©Kris Gerbrandt
Chapter 10:12-11:1 (ESV) - Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”
When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and was mute. And behold, one in the likeness of the children of man touched my lips. Then I opened my mouth and spoke. I said to him who stood before me, “O my lord, by reason of the vision pains have come upon me, and I retain no strength. How can my lord's servant talk with my lord? For now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.”
Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, “O man greatly loved, fear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” And as he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.” Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince. And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood up to confirm and strengthen him.
Question to consider: Who is really behind the prince of Persia?
Whether you read comic books, science fiction, or fantasy novels, you probably have been introduced to the idea of other-worldly realms. Both DC and Marvel have played heavily on the idea of a Multiverse where it is posited that there are a near infinite number of parallel universes. Of course, as a man-centered philosophy, they make all of the life-sustaining universes similar to our own such that there are several versions of each of us living in slightly different societies that are derived from the differing possibilities of our life choices. From that, they extrapolate beings who can travel between realms and base future decisions in our own universe on outcomes from the choices made in others.
While the idea of multiple versions of ourselves strung out across space and time is fiction, I believe it stems from a deep sense of knowing that there is something beyond our current plane of existence. Today’s passage confirms the existence of a realm beyond time and space that also somehow runs parallel to our own.
It would be easy to say this was a mere dream that contained symbols of earthly struggles if not for the fear of the men around Daniel or the prophetic realities of what is described in the next chapter. Also, the central theme of Daniel has been that the kingdoms of men would all be overthrown by an everlasting king who is both Son of God and Son of man. Given that Christ became incarnate according to the prophetic timeline of the last chapter and fulfilled all of its promises in a literal way, I hold to a literal view of the heavenly realm.
When Christ was sent out into the wilderness, “the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4:8-9) At this time, the devil believed that he was in control of all of the kingdoms of the earth.
By all appearances, this seemed to be true, for the LORD confirmed to Daniel that outside of the angelic prince of the remnant of Israel (Michael), the prince of Persia (and eventually the prince of Greece) controlled all the kingdoms of the world. In the Matthew passage, the devil admitted to being the one behind those princes.
The last statement by the LORD in today’s passage is included in Daniel 11 in our Bibles, but of course the original scroll of Daniel did not contain chapter breaks. The LORD purposefully stood up to confirm and strengthen Darius the Mede so that Babylon would be overthrown. While this may have been shocking to Daniel and those with whom he shared the scroll, it was all part of the LORD’s plan to redeem the world through Christ. In order to give Daniel the assurance that this was so, He provided a detailed description of the events that were to come.
Dear heavenly Father, we thank You for the knowledge that You are bringing all of history along to a glorious end in which there will be no more sin and death. Please give us peace in knowing that nothing is beyond Your control and that You are working out all things for good and for the glory of Christ Jesus who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit now and forever. Amen.