A story is told of a very wealthy man who refused to provide any funds to help those less fortunate. The people of his town think he is greedy and selfish. But, after he dies, their perception of this man totally changes when the contents of his will are revealed. His will includes instructions to leave all his wealth to the poor and explains further that he inherited his wealth from a relative who made him promise never to give the money to others during his lifetime and never to reveal this promise during his lifetime.1 Further, he lived on only the barest necessities during his life so he could leave as much of the fortune as possible to the needy. This further information revealed that the man, far from being a greedy miser, was in fact very benevolent and generous.
In our day many people hold deep misunderstandings about the character of God, especially when it comes to suffering and tragedies. Here too there is much more to the story than meets the eye. Even as the wealthy man’s will changed the way he was perceived, understanding what God has revealed in Scripture about the cosmic conflict illuminates God’s character.
An Angel Withstood for Three Weeks
A striking example of this cosmic conflict appears in Daniel 10, in which a message is revealed to Daniel about “a great conflict” (Dan. 10:1, NRSV). Greatly concerned, Daniel mourned, fasted, and fervently prayed for “three full weeks” (verse 2).2
After these three weeks Daniel saw a “great vision” and went into “a deep sleep” (verses 8, 9). Then a hand touched Daniel, and he heard the words “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you. . . . Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words” (verses 11, 12).
Notice that Daniel’s words were heard “from the first day.” Three weeks ago. Why did this angel come to Daniel only after three full weeks? The angel himself answers this question: “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days,” and the angel came only after Michael “came to help” him (verse 13).3
How is this possible? How could an angel sent by God be “withstood” for three weeks?
God is all-powerful (see, e.g., Jer. 32:17; Rev. 19:6) and therefore possessed the power to respond immediately to Daniel’s prayers. But here God’s angel is delayed for three entire weeks!
This case presents a serious conflict between the forces of light and darkness. For this to take place, however, God must not be exercising all His power. The enemy must be granted some genuine freedom and power to act within certain parameters (or rules) known to both sides, which God does not arbitrarily modify or remove.
As I have explained in a previous article, this cosmic conflict between God’s kingdom and the devil’s domain of darkness cannot be one of sheer power.4 No creature could oppose God at the level of sheer power. This conflict must be one of another kind.
Scripture elsewhere identifies this as a conflict over character, caused by the devil’s slanderous allegations against God that he raises in the heavenly court (and beyond) as the “accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night” (Rev. 12:10; cf. Gen. 3:1-5; Job 1-2; Zech. 3:1, 2; Jude 9). Since slanderous allegations cannot be settled by force, God can effectively answer these allegations only through a demonstration that proves them false. This kind of conflict is possible only if God has committed Himself to work within some parameters in which His kingdom can be opposed, which I call rules of engagement.
The enemy must be granted some genuine freedom and power to act within certain parameters known to both sides, which God does not arbitrarily modify or remove.
The Rules of Engagement
The idea that God commits Himself to working within some specified parameters (or “rules”) might seem strange to you at first, but it is actually a common occurrence throughout Scripture.
Consider this. Does God make promises? Indeed He does. Repeatedly throughout Scripture God makes promises and enters into covenants with His people wherein He specifies not only what He expects of them, but what He Himself will assuredly do.
Does God ever break His promises? Never. In fact, Scripture teaches that God “cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13), that He never lies (Titus 1:2), and that His promises are unbreakable (Heb. 6:17, 18; see also Ps. 89:34).
Given this, to the extent that God makes a promise or commits Himself (whether in a formal covenant or otherwise), God has thereby morally restricted His future actions to be in accord with whatever He has promised or committed Himself.
But why would God commit Himself to any such parameters, or “rules,” in the first place, especially in the cosmic conflict?
Imagine I am playing a board game with my son. The game is not going my way, so I decide to simply change my son’s moves so that I win. Wait, my son would surely protest, calling my changes unfair! And he would be right. If I were just to use my power to change his moves whenever I wanted so that I could have the advantage or win at every turn, my son would have no chance to win. The entire contest would be nothing but a charade and would show me to be profoundly unfair.
Every analogy breaks down. But at least in some ways this analogy might help us to see what might take place if God did not afford the enemy some room to make his case in the cosmic conflict in order to defeat the devil’s allegations in a way that is best for all creatures in the universe.
As noted earlier, the cosmic conflict is a conflict over character in which the devil has lodged allegations against God’s character and God’s government in the heavenly court. And the only way such allegations can be effectively countered and defeated is not by force, but by a demonstration.
In this context the enemy claims that he could prove his case against God’s character and government, if only given the chance. We see glimpses of this claim throughout Scripture, such as in the book of Job, when Satan appears before the heavenly council (see Job 1:6) and raises slanderous allegations against a righteous man named Job (verses 9-11; Job 2:4, 5). By charging that Job is unrighteous, Satan also thereby alleges that God is an unrighteous judge, for God had already declared Job “a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8; 2:3). Then Satan argues that he could prove his case if it were not for the fact that God had “made a hedge around” Job (Job 1:10), indicating some parameters, or rules, restricting the devil’s actions.5
This is one of many biblical examples of what I call rules of engagement, some parameters related to court proceedings in the heavenly council within which the arch-accuser Satan is allowed to make his cosmic courtroom case against God’s justice and love. Because God will never lie or break any promises or commitments He has made, God’s future actions are limited (morally) to be in accordance with whatever parameters to which He has agreed in the heavenly court. Accordingly, the devil has some real power and jurisdiction within which he works in this world, a point that is highlighted throughout Scripture.
For example, when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness, the devil showed Christ “all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time” and said, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours” (Luke 4:5-7; see also Matt. 8:29; 12:24-29; Rev. 12-13).6 Likewise, Christ Himself refers to the devil as “the ruler of this world” (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11; cf. 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 Peter 5:8) and John writes that “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (1 John 5:19; see also Acts 26:18; Eph. 6:11, 12).
Hope in Love
While many more questions remain, this provides a framework for why evil sometimes seems to run rampant in our world. This world looks like a war zone because it is one.
People often ask: “Why didn’t God prevent that evil event?” This framework supports the following answer: He would if He “could.”
Now, don’t misunderstand. This does not mean God lacks any power. Rather, this answer highlights that since God is entirely good (see Deut. 32:4) and hates evil more than we do, God would prevent any evil event if He “could” do so without denying His nature (2 Tim. 2:13), breaking His promises (Heb. 6:17, 18), or otherwise undermining love or resulting in worse outcomes on the whole (see, e.g., Rom. 8:18-20, 28, 37-39).
While we might think God should have taken this or that course of action, for all we know such courses were not morally available to God. While God wants to prevent every evil, doing so in some cases would either undermine free will (and thus love itself), be against the rules of engagement to which God has committed in the heavenly court, or result in greater evil or less flourishing of love.
Again, our world looks like a war zone because it is one. It is not a war of sheer power, but one over love itself. Through the work of Christ, God makes a way to defeat darkness forever without compromising goodness and love.
This cosmic war will not go on forever, and thus the devil “knows that he has a short time” (Rev. 12:12; see also Rom. 16:20). One day soon God will put an end to evil, suffering, and death once and for all and wipe away every tear (Rev. 21:4).
What can we do in the midst of it?
First, take hope that God is love and that victory is assured. Christ has assured victory for all who have faith in Him via the cross—“neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38, 39).
Second, spread love and hope to others. God is working. He calls you to work as well. Many things are not as God wants. He calls you and me to be a force for good in the world. So you are called not only to take hope in the true King, but to give someone else hope by making a difference for good in their life today—in defiance against this present darkness, in the name of the true King.
1 This story is adapted from William Abraham, “Revelation Reaffirmed,” in Divine Revelation, ed. Paul Avis (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), p. 208.
2 On prayer in the midst of cosmic conflict, see John C. Peckham, Why We Pray: Understanding Prayer in the Context of Cosmic Conflict (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2024).
3 Many scholars believe this “prince” of Persia is a demonic ruler working behind Persia’s human ruler (cf. Dan. 10:20, 21). See, e.g., Tremper Longmann III, Daniel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1999), p. 250. Even if it was merely a human ruler, however, Daniel 10 portrays God’s angel working within limits that delay him from answering Daniel’s prayer for 21 days.
4 See John Peckham, “Why Evil? An Enemy Has Done This,” Adventist Review, September 2024, pp. 30-33.
5 Regarding the story of Job, see John C. Peckham, Theodicy of Love: Cosmic Conflict and the Problem of Evil (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018), pp. 73-82, 94-100.
6 In Revelation 12-13 we are taught that the dragon (identified as the devil) is the ruler standing behind the earthly kingdoms and powers that work against God and His people (Rev. 13:2).