Psalm 24: 1, 5											Rev. S. de Marie
Psalm 24: 2
Psalm 102: 3, 4, 5, 6
Psalm 102: 7, 8								Reading:	Dan. 10; Rev. 1: 9-18
Psalm 102: 10, 11								Text:		Dan. 10:12, 14, 18

Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We live in the last days before the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Many of the promises of God's Word have been fulfilled. Christ has come! He gathers his church, He already has established His kingdom, the gospel has gone throughout the world.
However, much has not yet been fulfilled. Much of what we are allowed to see in faith is invisible to our eyes. And everything is still stained with sin and imperfections. This applies to the church and to our faith life. Everything has not yet been brought to fullness. There is a beginning of a new obedience, but at the same time we look forward to complete redemption when our Savior comes and will make everything new.
In our lives there is a tension between ‘what is already’ and ‘what is not yet,’ a tension between believing and seeing. There is a certain test of this. To persevere in the faith and maintaining the steadfastness of our hope, even if we don't see it yet. Especially when we look at the development of the church, the test is: what will the outcome of this be? Is this beautiful work not being broken down further and further?
Brothers and sisters, how do you deal with the tension between ‘what is already ’ and ‘what is not yet.’ Do you have an ardent desire for the fulfilment of the unfulfilled promise? Do you also give that a place in your prayer? Or just wait it all out and don't worry about it. Or are there any doubts whether God's promises are firm and certain? In short, how do we deal with the promises that the Lord gives us in our day, but are still not fully fulfilled?
I may proclaim God's word from Dan. 10 under the following theme:

God's Son answers Daniel's supplication for the constantly endangered church.
1. The content and nature of Daniel's prayer
2. The hearing of that prayer
3. The comfort of that prayer

1. Daniel was exiled as a boy. He is now a very elderly man. He has served under several Gentile kings, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus. He was allowed to prophesy on behalf of the LORD in explaining dreams. He was allowed to proclaim God's counsel and conveyed God's judgement to kings. In all this, Daniel was the servant of the LORD.
He was thus, by God's grace and power, an example in his confidence in faith,  courage in faith, and obedience in faith in the midst of a wicked lawless world. Dare to be a Daniel, with these words we may encourage ourselves and our children. Not to boast in Daniel but to see what the Lord can do in us, as we expect Him to do, just as Daniel did.
In our chapter we see Daniel as an intercessor. That's how we met Him before. In particular in chapters 6 and 9. Daniel's prayer, in chapter 9, took place after the fall of the Babylonian Empire under Cyrus king of the Medes and Persians. Daniel then fervently prays that God would keep his promises in the case of repentance and conversion of the people. That they may then return to Jerusalem to serve Him. You could argue that such a petition would be superfluous, if everything is provided by God and was just a matter of waiting. As if we only have to wait and see, without really fervent expectation and persistent prayer. But if we reason like this, what about longing for perfection? In heaven, the prayer is heard: How long Lord, How long will it take before Thy day, the last day, will arrive?  Shouldn't that be our prayer at all times?
After Daniel 9, with Daniel's fervent and humble supplication, comes Daniel 10. That takes place in the 3rd year of King Cyrus. Meanwhile, in the first year of Cyrus, part of the people have returned from exile. The Lord thus made sure that his people could rebuild His temple and serve and honour Him. Much of Israel failed to respond obediently! They no longer longed for that and preferred to stay in Babel. That was an attitude of disbelief.
But what about Daniel? Didn't he stay behind in Babylon? It is already the 3rd year of King Cyrus! Well, it is not mentioned in the Bible, but from the whole of Chapter 10-12 we must conclude that the Lord gives Daniel a special task to remain in Babylon for the sake of His people.
But is Daniel busy with that? Wasn't his prayer for the promise of return, to which he appealed in Chapter 9, indeed fulfilled? Yes, at least partially. Yet Daniel has every reason for great concerns. Concerns for the survival of God's people, the Church of Christ. They control him so much that he openly expresses his grief. From verse 2 we read that Daniel is going to fast: he does not eat tasty food, no meat. He does not drink wine. He no longer anoints himself with oil either. No Daniel is not in a festive mood but grieves for 3 weeks. At that time he will also have made many supplications to the Lord.
Daniel is thereby not rebellious, not bitter against the Lord. He also doesn't want to enforce anything like people want to achieve through a hunger strike. Nor will it be the case that he eats or drinks nothing at all. But he refrains from joyful things. Daniel thus humbles himself before the Lord, verse 12. He makes himself small before God and prays for the church.
What about the church then? How does it go with the remnant of Israel that has returned? Well, not to good. They experience opposition from the residents and reluctance among the church members themselves. After the foundation of the temple has been laid, its construction is immediately stopped.
And what does Daniel experience at the court of the Persian king? Is there still a benevolent attitude toward God's people? As Cyrus first showed? It follows from verses 13 and 20 that this is certainly not the case. Daniel sees a small remnant of God's people return and then be fought on the spot and hated in Persia, where the government centre was.
There is another clue. Verse 4. All this happens in the first month of the year. That is the month of Abib, the month in which to celebrate the Passover, the feast of the deliverance from Egypt. That should receive extra attention now that God has also delivered his people from Babel? But in Canaan the Passover is still not celebrated and it does not look like it will happen in the near future.
And so there is every reason for Daniel to be sad. It does not say that Daniel no longer has confidence in the Lord. Daniel sees that the church’s sins are the cause of all the disaster that still happens to the people after the return. And that is why Daniel humbles himself before the Lord here also after chapter 9. Yet Daniel cannot understand why it should be this way. In verse 12, the angel says that Daniel devoted himself wholeheartedly to gaining insight and to humble himself before his God. Daniel wants to understand how God's promises can still be fulfilled today. How what happens fits in with that. How can God allow all this? Daniel's prayers are, as always, very penetrating:
Lord, continue to remember Thy people now,
Lord keep looking after Thy people,
Lord, save Thy people now, save them to the end.
Fulfil Thy promises.
Daniel is the great intercessor, he knows that in the great need of the church there is only one way for the outcome, and that is the humble supplications to the Lord. With Daniel there is no rebellion, no dissatisfaction, no self-pity. He makes himself small before the Lord and prays for wisdom and insight into God's ways.
Congregation, Is this not the way we should go when it comes to the future of the church, when it comes to God's preservation of the church to the end? Is there also that humiliation with us? Do we also pray to God for wisdom and insight? But also that preliminary question: do these things have any place in our personal prayer at all?

2. The theme of the sermon is: God's Son answers Daniel’s supplication for the constantly endangered church. We saw the content and nature of Daniel's prayer. We now see the second point, the hearing of it.
Daniel humbles himself in his prayer for three full weeks, showing grief and sorrow and begging for insight. That's a long time. Then Daniel stands by the great river Tigris, verse 4, and suddenly sees a remarkable and impressive appearance:
a Man clothed in linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz, His body was like beryl, His face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes are like a torch of fire, his arms and feet like burnished bronze in colour, and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude.
Congregation, here, before Daniel, stands God's Son, He later appears as the Lord Christ, to John on Patmos, as we read in Revelation 1. He, the Head of the church, who gathers His church from the beginning of the world to its end, He reveals Himself here personally to his servant Daniel.
Here stands God's Son, who manifests himself in his divinity. For the sake of his people, for comfort and encouragement.
Before we get into the shape, action and message of our Lord, we want to pay attention to the special thing about the hearing of Daniel's prayer. We hear that in the statement that Daniel hears from God's Son. When recovered from the shock and able to listen, Daniel gets to hear in verse 12:
Do not fear, Daniel, because from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard.
Daniel had been mourning every day for three weeks, his constant prayer seemed to go unheard. But it turns out to be otherwise! Daniel may now learn that the words of his prayer have been heard by God and His Son from the very first day.
Congregation, just imagine that. Also, your prayers that you send to the Lord often do not seem to be heard. Especially when you pray for the future of the church. For progress in the service of reconciliation. For the preservation of God's children in this world.
But see what the Lord makes known to you here regarding the hearing of Daniel's prayer. From the first words, his prayer was heard! Not only after 21 days, but right from the very beginning. Not only heard, but the Lord was even moved by those words. That is what the Lord says in verse 12:
and I have come because of your words.
Congregation, that is a miracle of grace. But let us also pay attention to what the Lord makes clear in his answer. Namely that Daniel's prayer is agreeable to Him. For Daniel has devoted himself wholeheartedly to understanding and to humble himself before God. So it is a prayer deep in his heart, and in great humility. The Lord hears such a prayer! James says of such a prayer later in his letter: 
The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
That is not to say that that effectiveness is in the righteous one himself. But that with heartfelt surrender to the Lord in humility, that effectiveness is given to it by the Lord Himself.
Now you might say, the Lord has first heard Daniel's words, but he only started to hear his prayer after 3 weeks. But even that turns out to be incorrect. For the Lord says in verse 13:
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, what is this about? Well, Daniel's great concern is that God's people will perish through his enemies. The most important player in this event is the king of Persia, with his viceroys. The influence on that earthly king comes directly from the prince of the realm of darkness. We see here, the power of Satan against the power of God and His anointed, God's Son. Satan, who wants to destroy the church, against the Son, who wants to keep his church. It is Satan with an accomplice, the prince of Persia, over-against the Son with His army commander, prince Michael.
From these words of the Lord Himself, it appears that all those twenty-one days that Daniel's prayer sounded and he begged the Lord for mercy and insight, that whole time the Lord had been fighting to have the king of Persia in his hand in order to preserve His church people.
Congregation, let us see, also in this chapter, that the battle on earth, especially the battle for the church, is a battle between spirits, with on one side the evil spirits, the princes of darkness, and on the other side the Son of God our Lord Christ and His army. That battle has now taken a huge turn since Ascension, because then Satan with his devils were thrown to the earth when Michael again defeated him with his angels.  Revelation 12.
Today that same devil goes in great fury against the church.  And even now we see the world conspire with him en masse against the church. Then Daniel 10 teaches us how necessary it is that we also send our prayer ‘Thy kingdom come,’ every day sincerely and with great humility and supplication to the Lord.
Congregation, see also your assignment here. But also remember that such prayers will be heard by the Lord. Yes, even from the first words. He will therefore answer them in His time and in His way. We will often not immediately see that. We will often not be allowed to notice it, as Daniel did in his day.
That is no longer necessary for us, because we have come a lot further. Christ is now seated at the right hand of God as our exalted Savior. He has bound Satan until his release near the end of the ages. In doing so, Christ prepares for His return. Meanwhile, He gives us His Spirit to dwell in us,  to always be near us and strengthen us. Blessed are those who do not see this and yet believe it.
So Daniel's prayer is heard immediately. Immediately at the beginning of his prayer. Perhaps different from what he himself thought, but much better and much higher than he could have imagined.
Also in Daniel 9 we read of such a hearing. There Daniel's words of prayer are (9:19):
O Lord hear, O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act!
Do not delay for Thy own sake, my God,
 for Thy city and Thy people are called by Thy Name.
And what do we read in the following verse?
Now while I was still speaking, praying and confessing my sins
and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel,....reached me...
And this Gabriel then says (9:23):
At the beginning of your supplications the command went out,
and I have come to tell you.
There, too, hearing takes place with the first words of Daniel's intense supplication.
Congregation, realize this also for your own prayers that are according to God's will.
Thus you are urged and encouraged to also offer prayers for the Church and its progress, in humility, in thanksgiving, and in supplication. And in persistence.
With the prayer for insight and wisdom in the ways we must go.
But also with the certainty that God will hear your prayer much more certainly than you feel in your heart that you desire this of Him.

3. God's Son answers Daniel's supplication for the constantly endangered church. First we saw the content and nature of Daniel's prayer,  in the second, the hearing of it. We now see the third and last point: the comfort of that prayer.
Daniel's prayer was heard. He was in mourning, but is now comforted by His Savior and Lord. This takes place in a very special way. Namely by the appearance of God's Son in human form, by His actions and by His words.
The appearance of God's Son was overwhelming. Why does He reveal it so that Daniel cannot even bear it? Because when Daniel sees Him, he turns pale, and no strength remains in him. Daniel falls to the floor when he hears his voice. He cannot even intercept his fall but falls on his face. What does that mean?
Well, congregation, is it not to show Daniel something of the overwhelming majesty of God's Son? In this way He assures Daniel and us, as a church, of His divine omnipotence and thus He confirms that the hope in Him is fully justified. He will finish his work on His church to the end.
His face shines like lightning: that is, He fathoms everything down to the darkest corner of the world. Nothing can oppose Him. His eyes like torches of fire indicate His holiness with which He tests everything. And His arms and feet, like burnished bronze, symbolize His invincible power. Nothing can stop Him, no power, no strength, no government. The sound of his words is like the voice of a multitude. Nothing will silence His counsel regarding the redemption of His church.
Brothers and sisters, boys and girls, it was not restricted to this occasion that God's Son shows his great omnipotence and majesty directly to his people. It is comparable to the way in which Christ shows himself to Paul on the road to Damascus, but especially to the apostle John on Patmos. To them, as his servants, Christ appears in his glorification to show them how great His glory is. To encourage them and us too.
But there are more similarities. Like Daniel, Christ also touches his apostle John to give him new courage and strength. Like Daniel, Christ also gives His apostle John, in the book of Revelation, an insight into his plan for the preservation of his church. How He leads her to His return through judgements, through attacks, through tribulations, persecutions and temptations. Through all events, He will continue to protect his church from the prince of darkness and his minions, including those who will follow Satan.
Daniel, although he has fallen by the appearance of God's Son, may also experience the power emanating from His Savior (verses 10 and 18).  So he can also now listen to His voice. Then he hears very sweet and encouraging words, verse 19:
O man greatly beloved, fear not!
Peace be to you. Be strong, yes be strong!
Daniel is therefore immediately strengthened under these comforting words. He writes about it himself:
So when He spoke to me I was strengthened and I said:
‘Let my lord speak, for Thou hast strengthened me.’
Then the Lord gives his revelation about what must be done and especially how He will act. This first concerns developments in the short term, but then it extends up to and including Chapter 12 until the end time.
In all this, the Lord God reveals himself as the great Warrior for His church. After the Persian Empire, the Greek empire will take power. The Lord knows with what force Satan will throw himself on the rulers of that kingdom. Satan uses his princes and his legions for this. He already has a prince from the Persians, he will also have a prince from the Greeks.
But God's Son will continue to ensure that His church will be preserved among them as well. First he focuses with his armies, under Michael, on the prince of the Persians and immediately afterwards on the prince of the Greeks.
Congregation, here you see the battle with the evil spirits. It will not decrease on earth after the Ascension. But if you may expect it from Christ, God's Son, you will see the might of the Lord. No, you will not feel His hand as Daniel might have felt it. But with His Spirit He is with you and thus gives you constant strength, so that you too can continue strengthened.
No, then you will not hear His words directly from His mouth, those words of what the church must go through and how Christ will preserve you as His church. But for that you now have His Word in Scripture. All this is recorded there.
And as often as you hear or read what the Lord brings forth from His Word with an open heart, He speaks to you and encourages you and strengthens you through His Word and Spirit.
In this way He lets you know that His struggle continues and that you as a church will be included in it on the way to the total final victory.
Therefore, congregation, you may look for complete redemption, but that is not without tension, and it is certainly not without struggle. It is the Lord Himself who ensures that you have to undergo another struggle on the way to the final victory. In it He tests and purifies you. Because He wants you, just like Daniel, to long for the end. He wants you, like Daniel, to continue to expect everything from the Lord alone in that struggle.
Congregation, therefore pray persistently. With humility. Keep seeing that the church is the work of the grace of Christ. Keep seeing that only Christ can keep His Church. But therefore take whatever He gives you for that. As Paul says this in Ephesians. 6:
...be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil….against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.....praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.

Amen