Daniel 10 - Bible Study, Explanation, and Application

Daniel 10 Bible Study

TIMELINE:

• The Book of Daniel opens in the 3rd year of the reign of King Jehoiakim, 606 BC. Daniel was a contemporary of Ezekiel in Babylon. Daniel was taken to Babylon about 14 years before Ezekiel was called by God to be a prophet (Ezekiel 1-2).

• Daniel 1:21 informs us Daniel was in the palace of Babylon until the first year of King Cyrus (539 BC).

• The vision recorded in Daniel 10-12 is dated to the third year of the reign of Cyrus. This likely refers to Cyrus’ third year after conquering Babylon, which would date the vision to 536 BC.

WHAT WE'VE STUDIED SO FAR IN DANIEL:

• Daniel 1 – Daniel and his friends are taken to Babylon and educated for 3 years to work in the king’s court. Daniel requests to be exempted from eating the king’s food in order to keep God’s dietary laws.

• Daniel 2 – Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a great image made of 5 different materials. Daniel interprets the dream for him, telling him about an everlasting kingdom that God would set up in the latter days.

• Daniel 3 – Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow to Nebuchadnezzar’s image of gold and were thrown into the fiery furnace. God miraculously saved them from the fire, and Nebuchadnezzar praised God and honored Him throughout the kingdom.

• Daniel 4 – Nebuchadnezzar praised God as the Most High and the Eternal King. He recounted how God humbled him by turning him into an animal-like being that lived outside and ate grass like an ox.

• Daniel 5 – The city of Babylon falls to the Medes and Persians after Daniel interprets the handwriting on the wall at Belshazzar’s drunken feast.

• Daniel 6 – Daniel’s enemies hatch a plot to prevent him from being promoted in the kingdom. Daniel is thrown into a den of lions, but God protects him and keeps the lions from killing him.

• Daniel 7 – Daniel had a vision of 4 beasts that represented 4 nations. The Ancient of Days (God) and “one like a son of man” (Jesus) defeated the beasts and established a kingdom that would last forever.

• Daniel 8 – Daniel had a vision about a ram and a goat. God revealed that the two animals represented the Medo-Persian Empire (ram) and the Greek Empire (goat).

• Daniel 9 – Daniel prayed to God and acknowledged that the Jews broke covenant with Him. He asked God to forgive them. In response to his prayer, God sent Gabriel to Daniel with a prophecy about future events outlined in 70 weeks.

OUTLINE:

• A HEAVENLY MESSENGER SENT TO DANIEL (10:1-21):

  • *Daniel 9 is an introduction to a prophecy that spans chapters 11 and 12.

  • In the 3rd year of Cyrus, a word of prophecy was made known to Daniel in a vision.

  • Daniel had been mourning for 3 weeks when the vision was delivered.

  • While on the banks of the Tigris River, Daniel saw a man clothed in linen, with a belt of gold, with a face that had the appearance of lightning, eyes like flaming torches, and a voice “like the sound of a multitude” (10:5-6).

  • Upon seeing the man, Daniel’s strength was extinguished and he fell to the ground, but a hand touched him and set him trembling on his hands and knees.

  • The heavenly being addressed Daniel as a man “greatly loved” by God. He told Daniel to stand up and reassured him that he had been sent by God because of Daniel’s prayers and humble heart.

  • The heavenly being told Daniel he had been delayed 21 days (the length of time Daniel had been in mourning, 10:2). He had been delayed by the “prince of the kingdom of Persia,” but Michael, one of the chief princes (see Jude 1:9; Rev 12:7), assisted him in coming to Daniel.

  • The heavenly messenger was sent to help Daniel understand what would happen to his people in the “latter days” (10:14). He was going to share with him what was “inscribed in the book of truth” (10:21).

  • He told Daniel he would return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when he did, the prince of Greece would arrive.

APPLICATIONS:

• This chapter gives us a small insight into the supernatural forces that alter our world.

• The rise and fall of nations can’t be accounted for by looking only at natural causes and effects.

• God elevates nations and undercuts nations with His servants, who are engaged in a cosmic, supernatural, and unseen battle.

• Daniel was in mourning 21 days before God responded to his prayer. The answer was held up for 3 weeks according to the heavenly messenger on account of his struggle with the “prince of the kingdom of Persia (10:13).

• Daniel would have never known about the cosmic struggle in the supernatural realm unless the messenger told him about it, but evidently God’s servants needed to accomplish something before responding to Daniel.

• It could be the case that answers to your prayers are delayed because God is doing something unseen in the supernatural realm. God servants, who minister to His saints (Heb 1:14), may be fighting to accomplish something before responding to you.

• The engagements of God’s spiritual servants are something we cannot perceive with our eyes or minds.

• What we need to know is that God hears our prayers and will respond to them in His time.

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