Daniel’s eyes are opened to a spiritual reality that most people in their day-to-day life are immune from seeing. He is visited by a supernatural being who talks about massive cosmic battle raging in the spiritual realm amongst the angels and demonic forces who influence the earthly human realm.
The story spoken by the supernatural man reminds the reader of a story in the life of an earlier prophet named Elisha. Elisha had a bounty put on his head by the King of Syria because Elisha’s visions were helping the King of Israel to thwart the King of Syria. When the King of Syria’s forces came to take Elisha, Elisha’s servants were understandably startled. But Elisha saw a spiritual real that gave him confidence that he would be saved.
While many Christians spend vast amounts of time and energy trying to figure out the intricacies of the angelic realm, others totally ignore it. These extremes are both wrong. Daniel, Elisha, and the other prophets were well aware that there were spiritual battles taking place that influenced the events of life in the human, but even these men did not seem to understand everything about how these forces operated. All they knew was that God would ultimately prevail, and that they needed to spend their time seeking HIS face.
Austin’s sermon on Daniel 10 focuses on how these spiritual battles accentuate the truth of the Gospel of Jesus. After all, if God used his angels to battle on behalf of the good of His people in Old Testament, how much more will his own Son prevail in securing the salvation of the Church? We should gain confidence in our salvation as we read stories of God working in the supernatural realm.
Discussion Questions
- How does Daniel 10 give you a greater understanding of the workings of angels?
- Have you ever become aware of a spiritual battle taking place that affected your life, but which you could not see?
- What was the outcome of that spiritual battle?
- Which 4 Gospel truths does Austin say that the angle accentuated in his message to Daniel?
- Is there a Gospel truth that most speaks to you in Daniel 10?
- How can discussion of spiritual warfare sometimes be distracting from what God is actually doing in our lives?
- How can a proper understanding of spiritual warfare build our faith?
- What might you change about your daily or weekly life in light of Daniel 10?