The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Daniel 10: The Prince of the Kingdom of Persia

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Daniel 10 Continued
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Prince of the Kingdom of Persia

Vic Batista: Daniel 10 reveals that even God’s mighty angels face hindrances when carrying out His will both in the angelic realm and here on earth. For instance, in Daniel 10:13, the glorious angel explained his three-week delay in answering Daniel’s prayer with, “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me 21 days.” How amazing that an angel as gloriously arraigned and as powerful as verses 5-6 describe could be delayed by Satan’s forces.

Nathan Jones: Also interesting is that Daniel 10 describes Daniel fasting and praying for 21 days, when that it took 21 days before this glorious angel was able to reach Daniel with God’s message. As soon as Daniel began praying, God had dispatched an angel with His response. But, Satan knew that whatever message was going to be revealed to Daniel must as always be very important, and so the Devil tried everything possible to stop the message from going through.

Daniel 11 reveals why this message was so very important, for it would lay out the next few hundred years of Israel’s history. It also lays out the conditions in the last days when the Antichrist finally comes to power. God’s response to Daniel’s prayer then was with a very, very important prophecy. Daniel’s prophecies were always super important, and Satan knew that fact, so he dispatched the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia to withstand God’s mighty angel.

Just who is the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia? The text is clearly not referring to the king of Persia whom Daniel served during this time period. The Medo-Persian Empire had defeated the Babylonians since Daniel had been exiled to Babylon. Daniel remained in power and still held court for both King Darius and King Cyrus. King Cyrus was prophesied as the king who would allow the Jews to return back to Jerusalem, so this period in Daniel’s life became very important. That knowledge, too, would have led Satan to discern that this message to Daniel must be very important, and so sent the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia to intercept the Glorious Angel.

So, no, the angel was not talking about the Persian King Cyrus. The man could not stand against such a powerful messenger from God. No, the Glorious Angel naturally refers to the demonic world, and to a particular demon who sub-ruled as a prince over Persia. This demon must have ranked high as an official in Satan’s hierarchy, for the demon stood against God’s mighty angel.

And the identity of the Glorious Angel? Speculating based on Daniel 10:5-6 concerning the Glorious Angel’s appearance and his job as God’s most important messenger, theologians believe he very well could be the angel Gabriel. Gabriel was the angel who later would be tasked with telling Mary and Joseph that Mary would give birth to the Messiah.

The Celestial War

Vic Batista: Let’s look at 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, because I believe we see this spiritual battle best explained in the New Testament.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

I’m also reminded of Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, and against the rulers of darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Christians wield weapons in this spiritual war as well, and prayer stands out as the most powerful.

Nathan Jones: Christians often neglect the fact that we are caught up in the middle of a celestial war. Spiritual warfare wages behind the scenes at every level of government. We Christians are soldiers in this war, even if we cannot perceive what the angelic world truly looks like.

#Christians are caught up in the middle of a celestial war. Click To Tweet

When I studied as a missions major back in Bible college, occasionally we would have guest speakers who were missionaries to tribal areas. These are Stone Age type tribes dwelling in the middle of Brazil and Indonesia and other remote places such as those. The missionaries who served in those areas would relay some horrific stories to us students. You could actually see the fear in their eyes as they recounted the demonic activity they’d encountered.

I remember one missionary in particular who came back from serving in Indonesia. He said that he had witnessed a women being dragged off of her bed screaming and yelling, but that nothing was visibly seen dragging her away! He described all sorts of demonic activity terrorizing these little tribal villages.

Today, in our modern Western world, demons find it more effective to remain behind the scenes and not directly active in terrifying people. But, in the third world countries, demonic strategy stands to gain the most by actively terrifying pagans and subjugating them to the demon who is ruling over that area. Pagans might as well be unarmed for only Christian warriors have been given by God the spiritual weapons to fight against demonic warfare. We’re not equipped with material weapons such as swords, guns, and whatnot. Those weapons wouldn’t work anyway. No, God equips the believer with the proper spiritual weapons.

Vic Batista: I was born in the Dominican Republic, and when I lead teams back for missions to areas close to Haiti which are so enshrouded by voodoo, one of the spiritual weapons I heavily rely on is prayer. I remember serving out on the mission field in these places that are so primitive there’s no light or electricity, very rural, and the manifestation of the demonic realm weighs heavily. Demons are real, without a doubt.

The weapon of prayer wields mighty! Often prayer remains the only weapon left for us to use in those situations. The air hung thick with the darkness of voodoo practices and black magic and shamanism. When we prayed, we literally felt the spiritual realm being pushed back.

The weapon of #prayer wields mighty! Click To Tweet

Our other effective weapon was fasting. Every time we picked up those weapons, it was like we were casting down false arguments and every demonic stronghold. God worked immediately in those dark areas in order to allow Christ’s light to shine through us and into Satan’s strongholds.

In the forty-first segment of this series on the mighty angels of Daniel, we’ll marvel at the power of Michael the Archangel.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

12 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • Nathan, this wonderful message you have given about the demons that hindered Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 10, serve as a reminder to me that Christians in our country really need to take prayer and fasting seriously as we see the demonic warfare going on in America right now. The 3 weeks of Daniels praying and fasting also reminds us that this is not an easy battle that we are going through in America–but, “the battle is the Lords” and He will prevail! My husband and I pray everyday for our President, Vice-President, their cabinet AND Israel. God bless you–you are an encourager!

  • Am always impressed by your write-ups. Christians should know prayers is the only instrument to defeat the demons in the celestial war in which christians must always find himself if he must achieve.

  • Hi Nathan,

    I hear much about fasting but am not familiar with it except for the 40 days Jesus fasted when the devil tried to tempt him those three times. What is the historical and theological relevance; why is it important; HOW is it relevant; and are Christians required to do so now? And lastly, from the secular stand point, given how bad our food is now with the chemicals, GMOs, etc…did Yahweh God command us in the latter days to fast ‘for our own good’? Thank you for your time,

    Cathie in San Antonio

  • I really enjoyed listening at the study on God’s angels and. Demonic adversaries. And that we wrestle not against flesh but principalities in high places. I thank God for our weapons of prayer and fasting to defeat the enemy every time. God bless u my brother in Jesus mighty name for the work that u are doing.

  • I am looking for the Prince of Persia, I know he was the demonic ruler in charge of that area, but what area was his dominion. Was it in sexual Perversion, confusion or some other area he controlled.

    I’m looking to pray against this & I’m trying to see the specific area I should pray against.

  • The man being described here in dan.10 v6 is described the same way in Revelation. Theologians don’t want to make the comparison because it’s widely believed that Revelation 1 v 14-15 is describing Christ and I guess you along with the other theologians would have a problem with dan 10 v 6 possibly being Jesus needing help from angel Michael to stave off the devil.

  • That’s a good article.

    In combating and removing demons, Christ did not advocate repeating any ritual sayings, nor did He even advocate calling upon His own name, a powerful thing in its own right. But He didn’t say to do that.

    He advised prayer and fasting. That’s it. Very few people on this planet, including Catholic exorcists, really know anything about effective exorcism. It is not a pretty thing and typically takes much time, sometimes over a year.

    Prayer is effective and fasting is absolutely essential, because the demon possesses partly in order to experience the sensations of the physical body, including eating. So when food is deprived, demonic influence lessens because the infesting spirit also is weakened, and displeased at not receiving the usual food sensations.

    Please keep up the good works.

  • I know it’s not popular but we’re overlooking Isaiah 45.
    The prophecy given through Isaiah talks of God assisting Cyrus.(Medes/Persians) Furthermore Daniel 11 verse 1 the same angel that strengthened Danial confirmed and strengthened Darius the Mede.It doesn’t make sense for God to say he’s going to make sure this empire succeeds then all of a sudden change his mind and allow any kind of being to oppose what he had already declared he would do for this empire.
    No my friends the angel wasn’t fighting against the prince of Persia he was obligated by Gods prophetic word through Isaiah to assist the prince of Persia.
    Remember this is the same empire that allowed many of the Jews return home with a great amount of freedoms and liberties.
    Isaiah 45 is the key just read all the things God said he would do specifically for this empire and then read Daniel 11 1. The angel clearly says he confirmed and strengthened Darius.
    If he strengthened a ruler of this kingdom that means he’s working on behalf of not against. This was to ensure Gods word doesn’t fail, he also said in Isaiah 45 to let Israel rebuild the temple and to set them free. The angelic hosts on the scene were working overtime if you will to ensure everything spoken in Isaiah 45 came to pass even if that meant Daniel would have to wait for 21 days. Gods plans are so important and so precise that he will not allow anything or anyone to alter one dot or line.

    • 1. ““He said, ‘Do you know why I’ve come here to you? I now have to go back to fight against the angel-prince of Persia, and when I get him out of the way, the angel-prince of Greece will arrive. But first let me tell you what’s written in The True Book. No one helps me in my fight against these beings except Michael, your angel-prince.’” * * *”
      ‭‭Daniel‬ ‭10:20-21‬ ‭MSG‬‬
      https://bible.com/bible/97/dan.10.20-21.MSG

      2. I won’t talk like I know much, but what I think is GOD’s plans prevail no matter what. Kingdoms and kings are only as powerful as they are because GOD allows it, but that doesn’t mean angel-prince of satan can’t claim territory on them, powerful kingdom powerful angel-prince of satan to rule or try to rule over it, (like Nathan said the message was to important to let Daniel know)Cyrus and Persia in general was that powerful because GOD had a plan for that kingdom to let the Israelites go back home and rebuild.

      3. And you can see a clear pattern of this too when it comes to kingdoms, Im watering it down, but some kingdoms become strong to be destroyed by Israel, other kingdoms, and by GOD because they think they can rival GOD either drunk on human pride and power or influenced by other powers. Like Babylon who became a very powerful kingdom to punish the Israelites for their sins the exile, made powerful enough to do that GOD’s chosen people, only because GOD allowed it to teach his people a lesson and the book of Daniel and many more.

      4. Conclusion GOD is in control but satan still has a stake on all those kingdoms earthly kingdoms, but no matter what GOD’s plans and words will always prevail.

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