Reading: Daniel 10:1-21
From the tenth chapter of the Book of Daniel I want to
take just this fragment from the nineteenth verse:
"And he said, O man greatly beloved, fear not
peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong."
And I want to add to that, for later purposes, two
fragments from the New Testament:
"Withal praying for us also, that God may open
unto us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ"
(Col. 4:3).
"We would fain have come unto you, I Paul once
and again; and Satan hindered us" (1 Thess.
2:18).
An
Expression Of The Heart Of God
"O man greatly
beloved." The actual and implied content of that
declared approbation of Daniel comprehends a very great
deal of the whole revealed heart of God. There is no
doubt that it is a heart expression, and it is the
expression of the heart of God. "O man greatly
beloved." "Thou art greatly beloved"
(9:23). Three times was that said to Daniel, and when we
have the Lord speaking like that there must be a very
great reason for it, and very great content in it. It is
not just some emotional overflow of sentiment. God does
not waste Himself like that, however kind He might want
to be. If God says a thing like that, there is much
behind it and very much in it. This declaration gathers
up many of the major features connected with God's
relationship with man, and man's relationship with God.
If I indicate just two or three of these features, it
will be immediately seen how true what I have just said
really is.
Vocational
Love
For instance, we have in
the statement the tremendous truth that it is possible
for a man - or let me use the larger term - for man to
advance beyond the wonder of redeeming love, which is no
small thing, to something even more - a vocational love,
where, because of man's fellowship with God's purpose,
Heaven may attest him in such language: "Thou art
greatly beloved." Now, that is not peculiar to
Daniel. That is a great Bible truth - it is something in
the Bible. It is positively immense that an archangel,
right out from Heaven, should be battling his way through
to reach this man, and be saying, in effect, 'Heaven's
estimate of you, Daniel, is a very great one. In Heaven
you stand in a position of very high value. "Thou
art greatly beloved." ' I say that is something
beyond, much beyond even the wonder of redeeming love. We
feel that redeeming love itself is more than we can
grasp. It is beyond us; it gets us out of our depth.
Redeeming love is our theme, our song, and we say it will
be so for eternity. And yet here is a love of God and
Heaven toward a man which goes beyond redeeming love. It
is what I have called vocational love: the love which
lights in a peculiar way upon that which serves God's
ultimate purpose.
We say: 'Can there be anything more glorious than
redeeming love for man - anything more wonderful than man
standing in the love of God redemptively?' That you and
I, knowing even the little that we do know about
ourselves, should be compassed about by redeeming love -
that man, such as he is, should be in such a position -
is nothing short of marvelous. And yet there is something
more, after redeeming love. It is a love which relates to
the purpose of God served, God satisfied as to His
purpose. Notice that it is man again; this is the
word that we shall emphasize and underline all the way
through. And Heaven is declaring, angels and archangels
are speaking for God concerning man: "Thou art
greatly beloved", "O man greatly beloved".
Is that a theme? That is only one thing included in the
statement. We may see much more of what that means.
Intelligence
As To God's Purpose
We note another feature
gathered into this declaration - the immense importance
and value of being a part of God's heavenly intelligence
system. Perhaps that sounds strange, but that is what is
here. Notice how repeatedly the thought occurs of Daniel
knowing, understanding, having understanding, being in
the knowledge of things, in the intelligence of Heaven
about things, having intelligence as to God's purpose and
the meaning and portent of the present situation. If God
finds someone like that in that position, that someone or
that instrument is of tremendous value to the Lord. It
was that intelligence, that knowledge, that
understanding, that spiritual insight, which led to this
- "thou art greatly beloved". It was because of
that that all the other followed. What a tremendous thing
it is to have spiritual understanding and intelligence,
to be in what I have called 'Heaven's intelligence
system', being 'in the know' as to God's thoughts and
intentions. It must be noted here that, in the case of
Daniel, this included light through the Word of God. He
had been studying the Scriptures, and he received light
through the Word. We shall perhaps see more of this
later.
Heaven-Affecting
Prayer
Take a third thing
included in this declaration - the basis and nature of
that kind of prayer which reaches beyond temporal things
and touches the whole spiritual order, setting in motion
the powers of Heaven, celestial and diabolical. If we
read the whole chapter, we shall see that that is what is
there. That goes beyond our temporal affairs and matters,
our personal and private things, the things of everyday
life. They are very important, those requests which
relate to the details of life; but this goes beyond the
temporal and beyond the earthly. It touches the whole
spiritual background of this world, and sets angels in
action and Heaven on the move - and Satan, furious to
combat, resist, withstand, frustrate. Is that a small
thing? But that is a great Bible subject, not peculiar to
Daniel.
Now I know what you are thinking. You are thinking: 'All
this sounds very high, very exalted and beyond us. This
is not the simple Christian life.' But, dear friends,
listen. The fact is that this is the very nature
and explanation of the Church's existence. We have
failed, utterly failed, to grasp the real significance of
our calling in this dispensation if we have not
apprehended this fact: that, just as much as Daniel, in
another dispensation and another relationship, but with
the very same setting, was called into this realm of
things, so are we. This is definitely shown to be the
case in Ephesians, and it heads up in chapter 6:10-20.
Now, if these things which I have mentioned are examples
of what is contained in this phrase: "O man greatly
beloved", I am sure you will agree that there is
very much in it. If all that was true, then Daniel
certainly stands for something.
Let us then consider the basis and nature of
Heaven-affecting prayer. I believe that this
is a key to everything. Everything hangs upon and circles
around this whole matter of Heaven-affecting prayer - the
prayer that really gets right away and touches things at
their ultimate source, gets right through to the throne,
to the place where "the heavens do rule". That
is a phrase, as you know, peculiar to this book of
Daniel.
The following passages indicate something of the estimate
placed upon Daniel because of his prayer influence:
"Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel; for from
the first day that thou didst set thine heart to
understand, and to humble thyself before thy God, thy
words were heard: and l am come for thy words' sake. But
the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and
twenty days; but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes,
came to help me: and I remained there" (the margin
says "was not needed", because the other one
had come to help) "with the kings of Persia. Now
I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy
people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for many
days" (Daniel 10:12-14).
"When a land sinneth... though these three men,
Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver
but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the
Lord God.... Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as
I live, saith the Lord God, they should deliver neither
son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls
by their righteousness" (Ezekiel 14: 13-14, 20,
A.R.V.).
What is the basis and nature of such prayer? Well, to
begin with, as we have already intimated, it is
intelligence as to God's purpose, and as to the meaning
and portent of the present situation. That is essential
as a basis to this kind of prayer.
The
Place Of The Word Of God In Daniel's Understanding
Now notice first of all
the place of the Word of God in Daniel's understanding.
If you look at chapter 9:2 you will grasp it. "I,
Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years,
whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the
prophet." As I said earlier, he was reading what
Bible he had, reading it prayerfully, thoughtfully,
devotedly; and as he was seeking, not to get Bible
knowledge as such, but seeking to know what God was
really after, what God really intended, what God's
purpose really was, and how the immediately present phase
of things stood in relation to that - as he so sought, in
and through the Word, intelligence and understanding were
given. It is not my intention at this point to spend time
on how to read the Bible or how to study the Bible. What
I am seeking to indicate is this: that before you can
touch the powers on high, you must know what God wants to
do. Before this kind of prayer - whether it be of the
individual or of the company, or (would to God it could
be!) of the whole Church - before this kind of prayer
which had the effect that Daniel's prayer had, can be
made, there must be this intelligence and understanding
as to God's purpose, God's intention, and where we stand
at this time in relation thereto.
Dear friends, I cannot be stronger. It would be, I think,
impossible to be too strong in emphasis upon the
importance of this matter. I must leave you to consider
it in the light of the whole situation. Here it is.
Tremendous things issued from Daniel's prayer, things in
heaven and in earth, but nothing at all would have
happened if Daniel had not known what he was praying
about, if he had just flung out petitions and requests
and longings and desires into the air without knowing
quite clearly and definitely what God was after, and
therefore what he himself was after. It is strange that,
while so many will devote themselves to the subject of
the fulfilment of prophecy - Daniel's included - so very
few will seek to discover what God has revealed
concerning His eternal purpose and the character of their
own dispensation - the meaning of the present condition
of things in relation to God's eternal purpose.
Yes, there are many, many, who will study the Bible along
the lines of prophecy and its fulfilment, and yet there
are very few who devote themselves to the understanding
of God's eternal purpose, and the peculiar character of
the dispensation in which they live. Fulfilment of
prophecy lies so very largely, although not exclusively,
in the future, in what is subjects, but they all belong
to the future. The most important thing of which we can
conceive is: What is God after now, and what does
the present situation say as to that? You see, there can
be a wonderful knowledge of prophetic truth without in
the first place the spiritual life of the student being
affected at all; and what is the good of that? Though I
know all about prophecy, if it does not come right home
to my own spiritual life and make tremendous differences
in me now, it is nothing. That is the estimate of all
your prophetic study. It is possible to have this great
knowledge of prophetic truth, and yet for the great
purpose of God in this present dispensation not to be
served at all.
Oh, how many side-tracks there are, side-tracks of
secondary interest; whether they be true or whether they
be false, they are side-tracks. British Israelism is a
very fascinating subject. I only mention it; I am not
going to discuss it. Universalism is a very likeable
idea, sweeping like fire across Europe, carrying away
multitudes; and so I could go on. What effect do these
things have upon the spiritual life of those occupied
with them, and what effect upon the present aspect of the
eternal purpose of God do they have? Nil! They
count for nothing in the spiritual life where there is a
touching of things heavenly. For the most part they are
either future or earthly.
Now note: Daniel knew God's thoughts for His people, and
he knew what was characteristic of the dispensation in
which he lived. And that is where we must begin. What is
the characteristic, from God's standpoint, of the
dispensation in which you and I live? What is the nature,
object, purpose, of this dispensation, the day in which
you and I have our time on this earth? What does God
mean? Daniel knew quite well what was characteristic of
his dispensation, and he knew further that, until that
dispensation was finally closed, that purpose of God held
good.
Now, why do we say that? What is the point? It is this.
There are many people today who are giving up the
revealed character of the dispensation as unattainable,
hopeless. But God does not change the character of any
one dispensation in itself. If God has said that a given
dispensation or age is to serve such-and-such a part of
the eternal goings, He does not change that. He neither
goes back upon it nor alters it to fit into the
conditions which arise.
Listen! If what we have in the Letter to the Ephesians is
the sum, the substance, the comprehensive and conclusive
revelation of God's eternal purpose, and God saw it worth
while to take a man away from his world-wide activities -
from all his visitation of churches, all his personal
contacts with believers the world over, all those affairs
with which his whole life had been occupied - to take him
right away and shut him up for a period where all that
was cut off, and cause him to write the full revelation
of His purpose as centred in this age: if it is true that
the Letter to the Ephesians is the consummate
presentation of Divine revelation, centering in the
Church as the Body of Christ of which He is the Head, and
that the securing of that, with all its heavenly
nature and heavenly vocation for the ages to come, is
the Divine characteristic given to this dispensation,
then God will not depart from it, no matter what we find
as to the state of the Church on this earth.
There are many who have despaired of there being any
realization of an 'Ephesian' revelation of the Church in
a practical way in this dispensation. Things seem so
hopelessly confused and divided that they turn to
evangelism as the only way of any effective work.
We cannot dismiss the New Testament as easily as that.
The answer is not in trying - however devotedly - to
realize the ideal New Testament Church, but, having the
vision clearly and strongly before us, to keep the fullness
of Christ as the object of all spiritual
attainment and exercise, and the Cross in its fundamental
and continuous power as the Holy Spirit's way of
realizing the true fellowship which is the meaning of the
Church. We must work from the inward, not from the
outward; the spiritual, not the temporal.
Daniel knew the characteristic of his own dispensation,
and he knew that, while that dispensation continued, and
until it finally closed, God would not change; and that
led him to pray as he did. A man never prays for a thing
about which he has lost all hope, given up all
expectation, sees no prospect. Certainly he does not pray
like this. But because Daniel knew, because he had
intelligence on this matter, he set himself to pray it
through - and he prayed it through. When Paul came to the
close of his great letter to the Ephesians, he concluded
with: "praying at all seasons in the Spirit for all
the saints..." (6:18). We shall only pray like that
if we have in ourselves the sum of what is in that
letter, and spiritual apprehension as to its meaning.
Daniel
Knew The Meaning Of The Present Situation
Further, Daniel knew the
meaning of the then present situation. The existing
situation of the people of God was not according to God's
original thought. Of course, it was obvious in his case
because it was so much in the realm of temporal things.
It did not need a great deal of insight and perception to
recognize that Israel in Babylon was not what God
intended. Nevertheless, the principle holds good. Daniel
knew the difference between what was and what ought to
have been, according to God's mind. That is the
principle. However it works out, either in that
dispensation of what was temporal, or in this
dispensation of what is spiritual, the principle is this
- having knowledge and understanding of the difference
between what God intended and what is.
Daniel's
Stand For Recovery
And that situation, so
contrary to God's mind, was due to lost spiritual and
heavenly position. That is another mighty principle. If
things are today far from what God intended them to be,
and from the condition in which He actually had them at
the first, the same reasons lie behind it - firstly lost
spiritual and heavenly position, and then the loss of the
understanding of the nature, the essential nature, of
God's heavenly kingdom. There will be no improvement, no
recovery, no getting what God is after until there is a
recovery of those two things, spiritual position and
understanding. Daniel stood in the reality of that
position. Though physically actually in Babylon, he was
standing in a spiritual and heavenly position altogether
out of and above Babylon. He was just not a part of it.
That is a very costly place to be in.
And then the recovery of the essential nature of God's
kingdom. You see, the disciples of the Lord had their own
conception of the kingdom before the Cross. It was
earthly, it was temporal, it was material. The Cross
shattered that whole thing for them for ever. The coming
of the Holy Spirit gave them an entirely new conception
of the nature of God's kingdom. Oh, how revolutionary and
transforming was that Holy Spirit's enlightenment as to
the true and the essential nature of God's kingdom: not
meat and drink (Romans 14:17) but power, heavenly power
(1 Corinthians 4:20). These things have to be recovered,
and that is what God is after, and that is what Daniel
saw that God was after, and that is the meaning of the
present situation. Take note of this, friends - God
is more concerned with character than He is with
systems and institutions. Israel, even in Babylon,
may have been clinging to their systems, traditions and
institutions, but God was transcendently more concerned
about character than all that.
The
Purpose Of Suffering
Listen now to this very
important, particularly important thing. It is, indeed,
all-important. Daniel knew that God was using adversity,
suffering, disillusionment, to force His people back to
His original and primary thought. For Daniel it was
perfectly clear that God was using all that was in
Babylon, that suffering, adversity, affliction, to force
them back - yes, to force them back; not just to call
them back, but to force them back - to His original full
thought. They were being driven, literally driven, by
Heaven to a position where they would just have to make a
choice between two things: either a counsel of despair
and compromise and frustration, or, alternatively, all
that was involved in going back to, and standing for,
God's full thought.
There is much of present history in that. Let us go to
China, to what has been in China for some generations
from the standpoint of Christian activity and endeavor.
Now what I am saying is not meant for a moment to
under-value or disparage all the sacrifice and all the
poured-out devotion. That will find its place in what
abides. But when the whole story is read, as we are now
able to read it, it is clear that much crept in
that was not according to God's full and original
thought. It came to be very largely something foreign,
something institutional, something organizational,
something of man's making. And what has happened? Oh, a
deluge of suffering, of adversity, of disillusionment, of
break-up and disintegration and scattering. What is
surviving? What is coming out of it? The things have
gone; the people of the things have departed. What
is surviving? Only - but surely - that which is heavenly
and spiritual. And it is surviving, thank God.
Something not made with hands; something not of man's
making, however well-intentioned. Oh, the suffering, the
unspeakable suffering! But what has it done? It has
driven believers back to God's original thought, to His
full thought, with all that is less and other than that
stripped off.
China I have taken as an example. But this is spreading,
and it is going to spread. It is going on and coming on.
God is doing in relation to His heavenly purpose what He
was doing in Daniel's day in relation to earthly purpose.
He uses suffering and adversity to compel back.
That is the explanation of your suffering and my
suffering. What is God doing by means of all this
adversity and suffering? Just driving us, forcing us to a
position which cannot be shaken, to the truth which
cannot be destroyed, to the spiritual which will ever
overcome the temporal. He is just forcing us; we are
under compulsion. And this is going to spread, dear
friends. That is a mark of what belongs to the present
age.
Have you intelligence as to what God is doing - doing in
you by way of suffering, disillusionment, doing in the
world, doing in the Church? God has not abandoned what He
set out to realize, and if He cannot do it in any other
way, He will force to the point of a decision. Either you
deliberately accept this situation as hopeless, and you
compromise, as the majority did in Babylon, and settle
down; or you take the course of the remnant who said:
'All this points clearly to the fact that God is not
satisfied, that the situation is not what God intended,
and we are going to give ourselves to that which God
meant.' Will you be like the few who went back for that?
But oh, how costly! You see, Daniel's prayer had to do
with that, the bringing about of that issue, the forcing
up to that decision - co-operation with God to secure
that parting of the ways. Are you going to stay behind,
or are you going on with God?
Complete
Separation
And that prayer was
based upon a life, in the case of Daniel, firstly of
complete separation from self interest. If you have got
interests, personal, private interests, in the kingdom of
God, then you will not be able to pray like this, you
will not be able to touch Heaven. Secondly, there was
complete separation from all worldly principles. They
tried to involve him in their worldly principles. He
said: 'No, never'! Much ought to be said about that - the
Church and worldly principles. Thirdly, there was
complete separation from the fear of man. How delivered
from the fear of man was Daniel! And, finally, there was
complete separation from merely earthly associations.
That involved him in something. The den of lions prepared
for himself, and the seven times heated furnace for his
companions - they were Satan's alternatives to going his
way. To Daniel's companions Satan said: 'Either you come
my way, or you burn. Those are the alternatives. Abandon
your line, your way, your life of separation and your
objective, and come my way - or burn.' You can interpret
that as you like. You know something, perhaps, of what
that means spiritually.
Daniel
Was Deliberate
In prayer such as
Daniel's, there are four things to be taken account of.
First of all, he was deliberate. The angel said to him,
when at length he arrived: "From the first day that
thou didst set thine heart...." "Thou didst
set thine heart." There is a man gathering up
all the loose folds of his interests, and girding to
concentration on this one thing. "Thou didst set
thine heart." If (to anticipate for a moment) we are
to fall into the train of the Apostle Paul and his
brethren, and take up that which particularly relates to
this present age, to bring it through to consummation by
prayer, it will not do for us to be diffuse and
scattered. There will have to be a setting of ourselves
to this thing; it is very practical. Whether it be in our
own individual life of prayer with God, or when we come
together for prayer as a company, smaller or larger,
representing the Church and God's eternal purpose
concerning it, we shall have to come in this mind,
deliberately setting ourselves to this thing. 'We are
set, we are committed, we are gathered; we know what we
are after. Like Daniel, we have seen, and what we have
seen of God's thought has become a pattern, a body; and
we set ourselves.' God characterize all our prayer times
by this feature of the man beloved, precious to God, that
which God approves.
Daniel
Was Persistent
Then Daniel was
persistent. The angel said: "From the first
day...", and Daniel himself, describing it, said
that this engaged him wholly, utterly, for twenty-one
days. It is something to pray about the same thing
continuously for twenty-one days! How we just ask the
Lord for a thing, and leave it there, perhaps. in a false
notion of faith. Here is an example of the opposite.
Daniel was persistent. He did not let go, he would not
let go; he held on until the thing was done. Let us take
his example and lay it to heart. Very, very great issues
are bound up with such prayer.
Daniel
Was Abandoned
Daniel was abandoned.
"From the first day that thou didst set thyself...
to humble thyself..." Daniel again described it like
this: "I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh
nor wine in my mouth." Here is a man 'all-in' on the
issue, abandoned; not allowing indulgences, distractions,
other interests, secondary things; just abandoned.
Daniel
Was Conclusive
And finally he was
conclusive. Daniel stood for and would take nothing less
than a verdict. The angel said: "I am come for thy
words' sake." He had spoken, and he would take no
other answer in this matter from God - yes, but because
he knew so deeply that this was what God wanted.
Effectual prayer demands such conviction, such assurance,
such knowledge. If we do not know what the Lord wants,
then we do not know how to pray. But if, as Daniel had,
we have made the discovery by revelation through the Word
of God, that is tremendous strength. We must be there to
pray in this way.
The object was of such importance to God that Satan
fought it until he could fight no more. It is something
to take note of when Satan fights. It is very significant
and indicative when hell rises up and is provoked by the
object which is in view. And whatever may have been in
Daniel's case and Daniel's time, there is a counterpart
of this in our own time. The counterpart of this, in this
present dispensation, is, in the first place, Paul and
his brethren, who understood what God eternally intended
in regard to the Church, who abandoned themselves to that
with such abandonment, who travailed and who prayed, and
through whose travail and prayer there was given to the
Church its charter for the whole dispensation. But that
charter is passed on to us - to you, to me - for it is
the same dispensation, and what was characteristic of
them must be characteristic of us, if we are to come to
that place of superlative value to the Lord where, not
only as accepted in the beloved One, and beloved for
Jesus' sake, but because of our co-operation with God in
the thing that is deepest in, and nearest to, His heart,
He is able to say: "O man...!" It may be to
individuals; it may be to companies just as well. Man is
a collective term as well as an individual term. "O
man greatly beloved."
We are in the consummation of this dispensation, and it
is necessary to know what God is going to have, what He
has set His heart upon, and to be with Him in it. The
Lord give us a heart for that.
First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Sep-Oct 1967, Vol 45-5. This version from Emmanuel Church, Tulsa, OK.