«The Prince / King of the Persian Empire and the Prince of Javan»

Daniel 10, 1 – 20

After three weeks of fasting and prayer, Daniel gets a vision. He sees a mighty angel sent from God to reveal to him what would happen in the future.

There are several things that we should notice in this story. Firstly, the angel was sent the same day that Daniel began his fasting. v.12

This gives us great security and certainty. God hears us right away when we pray.

God sent his angel to Daniel. We don’t know the angel’s name, but it was a mighty and very very powerful angel. A great horror fell on those who were with Daniel so they ran away and hid.

Daniel himself lost all his strength and fell senseless to the ground. He was also unable to speak until the angel touched him and gave him the strength back.

The angel of God was stopped by the Prince over the Persian Empire (the Territorial Angel of the Persian Empire). The prince opposed and hindered God’s envoy for 3 weeks until the angel Michael came and helped the angel of God in the battle. Only after three weeks could God’s angel escape and deliver his message to Daniel.

We can try to imagine this battle between two mighty angels, but it will only be guesswork.

The prince of the Persian Empire was an angel with responsibility delegated to him by Satan.

Never be in doubt – Satan’s emissaries are deployed to steal, murder, and destroy. Some have great power, such as the Prince of the Persian Empire, while others do their devastating work among us ordinary people.

There is also another territorial angel mentioned in this chapter – the prince of Javanese (10.19). Javan is Greece or the Greeks.

We don’t know the names of the princes over the Persian Empire and Javan, just their titles.

The titles give us an indication that there are evil powers deployed over all countries / lands and peoples. They are located there to perform and control Satan’s destructive work in the respective areas on behalf of Satan.

Notice that Daniel did not fight against these princes. Daniel prayed and humbled himself for God. Only God sends His messengers to fight against them.

We have not been given authority to conduct spiritual warfare against these powers. The only powers we can fight against and conquer in the name of Jesus are the demons in our own lives and in the lives of our fellow human beings where we are invited.

Remember that all authority will bow before the name of Jesus.

AHTG