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It Is Written

John Bradshaw

Daniel the Prophet: Spiritual Warfare

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

We're about to look together at what are most likely the 2 least read chapters in the book of Daniel, Daniel 10 and Daniel 11.

Daniel 10 steps back from the heavily prophetic nature of Daniel 9, while Daniel 11 is an incredibly detailed account of the earlier prophecies in the book of Daniel.

If Daniel 2 is a look at prophecy through a telescope, Daniel 11 examines prophecy through a microscope.

Together, these chapters show you that God is active and alive and cares about the affairs of the human family and that He cares about you.

We're going to look together at Daniel 10 and 11, fascinating chapters both, but first a little review.

Daniel chapter 1, God's people are taken into captivity because of their disobedience.

But this captivity was always intended to be temporary.

God had said, "...though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you.

But I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished." That's Jeremiah 30 and verse 11.

The book of Daniel starts by saying, "...the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into the hand of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar." God was endeavoring to correct His people, to bring them back to faithfulness.

Babylon invaded Judah 3 times before finally destroying it, which means that Daniel, who became 1 of the king's advisors, would have seen the Babylonian armies leaving on their campaigns against his homeland, and then arriving back in triumph with Jewish captives.

This was all intended to work together for good, which is why Jeremiah wrote, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord.

Thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Though they were going into a difficult situation, God's purpose was to bring them through.

In life, you go through some difficult experiences.

What God wants is that in every circumstance, you turn towards Him in faith.

What God wants above all things is your salvation.

In chapter 2, the magnificent prophecy that provides the foundation for the later prophecies in the book, as well as the foundation for the prophecies in the book of Revelation.

John, who wrote Revelation, borrowed a lot of imagery from Daniel and constructed Revelation on top of Daniel.

The vast majority acquiesce to the king's command, but 3 young men refuse to bow before an image of gold.

This is the precursor to what we read in Revelation about a time when worship, now that's false worship, will be coerced.

When the second beast of Revelation 13 causes all to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads.

No 1 will be able to buy or sell without that mark.

Daniel chapter 3 provides the background for understanding that.

In Daniel chapter 4, a prideful King Nebuchadnezzar is afflicted by God with a kind of temporary insanity.

He was driven from men and ate grass like oxen.

His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." We're told why God brought this condition to the king.

In his own words, "'Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth and His ways justice, and those who walk in pride He is able to put down." God reached Nebuchadnezzar.

In chapter 5, the writing was on the wall, and Babylon fell, taken by Medo-Persia.

Chapter 6, Daniel's cast into a lion's den because he wouldn't pray to the king.

Again, a law was passed mandating worship.

But knowing all about the law, Daniel went home where he could be found and prayed with his window open, meaning people could see him, 3 times a day, showing that he wasn't forgetting the law, he was disregarding the law.

Now, we have laws that govern our behavior.

But governmental laws should never influence worship.

A government does not have the authority to pass a law that dictates how a person should worship.

Daniel was sentenced to death for his civil disobedience, but God sent His angel and shut the lion's mouths.

Again, this prefigures the latter days of earth's history when All who dwell on the earth will worship Him, whose names have not been written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." In chapter 7 we see the rise and fall of nations and the Antichrist is revealed.

And in chapter 7 we're given numerous identifying marks for the Antichrist.

The question of judgment is introduced in Daniel 7.

The judgment was set and the books were opened.

Now in Daniel 8, we again see the rise and fall of nations.

Daniel wrestled with knowing when his people would come out of captivity.

He fainted and was sick for days, saying, I was astonished by the vision, but no 1 understood it.

The vision is explained in Daniel 9 as the angel Gabriel says to Daniel, 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city.

He says, Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be 7 weeks and sixty-two weeks.

The angel tells Daniel exactly when the Messiah, that is, when Jesus, was going to come to the earth.

There would be a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem.

From there to Messiah the Prince would be 483 years.

The decree is recorded in Ezra chapter 7.

Mark off 483 years and you get to 27 AD, the year in which Jesus was baptized, anointed as the Messiah.

Then the 70th week of the 70 weeks prophecy follows right on, with Daniel being told the Messiah would be cut off, but not for himself.

By doing so, Jesus brought an end to the sacrificial system.

It's now around 535 BC, and we find Daniel mourning.

We're not told exactly why, but this time corresponded to the time that the work on the temple in Jerusalem, which King Cyrus had authorized, was encountering serious opposition.

Daniel was in this state of mourning for 3 weeks when someone appeared to him.

His body was like beryl, 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." That's Daniel 10 and verse 6.

We're not told just who this is, but the description of this being is very similar to the description of Jesus given in Revelation 1.

And then Gabriel appeared and shared important information.

Gabriel told Daniel he had been sent to speak with him, and then said, The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days.

And behold, Michael, 1 of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia." Daniel was unaware of all of this.

What was going on was a battle, the battle of the ages.

It was happening behind the scenes though.

Paul wrote that, "...we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Here in Daniel 10, God is allowing us to see the reality of an unseen war.

So, let's step back a moment and see the big picture.

In the beginning, God created a perfect world.

In the end, He'll recreate a perfect world.

We've seen already in the book of Daniel where this great spiritual battle is heading.

The last great issue to confront the world, a spiritual issue, is Satan seeking to receive the worship of the world.

That's what the Mark of the Beast is about.

It's a sign that relates to worship, and who you choose to worship.

You see the signs in the world right now.

Unrest, wars, distrust of government, of institutions.

You see inhumanity and chaos and degradation.

And what that is, is Satan working to condition the world for a time when people have to make a decision for or against God in the final conflict coming upon this world.

Daniel's prayer wasn't instantly answered.

There was a bigger picture that he couldn't see, a vast spiritual battle involving the universe going on beyond his field of vision.

So Daniel 10 shows us there's a battle, a spiritual battle, going on behind the scenes.

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Daniel the Prophet: Spiritual Warfare

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