Word of Salvation – Vol.51 No.1 – January 2006

 

The Focus of Spiritual Warfare

 

A Sermon by Rev John De Hoog on Daniel 10 (part 3)

Scripture Reading: Ephesians 6:10-20

Suggested Hymns: BoW 214; 18:1,3,5; 457; 468; 430

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Daniel 10 pulls back the curtains on the hidden world of spiritual realities just a little and gives us a glimpse of spiritual warfare. Daniel 10 shows us that behind the scenes of our life on this earth there is a spiritual warfare going on, which very much affects the people of God.

When we studied this chapter last time, we saw two very important things. First, we saw that the conflict in the spiritual world revolves around the message of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in Daniel’s day, in those Old Testament times, the message that the spiritual forces of evil were trying to resist was the message of the coming Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, we saw that this spiritual conflict came to a great climax when Jesus Christ was on the cross of Calvary, and that there Jesus achieved a great and final victory over evil. We saw that there, on the cross of Christ, the powers of darkness were disarmed, publicly exposed, and finally defeated. Because of the cross, the devil and all his angels were cast down out of heaven.

By his death, Jesus Christ defeated him who held the power of death – that is, the devil – and freed all his people from the slavery of sin and death. We saw that in the New Testament, Revelation 12 draws the curtains back to show us what happened in the heavenly realms during Jesus’ time on earth.

The third crucial thing we want to see is what we are coming to today: What part we are called to play in the spiritual conflict that continues to this day. Are we called to be involved in spiritual warfare? If we are, how are we to be involved? What does it mean to be involved in this warfare? Daniel 10 can help us find some answers to these questions.

Let’s begin by going to the end of Chapter 10. Finally Daniel has been given the strength and prepared by the messenger to receive the message from God that comes in Chapters 11-12.

We see that in verse 18. “Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. ‘Do not be afraid, O man 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’.”

So at last, after all the weakness and frailty of Chapter 10, Daniel is ready to receive the message that the heavenly messenger has come to deliver. And now it begins, and the message continues through to the end of the Book of Daniel.

See how it begins. Verse 20, “So he said, ‘Do you know why I have come to you?'” It’s a tantalising question, isn’t it? It’s exactly what we want to know, isn’t it?

Look at how the answer to this tantalising question is presented. The messenger ties very closely together comments about his purpose in coming to Daniel with comments about the heavenly conflict in which he is involved.

It’s structured like this (starting at verse 20):

[show the table, below, on an overhead or in the bulletin]

Daniel 10:20-11:2a

“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;
But first I will tell you what has been written in the Book of Truth.
	No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince. And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.
Now then, I tell you the truth… “

 In the left hand column in this table, see the three comments about the purpose of the heavenly messenger’s coming to Daniel, three comments about the message he has come to bring. In the right hand column, see interleaved between the three comments about the message two comments about the heavenly conflict that the messenger is involved in. The effect of this is to tie in very closely the message of the messenger with the heavenly conflict of the messenger.

I want us to think about this. What is the connection between the message of the messenger and the spiritual conflict in which he is involved?

Let’s think about the heavenly conflict first. Notice that Michael and the messenger are working together. The messenger is fighting against the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece, and no one supports him except Michael, who is called “your prince” – that is, the prince of Israel. Michael is the angel who fights for Israel, and there are evil angels who fight for Persia and Greece. The nations have “patron angels”, heavenly representatives involved in spiritual warfare. And Michael and this messenger angel here are working together.

Notice that the joint work between the messenger and Michael is also pictured in verse 13. The messenger tells Daniel that he has been delayed for twenty-one days from coming to Daniel. Verse 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. Now I have come… “

Now what does it all mean? A key to understanding this comes in Chapter 11:1. “And in the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.” The messenger angel of Daniel 10 had, in the first year of Darius the Mede, given particular support and protection to Michael. Why?

What happened in the first year of Darius the Mede? Do you remember what happened from our study of Daniel 5 and Daniel 9? First, from Daniel 5, we learnt that the Babylonian kingdom came to an end when the Medes and Persians had conquered and killed Belshazzar, the last ruler of Babylon. Then, from Daniel 9 we learnt that in the first year of Darius the Mede, Daniel had understood from reading Jeremiah that the exile and the desolation of Jerusalem was to last for seventy years.

The seventy years were over, and so Daniel prayed that magnificent prayer for the restoration of Jerusalem. And what had happened in response to Daniel’s prayer? God had moved the heart of Cyrus to make that famous declaration, that the Jews were free to go home to their land and rebuild the temple and the city.

All this had happened in the first year of Darius the Mede. How had it happened? How had God destroyed the Babylonian Empire in one foul swoop? How had God given Daniel the insight and ability to pray the prayer of Daniel 9? How had God moved the heart of Cyrus to make his famous decree? Daniel 11:1, “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I took my stand to support and protect him.” That is, the messenger had taken his stand to support and protect Michael, the angel prince of Israel. There had been spiritual warfare in the first year of Darius the Mede. The messenger angel and Michael, the angel prince of Israel, had worked together and had been used by God to achieve the purpose that God had had for the first year of Darius the Mede.

There had been intense conflict in the heavenlies at this time, in the first year of Darius the Mede. Of course! The angel prince of Babylon would not have taken the destruction of the Babylonian empire lying down. The angel prince of the Medes would not have wished for Cyrus to make his decree setting God’s people free. It would have been tremendous spiritual warfare! Back then, in the first year of Darius the Mede, the messenger angel of Daniel 10 and Michael the angel prince of Israel had been involved in intense spiritual conflict!

Now that same messenger angel has been involved in a battle with the angel prince of Persia. Indeed, the angel prince of Persia has delayed him for twenty-one days, and after the messenger has given Daniel his message he will have to return to the conflict against the angel prince of Persia.

Why is the angel prince of Persia so active at this time? Why does the angel prince of Persia want to block the message to Daniel? Because the message contains the doom of Persia. Chapter 11:2, “Now then, I tell you the truth: Three more kings will appear in Persia, then a fourth, who will be far richer than all the others. When he has gained power by his wealth, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.” This mighty king is the last Persian king, Xerxes. Verse 3, “Then a mighty king will appear, who will rule with great power and do as he pleases.” This mighty king is Alexander the Great, who defeated Xerxes and established the Greek empire.

Why is the angel prince of Persia so active in his opposition to the messenger? Because the message he gives to Daniel contains the doom of Persia. Once the message is given to Daniel, it will begin to unfold, and the end of the Persian empire is nigh! No wonder the angel prince of Persia fights!

What God has spoken will come to pass. Indeed, God only needs to speak and it will happen. What God speaks to his servant Daniel about Persia will come to pass. From Amos 3:7 we learn this: “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” Once the Sovereign Lord has revealed his plan for Persia to Daniel, it will come to pass. And that plan involves in part the destruction of Persia. No wonder the angel prince of Persia is fighting so hard for the message to be blocked!

Now let’s stand back from this for a moment and see what is happening. God has a plan for the world. We could call it his ‘master plan’. We know from the New Testament that his master plan involves the final renewal of the whole universe. But in these Old Testament days, his master plan revolves around his people, the nation of Israel.

The nation of Israel must be his people, they must live as his people if his master plan is to proceed. He works his master plan through Israel. The trouble is, Israel, throughout the Old Testament, is an unfaithful nation that keeps on breaking the covenant.

In order for God’s master plan to succeed, the people of Israel must be purified of their sin, not by eradicating them for ever, but by sending them into exile, and there in exile, in Babylon, purifying them in the furnace of Babylonian oppression, so that they might at last turn back to God and so be saved and so carry out God’s plans.

For God’s master plan to succeed, he raises up nations to punish and preserve Israel. So he raises up the nation of Babylon. His purpose for Babylon is that they might sack Jerusalem and take the people of God into exile. But that exile is only going to last seventy years; God’s master plan involves bringing the people back to the land. So there must be a nation that will conquer Babylon and work to send the Jews back to the land. Persia is that nation, and Cyrus is the Lord’s appointed ruler to send his people home.

How does God work out these purposes? He works them out by raising up nations and destroying them again, all for the purpose of doing God’s will regarding Israel. But how does God raise up these nations and cast them back down? He does it through the spiritual warfare we have been reading about today. Michael is the angel prince of Israel; he protects and fights for Israel throughout this conflict. Michael was active in the first year of Darius the Mede, so was the messenger that appears here to Daniel.

Michael and the messenger were again active during the Persian period, as we have read here. And we can be sure that they were active during the Greek period that followed, and then during the Roman period that followed, until finally the great breakthrough in that spiritual battle came with the work of Jesus Christ himself as the great spiritual warrior who won the final victory over Satan and all his evil angels.

Notice this amazing truth. All the spiritual warfare we read about here revolves around God’s purposes for his people! Heavenly battles are finally fought out on earth, in God’s purposes for his people.

We have seen that the heavenly messenger who comes to Daniel in Chapter 10 ties in his spiritual conflict very tightly with the delivery of his message. How important is this message! The messenger is not being diverted from his spiritual conflict in order to bring the message, as you might think at first. Rather, bringing the message is the most crucial and important aspect of his spiritual conflict! For from Amos 3:7 we learn this: “Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” The message simply has to get through to Daniel, for Daniel has been appointed as the prophet who will hear the message and write it down and preserve it for all time. And once the message has been delivered, it will come to pass, and the master plan of God can proceed.

Heavenly battles are fought out on earth, in God’s purposes for his people. When Michael fights for Israel against the angel prince of Persia, do not imagine Michael and the other angel prince trading thunderbolts, shooting stars at each other, fighting with laser sticks or something you might see on Star Wars. No, the heavenly battle is not conducted that way. Rather, the heavenly battle is conducted on the earth. It is conducted in the raising up and the tearing down of nations. It is conducted in the hearts of faithful men and women like Daniel and his fellow exiles. It is conducted as God’s people are faithful to him. Heavenly spiritual warfare is fought out on the earth. It was on the earth that Jesus conducted his final climactic battles against Satan, and it is in the hearts and minds of people on the earth that this battle continues today.

[Pause]

Now let me show you something of massive encouragement and massive challenge. The scope of God’s master plan is expressed in Ephesians 1:9-10. “He made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfilment – to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”

Here is the summary of God’s master plan – to bring all things in heaven, and all things on earth, together under one head, that is, Jesus Christ our Lord. Here is God’s will, according to his good pleasure, here is his purpose in Christ – to bring everything in heaven and everything on earth under one head, under Jesus Christ. Jesus as Lord of the universe: that is God’s master plan.

Bringing all things in heaven under one head, under Christ, will involve bringing all the powers of heaven that oppose God under Christ. The angel prince of Persia, the angel prince of Greece, all the evil angels, even the devil himself will be brought under Christ. And we saw last week that Revelation 12 pictures the great victory in that warfare, as the devil and all his angels were cast down out of heaven. All things in heaven have been brought under Jesus Christ. He has robbed the strong man! I have been set free from the tyranny of the devil! Hallelujah!

But now, here is the massively encouraging and challenging insight that I want you to connect with all that. Turn to Ephesians 3:10-11. Paul is talking about the mystery that was hidden for ages that he is now proclaiming. And what is that mystery? Ephesians 3:10, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Paul is talking about God’s master plan, his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Who is this master plan being made known to? To the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms – to the angel prince of Persia and the angel prince of Greece and to all the evil angels opposed to God and to the devil himself! The success of his master plan is being made known to them right now. And how is the success of that master plan being made known? Through the church! Through the church! Can you believe that?

The existence of the church and the growth of the church and the preservation of the church and the work of church: these are the great proof to the heavenly enemies of God that he has won the victory over them in Jesus Christ!

Heavenly spiritual warfare is fought out on the earth. The focus is God’s people. First, Israel. Then, the church. The existence and progress of the church is the great demonstration today of the progress and success of God’s master plan in Christ.

No wonder Satan hates the church! The church is the symbol, the banner, of his ultimate defeat! No wonder he does all he can to bring the church down! But even the gates of Hades will not prevail against the church.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, this is how you are involved in spiritual warfare today. You are involved because you belong to the church of God. By living a faithful Christian life, by husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church, by wives loving and submitting to their husbands, by children honouring their parents, by loving God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, by obeying the Ten Commandments, in all these ways and many others, simply in living a faithful Christian life, you are involved in the final defeat of Satan through the victory of Jesus Christ. In all these ways, you are a demonstration, to Satan and his evil band, of the final defeat of Satan through the victory of Jesus Christ.

So, when Paul calls us to spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6, he is actually calling us to faithfulness in the normal Christian life.

Think of the elements of the armour of God that he urges us to put on, as we read about them earlier. They are all simply part of the normal Christian life. Think of them. Truth. Righteousness. The gospel of peace. Anything so far only for super-Christians, spiritual warriors? No, they are for all Christians. Faith. Salvation. God’s Word. Prayer. All part of the normal Christian life.

Here is the point. The spiritual warfare of Ephesians 6 is not for a special group of super-Christians. It is for all Christians. We are all involved in the battle. The spiritual battle that we read about in Daniel 10, that we saw come to a great climax in Revelation 12, goes on today, and it goes on in your life, and in my life. The outcome is certain, the victory has already been won by Jesus Christ, and God’s call on all Christians is to be part of the working out of that victory in the struggle that remains.

How is your normal Christian life? Are you a demonstration to Satan of his defeat? You are meant to be, you are called to be. What a magnificent calling! Do not miss out on this wonderful work. Live out a faithful Christian life in the church, in the home, at work, in your thought life, in every area, and be a part of God’s demonstration, to the powers, of his victory in Christ.

Amen.