Welcome to I Dare You a series through the book of Daniel with Skip Heitzig.

Let's pray together. Father, I want to thank you for each and every one who has gathered here. Lord, I know that you know the intimate details of our lives; you've demonstrated that. We have seen that demonstration as we've been studying this incredible book of Daniel that you spoke about events in detail before they even happened. In fact, through Isaiah the prophet you said that was your calling card, that you could do what no other religious system or false god could ever do. You could tell the end from the beginning.

With that in mind, Lord, we worship you. We have been worshiping you and we continue that worship by giving you our attention. By sitting here and taking in the Word, we're saying that what you have to say to us is even more important than what we could ever sing to you. So we pray you'd speak, in Jesus' name, amen.

Can you remember back in grade school? Can you remember the bullies that you had in your school? Does somebody come to mind when you think of the school bully? I don't know, maybe I'm looking at a couple of them right now; maybe you were it. [laughter] But I was not, but I do remember one particular bully who pushed and pushed, and just got in my grill, like, all the time. And I knew he wanted to fight. And I wanted to steer clear of a fight, but this was one fight I couldn't avoid.

And I remember that it was sixth grade or thereabouts, and it was break time and I was in the restroom. No one else was there but this guy and he just pushed and pushed and pushed. And, so, I'm a kid, you know, and I'm getting all red-faced and I doubled up my fist. And I remember the last thing he said to me is, "You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would you?" and I decked him right there.

Now, I wouldn't clap for that; that was not good behavior. I think I got kicked out of school for that one. But I wanted to steer clear of these things, but I couldn't do it. I had three brothers older than me; they were not pacifists, so there were certain altercations that no matter what I did I could not avoid. And I just want to tell you today that there is a conflict that you're a part of.

You may not realize it, you may not want it, but there's one conflict that you cannot be a pacifist in, and that is a spiritual conflict of which Daniel will see. He'll get the picture of it, and so will you and I as we go through this chapter: Daniel, chapter 10.

The reason you're in this conflict is because of the family you belong to. Because you're a child of God, his enemy is on the prowl, and you're caught in the crossfires. The Gallup Organization noted that most Americans will believe in God, but fewer will believe in a devil. It's very convenient. Most will believe in heaven, fewer will believe in hell.

And of those Americans, says Gallup, who believe there is a devil, about half say that he is a personal being like the devil declares or the Bible declares the devil is; the other half just think a devil is a word for an impersonal evil force that exists in the world by virtue of there being a lot of people. It was C. S. Lewis who said, "Humanity falls into two equal but opposite errors concerning the devil. There's those who don't take him serious enough, and there's those who take him way too seriously."

So, there's denial on one hand, and there's obsession on the other hand. There are people who just flat deny that there's any spiritual reality whatsoever; if they can't see it, it doesn't exist. And can I just say that you don't have an enemy more powerful than the one you can't see. If you have an enemy on the other side of the hill, and you don't know he's there, he's got you where he wants you.

And I feel that even some believers, some Christians just don't get engaged in spiritual warfare because they are absorbed with other things. But then the opposite error is obsession. There's some people who see the devil everywhere and in everything, and they become so obsessed with him, and they become fascinated with him. And I would just say that the devil would love to have that kind of attention.

I think the balance is found in the words of Dr. John White who said, "Have no delusions about the reality of demons or their hostility. They will also oppose you as you obey Christ. If you play it cool and decide not to be fanatic about Christianity, you will have no trouble from them. But if you're serious about Christ being your Lord and God, you can expect opposition."

Now, Daniel, chapter 10, he gets the needed insight into the cosmic bully called the devil and some of his cohorts that will be working behind the scenes. Just to let you know where we're at, Daniel, chapter 10 introduces us to the fourth and final vision of Daniel. Chapter 10 is the prologue, chapter 11 is the actual vision of conflicts for the nation of Israel as predicted, and chapter 12 is the epilogue.

But chapter 10 begins in an odd kind of a way. I introduce you to verse 1 by just simply saying that there's a problem with Daniel, a concerning problem. Something is bothering him. Verse 1, "In the third year of Cyrus the king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar." That's his Babylonian name. "The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision." That's just sort of the opening statement to set up the rest of the chapter.

"In those days I, Daniel, was mourning," you know what mourning is: weeping, crying, lamenting, "for three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled." There's something you gotta know—this is the latter end of Daniel's career. He's in his mid to upper eighties. I'm going to guess around eighty-six or eighty-seven years of age.

It's pretty significant to have an eighty-six-year-old not eat for three weeks. Not only is he an aged man, not only does he not have the strength he once had, but now he's mourning, weeping, and fasting for three weeks. The question is: why is he weeping? Well, you'll notice in verse 1 it says, "It's the third year of Cyrus the king of Persia." Now, that's important. The Jews have been back in Jerusalem for two years. It's what Daniel saw and prayed for in previous chapters. He announced it, he prayed for it, now it's happened.

If you're a Bible student, you know that in the book of Ezra, chapter 1, it tells us in the first year of Cyrus the edict was given for the Jewish people to return from Babylon back to Jerusalem; two years have passed. What has happened in those two years that would cause Daniel this kind of grief? I think I know the answer to that. Number one, only a small portion of the Jewish people in Babylon actually returned to Jerusalem. It says in Ezra, chapter 2, it gives us the exact number—49,697 Jews left Babylon and returned to Jerusalem. That's a drop in the bucket compared to how many stayed back in Babylon.

So, that was enough grief to Daniel. They can go back; they don't want to go back. Why didn't they? Why did they stay? For a number of reasons: they got comfortable, they'd been there for a long time, they've raised kids there, they've become prosperous, they've become absorbed in the culture, paganized by the culture. They don't care about uprooting and roughing it and going to a place that is desolate, whether it's God's town or not. So, they just flat didn't go.

Number two reason, those that went back weren't very successful. They weren't able in two years' time to establish the monarchy again. Now, again, if you're a Bible student, you know that the Jews went back under the leadership of a guy named Zerubbabel of the lineage of King David to establish the monarchy. But when they got back, it took them seven months just to clear the rubble from the temple grounds. And eventually they were hassled by their enemies until the work came to a screeching halt.

So, here's Daniel, he's been praying and dreaming about them returning back; only a few returned, and those that did return were unsuccessful. The work has come to a stop. He's mourning. He's fasting. And as you'll see as we go on in the rest of the chapter, he has been praying. Now Daniel is doing what Daniel always does whenever his heart is over overwhelmed: he takes it to the Lord, he prays about it, he gets on his knees.

So, here's what I want you to see: Daniel is about to be let in on a cosmic battle, a fight going on in the heavens that spills on to the earth. He's in the right place at the right time doing the right thing. He's on his knees. He's praying. He's engaged in a spiritual battle: the battle of apathy, the battle of indifference, the battle of worldliness. He's engaged by being on his knees.

What do you do in a spiritual battle? Are you on your feet doing stuff, busy, or do you get on your knees first and pray? Hey, you want to know what most churches do whenever there's a spiritual battle? They have a committee meeting. That's typically what happens. "There's a problem? Let's have a meeting and then let's have a committee assigned to address the problem." First thing they ought to do is get on their knees and pray.

You know what most Christians do in a spiritual battle? Same thing most churches do, only their committee is smaller. They get their friends together and they moan and groan and gripe and complain or gossip, when they should be on their knees praying.

In Ephesians, chapter 6, the apostle Paul lists the weapons that we have at our disposal for spiritual warfare, and he writes, "Pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayer and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints." I've committed this to memory because it speaks volumes: Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. You can always do more than pray after you've prayed, but you really can't do more than pray until you've prayed.

So, Daniel knows what's happening back in Jerusalem and it causes him to mourn and weep and suddenly, suddenly, heaven breaks in on him. This concerning problem that he has gets eclipsed by a commanding presence. Verse 4, "Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that is, the Tigris, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen"—now stop right there. That's not unusual. And it sounds, if you stop here, like we're just dealing with a human being. But when you read the rest of it, it doesn't sound like any human you've ever met.

"Whose waist was girded with gold, the gold of Uphaz!" Now if you're going to ask me afterwards, "What is the gold of Uphaz?" I'll be able to tell you I have no idea what that is. But it must be the standard for pure gold in the Babylonian era at the time of Daniel. It'd be like saying today it's like the gold from Tiffany's, you know, it's just, like, the highest grade known. "His body was like beryl." Beryl is like translucent or transparent gold color.

"His face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude." Wow, that's something to see. How does it react in Daniel's experience? "I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell upon them, so they fled to hide themselves."

"Therefore I was left alone when I saw this great vision and, no strength remained in me; for my vigor was turned frailty in me, and I retained no strength. Yet I heard the sound of his words; and while I heard the sound of his words I was in a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground." Now, can I just remind you again, Daniel's eighty-six years old. He has seen an eyeful in his lifetime, dreams, visions. He's interpreted other people's dreams and visions. His heart is not what it used to be. And now this luminescent being stands in front of him, and Daniel just collapses. The others they get out of town; they're out of Dodge.

Now, what this illustrates for us, among other things, is the problem the earthly has interacting with the heavenly. When an earthly being encounters divinity, there's always a problem. And every now and then somebody will get on Christian television and say, "I saw God, and I've written a book about it." And they almost sound prideful.

And I'm thinking, "If you ever saw God, dude, either you'd be dead or you'd be so humble about it." Because those in the Bible who had divine encounters had that kind of a reaction. You remember Job said to the Lord, "I've heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you. Therefore I abhor myself, and I repent in dust and ashes." That's a guy who saw God.

Isaiah the prophet had a vision of God and he said, "Woe is me, I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips," remember that? How did Peter react when he discovered who Jesus really was in that boat? He said, "Lord, depart from me, I am a sinful man. I can't even hang out with you." And then in Revelation, chapter 6, it describes a group of people who will say "to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" So, Daniel, he collapses, he swoons, he can't handle it. The rest of the dudes are out of there.

Now, who is this certain man in this apparition that he sees? Some have suggested it's the angel Gabriel mentioned in Daniel. Others suggest it's the angel Michael, also mentioned in the book of Daniel. Others will say it's an angel of equal rank, but unnamed. Now, to me, the context as well as cross references point to only one person, this is what I believe—you ready? It's the preincarnate Christ, which is not unusual. If you're a student of the Old Testament, you know there's this personage called fifty times in the Old Testament "the angel of the Lord" who is often times addressed as "the Lord" and is even worshiped as the Lord.

Let me read something to you. You don't have to turn there; I'll just read to you. I want you to listen to the description of another person that John sees in the book of Revelation, chapter 1. Just listen to see if it's any similarity to this. Now, in Revelation 1, John hears a voice, and the voice says, "I'm the Alpha the Omega, the Beginning and the End."

"So I turn to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to his feet, girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were like white wool, white as snow, his eyes like a flame of fire; his feet like fine bronze or brass, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters; in his right hand he had seven stars, out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength."

"When I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. But he laid his hand on me, and he said, 'Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last,' "—listen—" 'I am he who lives, was dead, but behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen.' "Who's that? That's Jesus Christ. The only difference between the visions is the hair; everything else is identical to it. So I'm submitting to you that what John saw was the postresurrected Christ in his glory; what Daniel saw was the preincarnate Christ in his glory.

Question is: why does he see this? Well, he's about to be told all of the future battles of Israel; in the near future and in the far future between Greece and Persia, Antiochus Epiphanes, Alexander, etcetera. He's going to be told details of that in chapter 11, but before that's he's going to be shown another cosmic battle taking place in heavenly places. So, before the battle, God wants Daniel to know who's in charge, who the commanding officer is.

Now, again, if you're a Bible student, you remember the battle of Jericho, right, the book of Joshua? And remember in Joshua 5, before the battle of Jericho, Joshua turns, he's the general, and he sees that man standing with his sword exposed, lifted up. And Joshua the general says, "Are you for us or are you for our enemies?" And the answer is classic. This person says, "No." "Uh, it's not what I asked. Are you for us or for our enemies?" "No, but as the Commander of the Lord's armies I have come." And it says Joshua fell down and worshiped. And this person says, "Take the shoes off of your feet; you're standing on holy ground."

For the same reason Joshua saw the commanding officer the Lord in charge of the battle of Jericho, so Daniel sees who is in charge of the battle he's about to get the details to. In the spiritual battle you and I face, you better know who your commanding officer is, or you're going to go into this and get bloodied and beaten. The Bible says in Hebrews we should be "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith."

You know what our problem is? When we go through hard times, especially spiritual battles, we have a tendency—I have a tendency to gaze at my problems and glance at the Lord. Gaze at the problem—"This is tough. This is horrible. This is bad. I gotta talk to people about it. Bad, bad, bad!" Glance at the Lord, shoot up a prayer—"Help me, Lord, help me!" Gaze, gaze, gaze. "Help me! Help me!" Glance, glance, glance. That's problem. We need to reverse that—glancing at our problems, gazing at the Lord.

I read an article by AAA, you know, American Automobile Association, and they noticed a few years ago this interesting occurrence of drivers on the road hitting parked cars. And they just noticed that people are driving along and then they get in an accident by driving into a parked car. They said, "What's going on?" They noted that in all of the cases they studied, or most of them, alcohol was not involved, drugs were not involved, weather conditions were perfect.

So they called this in the article "the moth effect." Just like a moth is inadvertently drawn to the flame, to the light, so drivers are attracted to whatever their eye notices and looks at for long enough; they hit whatever they look at. You will hit whatever you look at. And if you are gazing at your problems and glancing at the Lord, you're going to be living there. But if you're gazing at the Lord and only glancing at your problems, you gotta good, good footing in spiritual warfare.

Now, let's finish this chapter. From the concerning problem, to the commanding presence, now to the real show—the contending powers. "Suddenly" verse 10, "a hand touched me, which made me tremble on my knees and on the palms of my hands. And he said to me, 'O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have been now sent to you. While he was speaking this word to me, I stood trembling," poor guy. "And he said to me, 'Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.' "

"Three weeks ago when you started this, your prayer was answered in heaven, and I got dispatched."

" 'But,' "—now this is wild—"but the prince of the kingdom of Persia, withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes,' " who we'll be introduced to in chapter 12 as the chief angel of Israel, " 'came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia. And now I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision refers to many days yet to come.'

"And when he had spoken such words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless. Suddenly, one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips; and I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to him who stood before me, 'My lord,' "—small L—" 'because of the vision my sorrows have over whelmed me, and I have retained no strength. How can this servant of my lord talk with you, my lord? As for me, no strength remains in me now, nor is there any breath left in me.'

"Then again, one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, 'O man greatly beloved, fear not! Peace be to you; be strong, yes, be strong!' So when he spoke to me I was strengthened, and I said, 'Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.' And then he said, 'Do you know why I have come to you? And now I must return to fight with the prince of Persia; and when I have gone forth, indeed the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth. No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.' "

Now you gotta know that for an eighty-six-year-old guy who's overwhelmed by this vision that has put him on the ground, and now he's just, like, barely standing up trembling, to hear the words, "Man greatly beloved," would make him go, "hahhh." Because if I saw this vision, I'm thinking, "I'm gonna die." I mean, you can see how shaken up he is, right?

"O man greatly beloved." In the Bible there are certain designations of special people; for example, Abraham is called the friend of God; David was called a man after God's own heart; Jesus called John the Baptist the greatest man born of woman. But did you know there are only two people in the all of the Bible given this title—"greatly beloved." You know who they are? One is Daniel, the other is the apostle John. He's called "the disciple whom Jesus loved." And what's interesting is that both Daniel and John are the ones that give us apocalyptic literature. Daniel parallels the book of Revelation and so much of what it predicts. "O man greatly beloved."

Question is—verse 13, look at it again. He's saying, "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days." So you get the picture? "As soon as you prayed, I'm out of heaven, I'm here. But it took me three weeks to get here." That's why he's been fasting and mourning for three weeks. This angel shows up: "Hey, I have dispatched as soon as you prayed." He's thinking, "What took you so long?" He tells him, "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia."

Question: who's the prince of Persia? Don't say it's Cyrus; he was the king of Persia, this is the prince of Persia. Well, whoever this prince is, it's not a human being, because it takes two super-duper angels to fight against him, and it takes considerable time in this period of warfare. So, we get insight. The curtain is sort of pulled back for Daniel to see into really real world of the demonic and the angelic. That there's a human king, but a demonic prince behind the human king called Cyrus.

That shouldn't surprise you. Jesus said of Satan, "He is the prince of this world." Paul the apostle in Ephesians 2 called Satan "the prince of the power of the air, the one who was at work in the children of disobedience." And later on he talks about "principalities and powers." So, let's just sort of put it in nugget form. We need to understand the battle. Not only is there a God, but there is a devil. Not only is there just a devil, but he's got a lot of buddies. He's got a gang of demonic forces.

Because the Bible tells us in the Old Testament, Satan drew how many angels out of heaven? A third. How many is that? I don't know a bunch. I'm not trying to be cute with you, but in Revelation 5 when John sees all the angels around the throne of God, do you remember what he says? He says, "I saw ten thousand times ten thousand, plus thousands of thousands." So that's a hundred million, plus a bunch.

I think he's just shooting at a number. He's just sort of estimating, "There's a whole lot of them up here." And a third fell from heaven, and they have become according to the Scriptures, a well-organized network designed to thwart God's plan—if they could, but they can't—and to hinder God's people.

I hope now you realize what Paul wrote in Ephesians 6, when he said, "We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in heavenly realms."

Daniel 10 implies that there are demons assigned to nations. In this case, one to Persia, and later on one to Greece, which makes one wonder what the prince of San Francisco must be like, or the prince of Las Vegas. I don't mean New Mexico, the other one. Or the prince of Washington, D.C., or the prince of Albuquerque, what they must be like. First John, chapter 5, "Little children, we know the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one."

Listen, if you think you can read the newspaper about all the stuff going on, and you think it's just about what's going on in Iran and Syria and Egypt and China, you're naive. That's the spillover from the really real world and the battle that is going on in the heavenlies. Well, Daniel prayed and all he can say is he got a whole a lot more than what he was praying about. He got revelation into future battles, he got insight into a heavenly battle, he got a whole lot more. It's, like, "Didn't expect that."

But you know, there's something that just gripped me as I studied this week this chapter, and that is this: we piddle around with such petty, little things when God wants us to know monumental truths. I mean, we just spend so much time with little—"Who do I text?"—and just little time stealers, when there's monumental truths going on. So, you're part of a conflict. You may not be aware of it, then the devil has you right where he wants you. Great, just mosey on through. But we're part of a conflict.

I want to leave you though with something. I don't want you to be discouraged by this; I want you to be encouraged. Okay, a third of the angels fell, that leaves how many left? Two-thirds. Satan's outnumbered right? The Bible says, "Greater is he that is in you [God] than he that is in the world [Satan]." So, you're on the winning side no matter what.

But to survive well and to engage in the fight, there's two things that are mentioned in this chapter. They are several other things that we could talk about on spiritual warfare, but we don't have the time. But two things: number one, the importance of Scripture, the importance of Scripture. Look at the last verse. Notice what this being says to Daniel, "But I will tell you what is noted in the Scripture of Truth." Now, this Book will keep you from deception, it'll keep you from deception. According to this Book, the devil is called the one who deceives the world. That's his principle arrow he shoots out of his bow. This will keep you from being deceived, keeps you from deception.

Second is prayer; that'll keep you from destruction. Daniel is on his knees. Listen, when you pray, you're pulling out the big guns. Do you remember Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark? Okay, do you remember the scene—I want to see how many remember it—remember the market scene when the guy flashes the sword, and Indiana pulls out a gun and just goes bam!—fights over. Remember that? Prayer is pulling out the big guns. Prayer is bringing a gun to a knife fight.

No wonder this deceiver wants to keep you, at all costs, from engaging in prayer, because that's his defeat. God will honor that. That's the big guns. So, can you see that whenever we say such things like this, "There's nothing left to do except pray," what an insult that is to God who has allowed us to be engaged in this warfare on the winning side by using the big guns. That's the fight we're in.

Well, I have more to say, but I have no time to say it. So I will just say that the battle is real, the enemy is powerful, get suited up. And I want to close with an illustration that is a video. We'll show you the video and then we'll pray.

[video plays]

The United States, 1857, slavery, rebellion, rumors of war. In three years Americans would turn on each other and make history. But in 1857, New York City, history—the kind textbooks don't mention—was already happening. The date was September 23. A Christian layman named Jeremiah Lanphier held his first ever businessman's prayer meeting in Lower Manhattan. It was not, by all accounts, a rousing success. He passed out fliers for weeks—six men attended.

Two weeks later the stock market crashed. Thousands of families lost all they had, and one of the greatest spiritual awakenings the world has ever seen began. Week by week Jeremiah Lanphier's tiny lunch hour prayer meeting grew larger and larger. By December his six men had become ten thousand men, and they met not every week, but every day.

The New York newspapers took notice, and when word spread to other cities, spontaneous revival broke out across the country. In Cleveland, and Saint Louis thousands of people packed downtown churches and theaters three times each day just to pray. In Chicago churches had to have waiting lists for people wanting to teach Sunday school. And all across America pastors were baptizing twenty thousand new believers every week.

The revival eventually spread around the world. In England entire towns were converted. Some towns disbanded their police force because of a lack of crime, and so many people came to Christ churches had to hold services outside just to accommodate the crowds. The world had seen nothing like it—before or since. Global revival—God started it with one man. It changed the course of the history. And, now, in today's world people need to know. Can history repeat itself? Can it happen again?

[end of video]

For more teachings from Calvary Albuquerque and Skip Heitzig visit calvaryabq.org.