I've entitled this message, Daniel's
Vision of Christ. And if you and I ever have a
vision of Christ, we're going to have the same vision Daniel
did, precisely. Before we get into the vision,
I want to spend a few moments speaking about some other things
that are in our text that are certainly related. And these
are some things that I'm going to give what the scripture teaches
and they scare me. And I want to say as little as
possible and be as accurate as possible. In verse one, in the
third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, the thing was revealed
unto Daniel. whose name was Belteshazzar.
And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long. This
is going to be stuff that's going to happen hundreds of years from
now. And he understood the thing and he had understanding of the
vision. Now, what is going to take place is found in chapters
11 and 12. And in chapter 11, you're going
to find the word shall. 120 times. This shall take place. This shall take place. This shall not take place because
this shall take place. And he goes into great detail
over certain things that would happen in the centuries when
there wasn't any more scripture, like the Maccabean revolt and
so on. And all of these things are verified. Somebody said, and I don't really
Somebody said, if you don't believe the Bible is the word of God,
this proves it. I don't need that to prove it. But it is interesting
that everything that he forecast does in fact take place. But look in verse 13 of this
chapter. But the prince of the kingdom
of Persia withstood me. Now this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me. one and
twenty days. Lo, Michael, one of the chief
princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings
of Persia." Now, if this is Christ speaking, why does he need Michael's
help? Well, he doesn't need Michael's
help. Michael is allowed to help and be involved in what's taking
place. But The individuals mentioned
in those verses, Michael and the King of Persia are angelic
beings. One fallen, one preserved. Look in verse 16. And behold,
one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips.
Now he wasn't a man, he looked like one. This is talking once
again about an angelic being. Look in verse 20. Then said he,
knowest thou wherefore I come to thee? And now will I return
to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I'm gone forth, lo,
the prince of Greece shall come. Now he's not talking about Alexander
the Great there. But I will show thee that which
is noted in the scripture of truth, that there's none that
holdeth with me in these things but Michael, your prince, that
angel. Now, there is a whole dimension. going on right now that you and
I know very little of, but it's revealed in the scriptures of
truth. Angelic beings, the ones who did not fall. And I love
the way Paul calls them the elect angels in first Timothy chapter
five. The only reason they didn't fall is because they were elected
not to fall. And then we read of the fallen
angels, Lucifer and the demons. And Peter tells us that they're
greater in power and might than us. Turn with me for a moment
to Ephesians chapter six. I'd like you to see this. Verse 12. Well, let's start in verse 11,
but put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil. He's a whole lot smarter than
me or you. Got a whole lot more experience than me or you. And
he has wiles, ways of deceit. Now look what Paul says, for
we, this is talking about every believer. We wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Now, Satan was involved in the
fall of Adam, wasn't he? He was used to tempt our first
parents in the garden. We read about him in Job. presenting
himself to God. Now, Satan's a created being. He was created by Christ and
for Christ. Don't forget that because we'll
look at this totally wrong if we don't understand that. The
scripture says, all things were created by him and for him, whether
they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him
and for him. Now he's talking about this dimension
that we know very little of except what the Bible tells us about
it. But Satan is actually called
the god of this world and the prince of the power of the air.
Now you'll remember in the temptation of Christ, he showed Christ the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And he said, all this
power will I give to thee and the glory of them for this is
given to me. You know what that means? Satan
is the one controlling governments and kingdoms and this world. He is called the God of this
world. Men don't know it, but they're
the devil's pawns. I think of what the Lord said
to the Pharisees. He said, you're of your father,
the devil, and the lusts, the desires of your father, you will
do. Now that is true of every unbeliever. You are of your father, the devil. You're a pawn of the devil doing
his will if you're outside of Christ. Now, that's difficult
to think about, but it's just the truth. Satan asked permission
for Peter. Remember that? Satan has asked
that he might have thee, that he might sift thee as wheat.
Do you remember when the Lord said to Peter, because Peter
was obviously so much under the influence of Satan, he said,
get thee behind me. What? Satan. For thou savest
not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men. In the parable of the sower,
it was he who snatched the word away on the hard ground. Peter said, your adversary, your
adversary, your enemy, the devil walking about as a roaring lion,
seeketh whom he may devour. Turn to 1 Peter 5. I'm sorry, 2 Timothy chapter
two is the one I want you to look at. Now you can see why I don't even
feel comfortable talking about this. I don't. I mean, there's
stuff revealed in scripture and I want us to see what it is,
but it scares me. And I can only say what Michael
the archangel said to the devil when contending with the body
of Moses, he said, the Lord rebuke you. I don't want to stay in
toe to toe with him in any way. The Lord rebuke you. I just want
the Lord to protect me from this being. And you know, we're taught
to pray, deliver us from the evil one. Look in second Timothy
chapter two, verse 24. And the servant of the Lord must
not strive, but be gentle unto all men. apt to teach, patient
in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. If God
will, peradventure, will give them repentance to the acknowledging
of the truth, that they may recover themselves out of the snare of
the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." Now, you
and I can fall into the snare of the devil, and we will, if
the Lord doesn't prevent it. We will, for sure, but here's
something that's glorious. The devil is God's pawn doing
God's will and everything he does serves to the good and the
benefit of God's glory and the elect of God. That's the protection
we have from this being. Turn with me to 2 Kings 6. Verse 15, And when the servant
of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host
compassed the city, both with horses and chariots, the army
of Syria. And his servant said unto him,
Alas, my master, how shall we do? And he answered, fear not,
for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.
And Elisha prayed and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that
he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes
of the young man and he saw and behold, the mountain was full
of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. Now, that's
always true. That's always true. I have no
doubt that in this room there are angelic beings. demons and
guardian angels, angels of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that
passage of scripture where he talks about those little ones.
He says their angel does always behold the face of their father.
Now, do I understand this? No, but it's obviously taught
in scripture. And you and I need to see what
the scripture teaches with regard to this. And remember this, Satan,
he's called the accuser of the brethren. What a name. He can
accuse you before the father and everything he says is true.
He's not having to make up things. He's not having to make up lies.
He can bring accusations against you and that's what he does.
Todd did this, Todd thought that, Todd but, and they're all true. But they overcame him by the
blood of the lamb. And listen to the end of Satan.
Romans chapter 16 verse 20, the God of peace shall bruise Satan
under your feet shortly. And the way of battle is not
to try to stand up toe to toe with him, you'll lose. Whom resists
steadfast in the faith. It's by putting on the whole
armor of God, not by trying to do battle with the devil. When
you do that, all you prove is how arrogant and ignorant you
are. If I'm going to take on the devil,
I've heard preachers talk like that. He's leading you by the
nose while you're talking. Let me say these four things.
The devil's real. He hates Christ. And you and
I can fall into his snares, but it's only according to God's
will, for God's purpose, and it'll always be for our good,
and we're protected. We're protected. Satan has no
power over any believer. We're children of God. Now the
unbeliever are children of the devil, but the believers are
children of God. God knows how to protect his
children. He's not allowing anything to happen to his children. And destruction is his end. And pick up in verse 1 of our
text. In the third year of Cyrus, king
of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called
Belteshazzar. And the thing was true, but the
time appointed was long. It was a long way off. You know,
there's a 400-year period between Malachi and when the Lord walked
on the New Testament, where no words were given from God, no
revelation from God. But Daniel tells us everything's
going to happen in that 400-year period, in those 120 shalls that
take place, dealing with kingdoms. And I think it's interesting
to say something as big as Alexander the Great. That's just a footnote
of the scripture, just a footnote. God fulfilling his purposes and
his will. Now verse two, in those days
I Daniel was mourning. I was upset. I was mourning for
three full weeks. And during that time I ate no
pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither
did I anoint myself at all to the three whole weeks, the 21
days were fulfilled. I was mourning. Now, one of the
things I see about Daniel is he was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. Seems like he was sad so often
and who wouldn't be with the revelations he was given. In
Revelation 7 and 8 he was given the prophecy regarding the Antichrist
and how wickedly Israel would do and all the horrible things
that were going to take place and all the sinful things that
are going to take place and all the deaths that are going to
take place. He looked at Israel and after Cyrus had made the
announcement, y'all are going to go back to Jerusalem. Less
than 10% of them wanted to. They didn't have any interest
in it. They were immersed in the things of Babylon. I guess
their businesses were prospering and they liked their life where
they were at. And they didn't have any interest in going back
to Jerusalem. And I think this broke Daniel's
heart. And then he saw all the things that were going to take
place. And I guarantee you, they were just scary. Now this is
interesting, he's spending his 21 days mourning, fasting, praying. Look at verse 13. But the prince
of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one in 20 days. Now there's
a correlation between his praying for 21 days and that king of
Persia doing what he was doing, withstanding the Lord Jesus for
21 days. Now what that lets me know, don't
ever forget this. Everything God does, he does
through the prayers of his people. Don't ever look at prayer in
a, I'm going to say a little prayer. No such thing as a little
prayer. And everything God does, he acts
through the prayers of his people. Now it's not that he needed Daniel
to praying for 21 days in order for this 21 days to take place,
but this is how he acts. So don't ever become discouraged
regarding this thing of prayer. And it's not easy. Daniel was
in mourning. He was upset. Didn't even put
any oil on himself. Didn't take a bath. Verse four. And in the four and 20th day
of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river,
which is Ida Cale, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and
here's Daniel's vision of Christ. Behold, a certain man clothed
in linen. Now what is linen? Linen is the
material that's used for the great high priest. when he would
come into God's presence. Only one was allowed into God's
presence. You couldn't just waltz in. Only the high priest could
come into God's presence. Clothed in linen. Now, if you ever see Christ,
and you will if you're a believer, you're gonna see the same thing
Daniel has seen. You're gonna see him as your
only way to the Father. You'll be sure of that. Won't
have to be convinced of that. The only way you can get to the
Father is through the man, Christ Jesus, the great high priest.
You wouldn't dare approach God any other way, but the merits
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the priesthood of Christ, the righteousness
of Christ, the shed blood of Christ. You know, your only way
into the presence of God is through him. And if you've got some other
way, you've just never seen it. If you have some ability, you've
never seen him. If there's something you can
do to get into the Father's presence, you've never seen him. Everybody
that sees him, sees him as their only way to the Father. Clothed in linen, the garment
of the priest. And he was wearing a golden girdle.
Now, if you read in Revelation chapter one, this is so similar
to John's description of the Lord Jesus Christ when he saw
him and fell down as dead. But this golden girdle represents
his deity. He's God. If you ever see him,
you're going to know this. He is God. In him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead. bodily. Everything that God is,
absolute sovereignty is in his person. Omnipotence is in his
person. Immutability is in his person.
Independence is in his person. He has no needs. He's God. Gold. In the tabernacle, gold represented
his deity. The wood represented his humanity. But he saw him as the king. And if you ever see him, you'll
see him as the king. as God, as the one who rules
and reigns over everything. And if you don't see him that
way, quite frankly, you've never seen him, period. Because anybody
sees him knows that he is God. You bow before him just like
Thomas, my Lord and my God. I love the name written over
the Lord's cross. the King of the Jews. You're
looking at a Jew right here. He's my King. Every believer
is a Jew and truly he is the King of the Jews, my Lord and
my King. Verse six, his body was like
the burl. Now, all I could get off this
is what John Gill said, so I'll just give you what he said. It
sounded good to me. He said, a burrow is flesh collared. And
this is a reference to his humanity. If you see Jesus Christ, yes,
you see his deity, but you see he is the man, Christ Jesus. And the only way you can be saved
is this man who is God represents you before the Father. And look
what it says next. And his face has the appearance
of lightning. Now think about your response
to seeing lightning in the sky. Do you start looking at other
things? No. Your face is drawn, frozen to
that lightning. You can't look at anything else.
And if you see the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to see Him
in the sense that you're really not interested in anything else.
You really aren't. You want to see Him. You want
to see His glory. You want to see His person. You
want to see His salvation. And you're like the disciples
at the Mount of Transfiguration when they said, let's make three
tabernacles. One for thee, one for Moses,
one for Elijah. Not knowing what he said. Never
been a more stupid thing ever said. And he said it. Peter did.
And then that voice came down from heaven. A bright cloud overshadowed
them. And the voice from heaven said,
this is my beloved son, hear ye him. And they hit the dirt. And the Lord came and touched
him. And when they looked up, they saw no man save Jesus only. And if you ever see him, We'll
see him in his onlyness. No one can compare to him. Like that lightning, you're fixed.
Your face is frozen. You can't look anywhere else. And his eyes as lamps of fire. Now, I've read where that is
a reference to his omniscience and his all-knowing. It doesn't hit me that way. What's
a lamp for? To see by. The only way you can
see who God is is by Christ. Amen? Is that what you believe?
The only way you can see who you are is by seeing who He is. Sin is a meaningless concept.
until you see who He is. And oh, He's the light. He's
the lamp. He is the way. You can see how
God can be just, utterly consistent with His holiness and righteousness
and justice, and yet justify somebody as sinful and unjust
as you through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have
that light. You understand how God can embrace you through Christ. What light that is, oh the light
of his eyes. And we can't really see apart
from that light. And look, and his arms and his
feet, verse six, and collar to polished brass. Now the polished
brass speaks to his power. What else do I need to say other
than the Lord says all power is given unto me. I think it
is amusing and disgusting when people talk about powerful men
and women. No such thing. Power belongs to the Lord. And
any power any man has is only what the Lord has given him.
And it's not his anyway. The Lord has a monopoly on power. He's omnipotent. That's seen
him when he created the universe, that's seen in his control of
providence, how he's the first cause behind everything. Everything
is in his hand. Most especially, we see his power
and salvation where he's so powerful that he can make somebody as
sinful as me perfect in God's sight. Now that's power. I mean,
we can say so much about his power. And the voice of his words, like
the voice of a multitude, many waters in other scriptures. In
other words, when he speaks, you'll hear. Now, if I said,
Lazarus, come forth, what would happen? Powerless. If he says, Lazarus,
come forth, he that was dead came forth. That's the power
of his voice. All he speaks. Verse seven. And I, Daniel, alone saw the
vision. Now, this side of him, you're
not going to see through other people's eyes. You're going to
see him yourself. Now, I realize it's not a physical
sight, and this description he gives was never meant for canvas.
This is a spiritual sight. But when you see him, you're
not going to be looking at him through somebody else's eyes.
Job said, who my eyes shall see and behold, and not another's.
You're going to see him yourself because he's going to reveal
himself to you. And that's the way you see. Now,
I want Lynn to see the same thing I see. I want John to see the
same thing I see. But this is all alone. This is
all private. You know, even in public worship,
this is called public worship, getting together and opening
up the scripture in public worship. It isn't really public, is it?
It's the Lord speaking to you by his word. It's and the most
private, the most blessed private worship I ever get. is during
the hearing of the gospel, public worship. Now, I, Daniel, alone
saw the vision, for the men that were with me saw not the vision,
but a great quaking fell upon them, so they fled to hide themselves. Therefore, I was left alone with
this great vision. And here's what happens when
you see this vision. There remained no strength in
me. For my comeliness, that which
I thought was beautiful, turned into utter corruption. Now, when you or I have this
vision, we're also going to see ourselves. No strength. No spiritual strength. No power
to do. We don't have it. And my comeliness, that which
may I have thought, well, this is at least good. It turns into
utter corruption and sinful folly. Now that's what happens when
somebody sees the Lord. And until they've seen the Lord,
they're not going to see this about themselves. But when they
see the Lord, they're going to retain no strength. and their
comeliness will be turned to utter corruption. Now, I think
of that song I've heard, we don't sing it here, but it's a song
I have a particular distaste for. And he walks with me and
he talks with me. And he tells me I am his own.
And the joy that we share as we tarry there, none other has
ever known. I've got a better relationship
with him than you do, is what the songwriter's saying. But
when I was thinking about that, I thought evidently, This fella
had never seen the one Daniel was talking about, or he wouldn't
be speaking like that. He would say, I've retained no
strength within me, and my comeliness has turned to corruption. If
you ever see the Lord, if I ever see the Lord, look at me like
Isaiah, woe is me. We're going to be like Peter,
depart from me, I'm a sinful man. We're going to be like Job,
I've heard of thee with the hearing of the ears, but now my eyes
see thee, wherefore I hate myself and I repent in dust and ashes. Now that's what happens when
people see the Lord. And if they don't have that experience,
it's because they've never seen him. It's really like this. You don't believe you're a sinner
until you see the Lord. And when you see the Lord, you
sure enough believe you are a sinner. I had no strength. My comeliness was turned to corruption.
I retained no strength, no spiritual ability. You know, as long as
you believe in free will, as long as you believe that there
are things you can do to make yourself holier and there's things
you can do to please God, it's just because you haven't seen
the Lord. That's the only reason. If you ever see the Lord, that
kind of foolishness will be stopped. It sure was with Daniel. Verse
nine, yet heard I the voice of his words. And when I heard the
voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face,
my face toward the ground. He did what Daniel or what John
did in Revelation one. He hit the dirt, trembling as
a dead man. Verse 10, and behold, and hand
touched me. which set me upon my knees and
upon the palms of my hands. Now this reminds me of the transfiguration. You remember when the Lord appeared
in his glory and they made that horrible statement. Peter made
that horrible statement and the bright cloud from heaven overcame
everything and they hit the dirt. Scripture says the Lord came
and touched them. Touched them. Now, we have sang
that chorus, reach out and touch the Lord as he goes by. You'll
find he's not too busy to hear your hearts cry. Now, I'm not
going to say that's wrong, but I'm going to say this. I need
him to touch me. I need him to touch me. And that's what took
place. He touched me. I got up on my
hands, on the palms of my hands. Verse 11, and he said unto me,
O Daniel, a man greatly beloved. Now people have a tendency to
think, well, you know, Daniel was greatly beloved. I can see
where he was. I mean, he was this special prophet
the Lord used. He's such a special man. Daniel
was greatly beloved. So is every other believer. I'm greatly beloved. Every believer
is greatly beloved. And to look at this as well,
Daniel was such a good person and such a good prophet and said,
you know, that he pleased the Lord more. All that is works. God's love is in Christ Jesus.
Amen? Utterly and entirely in Christ Jesus. And everybody in
Christ Jesus is greatly beloved. Every believer, everybody that
has had their comeliness turned to corruption and have no strength
remaining. Here's why. You're greatly beloved,
foreknown by God before time began, loved with an everlasting
love. Every believer, greatly, greatly,
by God. Isn't that amazing? I mean, our
only thought is, why me? I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love me, a sinner
condemned, unclean. When with the ransomed and glorious
face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the ages
to sing of his love for me. Oh Daniel, Greatly beloved, understand
the words that I speak unto thee and stand upright. For unto thee
am I now sent. And when he spoke of this word
unto me, I stood trembling. Like Moses, when the Lord appeared
unto him in the bush, he dares not behold. He was scared to
death. Now, anytime somebody, me and
Jesus had a good talk with each other. No, you didn't. You'd be trembling like Daniel
was. Then verse 12, said he unto me,
fear not Daniel, for from the first day thou didst set thine
heart to understand and to chasten thyself, to humble thyself before
thy God, thy words were heard and I'm come to thy words. Now,
here's what every one of us want to do. I want to understand. I want to understand. I want
to understand what it is to rest in Christ. I want to understand
who he is. And I want to, the word chaste is generally translated
humble. I want to humble myself before
him. Humble yourselves under the mighty
hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. But here he speaks of the Prince
of Persia. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia, he's not
talking about Cyrus now, he's talking about an angelic being,
withstood me one and 20 days, that time when Daniel was praying. But lo, Michael, one of the chief
princes, came to help me, and I remained there with the kings
of Persia. Now I'm come to make thee understand what shall befall
thy people in the latter days. For the vision is for many days.
hundreds of years ahead, and we'd spoken such words to me,
I set my face toward the ground and I became dumb. I couldn't
speak. You know, it's a good thing to
be dumb. What the Lord has to say to me
is a whole lot more important than what I have to say to him.
You see, when I'm speaking, I'm not really listening, am I? He
was dumb. done before the Lord. And 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 vision my sorrows are turned
upon me, and I retain no strength." This is not some kind of whoop-dee-doo,
feel-good vision. He was filled with sorrow over
what he saw. For how can I serve unto this
my Lord, talk with this my Lord? For as for me straightway, there
remain no strength in me, neither is breath left in me. Then there
came again, and touched me one like the appearance of a man,
and he strengthened me. And he repeats himself, oh man,
greatly beloved. Fear not. How many times does the Lord
say that in the scriptures? Hold on. Fear not. Fear not. We do a lot of fearing. Fear
not. Peace be unto thee. And the only
peace any sinner knows of is justification. God doesn't have
any reason to be mad at me. I'm holy, unblameable, and unreprovable
in his sight. I have his righteousness as my
personal righteousness before God. I don't have any sin justified
in his sight. You know what that does? That
gives me peace. You cut away at any of that and
all my peace is gone. If you leave me with something
I need to do, I don't have any peace. But oh, the peace being
justified by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace be unto thee, be strong.
That's the power to do. Yea, be strong. And when he'd
spoken unto me, I was strengthened. That's sanctification. You are
enabled to do what you could not do before. You can believe
the gospel. You can repent. You are repenting. You are believing. You have the
peace of Christ work for you. The strength of Christ's work
in you, giving you a new nature and a new heart and strengthening
you to believe. And here's what I said after
I was strengthened, Lord, let my Lord speak for thou strengthen
me. Then said he, knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? Now
I will return to fight with the Prince of Persia. And I will
be gone forth, lo, the Prince of Grecia shall come. This is
those principalities and powers. But I will 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, your angel. But
what he shows us is confined. And it's a big area, but it's
confined to the scriptures of truth. Sanctify them through thy truth.
Thy word is truth. And if the Lord ever speaks to
me or speaks to you, it's going to be from this book, the scriptures
of truth. Now, what a vision of the Lord
Jesus Christ and chapters 11 and 12 are given to give all
the details of what's going to take place. Let's pray. Lord, I ask in Christ's name,
we ask in Christ's name that we might be enabled by your grace
to have this vision of your son. A vision that will show us that
our comeliness is nothing more than corruption and that we have
no strength. And it will cause us to look
to you as our great high priest to bring us into the presence
of thy father. Lord, bless this word for your
glory and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.