. Yes, but there was a central organisation. It was the cooperation of what Daniel calls the princes, the demonic generals in each national area working together, and there is such extraordinary uniformity in the progress of the whole anti-moral crusade, and campaign.

But you also get the stimulation of all the devotional material in this passage: Daniel’s concern. Oh that we would all have more concern for souls, and for the glory of Christ. See his determination to pray and to set himself aside for it, in his case with fasting, and to do it seriously. And he is rewarded for this: ‘For your prayers, I am now come’, says Christ in that theophany, if we are right in seeing it as a theophany. He is humbled; he is convicted as he prays. In no sense does any pride stand in him. And he receives insights, in his case revelations; in our case into the word of God. It will move us. We shall see grand and rich views of God. He is given a view of the fierceness of the hostility of enemy powers. It is tremendously rewarding, to read this tenth chapter through, very carefully and very slowly.

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Daniel 10:19 Commentary and Bible Study