Daniel 10
Chapter 9:24-27: From the month Nisan in B. C. 455 when Artaxerxes Longimanus, son of Xerxes, authorized the rebuilding of Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 2:1) to the time of the Lord’s crucifixion—the same month in A.D. 29—there were exactly 69 weeks of yeas (69 x 7=483). Nisan and Abib are two names, one Babylonian, the other Hebrew, for the first month of the religious year of Israel, when the passover lamb was killed. The seventieth week has not yet begun, the clock of prophetic time, it is said, having been stopped upon the rejection by the, Jews of their Messiah. Between the sixty ninth and seventieth weeks is the present interval of the gospel of the grace of God. When that ends, and the end must now be very near, the “clock” will be started again.
Chapter 10: Daniel was now, we may suppose, about ninety years of age, for he had been in Babylon from B.C. 606 and the third year of Cyrus as the sole ruler of the empire would he B.C. 534. The prophet was again mourning, no doubt because of the state of his people and the city of Jerusalem, since that was his grief in chapter 9; and as before, his mourning was accompanied by fasting.
The Hiddekel is now called the Tigris; it is the second great river of the East. There he saw a “certain man”, the description of whom suggests none other than the Lord of glory; the sight affected the prophet as, long afterward, the apostle John in Revelation 1:12-18, who fell at His feet as dead. Daniel, however, only tells us that he heard the “voice of His words”, for the communications that follow were made to him through angels.
An angelic hand touched him; he was raised from his prostrate position and bidden to stand, while the angel addressed him as “greatly beloved”, and told him to “fear not”, Thus strengthened and calmed, made to understand what God was pleased to make known to him, Daniel learned the great revelations comprised in chapters 10, 11, and 12. These include an unveiling of the unseen world in which are wicked spirits, the instruments of Satan, and a detailed outline of Gentile history such as is found nowhere else in the Scriptures.
An encouraging word to other feeble, tried saints beside Daniel, is given in verse 12: “From the first day..., thy words were heard.” The heartfelt prayer of a child of God surely reaches His ear. (1 Peter 3:12). There was, however, a hindrance which God permitted; the “prince of the kingdom of Persia”—a Satanic angel influencing unseen the affairs of the country where Daniel lived—withstood the angel of God for 21 days, the whole of the time since the prophet began his fast (verse 9). Satan cannot thwart die purpose of God, and that his hindering is allowed gives occasion for the blessing of the praying saint who is directed to continue in prayer (Colossians 4:2).
Michael, spoken of again in chapter 12:1 and in Revelation 12:7, is called in the epistle of Jude (verse 9) “the archangel”; watching over the children of Israel he aided the angel sent to instruct Daniel. Verses 16 and 18, and chapter 12, verse 5, show that the angel who brought the revelations to Daniel was not alone. The power of Satan is arrayed against the saints, but the angels of God, though interfered with, perform their service for His own. This passage throws much interesting light on Ephesians 6:11-18 and Romans 8:38 concerning wicked. angels, and 2 Kings 6:17, Ephesians 1:21, Colossians 1:16, 2:10 and 1 Peter 3:22, also Hebrews 1:13-14, and many Scriptures telling of the angels of God.
ML 08/02/1936