The Conflict Behind the Conflict: Spiritual Warfare (Daniel 10:1-11:1)
Daniel: The End Times, The Kingdom of God, and Politics (Oh My!) • Sermon • Submitted
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Please turn to Daniel 10.
One of the most famous movie scenes--is where Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker have a light saber duel, and Darth Vader cuts off Luke’s hand b/c Luke is not ready for such a duel (Yoda warned Luke about that b/c Yoda knows all). and Darth Vader reveals He is Luke’s Father and and offers him to turn to the dark side of the Force and rule the galaxy by his side.
but Luke would rather die than serve the darkside, so Luke jumps and falls into a deep reactor chasm as part of the ship.
but if you watch the behind the scenes—there is a famous shot of Luke getting ready to fall—and there are a bunch of cushions about 7 or 8 feet below.
Or if you have ever seen the movie Jaws—with the shark—that was one of the first blockbusters—it is a terrifying movie and makes you never want to get into the ocean—and when you do you hear that da…da…da…da…da...
but there are some movie shots of an actor and crew member laying in the shark’s mouth laughing—b/c it is mechanical...
when the curtain is opened—you see how the movie really made and what it really took, and it changes your perspective when you watch the movie again.
well the point of Daniel and books like Zechariah and Revelation—what are called apocalyptic passages of Scripture...
is to peer back the curtain and see behind the scenes of what is really going in on the world.
we got a glimpse in chapter 9—behind the scenes into how God works--
Last week we saw he prayed a prayer of confession—asking God for spiritual restoration…forgiveness
and physical restoration...
And God answered and said I have a timetable that you know nothing about. That’s God’s answer behind the scenes.
and now in Daniel 10—we are going to get a view behind the scenes—of the conflict behind the conflict—behind the scenes...
Look at Daniel 10:1 for the context.
1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a revelation was given to Daniel (who was called Belteshazzar). Its message was true and it concerned a great war. The understanding of the message came to him in a vision.
so 3rd year of Cyrus King of Persia.
Daniel is a faithful follower of God and yet a politician—I guess it is possible!
working in a foreign, pagan, non-Christian gov’t.
He already served Babylon.
Babylon came and went.
And there is a new kingdom in town---Persia.
and this is the 3rd year.
Now, we know from Biblical history, the amazing thing about this time period—that despite God’s people being in captivity and exile, under foreign power—God moved the heart of the pagan king Cyrus to send God’s people back to Jerusalem to build the temple.
look at this.
2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “ ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.
3 Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.
back to Daniel
2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks.
3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.
so Daniel is praying, doing at least a partial fast, abstaining from choice food. why?
We know from the book of Ezra that the rebuilding of the temple was not all smooth sailing; there was much opposition so perhaps he heard a report about that.
he also may simply be praying in response to the vision of the 70 (7)’s) from chapter 9.
let’s keep going.
4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river, the Tigris,
5 I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist.
6 His body was like topaz, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude.
Daniel sees a heavenly being—most likely an angel in the higher ranks of angels.
7 I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; those who were with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves.
8 So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless.
9 Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground.
10 A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
11 He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling.
Daniel is overwhelmed, exhausted by what he is experiencing...
12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.
13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.
14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.”
this heavenly being reveals that he was detained from coming, prevented from coming, because the Prince of the Persian Kingdom resisted him for those 3 weeks (the time that Daniel was praying).
who is this Prince of Persia?
Who is Michael?
before I answer, let’s keep reading...
15 While he was saying this to me, I bowed with my face toward the ground and was speechless.
16 Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing before me, “I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I feel very weak.
17 How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.”
again Daniel is overwhelmed...
exhausted by this revelation
let’s keep going
18 Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.
19 “Do not be afraid, you who are highly esteemed,” he said. “Peace! Be strong now; be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Speak, my lord, since you have given me strength.”
20 So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come;
21 but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince.
1 And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.)
so what is going on?
We get a peek behind the curtain of life.
Main Point: Behind the scenes, there is a greater war going on. A conflict behind the conflict.
In other words, everything we see in life is not just physical or material, but spiritual.
There is a spiritual reality behind the scenes.
There is a spiritual conflict going on in the nations behind the seemingly just political and kingdom conflicts.
in verses 12-14, Daniel learns that the answer to his prayer has been delayed 21 days by some type of heavenly being—called the Prince of Persia. “The Prince of the Persian Kingdom resisted me 21 days...” this Prince of Persia (not mentioned anywhere else) is some type of fall angel—demonic being that prevents the heavenly angel from coming to answer Daniel’s prayer and give the vision in chapter 11.
and so God sends Michael, one of the chief heavenly angels to come do battle against the Prince of Persia. Michael is mentioned a couple other places in Scripture—Revelation 12:7, and Jude 9. He is pictured as battling on behalf of God’s people.
And we also learn at the end of the chapter that the Prince of Persia—that kingdom will fall—and a new prince will come—a new demonic reality—the Prince of Greece. so Persia won’t last forever.
Concerning this idea of heavenly beings behind nations is not found much in Scripture, so we have to be careful we don’t read more than what is given there!
However, One Biblical scholar says it like this— “What underpins this verse is the idea that God has fixed the geopolitical borders of nations according to assignments given to angels. And this has further, older Biblical warrant.” (David Helm—God’s Word for You Daniel series)
8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.
9 For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance.
The “Sons of Israel” some translations say “sons of God” are likely angels.
so God set up different nations, political territories with heavenly beings, a divine council behind it.
so Daniel (and us) are getting a view into a behind the scenes reality—a spiritual reality—that behind the nations raging there are spiritual beings
there is conflict behind the conflict—that is greater than just political, relational, physical, biological, sociological—it’s spiritual
So how do we respond to this?
Note: chapter 10 is only the prologue—the answer to Daniel’s prayer is chapters 11 and 12—, so really chapters 10-12 go together as one unit, but how do we respond to chapter 10?
My goal is to be as practical as possible.
I have broken it into 3 categories:
Response:
Category #1: Know/Understand
Category #1: Know/Understand
In other words, there are some things we need to know when it comes to this spiritual realm.
Part of what is going on here is a reminder that our reality is more than just the physical, scientific, the material, the biological—even the political.
There’s a spiritual realm.
It’s a reminder that we live in a world with spiritual beings—angels and demons.
What are angels and demons by the way:
Angels: are spiritual beings of a different order than humans. They were created by God (we don’t know when) but they are intelligent, moral, spiritual, powerful created to worship God and carry out his will.
Demons and the devil: (kingdom of darkness) used to be angels and were created by God to serve him, but rebelled against God along with the devil. They are intelligent and possess great power as well.
this passage even suggest a hierarchy of angels and demons.
And both angels and demons continue to be active. Angels doing God’s bidding. demons serving the kingdom of darkness to detract from God’s glory, and deceive human beings.
and so as part of this spiritual warfare reality we need to aware of angels and demons/the devil.
not only on the individual level (which we usually think about with spiritual warfare) but the national level like we see here in Daniel.
so as we know—there seems to be 2 errors you can get into
one error: under-emphasizing them or ignoring them. which may be our greatest problem here in America and the West. because when we see a problem—we look for a physical solution or a medical solution or a scientific solution, or maybe we look for a psychological solution, or a moral solution, or a family background, sociological solution—and all of these things should be considered—but if we don’t consider the spiritual, we are missing out. We need to remember that behind the scenes there is a cosmic war going on. and we need to consider it—it should affect how we diagnose a problem; how we pray; how we intervene in people’s lives. that our struggle is not just against flesh and blood but against the rulers, authorities in the heavenly realm!
Some will not see progress spiritually unless a problem is spiritually addressed, that’s prayed against, demonic influence confronted and even cast out.
so in the problems you face, your family, your relationships, our county, and world—have you stopped to consider the spiritual reality?
the other error is to overemphasize them—that behind every single problem is a demon or a spiritual warfare thing. behind every instance of anger is a demon; behind laziness is spiritual warfare—that’s another danger to over-spiritualize stuff. sometimes you can miss an obvious solution or fail to admit that the problem is your heart. and it also gives the kingdom of darkness too much credit and power.
and it seems like depending on your personality you may go from one to the other — over or under
CS Lewis famously said in his book the Screwtape Letters (where it is fiction) but it imagines a senior demon mentoring a younger demon how to tempt us.
“There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased with both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
If you want to be a true person of wisdom—you recognize that God created us as physical beings, psychological beings, social beings, moral beings, and spiritual beings.
From Tim Keller — so there was a famous puritan Thomas Brooks who wrote a book on this, and he was a pastor saying how do you deal with melancholy (that’s an old word for feeling depressed)?
well if we are feeling down—part of the solution may be physical. We need rest; we need good food, exercise, maybe medicine because we are material and physical/biological/chemical beings
it may also be psychological—so we need treatment, therapy, counseling, encouragement
it may be moral—maybe we are dealing with bitterness and can’t forgive, and we need help; maybe we committed a horrible act and need forgiveness
or it may also be spiritual—where we are being spiritual attacked and deceived.
Now a truly wise person considers them all and is in tune to all these things.
So there are some things to know—we need to be aware of this spiritual realm; consider it, but not obsess either.
consider it personally—but in this passage nationally, globally…that behind the kingdoms of this world is a battle, a spiritual battle that God wanted Daniel to be aware of and us, too.
knowing is so important—GI Joe used to say “Now you know—and knowing is half the battle...” we need to know because the devil’s greatest scheme is lying; he’s the father of lies; deception; deceiving; that’s how the devil tricked Adam and Eve disguised as a snake; twisting God’s Word.
There are some things we have to GROW IN DOING.
I could preach a whole follow up series of sermons on spiritual warfare—especially from Ephesians 6:10-20 which talks about the full armor of God.
one area is the Bible—grow in our Bible
17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Daniel knew God’s Word; that’s what emboldened him to pray.
Jesus in the wilderness—as Satan lied fought back with the Word of God.
And the kingdom of darkness is so clever—Satan can even twist God’s Word.
so one area is the Bible—is our sword sharp—are we living on every word that comes from the mouth of God?
we can’t
but one area that Daniel models for us —is prayer. We must grow in prayer. One of the ways we engage in spiritual warfare, individually but even nationally is through prayer. Daniel has a passionate prayer life and intimacy with God. He prays 3x a day in Daniel 6, which leads to the lion’s den. In chapter 9, he intercedes and prays for forgiveness for his people and restoration. and now in chapter 10 he is praying again—for God to intervene to help restore his people. he is observing fasts, and avoiding lotions and hygiene. He is mourning. One of the ways we battle is prayer.
The Apostle Paul mentions that in the New Testament that as part of our spiritual warfare individually and as a church—we need to pray.
18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,
20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.
application:
2 ways to grow in prayer:
Seek God for the City —during Lent Feb. 17 - March 28—a page a day to pray.
Dathen’s prayer group - 7 - 8pm.
What praying does is it:
appropriates the full armor of God—if you read Ephesians 6 and it talks about putting on the armor of God—most of the images there with the helmet of salvation, breastplate of righteousness, belt of truth—are things you need to know—but prayer takes them from up here in our heads and pounds them into our hearts.
it also helps pray nationally, globally—that behind the scenes is a world we don’t fully understand but recognize its influence.
now I have given you some ordinary categories of this spiritual warfare—Bible reading, prayer, I didn’t mention confession, community; but sometimes it may be more extraordinary
Category 3: Rejoice
Category 3: Rejoice
I will emphasize this more next week. Know is the head. Grow is the hands. Rejoice is the heart. because what we rejoice in, we celebrate and value, and what we celebrate and value changes us. What do we rejoice in?
God is bigger (chapter 11)
God is bigger and more powerful than the kingdom of darkness, and the prince of Persia and the Prince of Greece. The battle we see going is not between God and darkness—it’s between God’s angels and demons, and the good guys still win! because the Bible reminds us that the devil and God are not equal but opposite forces! No the devil is a fallen angel—he belongs to the angelic and demonic realm. They are all under God’s authority and power!
next week, we will see that even though there are heavenly beings at work behind the scenes on a national, global scale, they are still no match for God. God is not surprised; they do battle, but God is over them all. chapter 11 will show a vision that predicts the future of the next empires in a very detailed fashion. so yes the nations rage politically; behind the nations raging is a cosmic battle; and yet God is in control over it all.
rejoice in that! Daniel’s prayer was answered! Michael the angel won! We serve a big God and need not fear the kingdom of darkness.
Jesus has won and will win the day.
If you think about Jesus Christ’s life—we have a huge advantage than Daniel. why?
because Jesus Christ, the Son of God came. The curtain has been opened even more and we see more of what happened after Daniel.
because in the NT—it is clear--The battle belongs to Jesus Christ.
In his ministry, he faced tremendous demonic opposition, but he identified and cast out every single one, even a legion of demons from one man. No contest. He spoke, they were gone. They were scared of Jesus Christ! If you have or are being tormented by demons—if you are in Christ—greater is He who is in you than the world. There is no condemnation for those in Christ.
If you are facing temptation--when Jesus was in the desert—and he was fasting like Daniel—except for 40 days—he was tempted by the devil, and Jesus responded perfectly every time, using His Sword. Cling to the Word of God—Jesus Christ.
He displayed that power over the darkness perfectly.
Jesus especially showed his power over demonic forces on the cross. What?
This same Son of God who displayed his power over darkness, allowed himself to be killed by it. This was surprising.
Though he had all the power in the world, he subjected himself to death, even death on a cross.
He did this so that God’s justice would be fulfilled—sin had to be paid for—our sin. and God’s love would be displayed—His mercy and grace. Our sin put on Him; his forgiveness and righteousness given us.
and what’s amazing about the cross—what seemed like a moment of weakness where Jesus gave up—is actually Jesus winning…not just our salvation, but over the powers of darkness.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,
14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
NIV Study Bible: “In the crucifixion God paradoxically did to the powers what they did to Christ when they dragged him through Jerusalem, stripped him naked, treated him with contempt, and nailed the charges against him on the cross. God stripped the “powers and authorities” of their power and exposed their weakness. Christ’s victory on the cross brings freedom from the tyranny of these alien forces.”
"Satan the great slanderer no longer has the power to bring charges against Christians. His accusations about our sin, while they may be factually accurate, will not stick. God has forgiven us and cancelled all the debt of our sin; all of the paperwork that document our guilt before God has been nailed to the cross. Because of the cross and resurrection, the devil’s greatest threat has been neutralized.” Matt McKinley (57) “Did the Devil Make Me Do it”
“Roman generals celebrated their victories by marching through the streets of Rome exhibiting the spoils of war and parading their captives. Paul’s metaphor of the victory parade (2 Cor 2:14; Eph 4:8) imagines the cross as the chariot in which Christ rode as a triumphant general. Paul may envision Christ’s vanquished foes trailing behind him in humiliating defeat.” NIV Study Bibles
Closing:
going deeper
prayer group