Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.
The Holy Bible: King James Version, Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version. (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009), Da 10:12.
The Captivity is marked by the prophets who surrounded this 70 year period to speak to different sectors of the people of Judah of that time. Jeremiah spoke to them warning of impending disaster, to exhort them to repentance. Ezekiel was with the Captives by the River Chebar. Daniel was in the Palace of the Kings, from Nebuchadnezzar down to Cyrus. It was a very strategic placing.
I believe with the way things are now, God is placing His mouthpieces in different places, because from there from different means of divine revelation and understanding, He will prepare for His people to return to the purity of their faith. For Jeremiah he heard a voice, giving him revelation, for Ezekiel he had a open heaven and visions, for Daniel it was visions of the heavens, angels and the princes of nations. God is desiring to speak to His people the diverse means to speak, in fact Joel 2 speaks of dreams and visions, and generational applications to these revelations that would follow a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Whilst the world goes its way embracing falsehoods, so the Church, God’s people, however they be, will start to radically see a new opening of the heavens similar to Ezekiel’s experience. Ezekiel we have already seen, was a high priest, but God adjusted his ministry. He broke out into the prophetic dimension. This dimension is needed to decipher what God desires of His people.
Hebrews 1 says that God has always used a diversity of ways to speak, and from the prophets He spoke, but now the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself is who speaks more fully today.
I believe that we must not permit the “business as usual” attitude abroad today. Daniel understood that the times were at hand for the restoration we have been examining in the chapters of our study. He knows that either Jeremiah prophesied right, in that the Captivity actually happened as he had warned, so if he got the first part right, so the restoration part would also come to pass.
The Hebrew word for “understand“:
995. בִּין bîyn, bene; a prim. root; to separate mentally (or distinguish), i.e. (gen.) understand:—attend, consider, be cunning, diligently, direct, discern, eloquent, feel, inform, instruct, have intelligence, know, look well to, mark, perceive, be prudent, regard, (can) skill (-full), teach, think, (cause, make to, get, give, have) understand (-ing), view, (deal) wise (-ly, man).
James Strong, A Concise Dictionary of the Words in the Greek Testament and The Hebrew Bible (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2009), 20.
Much of Bible teaching should be to “separate mentally” in terms of historical, contextual and prophetic dimensions that need to be understood.
I am sure many readers have experienced like me, the marks of false prophecy. I was locked into a form of ministry that elevated too much prophecy. God had to teach me to see the central and most potent form of God speaking was through His own Word.
So many of us have experienced the phase of personal prophecy, where someone would speak over us. I have come to believe that as in the old days, false prophets walk with us, sometimes prophesying success, everything to appeal to our ego. Jeremiah confronted these voices, because they steered the authorities of King and Priest away from repentance to the pursuit of riches and peace. Does that not seem familiar?
Yet as much as Jeremiah warned, so the bad and bitter things did happen, Daniel, concludes that the process which Jeremiah spoke to, the new “inner sanctuary” which would come through the Captivity, so the full return to Zion would take place. I believe the Bible to be full of examples where God’s people, straying from His purposes, have to go through very hard processes so they could see clearly the real purity of the faith being handed down centuries. How much more today!
Daniel set to understand. He fasted and prayed, but his answer was resisted. He became very downcast, in inner turmoil, until the angel came and unfolded the battle that ensued in the heavens, resisting the response getting to Daniel.
I believe as God’s people set their hearts to understand, it brings about warfare in the heavenlies. We all were taught very different issues regarding spiritual warfare, but what we see is Daniel waiting for God’s response. It comes and it shows angelic battles, nations rising up and declining.
The main 2 deceptions abroad is the “demon” hunting and political ideologies. Today these are strong. We can be deceived into believing that we must engage in demonic confrontation, that is confront demons, or engage in political action and debate. It is obvious that the political system down the ages has had few really righteous rulers, and in the main there have been those who sought to fulfil their own agendas.
To set to understand for Daniel is to engage serious prayer. It is to “wrestle with God” like Jacob. We must reckon that what is happening with the persecutions, the controls of different governments is part of God’s process to bring down the Thrones as in Psalm 2, we are seeing varying degrees of the manifestation of God the Father setting Jesus the King, on His Holy Hill. If we understand it this way, we will understand that we as His collective, are part of that process. We know this through the Apostle Peter’s preach in Acts 2, connecting the Outpouring of the Holy Spirit with Jesus’ exaltation. The people of God in “setting to understand” must understand that this process of Jesus’ exaltation and enthroning must cause the shifts of our “captivity” to our full restoration.
The resistence that came against Daniel was such that the Archangel Michael had to settle the issue. The revelation knowledge had to be given, that kingdoms were being shifted aside for Judah’s return to Zion in preparation for the coming of Christ.
How much more will the resistence come, when the Church turns from the “blessings and prosperity” to pray through the establishing of Kingdom.
For us to set to understand, we must stop leaning on our own. We must embrace the programme of the Father revealed in His Word.
For Jesus to be enthroned fully in every dimension; heavenly, earthly, in hades, there will be resistence, but He shall rule. And those who seek to understand, God will use their intercession.
The result of all this praying, is Cyrus in Ezra 1:1 being stirred in spirit to emit and edict and order the return of God’s people to Zion to build God’s House. The very resistent political leaderships became the source of the edict, because God “stirred” their spirit. God can and will do it again.
It will take for a Daniel type people, who stand in their place, and seek for understanding. For what is to be revealed is that each ruler and government on the earth will bow the knee to the King of kings and Lord of all lords.
Maranatha!
Leave a Reply