Daniel had a vision of Jesus. The hand that touched him was not Jesus but was an angel sent to speak with Daniel. This messenger was delayed in coming to Daniel because of resistance in the heavens. He (the angel) was helped by the archangel Michael (one of the chief princes, v13), whom he refers to as your prince (v21). Michael is the chief angel who stands for the people of Israel.
The resistance came from the prince of the
kingdom of Persia (v13). The angel tried
to come to Daniel from the first day he began to pray for understanding, but it
took three weeks for the angel to get through the opposition. This might seem strange, but it is something
very real. Demons are the unseen power
behind the kings of this earth. Eph.
6:12 describes demons as “world-rulers” (Greek kosmokratos). You see similar scenes in Ezek.
28:1-10,11-19 with “the King of Tyre” and Isaiah 14:4-23 with “the King of
Babylon.”
Just who is Satan? He is the prince of the power (authority)
of the air (Eph. 2:2) the ruler of this world (John 12:31). He is the god of this age (2 Cor.
4:4), Beelzebub (lit. lord of the dung; Matt. 12:24), and with
him are various “gods” (2 Ki. 17:30-31; 1 Ki. 11:1-8). These “gods” are, in fact, demons according
to 1 Cor. 10:14-22. The great power of
these demons is seen in 2 Ki. 3:21-27 and Rev. 16:12-16. God is fulfilling His promise to His Son
(Psa. 2:6-9); Satan is doing all he can to hinder it. Christ’s exaltation is what this vision is
about, as with the other prophecies of Daniel.
Scripture also speaks of the angels who serve
God as an “army.” Elisha knew he was
protected by an unseen host of heaven (2 Ki. 6:15-17). Angels are among the host that accompanies
Christ in His return (Rev. 19:11-19).
You may remember that each of the seven churches of Rev. 2-3 had an
angel who served Christ.
God is the Sovereign Lord. We say that not only to remind us of the One
who guarantees the outcome. He is also
the one who gives Satan and his hordes their authority. Satan has authority to
deceive, tempt and to rule this world. As he is the prince of the power of the air, the battle is being waged between
heaven and earth. That is why the angel
was delayed when coming to earth from heaven to speak with Daniel.
What does this mean to us? Should we fear Satan? No! We are to fear God only (Mt. 10:28). Are we to go about rebuking Satan, telling
him where he can go? No! Even Michael didn’t rebuke Satan (Jude
8-10). Prayer is the key. That is what Daniel was doing when all this
took place. The great “spiritual warfare
passage” (Eph. 6:10-20) ends by calling us to pray (v18-20). We pray because the bottom line is our obsession
with God, not with Satan or demons or even angels. James 4:7-8 is clear: Submit to God, resist
the Devil, draw near to God! We
know one thing Daniel didn’t know.
Jesus, through His resurrection, has disarmed Satan and his thugs (Col.
2:14-15). Hold fast to the end; be
faithful for the Lord reigns!
No comments:
Post a Comment