Spiritual Authority — Daniel 10:13

Two days ago, we talked about principalities and showed that all physical locations have equivalent spiritual locations. Depending on the physical magnitude of that location, the spiritual equivalence could be a principality. Principalities are usually spiritual representations of nations and mighty governments.

In the olden days, nations fought wars alongside their gods. These gods usually fought spiritually while the physical army fought naturally. All the wars you read about in the bible happened both naturally and spiritually and this was a simultaneous activity.

A practical example is seen in the passage below: Judges 5:18-27 (18) Zebulun and Naphtali were a people that jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field. (19) The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. (20) They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera. (21) The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength. (22) Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones. (23) Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty. (24) Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. (25) He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. (26) She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples. (27) At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

The above passage is thorough as far as supernatural/natural warfare is concerned. Firstly, Zebulun and Naphtali were described as people who jeoparded their lives in the field. This concerns the physical war.

Then verse 19 talks about kings fighting and also the kings of Canaan. Notice that this war was only between Israel and Canaan and each of these nations had a single king. So, why would the word of God say "The kings came and fought", which is for Israel, and "then fought the kings of Canaan" for Canaan?

How many kings did Canaan have? Judges 4:1-2 (1) And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead. (2) And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles. The answer is simple, Canaan had just a single king!

So, who were the kings of Canaan that fought? Notice also that verse 19 used the exact rendering below: Judges 5:19 (19) The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money. The verse above shows "the kings came and fought" and after which "the kings of Canaan came to fight".

This statement shows that these two groups of kings were never originally a part of the battle from the beginning but joined at a point. Also, the phrase, "they took no gain of money" shows that these people were not physically hired to participate in the battle. In those days, kings only joined other kings in battle if there was an alliance that had a monetary or material gain attached to it.

The kings in the verse above were not hired materially and as such might not have been human. Let's at this point take a second look at our first verse below: (13) 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. Notice that when the angel that was bringing the answer to Daniel's prayer was withstood effectively by the prince of Persia, he was promptly moved to a group of spirits who were recognized as "the kings of Persia".

It's traditional to have a single king and one or more princes but here we see a single prince but many kings. Remember that we already cited this prince of Persia as the ruler of a principality that spiritually represented Persia, so, this brings us to another very powerful insight. A principality is headed by a prince who presides over a group of kings that in turn preside over smaller divisions of the principality.

In the natural world, the order is for kings to rule first over princes who in turn rule over divisions, but in the kingdom of darkness, a prince rules over kings. Have you wondered why Satan has the following names: Prince of Tyrus: Ezekiel 28:2 (2) Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Prince of devils: Matthew 12:24 (24) But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. Prince of the world: John 12:31 (31) Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

Prince of the power of the air: Ephesians 2:2 (2) Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: And Jesus Christ is also a prince with the following names: Prince of Peace: Isaiah 9:6 (6) For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Prince of life: Acts 3:15 (15) And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses. Prince of the kings of the earth: Revelation 1:5 (5) And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.

Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, In the realm of the spirit, kings have a lower rating than princes unlike what we have in the natural realm. In Daniel 10: 13 as seen above, the prince of Persia withstood Daniel's angel and handed him over to the kings of Persia who were with him. Physical wars among nations involved simultaneous spiritual wars between the princes of both nations fighting along with their kings.

Let's take a contemporary setting for instance, if Nigeria were to fight with Cameroon, then the prince of Nigeria and the prince of Cameroon would come against each other while fighting along with their kings. In Nigeria's case, the kings would be the spiritual rulers of the ruling units that make up Nigeria which are the 36 states of Nigeria and the F.C.T. So, we would have the king of Anambra, the king of Lagos, the king of Oyo, the king of Bauchi, and all other rulers fighting along with the prince of Nigeria.