In Daniel 10, Daniel is still seeking this word from God. As we know, he came with a contrite heart, he did a thorough job of confessing his sins, but he is still seeking. What happened?

Daniel says…

5 I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen, whose waist was girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz.

6 His body was like beryl,

Beryl is a very brilliant colored jewel.

his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches, his arms and feet like the gleam of polished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a tumult.

In Daniel 6, we read that Daniel sees the angel Gabriel. However, this was not the angel Gabriel or any other angel. Compare this Person with the one described in the following verse:

Notice: The descriptions are almost identical – both descriptions speak of the same Person:

This vision was given to Daniel as an encouragement and as a confirmation.

7 Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them, and they ran away to hide themselves.

The people who were with Daniel did not see the vision, but there was something about the situation that made them scared to death and they ran.

8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength.

9 But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground.

Daniel goes into a deep sleep.

Another visitor comes…

10 Then behold a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.

11 He said to me, "Daniel, O man greatly beloved, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you." And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

Daniel trembled when he saw the angel. What is amazing is that he was not a very high-ranking angel; he was probably a Messenger (the lowest-ranking angel), but look at the effect he had on Daniel!

12 Then he said to me, "Do not be afraid, Daniel,

And this is amazing…

for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.

God sent an answer (a special communication) to one man (a sinner) who prayed. The angel's message confirms what we now know from the psalmists. Why did God answer Daniel's prayer?

We read his confession in Daniel 9, and once Daniel did that, God dispatched an angel with an answer. However, there was a holdup; the angel says:

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days;

Twenty-one days earlier, Daniel began to confess and the angelic Cherubs recognized him as one of God's children. Instantaneously, Daniel's spirit was in communication with the living God. What did God do? That very second [even before Daniel prayed his request], He dispatched one of His angels to give His message to Daniel.

However, on the way down to Daniel, the godly Messenger had to pass through territory that was being blocked by a prince (Principality) demon (fallen angel following after Satan). Very simply, since the Principality of Persia has a higher rank and a greater power than the Messenger, and the Messenger could not get through. I do not know what the demonic Principality did, because he could not kill the Messenger, but he did exert some kind of restraining power so the godly Messenger could not get through.

The godly Messenger tells Daniel Listen, I have been trying for twenty-one days to get here, but the prince of Persia would not let me through. Finally, the reinforcements (a higher-ranking angel) came:

then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.

I suppose the angelic Messenger could have gotten a couple of godly Dominions or Thrones, but he asked for the very highest rank available — I want the big guy, Michael. So the Archangel Michael came, and somehow he got rid of the demonic Principality of Persia so the godly Messenger could get through and give Daniel God's message.

The fall of Lucifer [who fell and became Satan] and the one third of the angels [who defected with Lucifer and became demons] was the beginning of a huge conflict that will last until the end of the age:

Though the demons are always battling with the godly angels, they cannot kill each other. Can you imagine a war like that?

They fight each other in the following two ways – apparently:

1. They exert force or restraint on each other and they influence each other. Somehow, they can block each other from travel; they have the ability to restrain others of lower rank, or they can stop another one from doing something if they are unequal rank; [I suppose] they just duke it out if it is equal rank.
2. They influence or manipulate human beings.

14 Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the days yet."

Now drop down to verse 20…

20 Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold the prince of Greece is about to come.

The Messenger told Daniel By the way, when I get through here, I am going to go back to that same battleground because the prince (Principality) of Greece is coming.

21 "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these except Michael your prince."

God pulls back the veil and lets us look into the spiritual dimension.

The entire world is organized according to earthly governments, and apparently, the spiritual Principalities correspond to those earthly governments. In another words, this Daniel account tells us there is a Principality of Persia and a Principality of Greece, then it seems obvious that there is a Principality of Germany, a Principality of Great Britain, a Principality of Russia, and a Principality of North America. Evidently, the battles that we see in the physical dimension correspond to battles going on in the spiritual dimension. And, apparently, God takes sides.

The London Times reported a story that occurred during the early days of World War II. Great Britain decided to launch a sneak attack on some German boats in the North Sea. One night, the British sent a fleet of planes from London to the North Sea to sink the German boats. Somehow, the Germans were tipped off, and as soon as the British planes sailed out over the water, they were struck by massive amounts of German anti-aircraft artillery. Almost all of the planes went down, and they were damaged severely — cockpits were directly hit, fuselages were blown apart, wings were torn off, and of course, there were massive deaths.

I am telling this story from the viewpoint of a German reporter who was on one of those German ships. Do you know what he said? As soon as the planes almost hit the water — remember, in some cases there were no wings, fuselages were blown apart, and the cockpits were directly hit — they came back up. Every one of the stricken planes came back up, they kept fighting, and eventually, they accomplished their purpose — they sank all of those German boats except the one the reporter was on, and the reporter was able to go back and tell the story.

The reporter attributed this victory to the great skill of the British pilots! I have to agree, because to not have a cockpit, to not have wings, to not have a fuselage, and for the pilot to be dead, but still fly his plane, I would say That is great skill -sic!

I do not know exactly what happened, but I wonder if the godly Principality beat the demonic Principality. It sure seems that way. By the way, the reporter saw unmistakable outlines of figures in those planes, and as soon as the last German boat was sunk, the planes went down into the drink. Of course, none of the pilots lived to tell the story. It makes you wonder.

What we do know for a fact is that the earth's government is in Satan's hand, and the main battle area for the demons is the human race.

Why did the angel tell Daniel specifically why he was held up? Why did he not say I got held up, sorry? Obviously, he wanted Daniel to know why he was held up. Holy Spirit recorded this account of the spiritual dimension in Scripture; so obviously, He wants us to know about this incident…

Why do we need to know about the godly Messenger being held up for three weeks by the demonic Principality of Persia? I doubt that the answer is because it would be something fun to know; instead, it is:

Ultimately, everything in the Scriptures is to equip believers, so there must be some practical reason for knowing why the demonic Principality held up that godly Messenger for three weeks. I think we have a clue in Ephesians 6, when Paul says:

Let us think about this. The godly Messenger knew:

• Daniel was a man of prayer.
• Daniel came to God on the basis of confession.
• Daniel wanted a special word of communication from God the Father.

I wonder if the angel told Daniel why he got held up and let him look into the spiritual dimension so that next time there was a delay in getting an answer to his prayer, Daniel would know how to pray intelligently. God if there is some angelic warfare preventing You from answering my prayer, then would You send a higher-ranking angel to release him?

Application: Maybe we should know that too; maybe sometime we are:

• Coming to God with a contrite heart,
• Confessing our sin, understanding sin (facing away from God),
• Understanding the opposite of sin (facing toward God), and
• Desiring to have fellowship with God the Father on a personal level (a personal communication)

… and then nothing happens. Maybe it would not be wrong to say:

Summary: Once again, from man's perspective, we would probably put Daniel on a higher level than most human beings. However, Daniel came to God on the basis of who he was — a common man who is a sinner — and he did not try to hide that fact Not because of me, but because of You I want help. Therefore, God bent heaven and earth to get Daniel his answer.

A Believer's Application: If we come on that same basis — desiring that kind of personal fellowship — then I believe God will speak to us. How? I am not going to rule out that it could be angels as the vehicles God will use, but I will say angels speaking directly to man has never been the norm. I believe that God speaks to us personally in a lot of ways, including the following:

• Through other people
• Through a restless spirit
• Through stimulating some kind of specific memories [of something]
• [Above all…] Through illuminating Scripture by the Person of Holy Spirit. God speaks to us when we are reading the Bible; all of a sudden Holy Spirit will enable us to see and understand a verse that has unbelievable application to us in a very personal way. You will feel the love of God in your spirit when that happens.

I think it would be exciting to know all of the possible ways God could speak to us. Let us to look at Jeremiah 33.

Here is what Charles Spurgeon (preacher of the late nineteenth century) said about this verse:

I challenge ALL of us to call upon God and see what ways He comes up with to let us know that we are His children.

Father, we thank You for Your word. Thank You for Your mighty promises, which are almost paradoxical: We are all born sinners – You hate sin – [and yet] You love us! We thank You that the reason You love us is because You satisfied ALL the demands of Your wrath on the Son of God (the incarnate Messiah Jesus), and You do not have a problem with those of us who believe He is our Savior.

Thank You for making the redeemed Your own children. And now You are challenging all of us to call upon You. We believe that if we come to You with a contrite heart, confessing our sin, knowing that in ourselves we are nothing, but in You we are the possessors of all of your riches. Then You will show us great and mighty things which we do not know. And if Your angels bring us Your messages, we can rejoice in knowing that You have once again given us exactly what we needed to know.

Help us Father to seek Your face, and help us to believe Your truths. We thank You for the gift of Your Holy Spirit who makes this possible, and we ask that You make us aware of His presence in our lives in this day.

We pray these things in the name of our Messiah, Jesus. Amen.

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