Sermon Notes

September 11, 2022

The Unseen Battle

Daniel 10

Daniel 10:1-3

1In 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. “

 

Daniel 10:10-14

10“And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. 11 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. 12 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. 13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, 14 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.”

 

We must be serious about the battle that is before us.

We can rightfully say that Daniel was a person who lived in very dark times. The presence of idol worship, political scheming, and worldly living were prevalent in the culture. Daniel’s heart was set in a different direction. Although he lived in the capital of a rich empire he did not indulge in the pleasures of the world. His primary concern was caring for the people. He wanted them to experience God’s plan for their future. This passion led him to mourn and fast for three weeks. The Bible says that he humbled himself before the Lord. He does not offer up quick brief prayers but rather is totally committed. He is all in. And being all in requires sacrifice. Daniel is more than willing to sacrifice for this spiritual battle.

Application: There are serious issues that we need to take before the Lord. Are we willing to sacrifice? What are we willing to give up? What about prayer and fasting? We must humble ourselves before the Lord and give Him our full attention. Like David, we do not come with a javelin. Our weapons are not the weapons of the world. They are spiritual weapons. We are engaged in an unseen battle.

 

We must not fear because we walk in the confidence of God’s great love.

Daniel 10:11-12

11“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. 12 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 first thing mentioned here is that Daniel is greatly loved. That is a very important message. Here we see a three week time period before Daniel received a response. For us it might take much longer before we see God’s answer to prayer. And yes, sometimes it seems like the other side is winning. But God’s message to us is the same as the one to Daniel, we are greatly loved. We must not interpret trials as apathy from God. God loves us and He deeply loves His church. I believe He wants us to thrive and deeply impact the culture. We are able to “fear not” because God is for us. The angel may appear to be quite frightening, but he is on Daniel’s side. The people who should fear are the enemies of God.

Application: How does your understanding of God’s love affect the way that you engage in spiritual warfare? Have you readily received instruction from the Lord, and are you standing upright for the battle?

 

We must know that God hears and answers.

Daniel 10:12

“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.”

 

It is striking that Daniel prayed and fasted for three weeks. And what do you think man’s perspective might have been? -- nothing happened! Neither Daniel nor anyone else could see any tangible result from the prayer. But God heard. God didn’t only hear him after three weeks. God didn’t only hear him after his prayers escalated to a certain intensity. From the first day, from the very beginning, God heard. Every prayer that has been uttered so far today, God has heard. While we should sacrifice and be committed, God’s hearing is not dependent on our prayers being perfect. In fact, God sent the answer right away. God is sitting on His throne with legions of angels at His service.

Application: When you pray, realize you are participating in spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is not just wild, crazy things that happen once in a while. Spiritual warfare is happening every single day, every moment in our minds, in our hearts, and prayer is the spiritual weapon in this warfare… this Unseen Battle.

 

We must be ready for opposition.

You see this is not the end of story. God heard and answered but the result was not seen right away. The messenger God sent runs into some trouble. And here is a fascinating behind the scenes look at the spiritual battle raging around us. The angel who was sent as a messenger to Daniel could not come. For three weeks he was stopped.

 

Daniel 10:13

“The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,”

 

Daniel 10:18-19

18Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. 19 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.”

 

Who is this? It is a powerful demon? It seems that the Prince of Persia is a fallen angel who in some sense had authority or influence over the physical kingdom of Persia. It is his job to influence that kingdom in favor of Satan. This action would make sense, as the divine answer involves the overthrow of the Persian Empire. The angelic messenger gets some help from the Archangel Michael.  It seems that as events play out on earth, there is a corresponding activity in the spiritual realm. Whether or not this spiritual prince of Persia’s fate was tied to that of the physical Persian empire is unknown. What we do know is, if his job was to keep the Persian empire in a place of dominance over the nation of Israel, he failed. We are reminded in Ephesians 6 that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, the powers, the spiritual authorities in this dark world, the spiritual force of evil in the heavenly places.”

We see many of the results of these demonic forces in the book of Daniel. Some truly terrible laws are passed. One time a law is passed that every person must worship an idol or be thrown into a fire. Another time a law is passed that all people must pray to the king only for 30 days. From this passage we can see that Satan’s forces are at work in this kingdom.

Satan opposed him then and he does so now. And note that this demon is not a weakling. For three weeks, he was able to successfully resist this angel and slow him from his mission.

 

Application: We must be fully dependent on God in the battle. Be assured that opposition will come. And Satan will use every means at his disposal to fight. Folks we need to be aware that we have an enemy. We also need to know God has a plan for each of us. It might not be what you expect or hope. But it will be for our good. Draw near to Him in prayer and He will draw near to you. Be patient! Be Committed! Be willing to sacrifice! Humble yourself! Always be hopeful!

 

Let us look forward with expectation to see what God will do on our behalf!

Conclusion: Daniel said, “You have strengthened me!” But remember, the angelic victory comes on the 21st day.  One theologian writes, “There may be hindering factors of which a praying Christian knows nothing as he wonders why the answers to his requests are delayed. Nevertheless, he is to keep on praying. It may be that he will not receive an answer because he has given up on the twentieth day when he should have persisted to the twenty-first day.

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