All right. Now, if you would,
let's turn back to Daniel chapter 10. The title of this message is,
A Vision of God's Glory in Christ. A Vision of God's Glory in Christ. Now, these last three chapters
of the book of Daniel should be read and studied and understood
as one vision. It's sometimes called the vision
of the kings. Chapter 11, for example, and
certainly we're not going to get that far tonight, but chapter
11 speaks of earthly kings, earthly kings, earthly empires. Daniel's
had a lot to say about that, hasn't he? He's seen some visions,
hasn't he? He's seen some things here that
God has shown him. and earthly kings who will appear
in the time between the Testaments, between the Old Testament and
the New Testament, from Malachi to the coming of Christ. Malachi
to Matthew, you'd say, from the biblical point of view. And these
earthly kings, they struggle. It represents their struggles.
It speaks of their evil. And they represent the spirit
of Antichrist. We've seen that before. We saw
it before in the book of Daniel. Earthly kings who are the embodiment
of the spirit of Antichrist. Antichristian government. Antichristian
religion. And that's what chapter 11 talks
about. Then chapter 12, the conclusion of the book, ends on a high note. A note of encouragement because
it speaks of one king. The king of kings. the Lord Jesus
Christ himself who rules this universe for the glory of God
and the good of his people and who will ultimately defeat all
that come against him. And so that's what this is about.
Now chapter 10 that we're going to begin tonight is an introduction
and a preparation for the vision of the kings. Daniel had to be
prepared for this for several reasons. He'd, as I said, he'd
seen some amazing visions from God. And the last time he saw
this vision of the 70 weeks that we talked about, 77's, determined
of the Lord upon his people, and noting how it was divided
into three parts, first of all you had those seven weeks of
years, that was 49 years, from God's word and his decree through
Cyrus, one of the evil kings of this book, Cyrus, to go and
rebuild the temple back in Jerusalem. He made a decree. We read about
that in 2 Chronicles, in the book of Ezra. And he made a decree
that they would go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. And just
to give you a biblical timeline of that, what that would do is
bring us up to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. You know, when
they first went out, there was about 50,000, a little less than
50,000 people that went out under Zerubbabel and a man named Joshua,
the high priest Joshua. And that's when they first went
out and went back to Jerusalem and began rebuilding the temple.
It took them 49 years. Multiples of seven. We've talked
about that. And that brings us up to the
time of Ezra and Nehemiah. And then the second division
was the 62 weeks of years. That's 434 years. That would
bring us from Ezra and Nehemiah to the time of Christ. The time
of Messiah the Prince. When Christ would come He was
born of a virgin, that great person, that Jesus of Nazareth. He said His name shall be called
Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. That's always
been the case. He'd been doing that all along
in the Old Testament. We read about that in Romans
chapter 3, about the remission of sins of those that are past.
It's talking about Daniel, talking about Abel, talking about all
the Old Testament saints. They were covered by the blood
of Christ as their surety and they looked forward to Him by
promise. That's what Daniel's doing right here in chapter 10.
He's going to see a vision of the glory of God in Christ. He's
going to see Christ Himself just as clearly as John in Revelation
saw Him. And really, you could say even
more clearly than John saw him when he walked beside him in
his earthly ministry because there, as John said, he said
this in chapter 1, he said his glory was veiled in human flesh,
human weakness for a time. But John said we saw his glory.
how he tabernacled among us. This is God-man. So that second
division, the 62 weeks of years, brought us from Ezra and Nehemiah
to the time of the Messiah, and especially, specifically, to
the time that he began his earthly ministry, at his baptism, and
he began to go out throughout Judea preaching the gospel of
salvation by grace. And then you had that final period
of seven years, that's the third division. which takes us to the
public ministry of Christ. It's interrupted here. It says,
you remember, in verse 26 of chapter 9, after three score
and two weeks, three and a half years, what happened from the
time that He began His earthly ministry in three and a half
years? What happened? Well, it says here, He was cut
off. The Messiah was cut off. Just right in line with the prophecy. Prophecy of Daniel here prophecy
of Isaiah and Isaiah 53 where I think we read in verse 8 He
was cut off out of the land of the living. What does that mean?
He died he died and His death on Calvary and then three and
a half more years Which he three and a half three and a half said
three and a half more years which equals the and what was he doing?
He was confirming the covenant. Look at verse 27 in chapter 9.
He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week In three
and a half, he died. That's the confirmation of the
covenant. He said, this is my blood of
the new covenant, New Testament. The veil was ran into from top
to bottom. Remember, somebody mentioned
last week, that thing was a hand breadth wide, you know, as far
as the thickness of it. Man couldn't do that. That was
God's doing because Christ confirmed the covenant. He brought in the
new. He took away the old and established
the new. And then the other three and
a half years, the confirmation of the covenant is the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit in the salvation of many of the Jews and the gospel
being shot out into the world to save God's elect among the
Gentiles. Now that was prophesied in the
book of Joel. You remember when we studied the book of Joel?
Chapter 2, verse 28 through 32, when he talked about the great
outpouring of the Holy Spirit in that day, and Peter quoted
that in Acts chapter 2 when he stood there at Pentecost and
preached Christ to those people, and he told them, he said, this
was all fulfilled and established and confirmed by Jesus Christ
and Him crucified and risen again. And it's the same, really it's
the same prophecy that Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 31 when
he talked about in the New Covenant it's not gonna be like the Old
Covenant, but the people of the New Covenant are gonna be people
of the Spirit. They're gonna be people of Christ.
They're gonna know me, he said, from the least of them to the
greatest. There's not gonna be a rebellious, ignorant people
like there was under the Old Covenant. So here that covenant
was confirmed in two ways. The basis of it, the ground of
it, is the cross of Christ. He was cut off. The salvation
of His people, the representative, the substitute who died. And
that was described over here in verse 24 of chapter 9 in the
fullness of His work, how He would finish the transgression,
make an end of sin, bring in everything, all of that, that
beautiful work, that complete work. And when we believe the
gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, what do we do? We enter
into that work. We enter into Him. We enter into
His rest. And then the fruit of it was
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. What is being taught in these
prophecies? Well, it's simple. You say, well,
I can't remember all these details, preacher. Well, what's being
taught? Here's the test. If I were to give you a test
on this, here'd be the question. What's being taught? What is
this all about? I'll tell you what it's all about. It's about
Christ and Him crucified and risen again. That's what God's
teaching Daniel here. This thing is all about Christ. And this prophecy is about Christ
and His first coming to do the great work described in Daniel
chapter 9 and verse 24. All that He accomplished. That's
what it's about. Now look at verse one of chapter
10. It says, now this is two years later. This vision comes
two years later than the last vision of the 70 weeks. And it
says, in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a thing was revealed
unto Daniel. What is that thing? Well, it's
a word. That's what that is. It's a message was revealed into
Daniel. Two years later, Daniel hadn't
had a vision for two years. This is about 530 probably years
before Christ that this vision was given. Daniel here was about
90 years old. Think about it. And he says that
this thing was revealed unto Daniel. If we're going to hear
from God, it has to be by revelation, doesn't it? He says whose name
was called Belteshazzar. Now this, that was his Babylonian
name. Remember he was named after a
Babylonian false god. It wasn't a name he gave himself.
It wasn't a name the Lord gave him. His real name was Daniel.
I believe that the name Belteshazzar is written in the word of God
in the original language because of those who later would read
this. And maybe again those wise men who would read this and they
want to know who this man is. He was known as Belteshazzar
among the Babylonians, among the Easterners there. But his
name was Daniel, we know that. And it says, and the thing was
true, the thing was true, but the time appointed was long or
great. This is not a literal translation
of the phrase here. It would read something like
this. It'd say the thing or the message was true and the time
appointed, appointed of God, was of a great and long conflict. That's what it literally says
in the original language. In other words, what Daniel is
going to be taught here in this revelation is about a God appointed
God ruled long conflict, a warfare. That's what he's gonna be taught
about. Now, I'm not gonna get too much into that warfare tonight
because that comes later on in chapter 10 and chapter 11 and
chapter 12. But I wanna show you how God
prepares Daniel for this revelation of that conflict, this great
war. It's a spiritual war. It's not
a physical war, but it's a spiritual war. And he says in verse one,
and he, Daniel, understood the thing, he understood this message,
he understood the word, and he had understanding of the vision.
Daniel knew by revelation, being taught of God, exactly what this
revelation was and what it meant. And so here it is. This last
vision, in these last three chapters, is going to show forth by revelation
from God the great conflict that goes on literally behind the
scene in the spiritual world. And I'll get to the details of
that later on. We'll begin to study that. And
we need to really study Scripture up on Scripture when we get there.
I'll tell you what, you know, you get into things like this
a lot of times and there's a lot of wild speculation. I mean,
I've read messages on Chapter 11 that'll lead you all the way
to Russia But but and listen you can put any ungodly government
in the realm of chapter 11 I don't care what it is Russia even the
United States any ungodly government in that realm All right, but
it's talking about specific things, but let's not speculate. Let's
go to the scripture. I And let's see what the scripture
says. Now here's the first thing that
comes with the preparation of this revelation. Here's number
one. Daniel mourning over Israel. That's number one. Look at verse
two and three. It says, in those days I, Daniel,
was mourning three full weeks. Now that's literally 21 days.
You remember back over in chapter nine, verse 24, 70 weeks, that
was weeks of years. That's what the word meant. Here
the word means literal days. And so he's talking about three
full weeks. He's mourning. Why three full
weeks? Well, we'll see that later on,
okay? Just hold on to that thought.
We'll see that later on. But he's mourning and he said
in verse three, I ate no pleasant bread. Whatever bread he ate,
it wasn't pleasant to the taste. It wasn't something that you'd
sit down and say, give me a second helping it. One translator said
that what he means he only ate unleavened bread. And that could
be the case, but I don't know. And unleavened bread was not
a pleasant bread as far as the taste concerned. It was meant
to represent the sinless body of our Lord which was given under
the wrath of God. It wasn't to be something like
a party or something that you enjoy in that sense. We enjoy
the benefits of it. salvation, righteousness, the
forgiveness of sins, but the actual going through the process,
you see. So he said, I ain't no pleasant bread, he says in
verse three, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, meat or
wine, wine's the symbol of joy, neither did I anoint myself at
all. Now some say that means he didn't
take a bath, I don't know, it might be anointing with oil.
But he's in mourning, he says, till three whole weeks were fulfilled,
Daniel's mourning. What do we have here? Now, what
we have is an example, a prime example of the life of a believer. And this is one aspect of the
life of a believer. Paul described it in 2 Corinthians
chapter 7 as godly sorrow over sin. As opposed to the sorrow
of the world. Do you suppose Daniel was the
only one in Babylon or in the world at that time who was mourning
or going through sorrows? No. The world's full of sorrow. You know that. The world's full of mourning.
But the mourning of a child of God, the sorrow of a child of
God is different. It's separate. We've been studying
the concept in Scripture of holiness. This is holy mourning. Now that
doesn't mean that Daniel is a perfect man in himself. Doesn't mean he has a sinless
perfection in himself, but it's a mourning that's different from
the world. Paul wrote, you can read this
in 2 Corinthians 7, we won't turn there tonight, but he wrote
about the sorrow of the world that works death. That's what
he talked about. Well, what is it? That's the
kind of sorrow that leads a sinner to trying to work his way into
God's favor or establish a righteousness of his own. In other words, what's
the difference here? This godly sorrow leads a sinner
to Christ. And that sinner will not find
any relief, any happiness, any salvation, any soulless except
in Christ and Him crucified. That's the difference. That's
holy mourning. Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that
mourn, for they shall be comforted. If you can, listen, whatever
mourning or sorrow, or you say, well, I'm sorrowing over my sin,
that's a good thing. But let me tell you something,
if that sorrow over sin doesn't lead you to find comfort in only
Jesus Christ and Him crucified, His blood and righteousness alone.
It's not godly sorrow. It's not holy sorrow. It's the
sorrow of the world. I've seen people get in such
states before over the guilt of sin. I say, well, I've got
to go join the church. Well, my friend, it's good to
join a church where the gospel is preached, but if joining the
church is what gives you comfort, that's, listen, that's just as
much the sorrow of the world that works death as if you tried
to find comfort in a bottle of whiskey to drown your sorrows. Many people drown their sorrows
in religion. And my friend, that's the sorrow
of the world that works death. Do you understand what I'm saying?
Don't drown your sorrows in... Don't try to drown your sorrows
in the baptismal pool. Drown your sorrows in the blood
of the crucified one. What can wash away my sin? That's
the kind of sorrow that Daniel's going through. Now, what's he
mourning over? He's mourning over sin. And I
believe he's mourning over the sin and the apostasy of his own
people, Israel. I believe he's mourning over
their sin and their apostasy in his own day and in the future. Look at his mourning in the present.
Two full years had passed and only a few of them had returned
to Israel under Joshua and Zerubbabel. Think about that. 50,000. That
wasn't very many according to the population, the way the scripture
puts it. You see, before the group under
Ezra and Nehemiah returned, there was just a paltry few that left
Babylon to go back and rebuild the temple. That was the first
thing they were to do, you know, to rebuild the temple. They weren't
to rebuild the city yet. First, number one, rebuild the
temple. Why is that? Because God is above all things.
I'll tell you, the worship of God in most people's lives is
what takes the back seat But I'm gonna tell you something,
it shouldn't. That's what we ought to be about. And they were
reluctant, it seems, to return to their homeland. It's almost
like the Hebrew children in Egypt, you know, they had some comfort
there. You know who I thought about
when I thought about this thing, about them being reluctant to
go back and do that? I thought about old Lot. Remember
Lot? He was in Sodom. And I actually
heard a preacher one time preaching a message on Lot, trying to give
him more than the Scripture gives him. And he said, well, I know
Lot was in Sodom, but he cried the whole time. He didn't cry
the whole time. Let me read you a verse of Scripture.
In Genesis chapter 19 and verse 16. This is when God went into
Sodom. Christ went into Sodom. Those
two angels. to get Lot out. And it says about
Lot, this is Genesis 19 verse 16, it says about Lot, listen
to what it talks about Lot. It says, and while he lingered, lingered where? In Sodom. He
lingered in Sodom. The man laid hold upon his hand,
and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two
daughters, and the Lord being merciful, unto him, unto Lot,
and they brought him forth and set him without the city." He
had to be taken out of the city. He lingered. And I thought about
us, myself. That's exactly what happens to
us when God saves us, isn't it? Because on our own and by our
own free will, what would we do? We'd linger. in the dregs
of sin and depravity and false religion and false professions.
We by nature are so comfortable in our sin that God has to bring
us out by power, just like he brought Lot out. And that's what
I believe, one of the things Daniel's mourning over, the reluctance
of the people to leave Babylon and go back and rebuild the temple.
And as I said also, they began to build the temple first, and
then the wall. They started the temple, but
then they got distracted by their own selfish agenda, and they
stopped building the temple and began building their own houses.
We're going to study about that when we go through the book of
Zechariah and Haggai. Those prophets came along, they
said, consider your ways. Consider your ways you weren't
told to come back and build yourself luxurious home. You were told
to come back and build that temple Establish the worship of God
in the land first Also, they faced enemies who sought to get
them to compromise by offering to help to build the temple But
that couldn't be this temple could only be built by the people
of God. That's the way Christ builds his church with his people Well, what about, and Daniel
mourned over that. He mourned over the sin of his
nation. Just like Paul did when he said, I could wish myself
accursed for my people, my kinsmen according to the flesh. When
he said, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that
they might be saved. Well, what about the future?
Well, Daniel had a little glimpse of the future here back in the
vision of chapter nine. Remember verse 26 there? Look at it again in chapter nine.
After threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but
not for himself." And then he talks about the destruction of
the temple. He says, "...and the people of
the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary,
Jerusalem and the temple." Both of them are going to be destroyed.
Who's the people of the prince there? Well, that was the Roman
government. Titus was the emperor at that time, Daniel didn't know
all that. He knew this, he knew that a prince of the people was
going to come in the future and destroy the city and destroy
the sanctuary, the temple, and the end thereof shall be with
a flood and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. The final destruction of the
temple. Daniel saw that, and I believe he was mourning not
over the destruction of the temple. I don't believe Daniel was mourning
over that at all. He knew that temple had to be destroyed. Look
at verse 27 of chapter 9. He shall confirm the covenant
with many for one week, and in the midst of the week he shall
cause the sacrifice and the oblation, the offering, to cease. He knew
that that had to stop. He knew that when Christ, Messiah,
the Prince would come, That that earthly priesthood was over,
finished. That the earthly sacrifices of
animals, animal blood, the blood of bulls and goats couldn't take
away sin. Daniel knew that. Every true believer in the Old
Testament knew that. Abraham knew that. Abel knew
that. Those were types, those were
pictures, and those types and pictures had to end when the
anti-type, the real one came. the Lord Jesus Christ. So he
wasn't crying and mourning over the fact that the temple had
to cease, but here's what I believe he was crying over and mourning
over when he looked at his nation. Look, it said in verse 27, and
for the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate. Do
you know what he's calling an abomination there, literally?
The temple. He's calling the temple there
an abomination. He says, even unto the consummation,
the fulfillment of all of it, and that determined shall be
poured upon the desolate. There's a desolator who's going
to pour destruction upon an abomination. What is that abomination? The
temple itself. You see, as a consequence of
the unbelief of the Jews, God had determined destruction upon
the nation and upon the temple. which had become a source and
center of Pharisaism, works religion. God will not have it. It's an
abomination to him. That's right. Salvation by works
is an abomination before God. Why? Because it doesn't glorify
him and honor him. It doesn't exalt Christ. It doesn't
put the sinner down where Daniel is in his mourning over sin. That which is highly esteemed
among men is an abomination to God. Now that destruction of
the temple that's related there in Daniel 9, 26 and 27 didn't
happen during those seven years, but it happened as a consequence
of the cutting off of the Messiah. What's the lesson there? Again,
you may say, well, I can't remember all those details. Well, I'll
tell you what the lesson is. Here's the test question for
that section. It's simply this. What's the only thing that will
bring a sinner out from under the wrath of God? Christ and
Him crucified. Nothing else will do it. Everything
else is an abomination to God. Even religion in its highest
is an abomination to God when it exalts the sinner and fails
to exalt the Savior. That's exactly right. The glory
of God in Christ eclipses everything. Everything. Even those things
that picture him. Look at verse four. Daniel 10. He says, and in the four and
twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great
river, which is Hitticale, that river Hitticale, you might read
some commentaries, that's the Tigris River. You remember the
Tigris and the Euphrates? It was the Tigris. What Daniel
was doing at the Tigris River, we don't know, it's not said.
But the time here is important. This time is the 24th day of
the first month on the Hebrew calendar. That's the month Nisan. It's the month that would correspond
to our March and April. But what's more important is
this. It's on the 14th day of that month that the Passover
is celebrated. And then after that, the Feast
of Unleavened Bread would follow, all which picture Christ. the
Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world." So, what
he's doing here, he's preparing him for a great vision. Now,
there's going to be a great conflict, Daniel. There is a great conflict,
and there's going to be any... it's even going to get worse.
That's what he's going to tell him. It's behind the scenes of
what we see. There's conflicts here on earth,
and we see those now. But there's something behind
those conflicts that we don't see. That's why Paul makes it
clear to us as believers that we don't wrestle with flesh and
blood, you see. We wrestle with principalities
and powers that we can't see, but we know they're there. Our
warfare is a spiritual warfare. We're gonna talk about that later
on. But he's preparing him, and what is the main issue? Well,
here's the second thing in this section. Daniel is saved and
comforted and encouraged by the glory of God in Christ. Now,
let's look at it. Look at verse 5. He says, Then
I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, a certain man, clothed
in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Euphrates,
His body also was like the barrel, and his face as the appearance
of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and
his feet like the color to polish brass or bronze, and the voice
of his words like the voice of a multitude." Who do you suppose
that is? That's Christ. You know, almost
the exact same language is used in Ezekiel chapter one. And in
Revelation chapter 1, to describe the glorified mediator, the glorified
Christ, the Christ of the cross. who died and was buried and risen
again. Here is the glory, the power,
and dominion of Christ. I'm gonna tell you about a great
conflict, and if you don't see Christ in his glory and his dominion,
in his power as the mediator, as the warrior priest, as one
commentator said, I love that, the warrior priest, he said,
you're gonna be in despair unless you see this. Listen to what
he says, verse 5, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked. Daniel
looked up. My friend, that's the first place
we have to look for salvation, for victory. Not down, not inward. You look down on the earth, you'll
despair. O'Bunyan called it the slew of despond. Look inward
and what will you see? You'll see sin. That's what you'll
see if you look in yourself. Look up, look unto me and be
ye saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, there's
none else. That's what he's talking about, just God and a savior.
For salvation must come from above, from God, no help in the
earth or in man in his works or his efforts. This is the look
of faith as given and inspired by the Holy Spirit. Daniel looked
up with the eye of faith. For by grace are you saved through
faith, that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. Look at the second thing, he
says, and behold, a certain man. I like that. You remember Christ
in his parables many times when he wrote the parables of the
kingdom or when he told the parables of the kingdom and he was the
main character in many of those and he called himself a certain
man or a certain king. Not just any man, But a certain
man, one who is not like any other, one who can be compared
to no other, a unique man, one who is a certain man, the man,
the God-man, Jesus Christ. That's what he's talking about.
He's separate from sinners. He's unique. And look at the
third thing he says here. He's clothed in linen. That's
the white linen robe that he wears. That's white that pictures
his holiness and his righteousness. This is the very righteousness
that he wrought out by his obedience unto death. The righteousness
of God revealed in the gospel which is imputed to every one
of his people and by which they receive by God-given faith. That's the ground of our victory
right there. Righteousness. It's the righteousness
of His blood. Remember in Romans 3 there that
we read, through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness. His blood declares His righteousness.
Many times, I know we'll say it like it's that we're saved
by His blood and His righteousness, but technically those are the
same thing. Because it's in His death that
comes righteousness, and His robe is the robe of His weaving. He made it. It's the way of holiness
that he made into the very presence of God. Look at the fourth thing,
he says, whose loins were girded, verse 5, whose loins were girded
with fine gold of Euphrates, that's the finest gold that came
from that place. That gold had a reputation of
being pure. You see, a lot of gold has to
be refined in the fire, but this was a purer gold. And it was
in its natural state. What do we have? What does gold
represent in the Son of God? It represents His deity. His
natural state. He is God in human flesh. His name shall be called Immanuel,
which being interpreted, God with us. This is the glory of
His deity. And then look at the fifth thing
here in verse 6. His body also was like beryl. Beryl indicates
of precious stone that was very hard, and the color was very
unique. And this is the way Christ is.
He's very unique. As I said, He's separate from
sinners. Nothing like Him. Nothing like Him. And the hardness
doesn't mean His attitude, but it means His power. And then
look at the sixth thing. It says, "...and His face as
the appearance of lightning." Lightning represents His favor
as well as His judgment. Both are present in Christ. God,
through Christ, is both a just God and a Savior. Lightning gives
light, and lightning strikes in one place. Christ is the shepherd
who comes after His sheep. He died for His sheep and He
comes for them. And then the seventh thing here,
it says, "...and His eyes as lamps of fire." That's nothing
hidden from His presence. He's omniscient. You can't hide
from him. The eighth thing here, he says,
his arms and his feet like in color to polish brass or bronze. That speaks of his power to both
to purge and to purify. That's what that brass or bronze
is. It's redemption by the wrath of God. Remember how he was cut
off but not for himself? He went under the wrath of God
for his people. And in that death that he died,
He both purged and purified His people by His blood. And then
lastly it says, and the voice of His words like the voice of
a multitude. That means the voice of power.
The power of His voice. The power of God and the salvation. My friend, when Christ sends
His Spirit, He speaks to His people, and without fail, they
listen. because of the power of his voice. And let me tell you something,
even the unbeliever listens to his voice of wrath. You remember
when they came to take him and arrest him in the Garden of Gethsemane?
And he came out in front of his disciples and he said, whom do
you seek? And they said, we seek Jesus
of Nazareth. And he said, I am. And you remember
what happened? They all fell backward. That's
the power of his voice. And he said, I am. Let these
go. That's power. That's the gospel,
which is the power of God unto salvation. There's no other voice
like it. You notice here he's dressed
as a priest? Well, he's the warrior priest.
And that's important, because you're going to see. You remember
over in Revelation chapter 12 when it talks about Satan, the
red dragon, making war on the Lamb and his people? And it says
that he accuses them day and night, and it says there, we'll
turn to this later on when we get into this conflict that's
coming up. But it says, they turned him
back by the blood of the Lamb. Read that in Revelation 12. That'd
be a good preparation for understanding this conflict. They turned him
back. In other words, Satan's accusations
were turned away. How? By the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony." Well, what is the word of our
testimony? The blood of the Lamb. We plead the blood and righteousness
of Christ. That's what turns back Satan's
accusations. That's the weapon of our warfare.
Christ and Him crucified. The word of the cross. Christ
died. Satan has no charge against me. I'm a sinner. He can say I'm
a sinner. That's right, but I'm a sinner
saved by the grace of God. I'm washed in the blood of the
crucified one. I'm clothed in his righteousness,
imputed, charged, accounted to me. And who shall lay anything
to the charge of God? And that's why he's dressed as
the priest. He's the warrior priest. He goes to war for his
people as our high priest. He's our prophet. That's his
word. He's our priest. That's his substitutionary
representation, surety work. And he's our king. That's his
sovereign rule over all things. Look at verse 7. He says, And
I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, and the men that were with me
saw not the vision. You see, this vision goes to
a specific person, Daniel. He said, But a great quaking
fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Well,
they felt some effects of it. It's just like this world. When
Christ, in the preaching of the gospel, saves his people from
their sins, we're the only ones who see the vision. We're the
only ones who see that revelation. But there is an effect on the
world. These guys, they quaked and it fell upon them. They fled
to hide themselves. See? And I thought about that,
how appropriate that is, you know. My friend, if you don't
see the glory of God in Christ, the word of the cross, and what
he accomplished on Calvary, you have everything to fear. Our
gods are consuming fire. Verse 8, he says, therefore I
was left alone. I love that. That's our hope
of salvation, to be left alone with God. You know, men and women,
they'll try to drag us in, they'll try to persuade us, they'll try
to work on our emotions, but where do I need to be in this
thing of salvation, in this thing of the new birth, in this thing
of coming? I need to be alone with God. Just like Daniel. He said, I saw this great vision
and there remained no strength in me for my comeliness. was
turning me into corruption and I retained no strength. This
comeliness here has to do with natural beauty and strength.
And here's what's happening. Every person who has ever come
into the presence of Almighty God, the glory of God in Christ,
has seen himself as a filthy sinner and he's never walked
away proud. He may have come to it proud,
but he never walked away proud. Peter saw the glory of his Savior
and he said, I'm a sinful man, depart from me. John, over in
Revelation 1, fell at his feet as a dead man. Job, and listen,
that's not just a one-time thing in the life of a believer. Job
learned that even as a believer. Remember how he came to the end
of his book and he said, he said, I've heard of thee with the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee and I abhor myself
and I repent in sackcloth and ashes. Paul said that when I
saw the glory of God in Christ, the righteousness of God in Christ,
he said, I counted all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus. That's what Daniel's saying.
And I retain no strength Daniel was truly brought to the end
of himself in every sense of the word. And my friend, that's
the best place for a sinner to be. I've got no place else to
go but Christ. And then he says in 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 and my face
toward the ground. He fell at his feet. prostrate
on the ground. Now we're going to see, beginning
with verse 10 there, how the Lord lifted him up. The Lord
doesn't bring us down in our sins, in our depravity, in our
conviction, only to leave us there. He brings us down in that
conviction to show us his glory and salvation. And that's what
he does to Daniel and then takes him into this conflict. We'll
pick up there next time. What are we going to sing?