The Spiritual Enemies in Our Spiritual War

Introduction:

Ten years ago, I saw a panel-discussion about the then-recent attack on the US embassy in Syria. Eventually, an Islamic-American woman in the audience asked, “Why are you not answering ideological questions with ideology, and discussion, instead of proposing war?” (No one had mentioned Islam. Everyone had focused on the violent attack that had occurred, and had carefully ignored the reason behind the attack.)

A woman on the panel replied that the world has about 1.2 billion Islamic people, and (as the woman in the audience said) about 75% of them desire peace. However, she pointed out that the only ones willing to discuss matters were the peaceful ones . The remaining 25% (300 million people …nearly the population of the United States) do not want peace, will not discuss it, and absolutely commit themselves to the destruction of Western Civilization.

Active Involvement?

On the other hand, even most of those do not get “actively involved.” Obviously, it only took nineteen jihadists to destroy the trade towers, killing nearly 3000 people. During WW2, most Germans wanted peace…however, the Nazis overruled, because the peaceful majority didn’t resist them. Sixty million people died as a long-range result. She cited other examples in which the “peaceful majority” proved to be irrelevant: Only the violent minority made a difference. Sadly, only those willing to fight for their beliefs become relevant in history.

The Quran calls all Islamic believers to wage “Jihad” (violent “holy war”) against all infidels. In contrast, nowhere does the Bible tell Christians to use violence to achieve their goals. (Israel was commanded to fight, and they did. Obviously, they still do so today. But the Church is not Israel.)

Instead, the New Testament addresses Christians: A different sort of war is in view. Furthermore, the scripture says we are soldiers in a spiritual war, with deadly spiritual enemies, all of whom are absolutely committed to our destruction. If we want to earn eternal relevance, (and not fall prey to those enemies) we must embrace the fact of spiritual warfare: And…we must be personally involved!

So, How Do We “Stand” For God?

In Ephesians 4:1-6:9, Paul told us how to walk with the Lord. He changes the subject (though it is closely related) in Ephesians 6:10, saying how we should stand for the Lord.

We tend to think of “Christian warfare” as a lot of “guerilla-tactics:” Sneaking around, looking for a chance to “slip in a good word, edgewise.” Sorry. That is not what it is about! It is not to be a “battle of wits:” (Compared to the enemies Paul describes, here, we are nearly “witless.”) And remember: The people against whom we try to use our “spiritual zingers” are not enemies. They are working with our enemies, but they are truly victims, just as we ourselves have been.

**Be Strong In the Lord, and in the Power of His Might**

Paul’s first command is: “Be strong.” Notice that the command is to “my brethren”—born again believers—children, together, of their real Father in heaven. In John 8:44,Jesus said that the world’s people are not by nature the children of God, but of Satan. That sounds harsh, but it is simply the truth…and in Ephesians 2:3, Paul agrees that we all began in that position.

But as Christians, he commanded us to “be strong.” Notice, too, that that is not the whole command. If he only said, “Be Strong,” we all might join gymnasiums or lift weights, trying to “obey the command of God”…and we would all be wrong. He says, “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His Might.” This has nothing to do with physical strength.

How Does God’s Strength Enter the Picture?

Read the story of Gideon, in Judges 6:11-16. (read it) Israel was a nation under siege, terrorized by roving bands of Midianite raiders. Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh, was secretly threshing some wheat, trying to get it into storage without the Midianites seeing him. (The raiders had a pattern of letting someone else do all the work and then swooping in to steal the harvest.)

The Angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon. (From previous studies, we saw that “the Angel of the LORD” always turns out to be the LORD, Jehovah, himself…and, as we further discovered: it is Jesus, in the flesh! This is no exception. In verses 14, 16, and following, the LORD is doing the talking: He called to Gideon, saying “the LORD is with thee, thou Mighty Man of Valor.” And Gideon effectively said, “You’ve got the wrong guy! I am the least in my father’s house, and our house is poor in our tribe. I’m no ‘mighty man’ of anything!”

But the LORD commanded him, saying “Go in this thy might…have I not sent thee?”

God knew who he was dealing with—a scared young farmer, just trying to stay alive and feed his family: but He called him a “Mighty Man of Valor”…and then revealed what made him strong. In the first place, he said, “The LORD is with thee!” and, in the second place, he said “go, in THIS thy might: Have I not sent thee?”

These two facts were what guaranteed Gideon His strength: As a called individual,

God was with him, and
God was sending him on a mission!

(Well! Wouldn’t it be nice if we had those two things?) You know the answer to that: We do!

Our Source of Strength

How do I know God is with us? Because Jesus guaranteed it, over and over. In John 14:16,He said that the Holy Spirit would be with us forever(remember: The Holy Spirit is God.) And, in John 14:18, He said that He himself would not abandon us. In John 14:23, He said that He and the Father would take up their abode with us. And, (Matthew 28:20) in the context of the Great Commission, he gave His promise “I am with thee always, even unto the end of the age!” So: There is no doubt that God is with us: The only question remains: are we with Him?

God went to a great deal of trouble to get Gideon to walk with him. We like to remember Gideon “laying out the fleece,” but we forget that this was specifically an act of doubt. Jesus had just appeared to him in person, and had given him a command. Gideon responded with “How do I know it is really you, or that you are sending me?” The two incidents with the fleece, and the subsequent “night-prowl” into the enemy camp all were given to allay his fears. The Lord really wanted him to do the job, and He really went a long way to “get Gideon on His team.”

**Are You Really On God’s Team?**

So, what does it take to get you on God’s team? He already died for you. (Of course, he died for Gideon, too, but Gideon didn’t know that.) He gave you the indwelling Holy Spirit; (Gideon didn’t have that blessing either.) He gave you the whole Bible. (Gideon may have seen the Torah, but probably only from a distance. We don’t even know for sure that he knew how to read: this was during a very dark period in Israel’s history.) The fact is, today, we have been given more evidence and more blessing than any other group of people in History.

You may think, “Ah, but Israel had the plagues in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and the Manna in the desert, not to mention the miraculous gushing River of Water from the Rock.” Yes, they did, and they soon forgot them. Gideon had never seen any of those things! He had only heard of them.

You have the written record of those miracles, and you have your own copy of the whole Bible…do you read it? Do you believe Him? God wants you on His team, and He has already promised to be with you. He has already called you, and He has already sent you.

Where Has He Sent Us?

Matthew 28:19, 20 “Go ye therefore and teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” We treat the Great Commission as if it were the marching orders for eleven or twelve men, but not for us.

But let’s read the rest of it: “…teaching them (that’s us) to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Yes, the Great Commission is to all Christians, throughout all history, in all places, in all the World.

God told Gideon nearly the same things He tells us: “Go, in this thy might: have I not sent thee?” But his marching orders were quite different. He was to wage physical war against the Midianite raiders who were destroying Israel. We are to fight a spiritual war against the spiritual forces of wickedness in this world…not against flesh and blood.

As with Gideon, He says, “be strong in the Lord and in the Power of His might”…not our own strength. Gideon had nothing to offer God except faith and obedience: The same as we have.

Our Defense Against Evil

So, what is to be our defense against the evil in the world, and, more importantly, against the invisible, active agents of evil around us? (Wait! What’s this “invisible” stuff? Where did I get that?) We will find out in the next few verses that ALL our real enemies are invisible. So, how will we defend against such an invisible enemy?

He commanded us to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against the “wiles of the devil.” The word, “Devil” means “accuser.” Satan means “adversary,” or “enemy.” But in this case, we see that ALL of our enemies are under the headship of that one Enemy, the Devil, who (1^st Peter 5:8) “Walks about as a roaring lion, seeking whom He may devour.”

So, any human defense will be useless; only the armor of God will suffice. The World feeds people video games and movies, many with the idea that “humans can fight demons…” shooting at them, etc. Think! They are invisible. Also, they are completely immune to anything humans can do, let alone bullets, blades and other such nonsense. In verses 14-18, God gives the only weapons that have any effect. We won’t get there today, but you can read ahead and see them: We have a handful of primarily defensive weapons and two potentially offensive weapons. And none of them are in any way connected to human ability or strength.

Gideon’s Experience, And Ours

Think of Gideon again: If you recall, the way God ordered the battle was first to take away all but 300 of Gideon’s troops. Next, God ordained that both hands of each of those 300 soldiers were full: They could not use any weapon in the battle! And, finally, He commanded them to:

Stand
Shine a light(remember the jugs and the torches?) and
Sound an alarm (Alternating between Blowing a trumpet and Shouting.)

Consider: Isn’t that also what He commands us to do?

Stand fast
Shine the light of a holy life (Philippians 2:15, 16; Matthew 5:15, 16)
Sound the alarm of the Gospel—both the “bad” news and the “good” news.

But our enemies and our armor are quite different from those of Gideon.

Who Are Our Enemies?

God’s Word says we have three major enemies, all under the leadership of one Enemy; Satan. He also has henchmen that we call demons, but the main way God lists our enemies is as:

The World
The Flesh
The Devil

(So, why do I say that they are all invisible? We see the world around us every day, don’t we?) No, as a matter of fact: We see the people of the world: people for whom Jesus died. 1^st John 2:2 states that Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world: He is the satisfaction of the Righteousness and Holiness of God on their behalf. So, if you think you “see” one of your enemies, remember that he or she is definitely someone for whom Jesus shed His precious blood. And we are commanded to reach out to them with the Love of God.

Our Three Enemies

“The World” that is our Enemy is the World system (of thinking, values, and motivation) controlling all the nations, politicians, and unbelievers of every kind. The people themselves are just sinners for whom Jesus died. The system is, and always shall be, the enemy of your soul.

“The Flesh” refers to our old sin nature, fully given over to self-will. (Even God can’t repair it or redeem it: So, He will do away with it through physical death.) In the believer’s case, this will provide eternal freedom from sin: when the body is resurrected, the only remaining nature will be the new nature. For the unbeliever, it means eternal loss, as the only resurrection they face is the resurrection of the damned; eternal separation from God in the lake of Fire.

“The Devil.”—Satan himself—is the leader of all his armies: not only the invisible evil hosts named here (the “principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world” are angelic beings) and the “spiritual wickedness in high places,” but also of the World and the Flesh, according to Ephesians 2:2, 3. (He is the “Spirit that now works in the Children of Disobedience.”)

Our Goal: To Stand

And, against all these enemies The Lord says to do what? Just stand! But as we stand, He calls us to shine as lights in a dark place (Philippians 2:15), and to sound the alarm of the Gospel, so that we serve as ambassadors of God (2nd Corinthians 5:19, 20.) We are offering His terms of salvation to all who are willing. We cannot re-write history. God will carry out His judgment in His own time. We will let God handle the judgment of His enemies. We are only to reach out to them in Love.

(Next time: The Armor)

Father God, help us to see your presence and your command as the full and sole source of our strength, and to take that command as our own personal marching orders, in Jesus’ Name, and for His sake.

Do You Know The Spiritual Enemies in Our Spiritual Warfare?