The purpose of this passage in Daniel is to give Daniel and us an insight into the spiritual warfare, and to show us that Christ will prevail for us. This is really an answer to the reason for Daniel's mourning and Daniel's prayers. Why are things going so slowly? Why is there Samaritan opposition, preventing development in Jerusalem? Why do the Samaritans have influence at court, in the Persian court at Shushan the palace, and the things do not seem to be working out in the interests of the people of God? The answer is that the demon general steering the kingdom of Persia, and the empire, put up a tremendous fight to do these things until Christ with archangels involved called it to a halt. When you read the Book of Daniel, you read about Darius, and you read about Daniel and the lion’s den, and you see the apparent sympathy that Darius had for Daniel. Yes, he caused the problem in his foolishness, but his sympathy, and his concern for Daniel, and his happiness that Daniel was delivered, are evident. How can we account for that? Well, here it is; we are getting a glimpse of the spiritual warfare, and it was in the interest of God’s sovereign plan that Christ inclined the mind of Darius to be open and sympathetic to Daniel. So too with Cyrus, and this is the explanation given by Christ to Daniel, that he is at work. Things seem to be bad, but it's only what the Lord is permitting. There will always be opposition permitted and difficulty. You call upon the Lord, and he answers from on high. You are ever represented in the very highest courts and circles, so that God's purposes will ultimately prevail.
There is counsel for us. When Daniel at his great age, who served God as a prophet so long in his life, saw the Lord in this form, he shook. But before that when he entered upon his devotions and began to pray, there were two things: he set his heart to understand the ways of God – well we are not going to get revelation, but we are to set our heart to understand the Scriptures – and the other thing mentioned: he chastened himself before his God. He examined his heart. He repented of his sins. If we leave that step out of our devotions, we become heady and foolish and confident so quickly. ‘And I am come for thy words’ – I am come, literally, as an answer to your prayer or to your plea. His prayer was not noticed by God after a day or two, but from the very first. ‘I have come because of your words’ – see the power of prayer. Daniel’s prayer brought the Son of God from heaven to earth in a vision.
Daniel is told ‘from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words’. God answered him from the start of his prayer. Does that mean that he did not need to continue in prayer? No. He too was involved in the spiritual battle and his continued prayer was part of that battle. ‘For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places’ (Ephesians 6:12), and that wrestling is not only carried on through obedience to God, but through prayer. Daniel needed to continue his prayer until the twenty-first day in order to receive God’s answer.
Why couldn’t the Son of God overcome all resistance by the ‘prince of Persia’ in a moment? How is it written that ‘the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days’? How is it also true that a mere angel – albeit, perhaps, the highest of the angels – could supply real help to the one speaking with Daniel, the preincarnate Christ? As John Whitcomb says, ‘God, of course, temporarily limits Himself with respect to the forces of evil in the world. Otherwise there would be no evil at all.’ He refers to Job 1, to Satan’s power to resist Moses in the court of Pharaoh, and our Lord’s acknowledgment of the postponement of demonic judgment (Matthew 8:28). He says, ‘This includes His sovereign prerogative to say to evil forces, “This hour and the power of darkness are yours” (Luke 22:53).’ As converted men and women, we too might be supernaturally strengthened so that it was easy to overcome temptation, resist the devil, trust in God, and deny the flesh. But God does not give such an excess of power, for in a sense, it must be our victory, our triumph over sin, the involvement of our wills. So too in the spiritual world, the angels led by Christ are locked in battle with Satan and his demons (2 Thessalonians 1:7). Each angel must triumph using their own created power. Evidently the preincarnate Christ was operating in the heavenly realms according to this plan, even before his incarnation. In saving his people, God could not by mere power alone destroy Satan, and place his people in heaven, but only by righteousness, by grace, and by the shed blood of Christ.