Daniel 11:2-4 - Jesus

Daniel 11:2-4 (ESV)

[2] “And now I will show you the truth. Behold, three more kings shall arise in Persia, and a fourth shall be far richer than all of them. And when he has become strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the kingdom of Greece. [3] Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion and do as he wills. [4] And as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven, but not to his posterity, nor according to the authority with which he ruled, for his kingdom shall be plucked up and go to others besides these.

Daniel 11 is an interesting chapter. The angel from chapter 10 is still speaking, revealing the future to Daniel. It is so specific that to read the chapter is to read the history of Greece and Rome, even to the part where “two kings, their hearts shall be bent on doing evil. They shall speak lies at the same table, but to no avail” (Dan 11:27). It is so specific, and so accurate, that those who do not believe in God, or who reject the supernatural, are inclined to say that Daniel couldn’t have written this. Someone must have written it centuries later and added it to Daniel’s writings.

The angel starts the chapter with these words, “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him” (Dan 11:1). An angel rose up to encourage and protect the king of Medo-Persia. There is far more behind the scenes spiritual activity going on in our world that we realize or perceive. It makes one wonder who is pulling the strings behind the scenes. Is it demons or angels? God knows, but we need to be careful to make assumptions based on our own perceptions and preconceived ideas. Who would have thought that an angel would be encouraging and protecting the king of Persia?

Two thoughts stand out to me here. First, angels and demons are not just watching mankind. They are serving and influencing mankind. There is a spiritual battle raging behind the scenes that we only get glimpses of. Our responsibility is not to get distracted by what we cannot see in the spiritual realm, but to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. It is easy to become enamored with the idea of angels and demons. Back in the 1980s I read about a man whose ministry consisted of opening people’s eyes to the presence of angels. From my perspective, he was so obsessed with angels that God was almost forgotten. But when you read the scriptures, the role of angels is primarily behind the scenes. They are active, but we are to keep Jesus as our focus and let them do their jobs quietly back stage.

I will address the second thought in my next blog. For now, don’t get distracted by angelology, demonology, End Times teaching, leadership principles from the Bible, or any other teaching of the Bible. These things are important to the extent that the Bible addresses them, but they can easily become the center of our thoughts pushing Jesus aside. All Bible teaching should point to Jesus, so fix your eyes on Him.