DO ANGELS FIGHT BATTLES? FIND OUT HOW THEY CAN HELP YOU!

The book of Daniel offers a rare glimpse into the events that can occur 'behind the scenes' in the unseen spiritual realm. We will learn that angels and demons do indeed fight and that their battles concern who influences the destiny of nations and peoples. We will also discover the great campaigns a devil-led army will ultimately undertake against God and all those who uphold righteousness.
Daniel 10 begins by telling us that the prophet had been fasting and mourning for three full weeks (verses 1 - 3). He then sees, near the river Hiddekel, a vision of one of God's righteous angels. The angelic being states that God sent him the moment Daniel began to humble himself and pray for understanding (verse 12). Did you catch that? The spirit being (who was very likely the archangel Gabriel, see 8:16 and 9:21), traveling in the spirit realm, took a FEW WEEKS to reach the prophet from God's throne! What would cause such an unusual delay?
Gabriel, who normally would have delivered God's message the moment after he got it, was UNABLE, of himself, to get past the 'prince of the kingdom of Persia!' It took the power of another one of God's holy angels, Michael (the only other Archangel the Bible mentions), to come and help him fight his way through to deliver his message.

Who can stop an ARCHANGEL?

Since Gabriel was a righteous angel sent directly by God, whoever hindered or kept him from completing his mission was almost certainly an enemy of righteousness and good. Could the evil "prince of the kingdom of Persia" (10:13) be a powerful human being? The short answer is NO. Human beings have no power, of themselves, to fight even the weakest of spirit beings (Hebrews 1:7). One angel could kill COUNTLESS human beings at will. Flesh and blood beings are completely helpless before the power of spirit-composed beings unless God chooses to aid the former at the expense of the latter (Mark 16:17, Luke 9:1).
When God wanted to rescue Jerusalem from attack by Sennacherib, he needed only ONE angel to kill 185,000 Assyrian warriors in a single night (Isaiah 37:36). This means that while a human prince could not have resisted a holy angel, it must have been a spirit who was evil and willing to fight.
Will man ultimately
judge angels?
 
 
Are angels
SONS OF GOD? 
 
 
When was the
devil thrown
OUT of heaven?
 
 
If God hates sin
then why is the
devil still alive?
 
 
What is the
difference between
Archangels and
the Cherubim?
 
 
Map of King
David's battles

Symbolic references

One of the literary techniques the Bible uses is symbolism. The use of a reference like 'the prince of the kingdom of Persia' to symbolically represent a powerful, demonic spirit being is found elsewhere in scripture. For example, two major Biblical passages refer to Satan by the titles of "king of Tyre" (Ezekiel 28:12 - 19) and "king of Babylon" (Isaiah 14:4, 12 - 15). Although nominally these texts appear addressed to mere human kings, they are actually about a very powerful, very ambitious, and blindly vain and prideful spirit being. No ordinary human king, for example, could have been in the Garden of Eden (compare Genesis 3:22 - 24 to Ezekiel 28:13).

How powerful was Persia?

The Persian Empire (roughly 540 to 330 B.C.) is arguably the most powerful empire of the ancient world. At its height, it controlled more territory (7.5 million sq. kilometers) and determined the destiny of more people (45% of the world's population) than either the Roman or Greek (under Alexander the Great) empires.

Principalities and Powers

Gabriel did not say just anyone fought him to try to stop his message from reaching Daniel. The evil spirit who opposed him is the “prince” of PERSIA and not Babylon or some other nation. God seems to have assigned angels different principalities and powers (see Romans 8:38, Ephesians 3:10, Colossians 1:16, 2:15). For example, the archangel Michael is called a prince of Israel (Dan. 10:21) and a chief prince (verse 13). Gabriel was not only responsible to get a message to Daniel, but also had the joy in the New Testament to announce the birth of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ (Luke 1:19, 26). Gabriel and Michael seem likely assigned authority over the affairs for the nation Israel. In like fashion, the devil has assigned certain demons to positions of authority over earthly kingdoms (Ephesians 6:12), such as a powerful evil spirit assigned to Persia.
What happened to Gabriel was that when he got near Persia he met with resistance from, and no doubt had to fight, an evil angel (with lesser demonic powers under his control?) given authority to influence the affairs of the world power. After an unsuccessful 21-day attempt to overcome the demon controlling access to Persia, Michael came and helped Gabriel 'break through' to deliver his message. One wonders how many fierce fights occur TODAY between good and bad angels over who has authority to influence different parts of the human race.

Does the devil constantly battle God?

Satan himself did not fight the archangel Gabriel. When, however, does God’s chief adversary lead a battle against the forces of good? Although his angels seem to battle (at least from time to time), is Satan constantly attacking the throne of God? No. For example, in the book of Job the devil was somehow able to accompany righteous angelic beings to the Eternal's throne AFTER his initial expulsion from heaven. Although the purpose for this visit (and a second one, see Job 2:1 - 6) remains a mystery, it almost certainly was not to launch an attack. God used both of the devil's appearances to teach Job, and indeed all humans, some valuable lessons.
The Bible records Satan will ultimately lead THREE major offensive battles against God.
  1. Satan's first major battle already took place, sometime in the distant past, when he initially rebelled against God (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28, Revelation 12:7). The devil and his angels tried to FORCE God off his throne but he and his demonic forces were totally defeated in the most one-sided victory ever! It was the outcome of the adversary's first attempt at taking control of the universe that Jesus discussed with his disciples (Luke 10:18).
  2. The devil's second battle against God will occur in the end time at the valley of Megiddo (Revelation 16:16). It will happen after he deceives the whole world into following him, then gathers them to fight a righteous army led by a returning Jesus Christ (Revelation 16:12 - 16, 17:14 - 18, 19:17 - 21). He will be soundly defeated and placed in a spiritual prison for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:1 - 3).
  3. The final battle undertaken by God's adversary will occur after his release from a spiritual prison at the end of Jesus' 1,000-year reign on earth. He will again deceive the nations and gather them to fight the Lord's headquarters in Jerusalem. His utter defeat will be swift and his final fate carried out (Revelation 20:7- 10).
Have you ever wondered how POWERFUL God is? Not only has he foretold WHEN Satan and his angels will fight, but also some of the tactics he'll use to amass an army, WHERE the battles will take place and what will be the outcome! Now that is power!

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