Behind the world situation there is a spiritual scene which includes both good and evil spirits that are engaged in an invisible spiritual war; however, as this struggle is taking place, God is in control, and He manages the world situation to carry out His purpose.
Daniel was a man of prayer; even from early days, after being taken prisoner with the others and brought into Babylon, he always contacted the Lord, he stood for the Lord’s word, and he sought to be one with the Lord.
So in Daniel 10 he sought to know the situation of the children of Israel and their future, and he wanted to know what will take place in the future; for this, he prayed and fasted.
And when he realized that the future is distressful, he continued to pray and fast to know it better, most likely to intercede and pray about it, and then the Lord showed him a vision of Christ as a Man.
The first thing that we see when we seek the Lord and want to know His purpose and the real situation in this world is Christ; Christ is the preeminent One, and He is both God and Man.
As the God-man, Christ is right now managing the whole world situation and arranging all things for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
In the spiritual world what is preeminent or most important is not the spiritual warfare; yes, there is a spiritual battle going on, and there are both good and evil spirits that are at war, but this is not what’s most important.
What is most important is Christ, the preeminent One; He is first and last, and He is everything in between.
We need to see a vision of Christ who is the centrality and universality of God’s move; such a seeing of Christ is for our appreciation, consolation, encouragement, expectation, and stabilization.
The Christ whom we see first is precious, valuable, complete, and perfect; He is God becoming man to be both our High Priest (who cares for us in love) and our King (who rules over us).
When we see Christ in His preciousness and dignity, in His brightness for shining over us, and in His strong speaking, we are both exposed of our situation, judged of anything that matches Him, and encouraged and stabilized.
It is easy to look at what we see around us and think we understand what’s going on; this leads us to take sides with this or that party, ideology, or person, but the real spiritual scene behind the world situation is different.
May the Lord remove the veils from our eyes and show us the spiritual scene behind the world situation, and may we see this wonderful Christ who is both our Priest and our King to care for us and rule over us!
Seeing the Spiritual Scene behind the World Situation and Realizing there’s an Invisible Spiritual War
It is very important for us to see what is the real spiritual scene behind the world situation and realize that there’s an invisible spiritual war raging all the time.
We see an example of this in Daniel 10; after Daniel saw a vision of the precious Christ in God’s move, he saw something concerning the spiritual struggle in the air.
The evil prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood the angelic messenger who was sent to Daniel with the answer from God, and this happened for twenty-one days.
God sent an angelic messenger to Daniel with the answer to his prayer, but the evil prince of Persia (who must have been an evil spirit, a rebellious angel, who followed Satan in his rebellion against God and who was commissioned by Satan to help Persia) opposed him (Dan. 10:10-17).
As Daniel was on earth praying for all these twenty-one days, there was a spiritual struggle taking place in the air between two spirits – one belonging to Satan and the other belonging to God.
God wanted to give the answer to Daniel’s prayers, but the evil prince of Persia withstood him; so Michael – an archangel – came to help him. Just as the archangel Michael fought in Jude 9, so he came in to fight here in Daniel.
When we see such a situation we are fascinated and may even be drawn into trying to figure out who is who, who fights who, what does this and that one do, etc…but what we really need to see is that behind the world situation there’s a spiritual scene, and there is a spiritual struggle taking place.
There is a struggle taking place in the spiritual scene behind the world situation, a struggle which we can’t see with our physical eyes but we see the results of it.
The evil prince of Greece was about to come and help the evil prince of Persia, and no one would hold with the angelic messenger against these two evil princes except Michael, the prince of Israel (Michael means, Who is like God?) – see Dan. 10:18-21.
We see further that Darius the Mede was supported and strengthened by the angelic messenger (Dan. 11:1) so that he may receive the kingdom.
It wasn’t that Darius the Mede was so strong and smart that he conquered and overtook the Babylonian empire; rather, the angelic messenger supported him and strengthened him, and he killed Belshazzar and took his kingdom.
In the outward world situation in Dan. 5 we see how Belshazzar was indulging in debauchery and how in the same night Darius the Mede came to defeat him and kill him; in one night the whole thing changed, for the kingdom was given to the Medo-Persian Empire.
What we don’t see, however, is that there was a spirit fighting for Darius, the angelic messenger, and because of this, even though Darius was older, he could defeat the Babylonians because the Babylonian Empire’s commission from God has been completed. Wow!
Apparently what people can see on the world scene is these empires fighting and one defeating the other; actually, there’s a spiritual warfare going on behind the scenes in the spiritual scene, and God is behind the physical world managing the entire situation.
May we have the Lord’s light and shining in this matter to realize that nothing is what it seems to be in the world situation; rather, there is a spiritual scene behind the world situation, and God is behind the physical world managing the entire situation.
Lord, unveil us to see the real spiritual scene behind the world situation. May we realize that nothing is what it seems to be outwardly, but rather, there is a spiritual struggle going on in the spiritual scene! Amen, Lord Jesus, may we realize that God is behind the physical world managing the entire situation! Hallelujah, God is in control, He has His messengers and archangels and angels, and He is carrying out His purpose according to the desire of His heart. Amen, Lord, we praise You and we stand one with You in prayer on earth for Your purpose to be carried out!
Seeing that God is Behind the Scene Managing the World Situation and Persevering in Prayer
Millions and millions of people in the world go about their daily life taking care of this and that, facing this and that situation, and trying to figure out what’s going on here and there.
Furthermore, on the world scene there are large-scale events, wars, earthquakes, kingdoms being raised and leaders being put down, human governments making decisions and other decisions being repealed.
It is crucial for us as believers in Christ who are learning to live in the divine and mystical realm to realize that behind the world situation there’s a spiritual scene happening – there is a spiritual struggle going on, a struggle not seen with the human eyes.
Even more, as we see the struggles taking place between and inside the human governments, we need to realize that God is behind the scene managing the world situation (Dan. 7:10).
What we see today is not merely some virus spreading around the world and in country after country, neither is it just this government deciding this and the other president choosing to cut ties with another country.
Rather, we as believers in Christ realize that God is moving, He is behind the scene managing the world situation, and we should persevere in prayer to cooperate with Him and ask for His will to be done on earth.
We need not only thirty or sixty days of prayer but we need to pray perseveringly and persistently until the Lord returns.
We need to pray not merely because there’s an encouragement to pray or because we see this or that situation happening, but to pray to enter into the spiritual realm and stand with the Lord in the carrying out of His purpose.
God has a work to carry out and Satan has his viles, his schemes, which he wants to carry out; who will win the battle?
When we see the heavenly vision of the real spiritual scene behind the world situation, we will realize that we are right there in the midst of it; we cannot be neutral but rather, we need to be involved through our prayer.
Our work and our living will be directed by this heavenly seeing, for we feel strongly that Satan wants to destroy God’s work, and God’s work is to build up the Body so that the bride may be prepared and the Lord would return.
As we see the struggle between God and Satan, we realize that we’re right there in the midst of it; we look around us and realize that not many Christians know how to build up the Body, but we do know the secret.
We don’t know how much the Lord will keep us in this struggle, but we know that we need to persevere in prayer for God to accomplish what is on His heart on earth.
As we persevere in prayer and stand with God against His enemy, praying not merely in an ordinary way for our needs or for our welfare but for God to carry out His will, we will engage in this spiritual battle.
May we all continue to pray steadfastly and perseveringly to engage in the spiritual battle, realizing there’s a spiritual scene behind the world situation, God is working behind the scene to manage the world situation, and we can pray and stand one with Him for the fulfillment of His purpose.
Lord Jesus, we stand one with You in prayer for Your will to be done and for Your kingdom to come on earth. We believe not what we see outwardly in the world situation – we believe that God is behind the scene managing the world situation for the carrying out of His economy! Amen, Lord Jesus, cause us to see the spiritual struggle taking place in the spiritual world, and cause us to pray and engage in the spiritual battle, standing one with You! May we not be distracted by this or that situation; may we stand on the Lord’s side for the Body to be built up, the bride to be prepared, and the Lord to return to smash the human government and bring in the kingdom of God!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Daniel, msg. 15 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (2020 Memorial Day Conference), week 2, Seeing a Vision of the Throne of God, the Spiritual Scene behind the World Situation, and Christ as the Center of God’s Administration.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Teach us to bind the foe / With iron chains of prayer, / That all Thy Church may move / To victory everywhere. (Hymns #768)
– Hidden behind every scene, / Lovingly, sweetly operating, / One who is sovereign and wise, / Patiently guides even our eyes. / Look at My Son, the Beloved, / Sitting here at My right hand. / Jesus is King, yet He’s bound, / He cannot move until His people / give Him ground. (Song on, Hidden Behind Every Scene)
– Thou art the Man in glory there, / And there by God enthroned; / All pow’r in heaven and on earth / Now by Thyself is owned. / Exalted highly to the heav’ns / And giv’n the highest Name, / All shall confess Thee as the Lord / And all bow at Thy Name. (Hymns #133)
