Touched By an Angel

Daniel 9:21

Daniel prayed an incredible prayer in chapter 9, and he didn’t even say “amen” before an angel had arrived with the answer to his prayer. And it was a more marvelous answer than anyone could have ever imagined.

v. 21        “caused to fly swiftly” = he was dispatched before the prayer was over.  Actually, he was sent when it had just begun.

v. 23        The check is in the mail, folks!

How can one so pray to receive such a divine response? What was right about Daniel’s praying? What made it so answerable? What made it so that God touched Him? Because it seems sometimes that we pray and we don’t have the sense of the touch of God. What was it?

Last time we looked at how he prayed in response to the Word of God. That’s verse 2. He read Jeremiah 25:11, 12, and Jeremiah 29:10, because all of those verses talk about the seventy years. And he said, “I know what God’s purpose is. God’s purpose is seventy years. And consistent with God’s revelation, I can now pray for God to send my people back, because it fits with the time frame He’s established in His own Word.”

It was also a prayer of confession, on behalf of his entire nation. Now, we didn’t really look at the prayer yet. And really, all of the stuff from verses 3 through verse 18 is just preparation. And he finally comes down to verse 19, and makes the request:

v. 19        Let’s look at the passage now, and we will see that he prayed with fervency. Verse 3: “I set my face.” He was focused, not distracted.

He prayed with self-denial, verse 4; “I made my confession.” I mean the man began with the fact that he was not worthy.

And he prayed for others. That was really the heart of his prayer. You notice in verse 5, “We.” Verse 6, “We, our, our, our.” Verse 7, “Us, unto all Israel. Verse 8, “Us, our, our, we.” Verse 10, “We, us.” Verse 11, “All Israel, us, we, us, us.” There was nothing selfish about his prayer. He prayed for Israel.

Daniel is still praying, and the angel arrives before he’s even done. Now that’ll give you a little idea how fast angels fly. Heaven is not very far away when you have a supernatural body.

By the way, the word “Gabriel,” have you ever thought about that word? The last two letters of that word signify the name of whom? Of God. And the first part of Gabriel comes from the Hebrew word geber which means “the strong one.” The strong one of God, that’s his name. And he is the key heavenly messenger.

Who was it that announced to Zacharias the birth of John the Baptist? Gabriel. And he was the greatest man who ever lived up until his time. Jesus said that in Matthew 11:11. Who was it who announced to Mary the birth of Jesus Christ in Luke 1:26? Gabriel.

Now this is a repeated function of holy angels in the Scripture. Angels were involved in the revelation of the law to Moses. You can also find this concept in the seventh chapter of Acts in the sermon of Stephen. Another example: Zechariah said, “There was an angel that talked to me and interpreted the visions from God.” Much of the book of Daniel, much of the book of Revelation came through the mediation of angels. Angels were used as God’s messengers.

But angels are not omnipresent, so they have to go from point A to B. So there is a factor of speed. In fact, we will find also in Daniel that God had dispatched one angel to deliver a word to Daniel; and the angel got held up in space by some demon, the Prince of Persia, and the Lord had to send Michael to loose him so he could finish the journey. [there are designated principalities over municipalities, and the one over Persia is pretty strong, as we see on the news today] By the way, we are seeing a lot of UFOs these days.  Are they aliens?  Not hardly.  But are they flying objects? Oh yes. And don’t be surprised if what today’s tech is detecting is something of the spirit world…the powers of the air!

Notice at the end of verse 21, it says that “he touched me.” He was so intent in prayer. I think it indicates something of the posture of prayer. Daniel was so intensely involved in prayer. No doubt his eyes were closed, his head was bowed, and the angel had to touch him to rouse his attention, to make him alert to his presence. Then verse 22: “And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, ‘O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.’” And Gabriel speaks to him about his mission.

v. 23        “for thou art greatly beloved.” Isn’t that tremendous?

Why did God answer his prayer? Not only because he prayed as he should pray, but because he was what he should be.

There’s a wonderful little verse in Jude, verse 20. You don’t need to turn to it, just listen to it. It says this: “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God.”

Is he saying that I can step outside the love of God? Well, not in the ultimate sense of our salvation, but I think the way to perceive that is this: Draw a large circle on the ground, and really it is the letter “O” for Obedience. Let’s call it the circle of obedience.

As long as you stand in it, that’s where it rains the love of God. That’s where the love of God is releasing blessing in the fullness. Now as long as you stay within that circle, you are keeping yourself in the love of God. God’s blessing is always going to be poured out on the obedient. As soon as you step out of that circle and you begin to be disobedient, it isn’t that God has stopped pouring out the blessing, it’s just that you stepped outside of the parameters in which it’s happening.

It isn’t that God says, “O Daniel, I love you more than anybody else.” What He’s really saying is, “Daniel, you are in a greater position than most to receive the blessing that I want to give all. But because of the character of their lives, I’m unable to do it.” In other words, there’s a certain kind of life that puts you dead center in the circle of the raining of God’s eternal blessing; and that’s right where Daniel was. I don’t know about you, but that’s where I want to be.

John, whenever he writes about himself, he says, “And there was Peter, and there was Andrew, and there was James, and then there was the disciple whom” – what? – “Jesus loved.” I mean why call yourself John when you can call yourself that, right?

Next comes the prophecy…let’s read it.

Summing it up: You have a prophecy here. And if this doesn’t whet your appetite for next time, I don’t know how to do it. You have a prophecy here that stretches from Daniel’s day to the time when the Messiah comes, when He does away with sin and He atones, and He establishes a kingdom of everlasting righteousness, and He ends visions and prophecies, and He builds a magnificent, incomparable, millennial temple.

This prophecy stretches from Daniel’s day to the end. And the amazing thing is that the prophet tells us exactly how long it’s going to be: seventy weeks, seventy weeks. The first three negative parts of this perspective seem to point to the cross. The second three positive points go beyond the cross to the kingdom; and that lets us know that there’s a gap in there.

But we also know that those seventy weeks are divided into three sections. First, there’s a seven-week period, then there’s a sixty-two-week period, and then there’s a final period. And we’re going to find out next time that there’s a gap in there that accounts for the distinction between the coming of Christ the first time and the second time. Now if you want to know specifically what the seventy weeks are, you come next Sunday and I’ll tell you.

Daniel received the very best things that God could ever give. And you know what the very best thing is that God can ever give? It isn’t things. Rather, it is a sense of His presence. The greatest thing that you could ever receive from God is His Word brought into your presence under the dispatch of His own angels. What a thought.

I just want to be in the place where I can know what it is to be greatly beloved, so that I can experience all that goodness that God desires to give. I’m not looking for visions or revelation, but only to sense that God has brought to my heart the truth of His already revealed Word in a very special way.

I fear dryness in my spiritual life. Every time I open the Word of God I want it to be as if God touched me with His own hand; it’s so alive. “Keep yourself in the love of God.” Stand in the circle of obedience.