Daniel 10:18-21 “The Strength of Angels”
When I was in college, I had a friend named Robert who was a body builder. He shared with me once how he had developed his arm and shoulder muscles. He said he would stand outside behind the house and with a 1-gallon water jug in each hand, extend his arms straight out to his sides and hold them there as long as he could.
After awhile he tried five-gallon jugs, then ten-gallon jugs and finally he got to where he could lift a ten-gallon water jug in each hand and hold his arms straight out for more than a five minutes!
Next, he started putting water in the jugs!
Normally, we consider getting strength by working out or building up our resistance to physical stresses. Let me share with you that this last week while I was walking Nikos the dog down on the beach, my slipper broke. I was sad because those were the slippers I had gotten as a Christmas present! But, my daughter went down to Big Save and got me a new pair of rubber slippers then for Father’s Day. So, that worked out! However, I had to walk barefoot on one foot from the beach back home with the dog still.
As I was walking, I carefully looked out for any sharp objects or broken glass. The asphalt on the road was hot. I soon came to realize that in spite of the roughness and heat of the pavement I was in no great discomfort walking barefoot on those surfaces. It struck me that I don’t think I could have made that walk on hot asphalt barefoot five years ago before coming to Waimea. Since coming here, my feet have been truly strengthened. I am not sure I would walk across a bed of hot coals, but I am okay with walking barefoot most anywhere else.
So, I walked home with one slipper on and one
slipper off. If anyone ever asks you about your pastor, you can say that he has
“one tough sole.” (soul)
When I was growing up, I remember hearing a sermon about how our lives have to be balanced on three important pillars. Yes, I do remember sermons from my boyhood! Anyway, the three pillars were the physical, the psychological, and the spiritual. The point of the sermon was that without the spiritual strength, the life would be imbalanced and would fall over. Then, I heard on television a similar sermon that included a fourth leg that was financial strength on top of spiritual, psychological and physical strength. I am not sure I agreed with that one. That sermon came from one of those prosperity preachers. In that scenario, one could take out the spiritual leg and the thing might still stand. I don’t think that is right.
In our house growing up, we had a variety of tables. We had a four-legged table where we ate dinner. It was a rectangle and designed to seat six. We had a cute little mini-coffee table that was basically a piece of polished burl wood that my Dad bought in Mexico on a family vacation there once. It had three legs. But, we also had a Victorian style end table that had a brass and marble base, one slender brass support up the middle decorated with three maidens, and an oak top that was scooped at the edges. It was really a very unique piece of furniture. That Victorian table had just the one support. So, I started to think that if I had just one support, not three or four, in my life, which one would it be? The physical, the psychological, the financial, or the spiritual. You know already that I came up with the spiritual!
I believe that if you have strength in your spiritual life, then even if you are physically weak, psychologically weak, and even financially weak, you can still be strong. Not only do I believe this, but I have seen it time and time again with people who seem to have lost everything and yet project this kind of strength still. Indeed, this is the story of Job, Paul, and even Jesus in the Bible.
This last week I met a couple who, I learned, had no faith. They were in some distress. I offered them prayer and any other help from the church that they might need. They declined both. Of course, I am a pastor, so to me it is really hard for me to imagine not wanting prayer. Also this last week I got stopped on the street while I was walking, had my slippers on at the moment, and was asked to pray for healing from a surgery. This was from someone I knew and who knew me but is not part of our regular worshipping congregation.
I have these two stories. One of a woman who stops a pastor on the street for a prayer of healing because her faith is so strong. And also, the story of a couple who when the pastor comes to pray for the healing declines. In that case, by the way, I said a silent prayer and a quick healing touch. So, they got the prayer anyway! And, the healing has been miraculous since then. In this, I have come to realize that I cannot even imagine anymore in my life what it would be like not to have my faith to strengthen me. I am not sure about your life, but I think I have become that Victorian single legged table. My faith is what needs to be strong.
You were probably wondering if I was ever going to actually get to Daniel! By chapter ten of Daniel, we should realize that Daniel is not a young man anymore. He may in fact be in his eighties, though his exact age is unsure. We can know that he is that old by realizing that the seventy years of captivity are almost over and he was brought into captivity as a young man. He has seen a lot of adversity, including being thrown to the lions, a couple of coups, some political back-stabbings, and the like.
Now, somewhat near the end of his troubled life, Daniel is visited by an extraordinary angel. Unlike the previous visitation that we saw last week in chapter nine, Daniel catches a glimpse of the true glory of this angel. He does not just come down as a man, but as a man with lightning eyes and is very shiny like polished bronze. Nobody else was allowed to see the glory of the angel, only Daniel. When he saw this angel, as we read in verse 8, his strength left him.
As we continue the narration, we see that the angel reaches out and actually touches Daniel. This rouses Daniel to his hands and knees. Then, the angel tells Daniel to “stand up.” Daniel does stand up. He is trembling but able to stand. The angel touches his lips to give him the power to speak in his presence. Daniel tells the angel that he has no strength, no breath, left in him.
The angel touches Daniel again in order to strengthen him: “Do not fear, greatly beloved, you are safe. Be strong and courageous.” At this point the angel confirms Daniels role as prophet by sharing that Daniel knows the truth about what is inscribed in God’s heavenly book. That is to say, Daniel knows what is to happen. He is to be a prophet to his people and speak this truth. For this, he needs the strength of angels.
Daniel is not the first person to ever get direct spiritual strengthening from God. David in 2 Samuel 22:32-33, “For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God? The God who has girded me with strength.”
Isaiah 40:28-29, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint and strengthens the powerless.”
Philippians 4:13 is certainly the most famous: “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” This is Paul telling of how he has survived hunger and great distress.
We are now in chapter ten of Daniel. And, by this time you have surely noticed that the Book of Daniel has quite a few angels in it. The angel comes to save Daniel’s friends from the fiery furnace. The angel shuts the lion’s mouths in the lion’s den. The angel helps to interpret the king’s dream. The angel comes to Daniel in his own dreams. The angel comes to him now and strengthens him to his ministry of prophecy at the end of the captivity. For the Old Testament, this is certainly the most angelic book. In the New Testament, we see more angels at the time of Christ’s birth and resurrection. And, of course, we see plenty of angels in the Book of Revelation. However, the Book of Daniel as we have seen is just one confirmation after another about the role of angels in our world! It is a confirmation of the very idea that angels are around us giving us strength to live our lives. They are encouraging us and giving us spiritual strength enough to make miracles happen.
Now, I have shared with you already in the past about the number of times in my life when I could have been killed: two emergency landing in planes, falling from a cliff and walking away without even a broken bone, bullets that just missed me by inches, and all that. Out of all that, I have kind of gotten the sense that God still wants me around to do ministry for Him. Amen to that!
I want to share with you today a different witness that has to do with the miracle of being strengthened for ministry. You know already that my wife and I were missionaries in Thailand. The first year that we were there, I helped to organize a national “English Camp” for all of the teachers in the Christian schools. It was held in Petchburi, south of Bangkok. It was five days long. For that camp, I preached twice a day at two different chapel services. I held classes in English in between. I slept with the teachers on a hard cot with mosquitoes and tremendous heat. It was over 100 degrees everyday. The camp was a great success in my mind. But, by the end of the week I was exhausted. I was just able to take the bus back to Bangkok. From there I was supposed to take the train back to Chiang Mai in the North after spending one night with another missionary family there. I could not do it. I could not get out of the bed the next morning. I was so terribly exhausted that I could not stand up without holding onto the wall. The missionary that I was staying with insisted that I not even try to catch the train that day back to Chiang Mai. He just kept me there and nursed me back to health.
I think back to that and realize that it must have been the strength of angels that kept me going during that week. All my other strengths were completely gone! God gave me strength--just as he gave it to Daniel and He will give it to you. Amen.