All We Have Is A Prayer Series

Pray to our only hope—an awesome loving God to Save us from our Sins

Many of you know that I’m a fan of spectator sports. Each morning I generally have my devotions in two different places, in the Bible, and the sports page.

As a sports fan, I’m familiar with mismatches—like when the #1 College Football Team in the nation finds itself playing a game against a Division II patsy. An example., for instance is when Alabama plays Alabama A & M. The favorite, Alabama, will be favored by something like 52 points. The score will typically end up being 35-0 in the Second Quarter. And the sports pundits will say about Alabama A&M chances that Alabama A&M “doesn’t have a prayer” of winning the game.

Of course, the statement is ultimately an insult to God, because it gives the impression that not even Almighty God could not help this hapless, helpless team win.

But I refer to it this morning because the truth of the matter is, with regard to the human race, when we consider our sin, Satan and his demonic horde, and the history of mankind, all we have is a prayer. The only possible solution is to pray for mankind’s only hope—an awesome, loving God to save us from the consequences of our own sins.

You might think it odd that that should be the main idea of today’s passage—the incredible prophecy of the future of Jewish people under the control of sinful Gentile nations in answer to Daniel’s great prayers. But that is precisely my conclusion, after considering the ugly history of mankind as portrayed in this incredible prophecy, and it now having been fulfilled in history.

What we have before us this morning is perhaps the most detailed prophecy in all of the Bible in plain language that has been fulfilled in detail.

And we need to remember how it came about—it all began with a prayer, the humble, grieving, intense and persistent prayer of a godly old man named Daniel in 536 B.C.

85-year old Daniel is in his 70th year of captivity in Babylon, all the while longing for both his and his people’s restoration to their promised land, Israel. 50,000 Jews have finally just returned to Jerusalem. Daniel is in the midst of a modified 21-day period of fasting and mourning over the fate of his people, Israel, when a mighty angel showed up in answer to his prayers and revealed the future history of Israel for the next about 400 years, and then in the end times.

As we saw last week, in Daniel 10, this powerful angel describes a spiritual battle between him, Michael the archangel and the very powerful world forces of this darkness, demonic princes who apparently wield great power and influence over the nations, and in particular the great Gentile powers who had dominion over the Jews during Daniel’s lifetime, and going forward. The angel had been sent with this message to Daniel at the outset of Daniel’s 21 days of prayer and fasting but was delayed until the 21st day by the demonic princes. He has just told Daniel that he must return to the battle immediately, after sharing this incredible prophecy with him, and then he makes one concluding statement about his previous actions in the heavenly places in the course of the spiritual battle. It’s found in Daniel 11:1: “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him.”

Now it’s a very short statement of his recent activity. It’s now the third year of Darius the Mede, the third year of the reign also of his co-regent and fellow king Cyrus the Persian. So it’s now two years later, 536 B.C. But it is a profound statement of the effect his actions had in 539 and 538 B.C. on the career of Darius, the King of the Medes and Persians, and upon the nations. This is because 539 B.C. was an incredibly eventful year in world and Jewish history. What this very powerful angel did in 539-538 B.C. had a huge impact on world and Jewish history.

Now my first thought upon reading this statement was what in the world was a powerful angel of God doing being an encouragement and a protection to a pagan, idolatrous king. Then I realized that it was likely during that first year of Darius the Mede that Darius was converted to the worship of the Jewish God, Daniel’s God. You might remember from our series, or from Daniel itself, that two major events occurred with respect to Darius in his first year as king in Babylon. First, Darius had conquered Babylon. He had killed Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, and now the Kingdom of the Medes and the Persians became the single greatest kingdom on earth, and the kingdom that humanly speaking, controlled the fate of the Jews. Second, it was likely in that first year of Darius that Darius also was converted to faith in Daniel’s God. If you’ll remember, from Daniel 6, Darius was tricked and forced to place Daniel in the lion’s den, and then spent the night fasting for Daniel’s deliverance. When Daniel was delivered, Darius proclaimed his faith in Daniel’s God in a proclamation delivered to all of the nations that had become part of the Kingdom of Babylon, now the Kingdom of the Medes and Persians, issuing a decree that all men were to fear the God of Daniel—a pretty evangelistic statement from a King. And so you better believe that the angel’s actions to come alongside Darius in that first year of his rule had a huge impact on Darius personally and the whole Kingdom generally. The spiritual battle engaged on behalf of Daniel rocked and rolled human history at that point.