Unveiling the Three Angelic Touches in Daniel’s Vision: A Prophetic Revelation
Key Takeaways
Chapter ten of the book of Daniel unveils a profound revelation through three angelic touches corresponding to three visionary experiences of Daniel. These touches, administered by Gabriel and Michael, signify not only divine communication but also the empowerment of Daniel to understand and convey prophetic messages. The chapter highlights the significance of Gabriel’s identification as the messenger of Christ and emphasizes Christ’s role as “Michael your prince,” the archangel. Each touch represents a distinct stage of spiritual empowerment and understanding, culminating in Daniel’s strengthened resolve to fulfill his prophetic mission. The chapter’s intricate symbolism and prophetic narrative provide insights into the unfolding events of the latter days, including the rise and fall of kingdoms and the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. Moreover, it parallels with the messages of Revelation, Ezekiel, and Isaiah, underscoring the continuity and interconnectedness of prophetic revelations across biblical texts.
- Chapter ten of Daniel features three angelic touches corresponding to three visionary experiences of Daniel.
- These touches are administered by Gabriel and Michael, indicating divine communication and empowerment.
- Gabriel identifies himself as the messenger of Christ and acknowledges Christ as “Michael your prince,” the archangel.
- The touches symbolize stages of spiritual empowerment and understanding for Daniel.
- They culminate in Daniel’s strengthened resolve to fulfill his prophetic mission.
- Gabriel’s message includes insights into the latter days, the rise and fall of kingdoms, and the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand.
- The chapter’s symbolism and narrative parallel with messages in Revelation, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.
- It underscores the continuity and interconnectedness of prophetic revelations across biblical texts.
- Daniel’s experience serves as an inspired illustration of true sanctification and unwavering fidelity to God’s will.
In chapter ten Daniel is touched three times, and those three touches correspond to the three times Daniel personally experiences the “mareh,” vision. The first and last appearances were of Gabriel, the messenger of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Gabriel identifies he is the one who takes the message from Christ, that was given Him by the father, and delivers it to the prophet, who is to send it to the churches.
But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. Daniel 10:21.
Gabriel knows he is a created being, and this is why he straightly informed John not to worship him in the book of Revelation.
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Revelation 19:10.
The student of prophecy is therefore to understand that the reason Gabriel identifies that there is none above him in connection with what “is noted in the scripture of truth,” has a specific prophetic purpose. When he identifies the fact that only Christ understands the scriptures better than himself, he identifies Christ as “Michael your prince.” But Michael is not only a prince, he is the archangel.
Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Jude 7.
All three touches are therefore angelic touches, and the three times Daniel experiences the “mareh,” vision it is angelic. The third time Daniel is touched it is to be strengthened, for previously, at the second touch he lost his strength.
Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. Daniel 10:18–20.
Gabriel reminds Daniel that he had “come to make” Daniel “understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days,” when he asked Daniel if he “knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee?” In agreement with what he had taught Daniel of the latter days, Gabriel then states that he would then “return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come.” He then begins the prophetic narrative of chapter eleven, where the latter days, and what befalls the one hundred and forty-four thousand in the latter days is identified. That prophetic narrative is placed in the context of the battle with “the prince of Persia: and “the prince of Grecia.”
The actual history between Cyrus the Great and Alexander the Great was over two hundred years. But in the great earthquake of Revelation chapter eleven, the final movements are rapid ones, and as soon as the sixth kingdom is conquered by the counterfeit king of the north, the seventh kingdom, the ten kings, represented by Greece, immediately agree to give their kingdom unto the beast.
At one level the “mareh,” vision is employed seven times in Daniel chapter ten. We have considered four of those seven times, and identified that the first reference is Daniel identifying that before the third year of Cyrus Daniel understood the vision. In the next three references the three touches at each vision identify the experience of Daniel as he awakens from the mourning of the twenty-one days. His awakening of revival is structured upon the three-step process of the everlasting gospel, and the three steps are represented by angel’s, though step number two is Michael the archangel, who is He who raised Moses out of death, and translated him into heaven.
The other three times the word “vision,” is located in chapter ten, is not the “mareh,” it is the “marah.” “Marah,” is the feminine of “mareh.” It means a vision, and causatively a “mirror” or “looking-glass”. The key to its definition is that it is “causative.” It is the vision of “the appearance”, but it is different in its gender, thus identifying a different prophetic message. As its definition the “mirror,” implies that those who see the vision, see some type of reflection. This is the element of the word that is “causative.” The definition of a causative word in the context of “marah,” is profound.
The term “causative” relates to the concept of causation or the action of causing something to happen. In linguistics, specifically in verb morphology, the causative form is a grammatical construction that indicates that the subject of a verb is causing another person or thing to perform the action described by the verb. For example, in English, the verb “to read” becomes causative when we say “to make someone read.” Here, the subject is causing another person to perform the action of reading.
The causative form indicates that the subject is responsible for bringing about the action described by the verb. “Causative” refers to the manner in which an action or event is caused to occur. The three times Daniel uses the Hebrew word “marah,” the vision that is looked upon causes the beholder to be changed into the image he is beholding.
And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel; Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance (mareh) of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude. And I Daniel alone saw the vision (marah): for the men that were with me saw not the vision (marah); but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was left alone, and saw this great vision (marah), and there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. Daniel 10:4–9.
At the end of the twenty-one days of mourning, which in the last days align with the three and a half days the two witnesses are dead in the street, Daniel was suddenly caused to see the appearance of Christ, and His appearance is “as the appearance (mareh) of lightning.” That event, at the end of the three and a half days of Revelation chapter eleven, produces a separation, for “the men that were with” Daniel were caused to “[see] not the vision (marah); but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. Therefore” Daniel “was left alone,” but “the men that were with me [were caused to see] not the vision (marah); but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves.
The vision that Daniel saw while he was alone was the feminine, causative vision that transformed Daniel into the image of the vision. The transformation was accomplished by Daniel’s human strength being removed, and his comeliness being turned into corruption.
“The very flesh in which the soul tabernacles and through which it works is the Lord’s. We have no right to neglect any part of the living machinery. Every portion of the living organism is the Lord’s. The knowledge of our own physical organism should teach us that every member is to do God’s service, as an instrument of righteousness.
“None but God can subdue the pride of man’s heart. We cannot save ourselves. We cannot regenerate ourselves. In the heavenly courts there will be no song sung, To me that loved myself, and washed myself, redeemed myself, unto me be glory and honor, blessing and praise. But this is the keynote of the song that is sung by many here in this world. They do not know what it means to be meek and lowly in heart; and they do not mean to know this, if they can avoid it. The whole gospel is comprised in learning of Christ, His meekness and lowliness.
“What is justification by faith? It is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust, and doing for man that which it is not in his power to do for himself.” Testimonies to Ministers, 456.
The experience of justification by faith is the work of God in laying the glory of man in the dust. The vision the men that were with Daniel were caused to flee from was the “causative” feminine vision of Christ’s appearance, and immediately after Daniel’s self-righteousness was laid in the dust, the three angelic touches were applied that ultimately empowered Daniel to carry the message.
In 1888, the mighty angel descended with the message of justification by faith, as presented by Elders Jones and Waggoner. That very same angel again descended on September 11, 2001, with the very same message of justification by faith. That marked the beginning of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand. At the ending of the sealing of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, the message at the beginning is repeated, for Jesus always illustrates the end of a thing, with the beginning of a thing.
On August 11, 1840 that very same angel descended and began the three-steps that were accomplished from 1840 to 1844. Those three steps began with the empowerment of the first angel on August 11, 1840, the arrival of the second angel on April 19, 1844, and the arrival of the third angel on October 22, 1844. That history prefigured the descent of the first of three angels on September 11, 2001, which was followed by the second angel at the disappointment of July 18, 2020, and that concludes with the arrival of the third angel at the soon coming Sunday law.
At the end of that history, when Michael descends to resurrect Moses and Elijah after the three and a half days of death in the streets, as represented in Revelation chapter eleven, and as also represented by Daniel’s twenty-one days of mourning, Christ again descends. He first presents the vision of His glory, the vision which lays the glory of man in the dust, and produces a separation. Once Daniel is in the dust, and after Daniel has become changed by beholding the “causative” feminine vision, he is touched by Gabriel the first time, and placed upon his trembling feet.
Then Michael the archangel descends to “resurrect Moses” and touches Daniel the second time, leaving him powerless for being overwhelmed with the reality that he was actually speaking to his Lord. Then Gabriel comes and touches him the third time, and strengthens him for the work of being the ensign in the soon-coming Sunday law. The three touches are symbols of the three angels of Revelation fourteen, though they occur in a single day.
The experience of the first angel includes the appearance of Christ as lightning, the “causative” vision that separates, and the first touch that raises Daniel out of the dust of his human glory. The first angel possesses all three steps included in the first, for it represents the first message. It is not an accident that the first touch is recorded in verses NINE to ELEVEN.
Yet heard I the voice of his words: and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I in a deep sleep on my face, and my face toward the ground. And, behold, an hand touched me, which set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Daniel 10:9–11.
The experience of the second touch, which was administered by Christ Himself, changes Daniel from being unable to speak, to being able to speak with his Lord. In the second touch, Daniel has no breath, so he is here represented at the point of Ezekiel’s first message in chapter thirty-seven.
And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spake, and said unto him that stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, straightway there remained no strength in me, neither is there breath left in me. Daniel 10:15–17.
In the second message of Ezekiel, a message from the four winds is to be breathed upon the bones, that they might live and stand up as a mighty army. The empowerment of that army is represented by the third touch.
Then there came again and touched me one like the appearance of a man, and he strengthened me, And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. But I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. Also I in the first year of Darius the Mede, even I, stood to confirm and to strengthen him. And now will I show thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and by his strength through his riches he shall stir up all against the realm of Grecia. Daniel 10:18–11:2.
The message that brings the two witnesses to life in Ezekiel chapter thirty-seven is the message of Islam of the third Woe, but line upon line, the message that Gabriel identifies in the illustration of Michael raising Moses up and taking him up into heaven as an ensign, is the message of the final president of the United States. It is the message of the sixth president (the Republican horn) who was slain in 2020, as had been the true Protestant horn. In Daniel’s narrative the resurrection from the days of mourning for the true Protestant horn, led into the identification of the resurrection of the Republican horn.
Seven times in Daniel chapter ten, the word “vision” or “appearance” is employed. Those seven references are identified by the same Hebrew word, with the exception that three of those times the word is in the feminine tense and the other four it is in the masculine tense. Seven being the number of perfection, and the three-four combination that equals seven is a primary characteristic of the book of Revelation where the last three of the Seven churches, and the last three of the Seven Seals, and the last three of the Seven Trumpets are specifically distinguished from the first four.
The books of Daniel and Revelation are the same book, and in this sense Daniel and John are the same last day symbol. The vision of Christ in chapter ten, is the vision of Christ in Revelation chapter one.
In Revelation chapter one, John hears a voice behind him and turns to see the one who is speaking.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. Revelation 1:10, 11.
Whether it is the three touches in Daniel chapter ten, or the same vision in chapter one of Revelation, or the two messages of Ezekiel in chapter thirty-seven, or Isaiah being touched with a live coal from off the altar, the experience is identifying the empowering of the final warning message, and that message begins at the resurrection of the two witnesses on July of 2023. Daniel, John, Ezekiel and Isaiah all represent a messenger that hears the “voice” from the “old paths” behind him, which asks, “whom shall I send?” When that messenger responds, “here I am, send me,” he is strengthened and raises his voice, as one who is crying in the wilderness. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.”
We will continue this study in our next article.
“Upon the occasion just described, the angel Gabriel imparted to Daniel all the instruction which he was then able to receive. A few years afterward, however, the prophet desired to learn more of subjects not yet fully explained, and again set himself to seek light and wisdom from God. ‘In those days I Daniel was mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all…. Then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz. His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude’ (Daniel 10:2–6).
“This description is similar to that given by John when Christ was revealed to him upon the Isle of Patmos. No less a personage than the Son of God appeared to Daniel. Our Lord comes with another heavenly messenger to teach Daniel what would take place in the latter days.
“The great truths revealed by the world’s Redeemer are for those who search for truth as for hid treasures. Daniel was an aged man. His life had been passed amid the fascinations of a heathen court, his mind cumbered with the affairs of a great empire. Yet he turns aside from all these to afflict his soul before God, and seek a knowledge of the purposes of the Most High. And in response to his supplications, light from the heavenly courts was communicated for those who should live in the latter days. With what earnestness, then, should we seek God, that He may open our understanding to comprehend the truths brought to us from heaven.
“‘I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great quaking fell upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves…. And there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength’ (verses 7, 8). All who are truly sanctified will have a similar experience. The clearer their views of the greatness, glory, and perfection of Christ, the more vividly will they see their own weakness and imperfection. They will have no disposition to claim a sinless character; that which has appeared right and comely in themselves will, in contrast with Christ’s purity and glory, appear only as unworthy and corruptible. It is when men are separated from God, when they have very indistinct views of Christ, that they say, ‘I am sinless; I am sanctified.’
“Gabriel now appeared to the prophet, and thus addressed him: ‘Oh Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words’ (verses 11, 12).
“What great honor is shown to Daniel by the Majesty of heaven! He comforts His trembling servant and assures him that his prayer has been heard in heaven. In answer to that fervent petition the angel Gabriel was sent to affect the heart of the Persian king. The monarch had resisted the impressions of the Spirit of God during the three weeks while Daniel was fasting and praying, but heaven’s Prince, the Archangel, Michael, was sent to turn the heart of the stubborn king to take some decided action to answer the prayer of Daniel.
“‘And when he had spoken such words unto me, I set my face toward the ground, and I became dumb. And, behold, one like the similitude of the sons of men touched my lips…. And said, O man greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and said, Let my Lord speak; for thou hast strengthened me’ (verses 15–19). So great was the divine glory revealed to Daniel that he could not endure the sight. Then the messenger of heaven veiled the brightness of his presence and appeared to the prophet as ‘one like the similitude of the sons of men’ (verse 16). By his divine power he strengthened this man of integrity and of faith, to hear the message sent to him from God.
“Daniel was a devoted servant of the Most High. His long life was filled up with noble deeds of service for his Master. His purity of character and unwavering fidelity are equaled only by his humility of heart and his contrition before God. We repeat, The life of Daniel is an inspired illustration of true sanctification.” Sanctified Life, 49–52.
Amen! Since July of 2023 we have been touched by “the appearance” of Christ in His prophetic Word from the four winds of Islam, that “causes” us to be changed into the likeness of Christ, with the heavenly breath that has been given to us so that we can speak in His name!