Daniel Unlocked #70. A Great Conflict.
In Daniel 10:20-21 the heavenly messenger pulls the curtain aside and reveals to Daniel the cosmic war that transpires behind the scenes of human history. As soon as Daniel (and no doubt Ezra) begins to pray, a spiritual battle starts between heaven and earth. Heavenly beings began a struggle with the king of Persia to let the Jews continue the reconstruction of the temple. We know from the opening of Daniel 10 that the king of Persia is Cyrus. However, a human king left by himself cannot offer significant opposition to a heavenly being. This indicates that behind the human king stands a spiritual agent who moves Cyrus to stop the Jews from rebuilding the temple. A similar situation occurs in Ezekiel 28, in which the king of Tyre represents Satan, the spiritual power behind the human king of that city. So, it should not be surprising that the kings of Persia against whom Michael comes to fight include Satan and his angels. This shows that the human opposition to the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem has a counterpart in the spiritual realm.
V13 reveals the invisible conflict between good and evil angels in the great controversy between good and evil.
This is a characteristic of this book that has been revealed before. Satan, we see, strives at the highest level to influence governments (Persia in this case) to show disfavour against the people of God.
The most prominent character in the book of Daniel is the figure initially called “Son of Man” (Dan. 7:13,) or “Prince of the host” (Dan. 8:11). Eventually we learn that His name is Michael (Dan. 10:21), which means “Who is like God?” He comes to help Gabriel in the conflict with the king of Persia (Dan. 10:13). The angel refers to this heavenly being as “Michael your prince” (Dan. 10:21), namely, the prince of God’s people. Michael appears later in the book of Daniel as the One who stands for God’s people (Dan. 12:1).
From Jude 9, we learn that Michael, also called an archangel, fights against Satan and resurrects Moses. Archangel simply means leader of the angels, just like the President of the USA is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Revelation 12:7 reveals that Michael stands as the leader of the heavenly army, which defeats Satan and his fallen angels. Thus, Michael is none other than Jesus Christ. As the Persian Empire has a supreme commander, a spiritual force who stands behind its human leader, so God’s people have in Michael their Commander-in-Chief, who steps in to fight and win the cosmic war on their behalf.
In Colossians 2:15 Paul tells us that Jesus has disarmed the principalities and powers of this world. As we face the forces of evil, we can have faith in Jesus our champion. He defeats Satan in the beginning of His public ministry. During His earthly life, He defeats Satan in the desert when assaulted with temptations, He fights demonic hordes, and He sets people free from the power of darkness. Jesus defeats evil even when it is disguised behind Peter’s attempt to dissuade Him from moving toward Calvary. In His final words to the disciples, Jesus speaks of His impending death as a battle, which will culminate in a decisive victory over Satan: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:31, 32). Sometimes we look around, and things look really bad. Violence, immorality, corruption, and diseases crop up everywhere. An enemy, not made of flesh and blood, brutally attacks us from all sides. But no matter how difficult the battles we must fight, Jesus fights for us and stands as our Prince and High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary.