Daniel's Last and Greatest Vision (Part 3)

So as we look at the conclusion of Daniel and what I've called his last and greatest vision.

! There will be a repeat of previous visions, including previous dreams that Daniel has interpreted as God used him when Nebuchadnezzar had his dreams and so forth.

And so there will be a repeat of some of that when we get into the vision. But before we do that, we really have to focus in on Daniel's preparation for that, to receive that vision.

So that's what we've been looking at. And so we're ready for, again, the fourth sub-point, or really it's letter D, the strengthening, the strengthening given with the vision.

Really, the vision has already started in a sense because he has had a vision of the Lord himself, God the Son. I don't think really that vision is the proper term because I believe that the Lord of glory appeared to him.

Now, it was, you know, obviously veiled. I mean, he didn't appear in all his glory or Daniel would have died right there. It was tough enough for him to be able to handle the Lord of glory revealing himself and manifesting himself in a measure of his glory.

So it's not really a vision per se in the sense of a dreamy type of, you know, opening the eyes to see the future. That's going to come. But actually the presence of the Lord was there with him.

And so now Daniel's very weak. I mean, he's just spent. In fact, he can barely function. And so he needs to be strengthened.

So that's the final part of the passage. It really takes us to the end of chapter 10 and pretty close to the end of it.

And then there'll be a few kind of preparatory words to say before we actually get into the vision on end of chapter 11. All right.

So the strengthening given with the vision. Two things about that. First of all, Daniel's weakness was revealed.

First of all, his weakness had to be revealed. So he had to come to grips with that, had to admit that. And I say it just that way because there's a principle that we're going to be learning here, not just taught here.

It's kind of exemplified here. But a principle that is taught in a number of places in Scripture. And that is that we just can't function in our own strength. And we, as soon as we start relying upon our own strength, then we're out of sorts with God.

So what we need is the Lord's strength. And that principle is taught here. It's exemplified here with Daniel. So it begins with the weakness revealed.

Daniel's weakness was revealed. So looking at verse 15, and I put the text there in your notes, or you can look in your Bible if you want to. I'm going to read it.

When he had spoken such words to me. This is Daniel speaking, of course. We'll get to what those such words were here in a minute.

But when he had spoken such words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless. And suddenly, one having the likeness of the sons of men, touched my lips.

Then I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to him who stood before me, My Lord, because of the vision, my sorrows or my anguish have overwhelmed me.

And I have retained no strength. For how can this servant of my Lord talk with you, my Lord? As for me, no strength remains in me now, nor is any breath left in me.

So this is a pretty detailed admission of something, confession of something. What's being revealed here is Daniel's weakness. So the passage reveals several things, as you kind of look at those three verses there.

There's several things you can point out there or discover about Daniel's weakness. First one, or small letter A in your outline.

Daniel had become selfless. So his weakness is kind of defined here by becoming selfless. Selfless. And the idea comes to us there in the first part of verse 15, When he spoke such words to me, I turned my face toward the ground.

That certainly is describing humility. Certainly no pride involved here. No self-reliance here.

No self-strength. He became selfless. Now, the words that Daniel is responding to here are primarily those spoken to him back there in verse 11 and 12.

And I think I put the text there in your notes. You remember, we've already studied these verses where the angel said to him, O Daniel, man greatly beloved.

All right, that's a pretty interesting thing for a holy angel to say of a mortal man.

You greatly beloved. 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've come because of your words. Now, I mean, that's, that's, I mean, what honor. Really, we think, think, think about those words. The honor that the Lord is giving to Daniel here.

Through his communicator, Gabriel. It's Gabriel speaking here. These are words of honor for Daniel, the prophet Daniel. And it's, and these words, it's these words that have humbled the prophet, humbled him.

That it did what? It turned his face toward the ground. I mean, he couldn't even look up. You know, those are the words that he's talking about.

And so he has become very selfless. Next, Daniel had become speechless. Speechless.

Small B there in your outline. Next part, or the last part of verse 15. I became speechless. So there, there it is. It's very clear. Now, it's interesting.

And I did look at some of the other versions of the Bible. Some of the words that were used there. And also they've used words that, you know, that, I think one of them used the word dumb.

It became dumb. And, and, and, and that is the idea here behind this Hebrew word. The Hebrew word is alam, alam. And it means actually, and can be used in many different contexts.

It means to, to be bound. Now, that doesn't really convey a lot of meaning to us, especially in this context.

I mean, you know, he didn't say I became bound. You know, think of that, we think of hands being bound together or, you know, something in that sense.

But he's speaking of, he's talking about his speech. And so, alam means to be bound or to be made dumb. Not dumb here in the head, you know, okay.

Not talking about his intellect. Talking about his ability to, to, to speak. He became mute, really, is the idea. He was rendered mute here by this experience.

If we could say, you know, really there's way more than just simply that Daniel was at a loss for words. I mean, we can imagine having an experience that we just couldn't describe in words.

And so, we might even use the expression, I'm speechless. Something happens, somebody says something, we see something, we witness something or whatever. And we just, we just don't know what to say.

This is way more than that. Daniel could not even form the words. He may have had words in his mind, but he didn't, I don't think he even had that.

But he couldn't even form the words. Vocal cords. I think froze up. His tongue wouldn't work right. The lips that would make the, you know, the, the shapes of the, so that the sounds and the words could be formed.

All that just went away from him. This is, this is how strong a word this is, this alam. He became a mute, literally.

But, thanks to the grace of God, and this is a really interesting part of the passage. God enabled Daniel to speak, didn't he?

Enabled him to speak. Verse 16, and suddenly, one having the likeness of the sons of men, touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke.

Now, this is interesting because the question is, and really it's kind of the same question that we might have, you know, all throughout this, this time in Daniel's life.

This kind of dialogue and different things that are happening, the exchange of things that are happening here. We talked a little bit about this last week. The question is, who touched Daniel's lips here?

Who did that and enabled him to speak? Or, looking at the passage, who is this one having the likeness of the sons of men?

It's that one that touched his lips and enabled him to speak. Who is that? Is that the angel Gabriel? That would be the first guess.

Is that the angel Gabriel? We're talking about the one who's been sent by God to communicate this vision, communicate the message to Daniel, and also with that to give him understanding.

Certainly, Gabriel is here. We know. We've already heard from him. And we're going to hear from him again. The question is, is he the one doing this right here, touching Daniel's lips in order to enable him to speak?

Or, is this the son of God? Now, he's already met the son of God. The son of God has appeared there. Second person of the Trinity.

And the way he's described earlier in the chapter clearly is speaking of someone other than an angel. This is the Lord of glory that appears. So, he's already had this encounter with him.

And I really think that certainly he's still there. Still present. So, is this the son of God? Now, I would tell you, even though you look at the English text, the way it's written, you say, well, it's clear that this is the angel.

You know, he touched, he said. He touched, he said. And so, it's just the same person all the way through. And in our English text, that would be the natural conclusion to come to.

But in the Hebrew grammar, the text would allow for either identification. It could be the Gabriel.

It could be the Lord of glory. He's already revealed himself. And also, and I think I put some of this in your notes, there are some similarities in the narration between verses 5, 10, and 16.

There's similarities, really, I mean similarities between what we read in verses 5 and 10, what we studied last time. Similarities between what happens there, what is said there, and what we just read here in verse 16.

There's some similarities there, some parallels that might help us understand who is the one who's touching Daniel's lips. So, verse 5 says, and this, when Daniel saw the Lord, he said this.

He said, I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man. So, he describes, and then the scripture goes on to describe what he saw, this certain man.

And there's where we know that this is the Lord of glory, you see. So, he referred to him, just in his, just visually, he said, I looked and saw a certain man, or a man.

The Lord of glory is not a man, okay, but he manifested himself in a way that Daniel could recognize. So, he looked like a man. And so, compare that with what we just read in verse 16, and suddenly one having the likeness of the sons of men.

And so, there's kind of a, I think, a deliberate identification that this person looked like a man. So, in verse 5, when the Lord appears, you know, the text deliberately says he looked like a man.

And then here in verse 16, this one who touched Daniel's lips, it seems to be deliberately identifying him as someone who looks like the sons of men, in the likeness of the sons of men.

So, there's a parallel there that might clue us in to the identity of this one who's touched his lips. Verse 10 says, suddenly a hand touched me.

Of course, you remember, if you remember, the result was that Daniel was unable to begin rising on the ground, up from the ground. It got up on his, on all fours. So, a hand touched me, he says there in verse 10.

And compare that with verse 16, and suddenly one having the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips.

So, touched in both places. One doing the touching in verse 10, which I believe is the Lord. I think it's the same one doing the touching here in verse 16.

Touched his lips. And the results in verse 16, I mean, there are always results after the touching. Something happens after this being touches him.

If it's an angel or if it's the Lord, and I think it's the Lord. The result there in verse 16 is that Daniel is able to speak again. Alright, so, something more than just, you know, someone coming and communicating a message and helping Daniel to understand.

Something more than that, actually touching him and, and, uh, bringing about an effect upon him physically. Where he was unable to speak and now he's able to speak.

So, I think, uh, it's the Son of God here. Alright, let's move on to C. Little C. Daniel had become strength-less.

Now, that's not a word. That's why I put a hyphen in there, okay? I know we've got some, some school teachers in here. And, uh, you know, there's no such word as strength-less.

But, I'm a slave to alliteration. And so, I manipulated it here, okay? But, I did put a little hyphen in there. Strength-less. And, clearly, we find that in the passage a couple of places.

Verse 16, my Lord, because of the vision, my sorrows. Actually, the word is my anguish.

And, really, I might just point this out. Sorrows is really not a very good translation. Now, it might be a good translation. Might have been a good one back in the King James days.

I mean, I'm, that's the New King James Version that you have printed there. But, uh, I think sorrows, same word in the King James. The word is more than just, I mean, sorrows has a different connotation to us.

Sorrow over some event. Sad. But, really, it's the word anguish. He's in anguish. Anguish because, not only of what he has witnessed, what he has heard.

But, anguished over what's coming in the future. And so, he says, my Lord, because of the vision, the vision, my sorrows, my anguish, overwhelmed me.

And, I have retained no strength. No strength. So, he's become strength-less. Verse 17. He says, as for me, no strength remains in me now.

And, you know, it seems pretty reasonable to believe that this whole experience would have had a profound effect on Daniel. I mean, you think about it. Now, remember, he's, how old?

I mentioned this last week. He's about 85. 85, 86. Maybe older than that. We can say that at least he was, if we do the math with the dates.

And, you know, because the scriptures pinpoint some historical dates for us. Or, at least, not giving us the dates, but giving us, you know, the third year, the reign of Belshazzar.

And, you know, kind of pinpoints the time period. So, we know that Daniel is at least 85, perhaps 86 years old. Now, that would make him an old man.

I mean, that's the case. He's an old man. Not just because I'm, I'm not saying that just because I'm younger than 85. But, I think most of us would agree in this trend that 85 is getting up there.

Not everybody reaches 85. So, this, here's Daniel. He's old. And, he would be considered even an old man in our day with all of our medical technology and so forth.

Breakthroughs in geriatrics and all of that. 85 is getting up there. All right? So, certainly, Daniel's physical body, as well as, I think, his mental capacities and his emotional capacities, they've been taxed to the max here, to the limit with all that has happened here.

I mean, he's seen the glorious manifestation of the living God. Now, that's going to have an effect on you or anyone of any age. But, especially the older we get.

I mean, it's going to have a profound effect upon us, even manifesting itself in our physical bodies. He's seen the Son of God. And, he has felt his touch, I think, now twice.

Also, he has seen Gabriel, glorious angel. And, he has heard his voice. He has spoken to him. So, this is a pretty profound event in the life of an 85-year-old man.

And, then finally, letter D. Daniel had become spiritless. Verse 17. For how can this servant of my Lord talk with you, my Lord?

As for me, no strength remains in me now, nor, and here's the phrase, nor is any breath left in me. Neshama, neshama in the Hebrew.

And, it really is talking about the spirit. Not the Holy Spirit, but the spirit in us. A little less spirit. Actually, it's the word that means the breath of God.

Breath of God. So, he's talking about life. There's hardly any life left in me. I mean, Daniel is like a dead man. Now, he's like a dead man in the sense that he doesn't have a lot of years left.

And so, you know, he's feeling that. But, this is more than that. Because of the experience that he has had and what he's seen. And, we could also say that this weakness, lifelessness in his body also could be due to the long period of fasting that he had been engaged in.

He'd been praying and fasting before angel Gabriel finally came and brought God's message to him. So, Daniel had become spiritless.

Alright, so we're talking about his weakness is revealed here. And, now, number two. And, this is going to help us learn an important principle.

Number two, Daniel's weakness was replaced. Replaced with something else. Verse 18. Then again, the one having the likeness of a man touched me.

So, this is the third time he's been touched. 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 said, let my Lord speak. For you have strengthened me.

Now, here's where we, again, have a confusion. Who touched here? And, who spoke the words? Well, I think, even in the Hebrew text, grammatically, pretty clear the person who did the touching also did the speaking.

So, is this the angel? Or, is this the Lord? And, I believe it was the Lord himself that touched him. Again, here a third time.

In fact, three times now. Daniel is touched by the Lord three times. Verse 10. Verse 16. Verse 18.

And, each instance had a profound effect upon his life. So, three times. So, if it was the Lord in verse 10. And, I believe clearly that it was the Lord there.

Then, I think, verse 16. It's the Lord there touching his lips and enabling him to speak. And, if it was the Lord in verse 10 and verse 16. Then, it certainly had to be the Lord.

Verse 18. And, each time he touched him. It was for a purpose. It enabled him in some way. The first case enabled him to get his face up off the ground.

I mean, he was prostrate on the ground with his face in the ground when he met the Lord. Because the Lord touched him and was raising him up. In the second instance, in verse 16.

He touched him and he was unable to speak. And, here in verse 18. The Lord touched him and he was strengthened. He was strengthened. So, all three times for a purpose.

And, I think it was the Lord. Now, I don't have to be dogmatic about it. But, I think it was. And, then what about the words? Well, the words.

Peace be to you. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? I mean, I think that almost certainly came from the Lord. Because, who can give peace but the Lord?

Peace doesn't come from angels. It comes from the Lord. And, you know, Jesus, remember, often used those words to calm and strengthen his, reassure his apostles.

I gave you the reference there in John 20. 1921-26. So, three examples right there. And, there are other examples where Jesus used similar phrase.

And, it was more than, for Jesus certainly, it was more than just simply some standard greeting. You know, peace be to you. As if, you know, kind of meaningless kind of courtesy or greeting.

But, Jesus said it was something that he had and could offer. It was the only one who could give peace. And, then, more than the touch.

It was the word. It was the word that strengthened Daniel. This, too, I think is a tip-off, tip, clue here.

That it's not an angel. That it's not an angel, but the Lord himself speaking. He said, fear not. Peace be to you.

Be strong. Yes, be strong. But, then, what Daniel said in the latter part of verse 19. When he spoke to me, I was strengthened. All right, so, I emphasize the fact that the Lord, and I think it was the Lord, touched him, and he was strengthened.

But, Daniel gives the credit not to the touch, but to the words. The words that he spoke. And, this is an important principle for us. So, Daniel said, when he spoke to me, I was strengthened.

Not when he touched me, when he spoke to me. And, said, let my Lord speak. This is what Daniel said. Let my Lord speak, for you have strengthened me.

You know, this is a pretty important principle. And, one that perhaps you've learned. When it comes to our need for strength.

You know, there are two kinds of strength. There are two sources of strength. One source is the one that we very typically rely upon. And, it's our own strength.

We just can't help ourselves. And, especially since we're Americans. You know, we're, pull yourself up with your own bootstraps.

We're, you know, we're Americans. We're strong. We must be strong. Anything wrong with, you know, being determined about things. And, deciding to be strong.

But, we rely, typically, upon our own strength. And, it will only take us so far. What we need is the Lord's strength. And, we need it every day.

You know. But, how did Daniel get the Lord's strength? In the first place. I mean, if you just put all this together. You realize that Daniel first. Is, not only realizing his own weakness.

But, even admitting his own weakness. There's no strength in him. And, it's only after that. That, the Lord speaks to him.

And, gives him strength. So, there's a principle there. For us to learn. As believers. And, it's not just a, you know.

Something that we need to do. And, then we're done with that. And, from now on. We'll just walk in the Lord's strength. Something we have to do every single day of our life. Because, we can't help ourselves.

We want to take it back. Or, actually, we want to rely on our own strength. You know. Rather than the Lord's. In fact, I remember. Several years ago.

I was listening to. On the radio. You were listening to J. Vernon McGee. You know. The guy's been dead for, I don't know how many years. And, he's still preaching truth Bible.

You know. But, I think, actually. This is so long ago. That he was still alive. When I heard him say this. And, he said. And, I've mentioned this before. You've probably heard me say this. I hope I gave J. Vernon McGee credit.

But, he said. The problem with the church in America. Today. Is, we're too strong. It's not that we're weak. We're too strong. Too strong in our own strength.

And, what we need to be is weak. And, strong in the Lord. Weak in ourselves. And, strong in the Lord. And, that's a great truth.

For us to understand. And, not just for the church in general. In our nation. But, for each individual believer. And, you just.

You think about that. What he said. And, examine your own life. And, see if it's not true. More often than not. That reason why we.

Many times. Can't seem to access. The Lord's strength. Because, we're too strong for it. In our own strength. Which shuts out.

Shuts out his strength. Because, you know. When you are strong in yourself. That's pride. And, the Bible teaches that. God resists the proud.

But, he gives grace to who? The humble. And, the humble. By it's very definition. Humble are those who. Cast their selves before the Lord.

And, say I'm nothing. And, you're everything. I'm weak. And, you're strong. I know nothing. You know everything. It's. So, an important principle.

That is taught in scripture. Many places. But, here. Exemplified in what happened. With Daniel. So, next time. We'll get into the vision itself. A few words.

A few things. To prepare us for that. That we'll take up. At the end of the chapter 10. And, kind of into the first verse. Of chapter 11. And, then. I think it's verse 2.

Of chapter 11. We'll really start to get into. The vision itself. So, Daniel's spectacular vision. And, then. We'll go from there. To Daniel's special instructions.

Thank you.