The Rise and Fall of Nations – Spiritual Warfare pt. 1

Daniel 10

(13) “but the prince of the kingdom of persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and i remained there with the kings of persia.”

The structure is:

1. The phrase, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days,” refers to a fallen angel appointed by Satan to control the Persian Government. Gabriel had to oppose this fallen angel and for reasons we will momentarily discuss.

2. The phrase, “But, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me,” pertains to Michael, the mighty Archangel, the Angel who is in charge of Israel, who came to help Gabriel regarding this conflict.

3. The phrase, “And I remained there with the kings of Persia,” doesn’t refer to earthly kings, but, again, to many fallen angels, who evidently were mighty and powerful. They were there to help the “prince of the kingdom of Persia,” the chief evil angel appointed by Satan as it regarded the Persian Empire.

The Prince of the Kingdom of Persia

This Scripture appears to reveal that Satan places an agent in charge of every nation (fallen angel); and, if so, this may explain national hatreds and national movements.

Similarly, God has His Angelic agents operating in opposition to Satan’s. The conflict of Ephesians, Chapter 6, and the battle of Revelation, Chapter 12, harmonize with this supposition.

Satan, as the “god of this world” and the “prince of the power of the air,” runs his kingdom of darkness in a military sense (II Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2).

It seems from the statement of Verse 13, that God involves His mighty Angels primarily in the carrying out of His Will regarding the fulfillment of Prophecy. God’s Angels also help the Saints (Heb. 1:14).

Prophecy

It would stand to reason that Satan would do all within his power to keep Prophecy from being fulfilled, and especially regarding the displacement of powerful nations and kingdoms; consequently, what is portrayed in this Thirteenth Verse is just such a contest.

The time had now come for the preparation of the moving out of the Medo-Persian Kingdom, and the bringing in of the Grecian Kingdom under Alexander the Great; however, even though beginning now, as Gabriel was to show Daniel (11:1–2), it was to some 200 years before this would actually be fulfilled. In fact, several more kings would reign after Cyrus; however, the events were already transpiring in the spirit world, that would ultimately bring all of these things to pass. The following is something else we learn from this Thirteenth Verse.

Disharmony in Satan’s Kingdom

It seems that various kingdoms in Satan’s domain vie or fight against each other. Even though the prince of the kingdom of Persia and the prince of Grecia, both fallen angels, were in the domain of Satan, they, in a sense, contested each other. Of course, this is unheard of among the Angels of God. But, it seems among the angels of Satan, one prince of darkness which rules a particular part of the world under Satan little desires to give up this place of leadership to another fallen prince.

From Gabriel’s description, it seems the fallen angel that was the power behind the kingdom of Persia did not desire to give up this particular position, and had to be forced by Gabriel and Michael to do so!

Even though the conflict lasted for some 21 days, still, Verse 20 tells us that the conflict still was not resolved, and further effort must be made.

It also seems that the contest was so difficult that Michael, the mighty Archangel, had to come help Gabriel respecting the situation.

The Archangel, “Michael,” as stated, and according to Verse 21, is the Mighty Angel who looks after Israel.

The phrase, “And I remained there with the kings of Persia,” refers to the Satanic princes of the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, of which there were more than one. So, there could have been, and no doubt was, a host of fallen angels promoting this Empire and, as well, greatly encouraging idol worship and all manner of iniquity. This, as well, should tell us some things about present-day events!

If it held true then, and certainly it did, it holds true today that fallen angels work behind the scenes controlling governments of this world.

THE FORMER SOVIET UNION

To use just one example, it was no doubt a fallen angel who instigated the horror of Communism in 1917 and, as well, was moved aside by powerful righteous Angels sometime back. We saw the results in the Autumn of 1989. At that time, Eastern Europe was released from Soviet domination; the Berlin Wall came down, and Russia seemed to change tactics.

This was not by chance, and it was not caused by U. S. State Department policy. Actually, it came as a surprise; but, in reality, and according to Scripture, it happened so that another one of Daniel’s Prophecies might be fulfilled (Dan. 7:7).

The ten horns that Daniel saw on this dreadful beast of 7:7 came up in the old Roman Empire territory, and included some of the Eastern European countries, such as Bulgaria, former Yugoslavia, and Romania, etc. So, according to Daniel’s Prophecies, these countries had to be loosed from Soviet domination, because the ten horns represent ten nations that will rise up in their own sovereignty, and pertain to this very area. Therefore, Soviet domination of this area had to be pushed aside for the sovereignty of these nations to come about.

The first part of Daniel’s Prophecy was fulfilled in the Fall of 1989, with Eastern Europe, in effect, being released from the dominion of the Soviet Union.

The ten horns (ten nations) out of this area have not yet formed an alliance to oppose Israel, but they will in the not-so-distant future.

Therefore, as the prince of Communism (Satanic prince) was pushed aside, the prince that will take his place, and, in effect, has already taken his place, will enable the ten-kingdom Empire to arise. He is now the ruling prince in this realm of darkness. This means that the events now coming about in the Middle East are all working toward this conclusion.

Quite possibly, righteous Angels had to force the prince of Communism aside, as in Daniel’s day, in order that the Satanic prince of the ten kingdoms may come forward, which is already now in progress, and will be fulfilled shortly.

Incidentally, the “little horn” (7:8), who will come up among these ten nations, will be the Antichrist. He will actually be aided by the “prince of Grecia” (Vs. 20) who gave Alexander the Great such power.

J. Swaggart Ministries -Book of Daniel Commentary