DanM9 — Transcript

Hi there friend, it is good to have you for another module.

And this is module nine, I have entitled it face to face with Savior.

And, uh, uh, why don't we begin with a word of prayer?

Father, we come to some, uh, even more exciting parts of the book of Daniel, and we pray for your special guidance because much wisdom and education is needed, um, that can lead us to a better understanding of the passages that have posed challenges to the readers and interpreters through centuries.

May our faith grow stronger and may our willingness to serve others be even, um, enhanced by what we study here, that is our desire in the name of Christ.

Daniel chapter 10 through 12 is basically one unit, in our Bibles it is divided into three chapters.

But if you look carefully, you may notice that, uh, each of the chapters dealing with, um, revelations, such as visions or auditions, uh, each of those chapters is carefully dated by the author of the book, and yet there is only one date for all three of these chapters, 10, 11, and 12.

And I also would like to tell you not to be discouraged, but Daniel 11 is considered by many interpreters of the Bible to be the most challenging, maybe the most difficult chapter in the Bible.

The chapter is, um, long, it's full of details, um, that a number of interpreters try to relate to historical situations, and there are many disagreements and many differences, um, so that on the one hand we do find, uh, almost a despair among some interpreters, and on the other we do find some who seem to be, uh, overly, uh, confident.

But we will try to find a moderate, a middle ground biblical approach, and at every point we also would like to ask, how did Jesus look at this part of Daniel?

What did he get from it, did it impact on his service, how did it, uh, uh, how did that happen, and so on.

Uh, so right in the beginning of Daniel chapter 10, we notice some differences between Daniel chapter 9 and chapter 10, uh, for example, in Daniel chapter 9, we talked about weeks, um, 70 weeks, um, and those weeks we, uh, interpreted as 70 weeks of years.

In Daniel chapter 10, the term weeks of days, for example, is used, another difference would be that in Daniel chapter 9, when Daniel prays, an answer is, uh, or comes to him even before the end of his prayer, in Daniel chapter 10, there is a, an apparent delay, uh, and, uh, Daniel does not receive an obvious answer to his prayer, uh, right away, as it was the case in, uh, chapter 9.

Um, so in Daniel chapter, uh, 10, I believe what is important to emphasize is that we have both visions, or you could possibly call it a vision, and also there is a long audition.

So Daniel chapter 10 is the beginning of Daniel's vision, and he presents that vision right in the beginning of the chapter, he encounters toward the end of his career, by the great river, um, Tigris, Daniel encounters the divine being, God himself, or Jesus Christ, the source of his revelations.

And he tells us in the beginning of chapter 10, that this vision made such an impact on him that it became the key to the revelation that he received later on, and the revelation was about a long war, but that revelation was not given in the form of a vision, but instead, it was given in the form of an audition, and that audition takes the whole chapter, Daniel chapter 11, and it goes into the beginning of chapter 12.

So, once again, the vision which he receives becomes the key to the audition that is presented in Daniel chapter 11.

But before that audition begins, Gabriel comes to Daniel, and he talks about the conflicts in this world, the struggle between good and evil.

And what is nice about the Hebrew literary style, before Gabriel goes into a detailed description of this prolonged conflict that characterizes the history of our world, Gabriel gives a summary of everything that is found in chapter 11, and that summary is found at the end of chapter 10.

Where basically, this is what Gabriel says, that as one by one, the enemies stand up, very often to oppose God's plans, people like the prince of the kingdom of Persia, followed by the prince of Greece.

Gabriel says, there is no one who can help me in these conflicts, except Michael, your prince, without Michael's help, we don't know if Gabriel would have even been able to come to Daniel's rescue, to give an answer to Daniel's prayer, it was only with the help of Michael that this was possible.

So now that person, Michael, or whom I identify with the, with the person standing on the, on the river, Tigris, on the surface of the water of that river, representing the, the enemy from the north.

Uh, that Michael, he is able to overcome the enemy.

And with Daniel's eyes fixed on him, Daniel is capable to endure listening to the report of this great conflict between good and evil.

What is nice about this vision is that or this revelation is that as Gabriel presents it, he begins with Michael.

At the end of chapter 10, and he ends with the person of Michael in the beginning of chapter 12.

So in that sense, Michael becomes the alpha and the omega of the history of this world.

And that is something wonderful because chapters 9 and 10 to 12, these two units, they are dated in relation to the Persian kings.

And the Persian kings such as Cyrus, they were instruments in God's hands to help the people return from the exile.

So Michael, he becomes the focal point of the deliverance that comes to God's people.

And that is why I consider Daniel chapters 10 through 12 to be centered in this person and that that these chapters have a unique message to the people.

Even God's people who sometimes can be confused by what is going on in the world, all those conflicts that we have talked about at both vertical and horizontal levels.

And with those two dimensions and with all the conflicts in the history of the world that is around, especially toward the time of the end, God's people begin to wonder, have the things gone out of control?

Is God still in charge, can he safely bring the history of this world to a meaningful end, and this passage has for purpose to answer such questions and reassure the reader that God is still in charge.

And, uh, in the beginning of this revelation, chapter 10, we do read about the apparent delay in Daniel's experience.

And yet, uh, God's plans know no such delays, although the powers of evil appear to delay the fulfillment of God's plans.

What was Daniel's attitude as he waited for the fulfillment of God's promises?

Daniel did not give up, uh, in Daniel chapter 10, he tells us that he prayed, he was in a special relationship with God.

Focusing on him, uh, neglecting delicacies, food and drinks in life, just focusing on simple elements of diet, and, and focusing on God as he waited for the answers to the prayer.

Um, would like to encourage you to read chapters 10 and 11, uh, this week in one sitting.

Uh, please study the textbook, do not be overwhelmed by the amount of historical details that are presented in the chapter.

Uh, try somehow to focus on the big picture that Daniel wanted to present.

That will be very useful.

Uh, please remember to take part in the discussion forum, uh, that's an important component in this class.

Both the original posting and the threaded posting that you need to write.

There's going to be a test, uh, and again, in asking questions, I will be focusing on the big picture that emerges from these two chapters.

And, uh, very, it's very important that, uh, by the end of this week, at the end of this module, you turn in your expository paper.

So the deadline is, uh, Thursday, 11:59 p.m.

And I would like you to turn that paper in, and, um, uh, I look forward to reading it and gaining interesting insights from your study.

So, um, as we close, um, uh, the introduction to this module, um, please remember, uh, the finish line is just ahead of us.

We are almost there, uh, please do well.

I know that by God's grace, um, we can, uh, be successful in what we are doing here.

And, um, I look forward to, uh, this week, uh, working with you and answering your questions and being of help to you.

May God bless you as you do that.