"Fear not, Daniel : for from the first day that you set your heart to gain understanding, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days: Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me..." (Daniel 10:12,13~)
Now there's one to keep handy in your book of excuses. I'm late because I was fighting a demon prince. Say what? A demon prince? That's right! A demon prince. Evidently, the higher up angels all refer to each other as prince (or in Satan's case, "the angel formerly known as..." eh, nevermind!). My point in referencing this is twofold: one, the prince which withstood this messenger from God was associated with a region, or territory, and two, he was able to oppose one of God's own from carrying out God's will! This is an amazing, behind the scenes glimpse at the spiritual world!
The next time your prayers aren't answered right away, or when you start to wonder why things went wrong in your life, or why does God "allow" bad things to occur, keep in mind that there is warfare in the heavenlies. In this example, it is evident that Daniel's answer was dispatched immediately but there were opposing forces at work. Not until a higher ranking more powerful angel came in for air support was this emissary able to complete his mission. The echelons of both angelic and demonic beings is described somewhat in the following passages:
"For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." (Ephesians 6:12)
"...Which He wrought (worked) in Christ when He raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come..." (Ephesians 1:20,21)
Here we see further evidence of the Bible's assertion that there are different classes of demonic spirits. Also the term "wrestle" denotes a hand-to-hand combat type struggle with these beings. The upshot in both passages, if read in context, is that we have the upper hand through Christ. How is/was this achieved? I've already given you a big clue! This is where it gets good! Now we are getting to the deep and melliflous whisperings of God... Remember when I mentioned earlier that God did not choose to crush Satan's rebellion through government right away but allows him to be revealed for what he really is? Get a load of this!
"And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord..." (Ephesians 3:9,10)
Wow! that was a mind-bender! To understand what this means you have to break it down and unravel it a bit, but essentially this verse declares that God is using the church (those that have been brought out of darkness to follow Him) to reveal His multi-faceted wisdom to all of the angelic beings and the hosts of heaven.
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