Warring Angels

By Luca Giordano — The Fall of the Rebel Angels, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22195917

When we pray for protection, God may send an angel

If you’re a movie buff, you may remember that God sent an angel in response to the prayers of George Bailey’s family and friends.

If you are a Bible buff, you know that Psalm 91 promises that God will send angels to guard us wherever we go (Psalm 91:11–12).

When we need deliverance, God may send an angel

You also may remember that God sent an angel to deliver Peter from death at the hands of Herod. At its appearance, Peter’s chains fell off, and the angel led him out of prison.

Note: When Peter arrived at the door where those gathered were praying, they had a hard time believing it was him — they thought it was his angel. A testimony, I guess, that believing in angels wasn’t hard for Jesus-followers at all. It seems it was harder for them to believe that their prayers would be answered.

When we least expect it, God may send an angel

— and we may get more than we bargained for.

When the prophet Daniel was praying in Babylon, asking God for understanding of the odd visions he was having, God’s answer came via angels. Each time, it gave Daniel an awe-full fright.

In one instance, the angel brought not only understanding but a bit of information addressing a question that may have crossed Daniel’s mind a time or two during the twenty-plus days he prayed: “God, what is taking you so long?”

The angel offered up this explanation: enemy forces had been trying to stop him on the way.

He said, “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… (Daniel 10:12–13a, ESV)

The answer to Daniel’s prayer for understanding had been dispatched the day Daniel prayed, but “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” had held the delivery angel back. And the angel expected resistance on the way back, too.

Warring angels

“But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I go out, behold, the prince of Greece will come.” The angel speaking to Daniel would face off with “the prince of Persia” now; the “prince of Greece” would come later.

If you’re a history buff, you’ll know that Persia was ruling Babylon while Daniel and the angel were speaking, and Greece would be ruling Babylon in “the days yet to come” (Daniel 10:14).

It seems there were princes in the heavenlies — “spirit princes” as the New Living Translation calls them — watching over the region to withstand God’s intent and protect their own. They are often called “territorial spirits” today.

It’s a good name. But it seems territorial spirits need boots on the ground — of the human kind — to have any authority on the earth. “The prince of Persia” follows the Persians around, “the prince of Greece” follows the Greeks around, et cetera.

Because God’s people — though held captive in Babylon — had God’s princes at work there, too, to ensure that God’s word made it to God’s man.

The angel that made it through to Daniel said, “But Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia” (Daniel 1013b).

Michael, a “chief prince,” in Jude 9 is called an archangel. One of the big guns.

I guess you could call Michael the archangel a territorial spirit over the nation of Israel — the spirit prince fighting on behalf of God’s intent for His people.

Warrior angels — territorial spirits wrestling in the heavenlies.

Are they still wrestling today? What do you think?