Words Worth Fighting Over

“But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.” (Da 10:13 AV)

Has it ever occurred to anyone why the Devil would go to such great lengths to prohibit Michael the Archangel from coming to Daniel over the interpretation of a vision?  It was such a spiritual battle that Michael could not overcome Satan without the help of another.  We don’t know who that was.  Perhaps Gabriel.  Perhaps Jesus Christ himself.  The curiosity still remains.  Why?  Nothing would have been changed in the life of Daniel of any significance had he simply wrote of the vision with no explanation.  What was it the devil wanted to accomplish by hindering a greater understanding of a prophecy?

We know this is a device of Satan.  Paul referred to this truth when he wrote, “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2Co 4:4 AV) Hindering the light of truth is an often-used device of the devil.  We understand the purpose as revealed in our quote.  He doesn’t want people to know the truth of the gospel and receive Christ.  But what of Daniel’s prophecy?  Of what would he be robbing Daniel or his people?  What would be hindered if the Devil was successful?  What would they be missing?  What was so important in that vision that if hidden, would do great damage to the people of God? 

The vision was of seventy weeks.  In particular, it was the time table of when the LORD was going to come, suffer for Israel, and return again to set up His kingdom.  Although salvation is intimated in this vision because it does reveal Christ would be cut off for His people, the overall theme of the book of Daniel and this vision is the restoration of Israel to the covenant promises of a kingdom led by Christ as given by God the Father.  In short, Daniel’s seventy weeks vision was a vision of hope for the future.  At the time of writing, and the reason Daniel sought greater understanding was his knowledge of Jeremiahs prophecy of seventy years captivity.  Daniel entertained the thought that once these seventy years captivity were ended, the Messiah would come and he would see it.  He was seeking some hope to give the present generation who was suffering in captivity.  The hope was real.  It was simply a bit further down the road than Daniel was contemplating.

The point is this.  The vision was a vision of encouragement in a time of deep distress.  The vision was a vision of hope.  That even though today might be hard, there is a better tomorrow.  That even though the world may be overbearing, the LORD will return.  That even though the body might be failing, there is eternity.  That even though life may be a struggle, there is an eternity of nothing but hope.  The Devil is smart.  If he can convince the people there is no hope, they cease to try.  If they cease to try, the promises die.  Satan went through great lengths to rob the people of God hope.  Don’t let him do that!  God is still on the throne.  Satan may be powerful, but he cannot be compared to the God of all creation.  Not even close!