A Heavenly Punch On?
I have been busy preparing the last sermon in our Daniel series and my attention has been continually drawn to the heavenly punch on in Daniel 10. There is evidence of it from v.12-14 but then from v.20 we read that the heavenly man who visited Daniel says:
“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 is written in the Book of Truth. (No-one supports me against them except Michael, your prince.”) (Daniel 10:20-21)
Now, sadly an explanation of this is not going to make it into my sermon so instead, knowing that we like to get deep into the Word here, I thought I would share some thoughts about it in today’s blog. So what exactly is going on with this fight among heavenly beings?
Well, before we get to that, let’s put some markers in the ground to help us think about this. The first thing to notice are our inherent cultural assumptions when we read these parts of the Bible. The ongoing effect of the enlightenment on the Western mindset guides many of us to disregard such unseen forces as make believe or little more than the stuff of movies. But we must not be so quick to throw off the idea of heavenly powers and forces. Everywhere in the Bible from Genesis 6 to Revelation 12 we read of invisible but real and powerful heavenly forces that are at war. We also read of the impact Jesus had upon such forces in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 2, where he triumphed over them at the cross. That is not to say that they no longer exist or have an impact on the world but that they are subject to him and his victory and will be eternally destroyed.
Secondly, we must not abandon our trust in and understanding of the sovereignty of God as we read passages like this. What I mean is that, though it appears a war took place between heavenly powers who represent certain nations, God remains in control and his will will be done. Psalm 72:18 reminds us that only God does marvellous deeds so these opposing angelic powers can do nothing on their own strength but only whatever God enables them to do in accordance with his plans. When God says to Israel in Jeremiah 28 “I know the plans I have for you!”, he really does know and his plans are not contingent on a punch on between heavenly beings.
Now, I hope in those two boundary markers you can feel a little bit of tension - on one side the heavenly powers are real and impact what happens on earth but on the other, they are all under the sovereign hand of God. At the end of the day then, we ought to pay attention to such things but not fear them. When God is for us, who can be against us?! And yet, as readers of the bible we cannot avoid the reality that there are events in heaven impacting things on earth and vice versa.
Now, we are creeping up on Daniel 10 and I would delight in having a long and coherent answer to how every spiritual power works and being able to satisfy all your curiosities. But with so much of the biblical texts being descriptive of these matters and containing so little explanation we find ourselves on uncertain ground.
So here is what I think we can say about the punch on in Daniel 10.
It is clear from this text and the whole of the Bible that the Lord of hosts counters the persistent threat of chaos in the universe on our behalf. Battle for the safety and well-being of the cosmos, indeed, for the salvation of humankind, is waged not only on human terms. Rather God the warrior fights in ways that we do not even begin to comprehend.
Daniel speaks of Princes of Persia and Greece but little is known about what they did except that they are opposed to the powers on the side of Israel. What we do know is that these Princes find themselves in conflict with the man of Israel and Michael. On the good guys side, it is possible that this Michael here is also the archangel Michael mentioned in other places in the Bible and that would seem to make sense to me. On the bad guys side, some people, as they try to make sense of all this, bring Daniel 10 together with Deuteronomy 32:8 and conclude that every country has a Prince or an angelic power that now opposes God and fights against his people; however I think that is concluding too much from very limited texts. Whether there are angelic powers battling under God for every nation is impossible to know but I understand you might want to make that inference from these texts. Maybe though these beings are being used by God to marshall power during this significant exilic period of judgement and not an ongoing reality. This would seem more reasonable to me and explains how God uses the nations to judge his people.
What we are let into here as the curtain of heaven is drawn back a fraction is the reality that conflicts in the world are not only earthly problems; it seems that they touch the heavens and involve God and the angels for nothing less is needed to deliver humans from the overwhelming threat of evil. Daniel 10 is an eloquent reminder that there is help for mortals struggling against the dangers brought by the principalities and powers, and that the struggle against the spiritual is not something we can overcome by our own strength. Thankfully, the Lord Jesus has conquered all such powers at the cross and we need not fear. Which leads to my final point.
Whatever it is that is going on in the heavenly realms, whether it be that there are heavenly powers that represent each nation and fight against God or just a general power of evil that fights against the power of God, the message of Daniel chapter 10 is that none of this should cause those who trust in the Lord to fear. In Daniel 10:18, Daniel is told “Do not be afraid” and “Be at peace; be strong now, be strong.” Various forms of these commands appear on repetition in the chapter assuring Daniel and us that whatever is going on in the heavenly realms, though it may not easily be understood, we are safe from its impact when we are safe in the Father’s arms through Christ.
Now I have no doubt you have 100 more questions and there is much more that we could discuss and speculate about and I am sure that you will have had some fun (albeit confusing) times in your Growth Groups this week. But I hope this has given you some insight and help into a tricky section of the Bible.
Feel free to hit me up with your thoughts on all this. It is so important that we keep wrestling with God’s word so we can understand it and bring ourselves under his authority and love that is expressed through it. There’s all my thoughts, and I look forward to hearing yours.
