Summary

The man who also clearly looks like a human tells Daniel that he is going back to the Persian court to fight the devil who is using his influence at the Persian court. It is also certainly not the last battle he has to fight. He knows this because history is under his control and he has the future in his hands.

The book of truth that we read about in the next verse, Daniel 10:21, is the book of God’s plan being carried out in history. The Son can already speak about the Greeks who will take over world power after the Persians because it is part of his own plan. Then, too, a powerful devil in the court of the Greek Empire will try to destroy the church from within that empire. We see here the battle behind the battle that Paul also writes about in Ephesians 6. There Paul urges us to put on our spiritual armour. This is necessary, for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places(Ephesians 6:12). That battle will in fact be waged 200 years later and beyond when Alexander the Great and his successors will rule. Then the Greek Empire will try to squeeze people into their culture. There will be tremendous pressure for the church to fit in with the world, tremendous pressure to give up the opposition—the antithesis between church and world. It is then that the confession of our faith is put to the test. It is then that we are challenged in what it means to profess our faith, which you can put this way: To profess means to stand for the truth, where the spirit of the time voices his objections the loudest.

The devil, who will then try to influence the empires that arose from that of Alexander the Great, must be fought. Then the Son of God will also battle and ensure that a faithful part of the church remains. From that faithful part of God’s people, Jesus Christ—who is then God and man—will come forth as human being. The Son of God has already fought in Old Testament times for the deliverance and preservation of the church. He has come into the world. Now he is the king who will one day put everything and everyone in subjection under God’s feet.

Christ is also fighting right now and will do so until the day when he returns. He stands on guard and fights in circles of governments and powerful people. He fights against the demonic influences there. The devil and his demons claim more and more influence and seek to destroy the church. Christ is fighting for us as his people so that the battle will not become too heavy. Thankfully, Christ rules today and in the future.