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About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman Spiritual
Warfare I believe our present
political and cultural chaotic world stems from the ongoing spiritual war
taking place in the spirit world. Paul
addressed this war in Ephesians 6:10 through 18.
In the midst of this battle verse 10 says we are to "be strong
in the Lord and His power." The
passive voice Greek verb "be strong" suggests this inner
strength only comes from God, and not from us. We
can't be strong by our own human effort. Verse 11 tells us to
"put on the full armor of God."
The middle voice Greek verb "put on" suggests a
cooperative process with God.
Only then "can we stand against the devil's schemes," as
verse 11 says. The word "stand"
means "to abide," suggesting the war doesn't defeat us, but
neither does it end. Until
Jesus ends the war at His return, the "devil's schemes," his
crafty deceptive attacks penetrate our world, which is one sign of the end
of the age (Matthew 24:5, 11, 24).
Verse 12 confirms
"our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
We should know that our fight is not with our political or cultural
foes, but with satanic spirits. A study of the spiritual
weapons listed by Paul tells us they are defensive and not offensive
weapons, and that includes the sword of the Spirit (verse 17).
This sword (machaira in Greek) was a small sword, a knife that was
not an offensive weapon. It's
the Hebrews 4:12 "double edged sword" (machaira in Greek) that
is God's word that cuts away at our sinfulness.
We tend to view this
Ephesians 6:10 to 17 spiritual war as a battle that individual Christians
fight. I think the pronoun
"our" in "our struggle is not with flesh and blood"
suggests this is also a church struggle.
Each local expression of church as a whole fights this war and needs to
be armed with spiritual weapons, but are they?
I think much of what we
call church in the West is fighting a spiritual battle with carnal
weapons, political activism being one of many examples.
That can't work. In
many respects the church is being deceived by satanic schemes that are
dividing us into various factions, and we know a divided house can't stand
strong in battle (Luke 11:17). Covid
and political preferences are prime examples that have divided us.
We may blame Satan for this divide, but we have allowed him to
divide us. We, then, are our
own worst enemy, as James 4:1 implies. I suggest we rethink
Ephesians 6:10 to 18. The
church as the community of God's people needs to be armed just as much as
the individual Christian. Scripture
References
Ephesians 6:10 - 17 "Finally, be strong
in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put
on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the
devil’s schemes. For our
struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against
the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of
evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done
everything, to stand. Stand
firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the
breastplate of righteousness in place,
and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the
gospel of peace. In addition
to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish
all the flaming arrows of the evil one Take the helmet of salvation and
the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Matthew 24:5, 11, 24 "For
many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Messiah,' and will deceive
many ... and many false prophets will appear and deceive
many people ... For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and
perform great signs and wonders to deceive,
if possible, even the elect." James 4:1 "What causes fights
and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle
within you?" Luke 11:17 "Jesus knew their
thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided
against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will
fall."
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