Angels in Scripture: Daniel and All His Angels

Angels in Scripture: Daniel and All His Angels.

“There is a man in your kingdom who has within him the spirit of the holy gods. This man was found to have insight, understanding and wisdom like that of the gods. This man, Daniel, has exceptional ability and is filled with divine knowledge and understanding. He can interpret dreams, explain riddles, and solve difficult problems.” (Daniel 5:11-12). 

Teeming with Angels. The book of Daniel is full to overflowing with the presence of angels. It’s no wonder that King Nebuchadnezzar was inspired to use the term “holy watchers” for angels, since his dream in Daniel 4 was full of references to them. Daniel is a central figure in Hebrew history. Deported from Jerusalem to Babylon, he was a young man of high ability. He was deported to serve in the king’s court, and was included in the group who met the king’s qualifications, “Only strong, healthy and good-looking young men, all versed in every branch of learning, gifted with knowledge and good judgment suited to serve in the royal palace.” (1:4). Because Daniel was so competent in so much, he kept climbing Babylon’s ladder of success. Daniel gave all the credit to God in his powerful tribute to the Lord: ‘Praise the name of God forever and ever, for He has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events, He removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though He is surrounded by light. I thank and praise You, God of my ancestors, for You have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of You and revealed to us what the king demanded.” (Daniel 2:20-23).

A Great Prophet. Eventually the king promoted Daniel to the king’s court to be a ruler over the whole province of Babylon, much like a Prime Minister today. Daniel was a trusted statesman in enemy territory, and continued as a leader in civic affairs for over 70 years. The secret to Daniel’s success was his profound prayer life. He was a prophet who predicted military and political events, and was given visions of the inner workings of the heavenly court. His ancient prophetic insights are still being studied for their contemporary relevance to this day.

POW. Quite an unlikely president of the Babylonian government. That’s not all he was, of course. He is certified member of the Judeo-Christian Hall of Fame. There he was, forcibly removed from his home in Israel as a mere lad and brought to Babylon as a prisoner of war in exile. This young Jewish vegetarian soon rose to Head Wise Man (along with his three Jewish friends), successfully worked with the pagan king, and somehow continued to follow the Lord faithfully. Quite a journey so far, starting out as prisoner and ending up Chief Governor. Daniel was a true jack of all trades, doing whatever was asked, whether by his king or by his Lord. He interpreted dreams and visions he hadn’t even heard; he predicted correctly that Nebuchadnezzar would be literally taken out to pasture, acting like a wild ox and embarrassing everyone who knew him; he hastened his next king’s demise by translating an impromptu wall mural at a sacrilegious party; he had face time with angels on a regular basis; he had a heart as big as the world as he interceded for himself and all his people past, present and future (Dan. 9); he was a legendary apocalyptic visionary who saw Jesus and the Father in one of his dreams (Dan. 7). Later in life he bravely defied the king’s decree by praying openly if not brazenly. As a result, he casually strolled in a pit of starving lions as one of his friendly angels clamped those lions’ jaws tight. What a guy!

The Fantastic Four. Upon arrival in Babylon, these faithful Hebrew young men were challenged to fit into the Babylonian culture. For one thing, they were most likely castrated so they could work in the king’s palace. The king changed their names to make them change their loyalties. Daniel (“God is my judge”) was changed to Belteshazzar (“Bel, protect my life”); Hananiah (“Yahweh shows grace”) became Shadrach (“Under the command of Aku”); Mishael ((“who is like God?”) was changed to Meshach (“who is like Aku?”); and Azariah (“Yahweh helps”) became Abednego (“servant of Nebo”). The royal palace also tried to change their diets, and they schooled the Hebrews in the Babylonian education. None of these efforts were successful, the four exiles remained faithful to Yahweh. Nothing would make these young men compromise their faith in God. Despite their resistance, their excellence in their work (“ten times more competent” (1:20), these four men rose to prominent places of leadership in Babylon.

1. The Angel of Yahweh with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Soon Nebuchadnezzar wanted to strengthen his power and centralize worship in Babylon. So he built a huge gold statue, 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide, as tall as a nine-story building. The King then demanded that everyone in Babylon bow down to worship the statue, which might have been a statue of himself. The penalty for refusing to worship the statue was capital punishment, thrown into a blazing furnace. This furnace was a huge industrial kiln used to bake bricks and smelt metals. No one could hope to survive the consuming heat of the furnace.

Holy Stubbornness. The three exiles Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to bow down to the statue. They defied the king and challenged his authority to command pagan worship. Because they wouldn’t compromise their faith in Yahweh, they were condemned to death in the furnace. Their reply to Nebuchadnezzar was profound: “We do not need to defend ourselves before you, O King. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if He doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up!” ((3:16-18).

The Angel to the Rescue. So the three young stalwarts were bound with rope and thrown into the fires of the furnace. Suddenly the King stood up and shouted, “Wait a minute! We threw three men in there, didn’t we? I see a fourth man in there too, and they’re walking around in the fire unharmed! And this fourth man looks like a son of the gods!” (3:24-25). Shockingly, not a hair was singed, not one piece of clothing was burned. They didn’t even smell like smoke. The three young men climbed out of the furnace and into Biblical history. The King exclaimed that “their God sent His Angel to rescue these servants who trusted in Him.” (3:28). The three young men were soon promoted to even higher positions, and Nebuchadnezzar formally added the name of Yahweh to their long list of gods.

Jesus, the Heavenly Messenger. This fourth Person in the furnace, this Angel, or “son of the gods,” was the “Angel of Yahweh,” the Angel of the Lord who makes an appearance many times in the Hebrew Bible. Here we find the preincarnate Jesus made a personal appearance in the furnace with the three young men to support and deliver them in their defiance of the pagan king. Jesus, once again the Deliverer sent by Yahweh Himself. God doesn’t always save us from suffering, but He has consistently promised His presence, He has promised to be with us in our suffering. “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil. For you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4).

2. The Angel in the Lion’s Den. “Early in the morning, king Darius got up and hurried to the lion pit. On approaching the pit where Daniel was, the king cried out in a pained voice to Daniel, ‘Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you are always serving, been able to save you from the lions?’ Then Daniel answered the king, ‘My God sent His angel to shut the lions’ mouths, so they haven’t hurt me!’… So Daniel was taken up from the pit, and he was found to be completely unharmed, because he had trusted God.” (Daniel 6:20-24).

Prayer Warrior. Daniel somehow figured out how to wisely walk that tightrope of working effectively in a pagan culture, while at the same time remaining faithful to God. When he was almost 90 years old, king Darius issued a foolish edict that all prayers should be directed towards him. Daniel, however, continued to pray three times a day to Yahweh as he has his whole life in Babylon. He courageously prayed in the open for all to see, his windows wide open, unafraid of the consequences. Daniel was simply following the three required daily prayer times of his historic Judaism: the morning prayer (“shacharit”), the afternoon prayer (“minchah”), and the evening prayer (“maariv”). As expected, his prayer life with Yahweh was soon discovered, and Daniel was literally thrown headlong into the deep pit full of lions.

The Lion’s Den. The “lion’s den” in those days was not even remotely like our well-kept, spacious homes for lions in the average zoo. It was actually a huge pit, more like a cavern below ground, large enough to contain an entire pride of lions. Once the stone was rolled over the entrance at the top of the pit, the lion’s den would have been completely dark. If you’ve ever been deep in the middle of a vast cave, you can’t even see the hand in front of your face. This is what it would have been like for Daniel once he was thrown into the den below. He could only judge what was happening by touch, as the lions’ tails swiped at him and the huge lions nudged against him in the dark. With no air flow whatsoever, the smell would have been overpowering… feces, urine, rotting carcasses of past meals, and all those wild animal smells that can be overpowering.

3. Daniel’s Vision: The Ancient of Days with Myriads of Angels: “I kept looking until other seats were placed, and the Ancient of Days took His seat, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool; His throne was like the fiery flame, its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire came forth from before Him; angels numbering a thousand thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand rose up and stood before Him; the Judge was seated – the court was in session – and the books were opened.” (Daniel 7:9-10).

The Timeless One, the Ancient of Days. We know our God is ageless, in that He has no age and is an eternal Being. “God inhabits eternity.” (Is. 57:15). Our Lord exists from everlasting to everlasting (Ps. 90:2). He just always is. He always has been. He always will be. God has no beginning, no birthdate. He will never have an end date. The eternality of God is a wondrous mystery way beyond our temporal minds. To think that He somehow came from a dimension outside of time, then created time itself. He appeared from His own world, a place without past, present or future. A place with no chronology, no measurements in time like seconds and centuries. God somehow had the idea of time within His limitless imagination, and remained a timeless Being. He invented the reality of time and then entered into it, a different reality altogether. God is not merely a really, really Old One, or an extremely Venerable One, or the Ancient One. All those terms are time-bound. Maybe the most we can say with all this is that God is the Timeless One.

The Everlasting Judge in the Divine Courtroom. The biblical term Ancient of Days in Daniel’s vision is Aramaic, Atik Yomin. It is one of the very few Aramaic titles for God in Scripture. In Daniel’s vision, the Ancient of Days is the Judge of the Gentile nations. The setting for this vision is a cosmic courtroom somewhere, in heaven perhaps? There are a number of world empires being judged, powerful empires that rose to great prominence then crumbled and fell. Who better to be the ultimate Judge over these nations? He has seen everything that has ever happened in the history of the universe, the world’s only eyewitness to all the deeds of mankind. This Judge has literally seen it all, so if He doesn’t have the perfect perspective, who would? What a gift… the world’s only objective Person. God is wise to what the world has to say in its defense. The perfect Judge, the Ancient of Days.

A Description of the Ancient of Days. In Daniel’s vision, the Judge’s robe is snow white, symbolizing holiness and purity. His hair is as white as lamb’s wool, which is a symbol for being ageless, for having an eternal nature. The Judge’s throne, surrounded by countless angels, is made of flames of fire, and so are the wheels beneath the throne. Those wheels of fire symbolize the Judge’s unlimited range of mobility. He can go wherever He wants at any time, up or down, left or right, heaven or earth, in and out of time and space. The wheels reveal that the Judge’s mobility is not dependent on anyone or anything but Himself. He is a completely independent Being who can go wherever He wants in His judgments. From His throne flows a river of fire. Could we ever find a more poetic picture of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit of God, the river of fire, fills up the courtroom with His presence as they open the books of life and death. Now comes one of the most dramatic scenes in all of Scripture, the only time in the Bible when God the Father meets with God the Son face-to-face.

The Son of Man: “As my vision continued at night, I looked, and there before me was one like a Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.” (Daniel 7:13-14).

On the Son of Man as Jesus Messiah. When Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, He was most likely declaring Himself to be the Messiah, the fulfillment of the Son of Man vision in Daniel 7. Many scholars claim that during Jesus’ time the “Son of Man” was the “highest term used in Jewish thought for the Messiah, and it was the most exalted view of the coming Redeemer.” (Brad Young, Jesus, the Jewish Theologian). So when Jesus used that title, it was commonly understood by those who heard it that He certainly intended to suggest Messiah. Son of Man was Jesus’ favorite way of describing Himself, even though He never once heard that term applied to Him by His disciples.

Human and Divine. Daniel’s vision reveals the “One like the Son of Man” to be in human form, but was also divine, given His sovereignty over all the earth. This majestic person in the vision is “like” the Son of Man, but then again it is obvious here that He is much more than that. When Jesus claims to be the Son of Man, He is referring to both His humanity and His divinity. Jesus claimed to be both aspects of the prophesied Son of Man in Daniel, completely human and completely divine. He claimed to be the glorious fulfillment of Daniel 7, coming in the clouds of heaven to approach God in His eternal presence. Yes, He was born of a human being, mother Mary. And yes, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, God Himself. He was a Person, yet He received from God the kingdom of the earth. The Messiah, both human and divine. Jesus the Messiah. He wasn’t merely “like the Son of Man,” He was as He repeatedly said during His ministry, “the” Son of Man.

4. Angel Gabriel Explains. The angel Gabriel even went so far as to make a personal appearance to help Daniel understand a complex, historical vision in Daniel 8. It clearly had everything to do with “the time of the end.” Daniel was completely overwhelmed with his puzzling vision and the shocking appearance of Gabriel. “I was overcome and lay sick for several days… I was greatly troubled by the vision and simply could not understand it.”(8:27).

More Visions. Daniel continued having visions which even he didn’t understand. Twice, in fact, the angel Gabriel had to interpret his visions. Daniel’s famous intercessory prayer in chapter 9 concerned his sins and the sins of his people. He willingly advocated for his people and shouldered his people’s sinfulness. Soon after, Gabriel again appeared “in swift flight” to Daniel as he was earnestly praying. (Dan. 9).  It appears that when we pray, the angels are summoned into action, praise God. We are told by historians that by the time chapter 10 comes to us, king Cyrus has allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem. Daniel decided to remain in Babylon. Why? Knowing Daniel, he was merely obeying God’s orders to continue the work he has been doing all these years. Daniel was around 90 years old by this time, which would have made that long return to Judah quite difficult anyway.

5. More Heavenly Visitors. “Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. Then I heard the ‘man’ speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. Then he said, ‘O Daniel, a man greatly loved… ‘Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael came to help me.’ While he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word. Then the one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing in front of me, ‘I am filled with anguish because of the vision I have seen, my Lord, and I am very weak. How can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my Lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.’ Then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said, ‘for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!’  As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, ‘Please speak to me, my Lord, for you have strengthened me.’ (Daniel 10).

Another Appearance of the Heavenly Christ. Daniel had many visions that only God could interpret, that he didn’t understand. One time later in his life we find Daniel fasting for three weeks (chapter 10). He witnessed an extraordinary sight while standing on the bank of the Tigris River in Babylon. He saw a heavenly Christ standing before him… pure linen clothing, a belt of pure gold, a body that looked like a precious gem, a face flashing lightning bolts, and arms and legs that shone like polished bronze. This figure in the form of a man also had eyes that flamed out like torches, and his voice roared like the sound of a multitude of people. This sight is virtually identical to John’s vision of Jesus in Revelation 1:13-15. This heavenly being in front of Daniel is certainly Jesus Christ. Daniel’s strength understandably failed him, and he fainted with fright.  Even after Jesus touched him and lifted him up, Daniel was still trembling from head to foot.

Angelic Warriors. Another heavenly visitor came to Daniel at that point (verses 10-11), probably Gabriel the angel, who made sure Daniel recovered from his fainting spell and also to share a message. Gabriel told Daniel that he was precious to God and he should listen carefully to everything he has to say. The divine Messenger explained to Daniel that his prayers had been heard in heaven right from the start, but there was spiritual warfare in the atmosphere above for 21 days which delayed the answers to Daniel’s prayers. The angels were busy fighting a powerful demonic angel named “Prince of Persia” with archangel Michael leading the fight. This ‘Man’ had left archangel Michael to lead the continued fighting against this spiritual resistance above so He could talk to Daniel about what will happen in the “final days.” There is no question we don’t know half of what is spiritually occurring in the atmosphere above us. Perhaps we shouldn’t worry if an answer to our prayers seems delayed. This frightening message once again caused Daniel to lose the ability to talk. But Gabriel touched Daniel’s mouth. Daniel shuddered and croaked out his state of emotions, filled with anguish and weakness, and having a hard time breathing. Daniel said to the angel, “How can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my lord?” (10:17). Daniel was still overwhelmed, and once again Gabriel touched him to give him strength and a measure of peace. Gabriel stated that He must return to that spiritual battle, but first he must reveal Israel’s future, and that of the Gentiles (ch. 11).

6. Michael the Archangel. “At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1).

To and Fro. Evidently, the angelic leader of the heavenly warriors, the archangel Michael, was, and certainly still is, assigned by the Lord to protect and zealously guard, God’s Chosen People. The ‘end time’ is then prophesied, and Biblical scholars since then have debated how to interpret these words. It is prophesied that at the time of the end, “many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” (12:4).  The conclusion to the book of Daniel reveals two more heavenly visitors in 12:5, and with that the prophecies end. Are we there yet, living in a world that is gaining in knowledge every day? We have unprecedented mobility on our planet, and certainly technical and scientific knowledge has increased beyond anyone’s imagination. Of course, only God knows when the end will come.

Dare To Be A Daniel. Daniel was asked by his pagan employers his whole life to compromise his convictions and his faith, but he remained steadfast in a unique kind of holy stubbornness. Loyalty, thy name is Daniel. He was a true prayer warrior. Daniel was somehow able to combine the mystical with the practical, able to be both spiritual and political in a pagan culture. After a lifetime of standing up to the powers-that-be, it’s a miracle he lived to the ripe old age of 90 years old or so. I suspect that Daniel was one of those rare believers who was in a thin place no matter where he went. Let’s all dare to be a Daniel, a voice of divine reason and holy wisdom that somehow maintained credibility and influence in an alien society.