The phrase principalities and powersoccurs six times in the Bible, always in the King James Version and its derivatives (NKJV, MKJV). Other versions translate it variously as “rulers and authorities,” “forces and authorities,” and “rulers and powers.” In most places where the phrase appears, the contexts make it clear that it refers to the vast array of evil and malicious spirits who make war against the people of God. The principalities and powers of Satan are usually in view here, beings that wield power in the unseen realms to oppose everything and everyone that is of God.
The first mention of principalities and powers is in Romans 8:37–39: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” These verses are about the victory Christ has won over all the forces ranged against us. We are “more than conquerors” because no force—not life, not death, not angels, not demons, indeed nothing—can separate us from the love of God. The “powers” referred to here are those with miraculous powers, whether false teachers and prophets or the very demonic entities that empower them. What is clear is that, whoever they are, they cannot separate us from the love of God. Victory is assured. It would be unfortunate to dwell on identifying the powers and miss the main thrust of the verse, which is assurance about what God has done to save us.
Another mention of principalities and powers is in Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” Here is the clear statement that God is the Creator and Ruler over all authorities, whether they submit to Him or rebel against Him. Whatever power the evil forces possess, they are not out of the ultimate control of our sovereign God, who uses even the wicked for bringing about His perfect plan and purpose (Daniel 4:35; Isaiah 46:10–11).
In the next chapter of Colossians, we read about Jesus’ ultimate power over all other powers: “And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross” (Colossians 2:15). In keeping with all things, the powers are created by Christ and therefore under His control. They are not to be feared, for they have been disarmed by the cross. The Savior, by His death, took dominion from them, and took back what they had captured. Satan and his legions had invaded the earth and drawn mankind into captivity, subjecting them to their evil reign. But Christ, by His death, subdued the invaders and recaptured those who had been vanquished. Colossians 2:14 speaks of Jesus being nailed to the cross along with the written charges against us. The record of our wrongdoing, with which Satan accuses us before God, is nailed with Christ to the cross. It is thereby destroyed, and the powers can no longer accuse us; we are innocent in the eyes of God. Hence, they are disarmed.
Ephesians 3:10–11 presents different principalities and powers—those of the heavenly realms: “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Here we see the angelic hosts being shown the wisdom and purpose of God in the plan of salvation through Christ. Angels, both holy and unholy, witness the glory of God and the preeminence of Christ above all creatures in the church, those who are saved and preserved by His power (Ephesians 1:20–21).
Ephesians 6:12 declares the warfare in which we are engaged as we battle throughout our lives “against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” So, having been saved, we must continue to struggle to do good things in light of the sure victory promised in Romans 8. It is as though we are facing an army of dark powers who have been disarmed from real power and against whom we have been promised victory. It is our job to demonstrate and depend upon the wisdom and power of God in defeating them in our lives. We can do this by trusting in God’s victory.
The final reference to principalities and powers is Titus 3:1. Here they refer to those governmental authorities whom God has placed over us for our protection and welfare. They are God’s representatives on earth, and submission to Him involves submission to His duly constituted authorities. Those who rebel against earthly authorities are “rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:2).
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12(KJV)
Verse Thoughts
Christ gained complete victory over sin, death, and Satan through His death, burial, and Resurrection. And Christ's victory is ours by faith, for we are His Body and are identified with Him and He with us.
The day is coming when Christ will rule and reign on this earth as King of kings and Lord of lords and Satan will be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years, but during this Church dispensation we are engaged in an ongoing, spiritual battle with unseen spiritual forces of evil. We are members of Christ spiritual Body and our spiritual battle is against a spiritual enemy.
The enemy against which we are called to wrestle, can never be fought in the natural plain or in the physical sphere, for we do not wrestle against a flesh and blood enemy. We are engaged in a spiritual battle with a wicked fallen angel and many evil principalities and powers who are the authors of evil, deception, lies, fear, sin, evil, unrest, and war.
Our battle is against spiritual rulers of darkness that influence the evil that is taking place in this world today, but they can never be defeated in our lives through natural weapons and worldly ways.
Our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness against the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. The spiritual forces of evil will use the unsaved and blinded people to carry out their nefarious plans and it is the evil spirit of wickedness that works in the sons of disobedience. There is only one way to defeat the spiritual enemy that seeks to shipwreck our faith in Christ Jesus, and it is through the Holy Spirit of God Who works in believers. We are in Christ and He is in us and we are to fight this enemy with the spiritual weapons that He has provided, through the Word of God and all-prayer.
For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen, spiritual world. Our daily battle is against mighty powers in this dark world and evil spirits in heavenly places, and the only effective weapons against this evil enemy are found IN-Christ, the Word of God, and all prayer.
For Christ is our Salvation, and Christ is the Truth. Christ is our Righteousness, and Christ is our Peace.
Christ's victory at Calvary is ours by faith today. He triumphed over Satan through His death, burial, and Resurrection and only through HIM and the spiritual weapons of war that He provides, can we successful wrestle against the evil forces in our world today.
My Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You that Christ Jesus has won the victory over sin, Satan, and the spiritual forces that work in the darkness of this world. Help me to recognise that I can only defeat the spiritual enemies that war in the world today, through Christ. Thank You for providing me with the means to live a victorious life in Christ, through the Word of God, prayer and praise, and by abiding in Christ and He in me. In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.
Choose a Verse from Ephesians 6
Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.
Ephesians 6:13(NASB)
Verse Thoughts
Many of the battles in Old Testament times were fought with spears and swords in the physical realm, but New Testament believers are called upon to fight battles in the spiritual sphere, for we do not wrestle against physical enemies of flesh and blood... our battle is not against human opponents. Our enemy is in the spiritual plane. The opponents with whom we wrestle are spiritual rulers and demonic powers. We fight against the forces of this dark world - the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
We are at war with an evil, spiritual enemy, where the invisible rulers of darkness and wicked spiritual beings who inhabit high places, are hell-bent on ruining the lives of multitudes and shipwrecking the testimony of Christians, in defiance of God Almighty. They are the arch-enemy of the Lord and their intent is to decimate human-kind and rid the world of Adam's race which was made in the image and likeness of God. And so Paul instructs us, "therefore, take up the full armour of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm."
Having been given an assurance of our position in Christ and a reminder of the wonderful resurrection power we have in Him by faith, Paul calls upon us to take up the full armour of God so that we are equipped to resist the satanic plans and purposes of the enemy in the evil day and to stand firm in a world that is spiralling out of control. Every one of us is to put on the whole armour of God so that we may be able to take a stand against every evil assault of the enemy - and continue to stand firm in the faith that God supplied through His eternal Son.
There are many components of the Christian's spiritual armoury... and on closer inspection, we discover that each piece is directly linked with our position in Christ. When the enemy attacks and satanic forces are seeking to undermine our faith, we are to put on Christ - to remain covered in His perfect righteousness - to abide in Him and hope in the Lord.
The Lord Jesus is the Way, and He is Truth. He is our Righteousness, and in Him we have Peace - the perfect peace of God in our heart and everlasting peace with God, for we are His children. He is our salvation and by faith in Him, we have the indwelling Spirit of God giving us access to the throne of grace - through prayer, for mercy to find help in time of need.
He is the living, eternal Word of God made flesh... and by grace we have been given the God-breathed, inerrant, written Word of God - the Scriptures. Every single component of our spiritual armour is vital if we are to stand fast against the wiles of the enemy and hold fast in this evil day. Every piece of armour is required at all times if we are to be triumphant - for it is only as we yield to God, abide in Christ, and He in us, that we are empowered to resist the enemy and are assured a great spiritual victory.
We are called upon to take-up our weapons of warfare and to put-on the full armour of God, which is another way of saying - clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is calling believers to put on Christ, to abide in Christ and to rest in Him - as He abides in us.
Nowhere are we called upon to stamp on the enemy's head or rebuke Satan as many like to teach. Even the archangel Michael said, "the LORD rebuke you, Satan." However, we are called upon in Scripture, to resist and repel the enemy. Peter tells us to, "submit to God and resist the devil and he will flee from you." And here we are also instructed to, "resist in the evil day and stand firm," so that having done all, we will remain standing.
We are not to compromise with the ways of the world, nor are we to be deceived by the darkness of our fallen age. We are called to resist in the evil day and to clothe ourselves with Christ, so that we may be able to stand firm on the truth of the Word of God, as we pray in spirit and truth, with all prayer and supplication - and as we patiently intercede for all the saints of God.
May we be faithful to fulfil the privileged position we have as a member of Christ's spiritual army, and may we never seek to come against the enemy in the power of our own flesh or prideful self... but rather, may we take up our heavenly armour as we pray in the spirit and remain covered in Christ - in Whose name we stand.
My Prayer
Heavenly Father, I pray that I may take up the full armour of God and resist all the works of the enemy in this evil day in which we live. I pray that I may walk in spirit and truth, being clothed in Christ's own righteousness. May I receive the power from above to stand fast in this evil day and to resist the principalities and powers - to Your praise and glory. This I ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.
Choose a Verse from Ephesians 6
Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,
Ephesians 6:14(NASB)
Verse Thoughts
We are all so familiar with the armour of God as laid out in Ephesians 6... but no matter how much we learn about it, there is so much more to discover... for every piece of our spiritual armour points us to the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God - and every aspect of our holy covering is immeasurable.
The very first piece of our protective covering is truth. We are instructed to have our loins, "girt about with truth," for without the gospel of truth which comes from above, we believe a lie. Without the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ, we are dead in our sin and condemned to an eternity without God.
We are to bind the truth to our heart and meditate upon it day and night. We are to test all things by the Word of Truth and allow it to foster integrity in our heart and faithfulness to our calling. We are to know the truth that comes from God for the truth will set us free. And we are to speak the truth to others, in love - for our sufficient strength is found in Christ and is bound up with the truth of God.
Truth is a gift of God to all who are His and is recorded in the Word of Truth. We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit of truth Who has promised to guide us into all truth - and The Truth shall indeed set us free - free from slavery to sin and Satan, free from the assaults of death and destruction, free from the power of the enemy of our souls, free to live as God intended man to live - in total dependence upon Him for the praise of His holy name.
Truth is the gift from God that was personified in Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour. He was the One Who claimed, "I am the Way and the Truth."And He is also the eternal Resurrection and everlasting Life Who dwells in unapproachable Light. He is God's only true and living Way.
It is only as we believe the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ, that we are saved by grace through faith in His finished work at Calvary. Truth is the highway to holiness and the pathway that leads to the righteousness of God. He is 'the Lord our Righteousness' for we have no virtue of our own.
Christ is our living Head and we are clothed in His own perfect righteousness and declared to be holy before God, by faith in Him. We are to maintain the pure covering of Christ's own perfect purity, for it is only as we perform a practical righteousness in the power of the Holy Spirit that we become impregnable to the fiery darts of the enemy.
Once we have been placed in Christ by grace through faith... and positionally sanctified and set apart unto Him, we are to continue in our day-to-day spiritual battle by participating in a progressing, practical, ongoing sanctification process. For only as we are undergirded with truth, overshadowed with His life, and holding fast to Christ's righteousness, will we be protected from the assaults of the enemy.
Let us hold fast to the truth of the glorious gospel of grace that was once delivered to the saints and stand firm under the covering of Christ's own purity, wherewith we are clothed by faith. Therefore, let us take up the full armour of God so that we will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything - we will be able to stand.
My Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank You that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life and that I have been clothed in His own righteousness by grace through faith. As I live out my life, I pray that I may walk in integrity, speak the truth in love, and be continuously clothed in Christ's own righteousness - so that I may stand in the evil day, and having done all to hear You say, "well done, good and faithful soldier," to Your praise and glory, AMEN.
The Apostle Paul identified the root of evil in his letter to the church in Ephesus. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” he wrote (Eph. 6:12). What did Paul mean?
Paul states in Ephesians 6:12 that our enemies in this world are not human beings. As much as we might be inclined to believe that people are the source of our problems and frustrations, the root of our real problem, Paul says, lies elsewhere. While we should not excuse or justify bad behavior in anyone, we must realize that there are spiritual entities at work that seek to entice, enslave, and oppress us and those around us.
“We wrestle against . . . principalities” Paul says. What are principalities? The Greek word arche is used here in scripture, and it means “original ones; rulers (angelic or demonic); leaders.” In other words, we are wrestling against spiritual beings, whose origins the word implies, are older than the fall of man.
The next word Paul identifies we’re battling is “powers.” The Greek word exousia is used here and denotes “one that has been given a right to exercise authority over a certain jurisdiction.”
We wrestle against “rulers of darkness.” The word kosmokrator appears here and literally means, “the lord of this world; prince of this age” and is a direct reference to the devil (see John 12:31, John 16:11, Eph. 2:2, and 2 Cor. 4:4).
Finally, Paul says that we wrestle against spiritual wickedness in high places. What are high places? The original Greek translated high places is epouranios and is defined as “the heavenlies.” So we are wrestling against wicked beings in the heavenly realm. Many Bible scholars term this spirit realm as “the second heaven.”
The second heaven
These four distinct beings listed in Ephesians 6:12 that Paul says we wrestle correspond with Colossians 1:16, in which Paul details the four main orders of heavenly beings who were created by God through Christ: thrones, dominions, principalities [rulerships] and powers [authorities]. These beings aren’t some sort of nebulous energy; they’re not benign. We shouldn’t cultivate an unhealthy fascination with them, nor should the study of them go outside of Biblical teaching.
The purpose in their study is to expose darkness and bring it into the light in order to overthrow Satan’s kingdom. There are Bible teachers and their followers who get sidetracked in making this one more theological ground to argue and engage in debate, rather than keeping unity of the Spirit (Eph. 4:3) and seeking to eradicate the evil. (For further study, I highly recommend Derek Prince’s teaching on demons, as well as Jake Kail; and Peter Horrobin’s Healing Through Deliverance offers solid, foundational teaching on the subject as well).
These unclean spirits are part of Satan’s kingdom which we discussed previously. Satan is known as the father of lies (John 8:44), and in doing his work, these beings seek to deceive people, to torment them, to stir up chaos and malice, and ultimately bring about death and destruction. There is some speculation on their origins (some people believe all demons/evil spirits were fallen angels in Satan’s rebellion; others maintain that some were not part of the war in Heaven but were created at another time) Regardless of when they were created, they are quite real. The spirit realm, or second heaven, in which they dwell is very active. These evil spirits possess measures of authority that influence the natural world.
From Genesis 1:1, the Bible indicates that the earth is singular, but the heavens are plural: “God created the heavens and the earth.” The first heaven is commonly identified as that which is visible from earth. Paul talked about the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12, in which he says that a certain man “was caught up to the third heaven . . . into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak” (verses 2, 4). This indicates that the third—and highest—heaven (see Psalm 115:16) is the actual dwelling place of God Himself. If the first heaven is the one visible from earth, then it stands to reason that there is a second intermediate heaven somewhere between the visible heaven and the third heaven which is God’s dwelling place.
“We fix our eyes on what is unseen”
One of the reasons some new Christians around the world see more lasting spiritual victories – that is, less backsliding than western converts, as well as experiencing more readily miracles and healings – seems tied to the fact that many second and third world countries are much more spiritually attuned than the West. These cultures have worshiped demons in the form of idols, ancestors, and other false gods and know firsthand the reality of these terrible masters and the power they exude. They recognize the need to renounce all ties to evil and be delivered from any occult influence at the time of salvation. They’ve seen the supernatural power of their “dieties,” and some have experienced the horrific curses of local witch doctors – so it is easy for them to believe in the supernatural touch of the One True God in their daily lives.
In the United States, there has been far less emphasis on renouncing past involvement with idolatry and the occult upon conversion. When new believers confess Jesus Christ as Lord, it is necessary that they recognize, repent of, and renounce all former ties with darkness, including addictions and the involvement with any false religions, including New Age movement and yoga. It is this failure to recognize the harm of many of these activities and to repent of them which keeps many Christians from going deeper in The Lord. Pastor Jake Kail points out inRestoring the Ministry of Jesus that Jesus did four main things: teaching, preaching, healing and deliverance (casting out demons). He commissioned His disciples to do the same (Matt. 10:1, Matt. 10:8, Luke 9:1-2). If Jesus is recorded in the gospel spending as much time casting out demons as He did preaching and teaching, why is the western church not following in His footsteps?
Even baptism in other nations tends to be recognized more fully as a burial of the old nature and a breaking of ties with the world than it generally is in the west, where baptism is often associated merely with ceremony and symbolism – infant dedication or church membership affiliation.
Paul said “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18). If we elevate the intellectual realm to the exclusion of the spirit realm in our post-modern culture, we not only miss out on comprehending what is really going on in our world by failing to see through spiritual eyes, but we also risk becoming arrogant (see 1 Cor. 8:1); this is the hallmark of the world around us.
Hollywood’s dead
Have you noticed the explosion of vampire, zombie, and paranormal films and television series that have come on the scene in the last decade? There has been increased fascination with the supernatural, which may be in part due to humanity’s overall spiritual hunger (for which the church as a whole has largely left a vacuum by not teaching and ministering in the supernatural, according to the Bible). This ramping up of demonic media seems to be linked also to Americans getting more involved in various forms of the occult. Most of what is portrayed of the spirit realm by Hollywood, however, is not Biblical. There is one source of evil, and there is only one source of good that will overcome it, and that is Jesus Christ.
Just like the Nazis got their horrific ideas for human experimentation from demons, much of Hollywood is producing garbage that is straight out of hell, streaming into America’s living rooms and bedrooms. (It is interesting that certain Christian musicians walked out of the 2014 Grammys after witnessing what was described as “Satanic activity” by some performers from Tinseltown). It used to be a few years back that you had to shield yourself mainly from sensuality on television. While this is still the case, increasingly what comes on network TV during commercials – trailers for films and television series – is dark, demonic, and gruesome. Children can be haunted for years by a few seconds of something they witnessed broadcast during primetime. The crime shows and forensics in particular are devastatingly graphic. A friend shared with me recently that she had a panic attack after watching a scene from one of these programs. We need to be vigilant about what we let entertain us. If we go places or gaze upon that which The Lord has forbidden, we risk forfeiting His cover of protection.
Scripture tells us that “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14), so things can entice us or take on the appearance of good; but if they do not glorify Jesus Christ and affirm Him as the Son of God, they should be discarded. This is true of all false religions, as well as certain secret societies. “What fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony can there be between Christ and the devil?” Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15. May we recognize spiritual wickedness and darkness for what it is. This is the first step in striking at the root, rather than merely floundering at the full-grown branches.
The spiritual powers at work are directly tied to the sin and darkness of humanity, so while it’s easy to look at someone and want to watch the earth open up and swallow them, the real fight is against Satan and his angels. Thank God He did not leave us alone to fight on our own! We have weapons and they are created specifically for fighting spiritual battles against spiritual enemies.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood (even if we want to).
You’ve probably read Ephesians 6:12: “For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
It’s so easy to look at the people coming against us and want to lash out at them, but it’s the demonic, spiritual forces at play in, around, and even through them that we must battle. Like 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.” And because your enemy is fighting to the death, you must as well.
Battles hit us in many forms: Someone you love is on drugs or is an alcoholic. You lost your job. One of your kids or your spouse or your parent is gravely ill. You’ve been injured in a car accident. You have to make an impossible decision. You’ve been cheated on, or served with divorce papers. You have a devastating health diagnosis. Someone hates you, or has stabbed you in the back or is trying to constantly bring you down. You have a loved one heading off to war. There’s a domestic violence situation.
You feel helpless, hopeless, despairing, angry, hurt, afraid, desperate, sick, betrayed, unloved, frustrated, anxious, and worse. What do you do now?
The Word of God goes forth and does not return empty.
Remember, in the life of a Christian, the battle is always spiritual. At any moment, Satan seeks to do you harm. Job, the oldest book in the Bible, notes that Satan roams around the earth, up and down and all around. What do you think he’s doing? He’s looking for people he can devour so he can then use them to turn and devour you (1 Peter 5:8)!
As a follower of Jesus, you have absolutely no need to truly fear Satan. Satan traffics in darkness, so you stay in the light. When he tries to get to you, turn and fight using the weapons God gave you – His Word, worship, prayerand even other Christians!
One of the most powerful verses in the Bible is in Isaiah 55:11 which says, “…so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
In Jeremiah 1:12 the Lord says He watches over His Word to see it performed. Speak the Word over your situation! There is true power there! When we agree with God’s Word and refuse to speak against it or disagree with it, we speak faith into existence.
So, the fight of your life is raging in your face, what do you do? Speak the Word!
Here are five tips for using the Word of God to push back and win the war against Satan in your situation:
1. Use fighting words.
Satan hates you, and all of humanity, because you bear the image of God. Your very existence is an unending reminder that God is everywhere and that you are part of God’s winning strategy to destroy Satan. This is why he attacks Christians so violently – because if he can get you to stop fighting, his job is that much easier! Speak faith.
Read: Psalm 18 — This powerful Psalm is battle worship! This is the song of a man whose enemies were bearing down hard and his way out was to remind himself of the mighty, saving power of God and to cry out to His greatness. When you’re in a battle season, print it and read it aloud so Satan can hear it!
Personalize your declaration: “The Lord lives! And blessed be my Rock! May the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God who avenges me and subdues the people under me; He delivers me from my enemies. You lift me up above those who rise up against me; You have delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the nations, and sing praises to Your name.” (Psalm 18:46-49)
2. Own your truth.
One of the things Satan will go after in battle is your identity in Christ. He wants to convince you that you are something apart from what God created you to be, or disconnect you from God by getting you to doubt that He is who He says He is.
Read: Romans 8:31-39— Remember, God is who He said He is, and you are who He says you are. You were made to walk with Him, to overcome Satan, and to live a life of victory. It is possible to win, but you have to know who you are fighting, why you are fighting, and how to fight with the weapons you were given.
Personalize your declaration: “…in all these things [I am more than a conqueror] through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39)
3. Speak supernatural power statements.
It’s important while battling the enemy to speak strong words, God’s Word, because he’s not afraid of you, but he is afraid of God, who resides in you, and protects you. This is why we call upon the name of the Lord (Romans 10:13). He sends His angels to set up camp around you. (Psalm 34:17) and you’re never alone. (Hebrews 13:5-6) Hard times will come. Confusing times. Frustrating times. Times of fear and despair. You can’t control that, but you can control your response.
You are not a victim unless you choose to be. Satan will lie to you and try to convince you you’ve lost, and that it’s over, but if you will use the Word of God as your sword, and continue on in the fight without giving up, it’s not over until God says it’s over! For how long? As long as it takes to win!
“Submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
Read: Psalm 118:5-18 — This Psalm is victorious, powerful, declarative and filled with images of the victory of the Lord – for you! Customize this word for yourself or a loved one, and every time a demonic thought comes in, command it out, in Jesus’ name. Shout your Word to yourself, and the enemy, and to the Lord. Your faith is the first evidence of your miracle!
Personalize your declaration: The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the Lord is valiant. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord is valiant.” I shall not die, but I shall live and declare the works of the Lord. (Psalm 118:15-18)
4. Know your enemy.
Satan likes people to think he’s a great mystery and that he can keep us on our toes by stirring up fear and doubt. Fear that maybe he really is all powerful. Doubt that God can defeat him. But remember he’s a liar!
Every, single thing that you ever think or speak that goes against even one word of God’s Word is a lie. God’s Word is the only source of truth in existence and if you have doubt in it, Satan has already gained more ground in the battle.
How can you identify the works of Satan? Know your Word! Go deep into the Word for your situation. The Holy Spirit will quicken His Word to you and it’ll be another weapon in the fight.
You have the power, authority and obligation to cast down imaginations and “every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” But you must be able to identify 1) what things constitute the “knowledge of God” and 2) what things are exalting themselves above that knowledge: imagination, fear, anger, doubt, trauma, bad memories, guilt, shame, unforgiveness, bitterness, worry and more.
Remember, If God didn’t give it to you to bless you, Satan is probably using it to hurt you. Cast it down, in Jesus’ name!
Read: Revelation 12:1-12 — Today, remind yourself (and Satan) of the ultimate fate he will suffer. The lie is that he cannot be defeated. The truth is, he already has been defeated. We tend to look around and see all hell breaking loose and we start to doubt God and believe Satan, and our natural experiences. Read this chapter and glimpse how it all will end. God will have the ultimate victory!
Personalize your declaration: Matthew 18:18 says, “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” And, Luke 10:19 says: “Look, I give you authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you.” So declare it: Nothing by any means shall hurt me, I have power over the enemy!
5. Fight to the death.
Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14:8, “If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for the battle?” Let Satan know you’re coming for him! No more defensive positions. It’s time to attack! Remember the battles you’re in are spiritual. You can’t control the choices that other people make, but you can choose how you respond to them.
God will fight for, in, and through you in the battle for His victory. If He promised life and health and peace – and you’re walking in the light with Him – then those promises are yours and He’ll help you grab hold of them. Maybe the fight will be until your very last day on earth, but don’t give up! He is your deliverer. God’s Word is true and still in effect from now into eternity.
Read: 1 Timothy 6:11-12 — take up the challenge to “flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.”
Personalize your declaration: declare Ephesians 6:10-13 over your fight, by saying “I am strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I will put on the whole armor of God that I may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, I take up the whole armor of God that I may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”
The Spirit-filled life and two other special areas of submission.
1. (1-3) The Spirit-filled life and the parent-child relationship.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
a. Children, obey your parents: The command is simple. Children are to obey their parents. This not only means that children have the responsibility to obey, but parents have the responsibility to teach their children obedience – one of the most important jobs for a parent.
i. We don’t need to teach our children how to disobey because they have each inherited an inclination to sin from Adam – but obedience must be taught.
ii. It is essential that a parent teach the child obedience, so that the child will grow up knowing how to obey God even when he doesn’t understand everything or doesn’t want to.
iii. This is what all a parent’s discipline for a child must come to. Disobedience must be punished, so that obedience can be learned.
b. In the Lord, for this is right: The apostle gives us two reasons for the child to obey the parent. First, they are to obey in the Lord. This means that their obedience is part of their Christian obedience, in a similar way to the wife’s command to submit to her husband as to the Lord (Ephesians 5:22). The second reason is because it is simply right for a child to obey their parent.
i. What it means to honor our father and mother may change as we grow into adulthood, but the principle always endures. The adult child does not owe the parent obedience, but they do owe the parent honor.
ii. “When the bonds of family life break up, when respect for parents fails, the community becomes decadent and will not live long.” (Foulkes)
c. The first commandment with a promise: Paul reinforced this idea with a reference to Deuteronomy 5:16, where God promised to bless the obedient child.
i. Christians have normally divided the Ten Commandments into the first four (directed towards God) and the last six (directed towards their fellow man). But the Jews divided the commandments in two sets of five, seeing the law to honor your father and mothermore as a duty towards God than a duty towards man.
2. (4) How parents walk in the light: not provoking their children to wrath.
And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.
a. Do not provoke your children to wrath: Parents certainly have the opportunity to provoke their children to wrath, through an unkind, over-critical attitude that torments the child instead of training them. But Christian parents should never be like this.
i. “The gospel introduced a fresh element into parental responsibility by insisting that the feelings of the child must be taken into consideration. In a society where the father’s authority (patria potestas) was absolute, this represented a revolutionary concept.” (Wood)
b. Provoke your children to wrath: This harsh kind of parenting Paul speaks against gives an unnecessary justification to a child’s natural rebellion.
i. “When you are disciplining a child, you should have first controlled yourself… What right have you to say to your child that he needs discipline when you obviously need it yourself?” (Lloyd-Jones)
c. Bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord: This does not mean merely scolding your children in the sense of admonition. It means to train and admonish. Encouragement and rebuke must be combined with training and teaching.
i. This is a responsibility for fathers. They must not neglect their responsibility to teach and be a spiritual example for their children. It is not a responsibility that should be left to the mother or the Sunday School.
ii. Training is the same word translated chastening in Hebrews 12:5-11. It has the idea of training through corrective discipline. Admonition has more of the idea of teaching – both are necessary, though it may be significant that trainingcomes first.
iii. Significantly, both training and admonition are used to describe the purpose of the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16and 1 Corinthians 10:11). Parents are to raise their children on the Word of God.
d. Bring them up: This ancient Greek word was originally used of bodily nourishment as in Ephesians 5:29. But the word came to be used for the nurture of body, mind, and soul. The form here suggests “development by care and pains” or as Calvin translated, “Let them be fondly cherished.”
3. (5-8) How employees walk in the light: working as servants of Jesus.
Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
a. Bondservants, be obedient… as to Christ: The words “as to Christ” change our entire perspective as workers. It reminds us that our work can and should be done as if we were working for Jesus – because we are!
i. “The Gospel found slavery in the world; and in many regions, particularly the Roman and the Greek, it was a very bad form of slavery. The Gospel began at once to undermine it, with its mighty principles of the equality of all souls in the mystery and dignity of manhood, and of the equal work of redeeming love wrought for all souls by the supreme Master. But its plan was – not to batter, but to undermine… So while the Gospel in one respect left slavery alone, it doomed it in another.” (Moule)
b. Not with eyeservice: We are not to work with eyeservice(working only when the boss is looking) or as men-pleasers(those who only care about pleasing man), but with good will(a good attitude, not complaining) doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men.
i. As to the Lord means that all our work is really done unto the Lord, not unto man. “Grace makes us the servants of God while still we are the servants of men: it enables us to do the business of heaven while we are attending to the business of earth: it sanctifies the common duties of life by showing us how to perform them in the light of heaven.” (Spurgeon)
c. Doing the will of God: In Greek culture manual work was despised and the goal of being successful was getting to the point where you never had to do any work. This isn’t how it is in God’s kingdom, where hard work and manual labor are honorable.
i. It should be said of every Christian that he is a hard worker and gives his employer a full day’s work for his pay; to do anything less is to steal from your employer.
d. He will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free: Paul relates a final reason for working hard for the Lord. God will return to us in the measure that we have worked hard for others; He will not allow our hard work to go without reward.
i. This connects to an interesting principle. When people are born again, their life changes and they become harder workers and less wasteful, and they are blessed thereby and become prosperous. But after becoming prosperous, we often allow our hearts to grow far from God, then God disciplines us with hard times, and then we repent – and then the cycle starts again. This is not a necessary cycle, but it is a common one.
4. (9) How employers walk in the light: treating their workers well.
And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.
a. You, masters, do the same things to them: Masters are told to do the same things to them(their employees). Even as servants are to work hard and honestly for their masters, so masters are to do the same on behalf of those who work for them.
i. “So the Gospel leaves its message of absolutely equal obligation, in Jesus Christ, upon the slave and upon the slave owner. The principle will do its work. There is no word of Revolution.” (Moule)
b. Giving up threatening: Employers are also to give up threatening and other forms of harsh treatment. They do this knowing that they are employees of their Master in heaven, and He judges without regard to wealth or position.
B. Fighting against the darkness.
1. (10) The call to stand against the devil.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
a. Finally: This comes at the end of the letter – a letter in which Paul has carefully established our place in Jesus, and then the basics of the Christian walk. This is his last section dealing with that walk. For Paul to write finallyhere means that he speaks in light of all he has previously said.
· In light of all that God has done for you.
· In light of the glorious standing you have as a child of God.
· In light of His great plan of the ages that God has made you part of.
· In light of the plan for Christian maturity and growth He gives to you.
· In light of the conduct God calls every believer to live.
· In light of the filling of the Spirit and our walk in the Spirit.
· In light of all this, there is a battle to fight in the Christian life.
b. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might: Literally, Paul wrote strengthen yourselves in the Lord. He probably took the idea from 1 Samuel 30:6, where it is said that David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
i. The detailed teaching of spiritual warfare in this passage presents two essential components. First, you must be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Then, you must put on the whole armor of God. The two are essential, and much teaching on Christian combat neglects the first. If you take a weak man who can barely stand, and put the best armor on him he will still be an ineffective soldier. He will be easily beaten. So equipping for Christian combat must beginwith the principle, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
ii. Before a soldier is given a gun or shown how to fire a missile, he goes through basic training. One great purpose for basic training is to build up the recruit’s physical strength. It is as if the army says, “Soldier, we are going to give you the best weapons and armor possible. But first we have to make sure that you are strong and that you can use what we give you.”
c. And in the power of His might: This shows how to get this strength. This does not happen just by saying the words. It is not an incantation or a spell. You can’t just walk around saying, “be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might” over and over and it will happen. Those kind of mental games can accomplish something, but it certainly wasn’t what Paul meant here.
i. Might is inherent power or force. A muscular man’s big muscles display his might, even if he doesn’t use them. It is the reserve of strength.
ii. Power is the exercise of might. When the muscular man uses his might to bend an iron bar, he uses his power. It means that the reserve of strength is actually in operation.
iii. God has vast reservoirs of might that can be realized as power in our Christian life. But His might does not work in me as I sit passively. His might works in me as I rely on it, and step out to do the work. I can rely on it and do no work. I can do work without relying on it. But both of these fall short. I must rely on His might and then do the work.
iv. It is not “I do everything and God does nothing.” It is not “I do nothing and God does everything.” It is not “I do all I can and God helps with what I can’t.” Each of those approaches falls short. The key is for me to by faith rely on His might – and rely on it more and more – and then do the work.
v. In his great series of sermons on this text, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones listed many ways in which he believes Christians wastedtheir strength. It was as if they had received some of the available might of God, but it simply leaked away like water in a bucket that is full of holes. These are some of the things Lloyd-Jones thought sapped the strength of the Christian:
· Committing to too many spiritual works or things.
· Too much conversation.
· Arguments, debates, wrangling.
· Laziness.
· Too much time in the wrong company.
· Too much foolish talk and joking.
· Love of money and career.
· A desire for respectability and image.
· An unequal yoking with an unbeliever.
· Ungodly entertainment.
· A wrong attitude toward or doubting the Word of God.
vi. “We have to walk on a knife-edge in these matters; you must not become extreme on one side or the other. But you have to be watchful. And, of course, you can always tell by examining yourself whether your strength is increasing or declining.” (Lloyd-Jones)
2. (11) The command for the whole armor of God.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
a. Put on the whole armor of God: The armor of God will be explained more fully in the next passage; but here the emphasis is on the whole armor of God. God gives the believer a full set of equipment, and He sends us out into battle with everything we need at our disposal.
i. This ancient Greek word for armor is used in only one other place in the New Testament. In Luke11:21-22, Jesus speaks of the strong man who is fully armed, but is stripped of all his armor when a stronger one comes and defeats him. We know that Jesus disarmed all principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15).
ii. This armor is of God both in the sense that it is from Him, and in the sense that it is His actual armor. In the Old Testament, it is the LORD who wears the armor (Isaiah 59:17). He now shares that armor with us. Equipped with God’s armor, no wonder we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37).
b. That you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil: We express the strength we have in God by standing against the wiles of the devil. Satan’s schemes against us come to nothing when we stand against them in the power of God.
i. Stott quoting Simpson: “The tactics of intimidation and insinuation alternate in Satan’s plan of campaign. He plays both the bully and the beguiler. Force and fraud form his chief offensive against the camp of the saints.”
3. (12) The fact of spiritual warfare.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
a. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers: Paul did not call the believer to enter into spiritual warfare. He simply announced it as a fact: we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but (we do wrestle) against principalities and so forth. You are in a spiritual battle. If you are ignorant or ignore that fact, you probably aren’t winning the battle.
b. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood: The fact that our real battle is not against flesh and blood is forgotten by many Christians, who put all their efforts in that direction. Paul’s idea here is much the same as in 2 Corinthians 10:3-4: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.
i. Foulkes says a more literal translation is, Not for us is the wrestling against flesh and blood.
c. Principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places: Paul used a variety of terms to refer to our spiritual enemies. We should regard them as being on many different levels and of many different ranks, yet they all have one goal: to knock the Christian down from their place of standing.
i. Ephesians 6:11 tells us that all of our warfare is combating the wiles of the devil. At the end of the day it is completely irrelevant if the particular opponent we face is a principality, a power, or a ruler of the darkness of this age. Collectively, they are all members of spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. They are all part of a spiritual army that is organized and established into ranks and is under the headship of Satan who comes against us.
ii. We learn more about these principalities and powersfrom other passages in the New Testament.
· Romans 8:38 tells us that principalities cannot keep us from God’s love. Therefore, there is a limit to their power.
· Ephesians 1:20-21 tells us that Jesus is enthroned in heaven, far above all principalities and powers.Colossians 1:16 tells us that Jesus created principalities and powers. Colossians 2:10tells us that Jesus is head over all principalities and power. Therefore, Jesus is not the opposite of Satan or principalities.
· Ephesians 3:10-11 tells us that the church makes known the wisdom of God to principalities and powers. 1 Corinthians 15:24 tells us that principalities andpowers have an end; one day their purpose will be fulfilled and God will no longer let them work. Therefore, God has a purpose in allowing their work.
· Colossians 2:15 tells us that Jesus disarmed principalities and powers at the cross. Therefore, our victory is rooted in what Jesus did, not in what we do. It isn’t that there is no doing on our part – but our doing is the appropriation and application of what Jesus did.
iii. Some interpret the nature of principalities and powersin purely naturalistic terms. Markus Barth wrote, “We conclude that by principalities and powers Paul means the world of axioms and principles of politics and religion, of economics and society, of morals and biology, of history and culture.” Yet this contradicts what Paul says about our battle not being against flesh and blood.
4. (13) The proper response to the fact of spiritual warfare.
Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
a. Therefore take up the whole armor of God: Paul introduced the idea of the whole armor of God back in Ephesians 6:11. In the following passage he details the specific items related to the armor of God. In this verse, he simply states what the main purpose of spiritual warfare and the armor of God is.
b. That you may be able: Without the strength of God and the protection of spiritual armor, it is impossible to stand against the attacks of spiritual enemies.
c. That you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand: This describes the purpose for the strength of God and the armor of God; what we are to use them for.
i. God has given His people a call, a mission, a course to fulfill. Satan will do his best to stop it. When he attacks and intimidates, we are to stand. It is plain that this is Paul’s emphasis in Ephesians 6:11and 6:13. We do the Lord’s work and stand against every hint of spiritual opposition.
ii. God gives the Christian a glorious standing to maintain by faith and spiritual warfare:
· We stand in grace(Romans 5:2).
· We stand in the gospel(1 Corinthians 15:1).
· We stand in courage and strength(1 Corinthians 16:13).
· We stand in faith(2 Corinthians 1:24).
· We stand in Christian liberty (Galatians 5:1).
· We stand in Christian unity(Philippians 1:27).
· We stand in the Lord(Philippians 4:1).
· We should stand perfectand complete in the will of God (Colossians 4:12).
iii. All in all, there is a lot indicated by that one word, stand.
· It means that we are going to be attacked.
· It means that we must not be frightened.
· It means that we must not droop or slouch; nor be uncertain or half-hearted in the fight (no self-pity is allowed).
· It means that we are at our position and alert.
· It means that we do not give even a thought to retreat.
5. (14-15) The spiritual armor to have.
Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
a. Stand therefore: We can only stand when we are equipped with the armor God has given us in Jesus Christ. Each aspect of this symbolic armor answers to a specific dynamic within the Christian life that enables us to stand against spiritual attack.
i. Paul wrote this while in the custody of Roman soldiers. It was easy for him to look at the equipment of his guards and see how God has equipped the believer.
ii. The order in which the pieces of armor are described is the order in which the soldier would normally put them on.
b. Having girded your waist with truth: Truth is symbolically represented as a belt which both protects our abdomen and gathers up our garments so that we can fight effectively.
i. Strictly, the belt is not part of the armor, but before the armor can be put on, the garments underneath must be gathered together.
ii. “The soldier might be furnished with every other part of his equipment, and yet, wanting the girdle, would neither be fully accoutered nor securely armed. His belt… was no mere adornment of the soldier, but an essential part of his equipment… it was of especial use in keeping other parts in place, and in securing the proper soldierly attitude and freedom of movement.” (Salmond)
iii. When a man sat down and was relaxed, he took off his belt. Putting on the belt prepared for action, it freed one for movement, and it put a soldier in a battle frame of mind. The same idea was communicated by Jesus in Luke 12:35-36.
iv. The belt of truth puts on the Biblical beliefs of the Christians as a whole, what other passages call the faith. Many people believe that the church will never go forward until it takes off this belt of truth, but that is completely wrong. This is part of the armor to have, which is a foundation to live upon all the time, our understanding of and confidence in the basic doctrines of the faith.
c. Having put on the breastplate of righteousness: Righteousness is represented as a breastplate which provides essential protection for the most vital organs. We can no sooner battle against spiritual enemies in our own righteousness than a soldier can effectively fight without his breastplate.
i. This is not our own earned righteousness, not a feeling of righteousness, but a righteousness received by faith in Jesus. It gives us a general sense of confidence, an awareness of our standing and position.
ii. “Thank God for experiences, but do not rely on them. You do not put on the ‘breastplate of experiences’, you put on the breastplate of ‘righteousness.’ ” (Lloyd-Jones)
iii. We are sometimes tempted to say to the devil, “Look at all I’ve done for the Lord.” But that is shaky ground, though sometimes it feels good. It is shaky because feelings and experiences change quickly. God’s righteousness isn’t. The breastplate of righteousness is your best defense against the sense of spiritual depression and gloom that comes against us.
d. Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace: The preparation of the gospel is represented as the protective shoes (or sandals) worn by Roman soldiers. No one can fight effectively or effectively go about his business without this equipment.
i. Preparation is a word meaning “a prepared foundation.” The gospel provides the footing for everything we do. However powerful the rest of your body is, if you are wounded in your feet you are easy prey for the enemy.
ii. On the shoes: “Josephus described them as ‘shoes thickly studded with sharp nails’… so as to ensure a good grip. The military successes both of Alexander the Great and of Julius Caesar were due in large measure to their armies’ being well shod and thus able to undertake long marches at incredible speed over rough terrain.” (Wood)
iii. Paul had Isaiah 52:7 in mind when he refered to having shod your feet: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
iv. The idea of preparation is really readiness. We must be mobile, flexible, and ready with the truth. This is a place to have in the Christian life, to live in constant readiness and flexibility.
6. (16-18) The spiritual armor to take.
Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
a. Above all: This really has the idea of “in addition to the previous,” and it applies to each of the three pieces of armor that follow. It isn’t the idea, these parts of the armor are more important than the others.
b. Taking the shield of faith: Ephesians 6:13-14 tells us of armor to have. Some of the armor we must wear all the time and have as a standing foundation. Therefore having comes first. We must be rooted in the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, and the “combat boots” of the gospel. Yet now Paul will deal with aspects of the armor we are to take at the necessary moments of spiritual warfare and opportunity.
c. Taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one: Faith is represented as a shield, protecting us from the fiery darts of the wicked one, those persistent efforts of demonic foes to weaken us through fear and unbelief.
i. The shield Paul describes is not the small round one, but the large, oblong shield that could protect the whole body. In ancient warfare, these fiery darts were launched in great numbers at the beginning of an attack. The idea was not only to injure the enemy, but to shoot at him at all sides with a massive number of arrows, and thus to confuse and panic the enemy.
ii. “Even when such a missile was caught by the shield and did not penetrate to the body, says Livy, it caused panic, because it was thrown when well alight and its motion through the air made it blaze most fiercely, so that the soldier was tempted to get rid of his burning shield and expose himself to the enemy’s spear-thrusts. But the shield of faith not only catches the incendiary devices but extinguishes them.” (Bruce)
iii. Thoughts, feelings, imaginations, fears, and lies – all of these can be hurled at us by Satan as fiery darts. Faith turns them back.
d. And take the helmet of salvation: In the ancient world this usually was a leather cap studded with metal for extra strength. Often some kind of plume or decoration was added, perhaps to identify the solider to his regiment. Salvation is pictured as this kind of helmet, protecting an essential part of the body. A soldier would be foolish to go into battle without his helmet.
i. 1 Thessalonians 5:8 speaks of the helmet of salvation in connection to the hope of salvation. The helmet of salvation protects us against discouragement, against the desire to give up, giving us hope not only in knowing that we are saved, but that we will be saved. It is the assurance that God will triumph.
ii. One of Satan’s most effective weapons against us is discouragement. When we are properly equipped with the helmet of salvation, it’s hard to stay discouraged.
e. The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: The idea is that the Spirit provides a sword for you, and that sword is the word of God. To effectively use the sword of the Spirit, we can’t regard the Bible as a book of magic charms or tie one around our neck the way that garlic is said to drive away vampires.
i. To effectively use the sword, we must regard it as the word of God – which is the word of God. If we are not confident in the inspiration of Scripture, that the sword really came from the Spirit, then we will not use it effectively at all.
ii. But we must also take the sword of the Spirit in the sense of depending that He helps us to use it. Not only did the Spirit give us the Scriptures, but also He makes them alive to us (or us alive to them), and He equips us with the right thrust of the sword at the right time.
iii. Think of a soldier or a gladiator in training, practicing sword thrusts and moves and positions. Now, he must practice them ahead of time and if he is a superior fighter and has a great fighting instinct, at the time of battle he will instantly recall which thrust, which position suits the precise moment. He will never be able to use the thrust in the fight if he has not first practiced it; but he still needs to make the move at the moment.
iv. Therefore, effectively using the sword takes practice. The great example of this was Jesus combating the temptation of Satan in the wilderness.
7. (18-20) How to use spiritual strength and the armor of God.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints; and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
a. Praying always with all prayer: The idea is all kinds of prayer or prayer upon prayer. We should use every kind of prayer we can think of. Group prayer, individual prayer, silent prayer, shouting prayer, walking prayer, kneeling prayer, eloquent prayer, groaning prayer, constant prayer, fervent prayer – just pray.
i. We can say that it is through prayer that spiritual strength and the armor of God go to work. In theory, the prayerless Christian can be strong and wearing all the armor; but never accomplishes anything because he fails to go into battle through prayer.
ii. Often we just don’t pray because we are simply overconfident in our own abilities. Winston Churchill said to Britain in the early days of the Second World War: “I must drop one word of caution, for next to cowardice and treachery, overconfidence leading to neglect and slothfulness, is the worst of wartime crimes.”
b. For all the saints: We can battle spiritually not only on our own behalf, but also on the behalf of others. The soldier isn’t only concerned for his or her own safety. He feels an instinct to protect and to battle on behalf of others.
c. And for me, that utterance may be given to me: After bringing up the idea that spiritual warfare can be waged on behalf of others, Paul asks his readers to pray for him.
d. Boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel: Paul could have asked prayer for many things, but he wanted his readers to pray for this. He probably had in mind his upcoming defense before Caesar.
i. We could imagine Paul asking for many things, such as relief from his imprisonment or for other comforts. But his heart and mind were fixed on his responsibility as an ambassador of the gospel.
e. That utterance may be given to me: The idea behind utterance is clear speaking. Added to boldly, Paul asked for prayer that he might proclaim the gospel both clearly and with a fearless power. It is easy to neglect one or the other.
f. I am an ambassador in chains: Of course, the ancient Greek word for chains meant a prisoner’s shackles. But it could also be used for the gold adornment worn around the neck and wrists of the wealthy and powerful. On special occasions, ambassadors wore such chains to show the riches, power, and dignity of the government they represented. Paul considers his prisoner’s chains to actually be the glorious adornment of an ambassador of Jesus Christ.
C. Conclusion to the letter.
1. (21-22) The sending of Tychicus.
But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may comfort your hearts.
a. Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister: Tychicuswas an associate of Paul’s mentioned in other letters (Acts 20:4, Colossians 4:7, 2 Timothy 4:12, Titus 3:12). Tychicus seems to have been often used by Paul as a messenger (that you may know our affairs).
b. That he may comfort your hearts: Paul wanted Tychicus to comfort the Ephesians (and everyone else who read the letter) about Paul’s condition during his imprisonment in Rome.
2. (23-24) Final words.
Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.
a. Peace to the brethren… Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus: Paul concluded the letter as he began it, with reference to grace and peace, these two essential cornerstones for the Christian life.
b. All those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity: In sincerity is literally “in uncorruptness.” The idea may well be with an undying love. Our love for the Lord should be undying.
c. Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity: Paul ended by pronouncing a blessing, which was his way of helping the Ephesians to walk in every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)
The Powers
The Spiritual Host of Wickedness
For example, if the man was a womanizer, and he repents, then later he returns to his former state, the man becomes a drug pusher, drunkard, and a murderer together with his womanizing lifestyle because the demons of wickedness come in to abide in the man. (See Matthew 12:43-45). The evil dwarfs fall under the spiritual host of wickedness; they are also known as elemental spirits. The marine kingdom also falls under the spiritual host of wickedness.
The Familiar Spirits
The rulers of Darkness
The Witches and Wizards
They often cause road accidents, poverty, sickness, marriage divorce, hardship in life, atomic bombs and deadly weapons, and other dangerous assignments. They use human blood in their operation most often. It takes prayer, holiness lifestyle, the blood of Jesus Christ, and faith in the Word to break them. (Study the book of Psalms 22 and 59 in the Holy Bible).
The Occult
The Sorcerers
The Holy Spirit is the only Spirit to reveal a hidden truth to mankind. Some holy angels may reveal a hidden truth to mankind because God has mandated has entrusted them with such truth. It takes Christians who have put on the whole armour of God to destroy their works as they make intercession (Study the book of Ephesians chapter six in the Holy Bible).
They sacrifice to the devil on different occasions and seasons. Their main target is to destroy the lives of Christians because they oppose Jesus Christ and His children. It takes strong anointed and prayerful Christians to break their works.
These people use their bodies to destroy the lives of others. The enemy uses them to strengthen the spirit of lust and Jezebel. Demons possess these people because the devil is the one using them to destroy the divine purpose of others. It takes Christians who walk closely with the Holy Spirit to break their works. Anointed men and women of God can deliver them if they repent.
Satan’s kingdom is organized much like God’s. Satan’s wisdom has been corrupted, and if you will notice, most of what he does is a perversion of what God has created. There doesn’t seem to be any true creative ability in him. He wants to be like God, so he has mirrored his kingdom like God’s.
God has holy principalities and powers. Michael is the principality or prince or archangel of Israel. The word speaks of the principalities and power of being holy sometimes, of being fallen at others. Here are some examples of holy principalities and powers.
Ephesians 3:9-10 “ 9 And to make all [men] see what [is] the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly [places] might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, “
Colossians 1:16 “ For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: “
And in Titus 3:1, you see a reference to human principalities and powers.... Titus 3:1 “ Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work,“
We know our fight isn’t against flesh and blood, so these in Ephesians 6 and Colossians 2:15 aren’t human enemies. Plus, we aren’t fighting against the holy angels of the Lord, for they are our allies and not our enemies. But we wrestle against those who have fallen with the Devil.
[1] PRINCIPALITIES = arche {ar‑khay'} = the person or thing that commences, the first person or thing in a series, the leader; the first place, principality, rule, magistracy of angels and demons.
It is literally a prince. The word of God uses this for the angel Michael.
Jude 1:9 “ Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. “
The word for archangel is a combination of this word, arche or archo and angelos, or literally a prince angel.
Daniel 10:13 “ 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. “
The Hebrew here is sar which means principality or prince or leader.
There is one Devil and many fallen angels who followed him. Some of them are very powerful and they sit as kings.
Are there fallen angelic principalities mentioned by name in scripture? Yes, there are.
Daniel 10:11-13 “ 11 And he said unto me, O Daniel, a man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak unto thee, and stand upright: for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling. 12 Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. 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. “
The angel of the Lord (probably Gabriel as he had been sent before) came to bring the revelation of what the vision Daniel had had really meant. He had fallen out (slain in the Spirit) before the messenger of God and the angel had set him up and starts this discourse.
Although Daniel had fasted and prayed a pleasant food fast for 21 days, the prayer was heard in Heaven the very first day. God had sent the angel the first day, but there had been spiritual resistance to Daniel receiving this revelation from the Lord.
Sometimes the answer is on its way.... don’t give up before the answer comes. Don’t give into the pressures and say, “well, God is not listening to me anyway”. The angel had been sent the first day, but had troubles literally getting down to the earth for wrestling with a spiritual principality.
The prince of the kingdom of Persia... which is interesting since that is the kingdom that ruled the ancient world at that time. In fact, the Medo-Persians were the ones who had Daniel captive at that time. They had already taken the Babylonian Kingdom for themselves. It is interesting that the dominating principality is the one who withstood the angel of the Lord.
This was not the human prince of the kingdom of Persia. I have never seen a man, king or not, that could go into the air and keep an angel from getting to the Earth. They fought for 21 days.
A CONCEPT FROM GOD’S WORD: HOLY ANGELS FIGHT IN THE HEAVENLIES FOR US AGAINST FALLEN ANGELS SET TOWARD DESTROYING US AND SEPARATING US FROM GOD.
The word for prince here is once again is sar. So, there are holy princes or principalities, and there are evil, fallen principalities who under the rule of the chief principality, Satan, is actively trying to destroy our lives and hinder us. 1 Thessalonians 2:18 “ Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. “
On the 21st day, God sent Michael, the principality of Israel to help Gabriel in this fight against the principality of Persia. God knows when you have reached the point where reinforcements are needed. Michael was big enough to bind the prince of Persia while Gabriel brought the message.
There are in fact great spiritual battles at times with the angels of Heaven although you might not be aware of it. You might be aware that you are in a battle and when you pray you sense things getting clearer.... many times over your head there is a spiritual conflict occuring.
Daniel 10:20-21 “ 10 Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia: and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of Grecia shall come. 21 But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and [there is] none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince. “
It is interesting to note that the Grecian Empire followed the Persian, and here the angel makes the statement that the spiritual king of Grecia is on the way to help the spiritual king of Persia and I’ve got to hurry and tell you this so I can go and join Michael in the fight. You see it clearer in the New American Standard translation of the Holy Scriptures: Daniel 10:20-21 (N.A.S.) “ 20 Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.21 "However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these [forces] except Michael your prince. “
I must go back to assist your prince. Why is it Daniel’s prince? Because he belongs to the house of Israel, and Michael is the principality of Israel.
I want you to see that the forces that are both of God and the forces that we are opposing are very organized.
QUESTION: Have you ever felt that a series of events that on the surface Seemed to be unrelated, but happened Together in what seemed to you to be a Well Planned Attack on your life? Maybe your faith was shaken in a few areas. . . and it seemed that all these unrelated things occured together accoding to some plan. WELL IT PROBABLY WAS !
We are not only to pray against the unclean spirits that we deal with daily that you see on the bottom of the list, but we are to organize our prayers also against the rulers over our towns and communities, and up to the principalities over the regions where we live.
[2] POWERS = Greek exousia {es-oo-see’-ah} one who has authority, a magistrate or governor.
It is a ruler of a smaller order than principalities. It would be like a grand duke. A grand duke is the one just under the prince of the kingdom. Many times he will rule his own duchy under the prince.
Many times these are bundled in together under the principalities in scripture. We understand that they rule many rulers under themselves, under the commands of their own principality.
You see, when you say the Devil is attacking you, in a sense you are right but in a sense you are wrong. It is a very organized attack carried out by different ranks of fallen angels and unclean spirits, but there is only one very finite and limited Devil at the top of it. He doesn’t know everything and is not everywhere as God is, but he does have a lot of help.
Both principalities and powers are mentioned in the triumph scripture of Colossians: Colossians 2:15 “ [And] having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. “
Jesus has already triumphed over the principalities and powers of the enemy in the cross. His blood destroyed their authority.... and we as the body of Christ need to take up that authority that Jesus has given unto us and put the forces of Hell under our feet.
When you speak of principalities and powers, you are speaking of rulers over quite a bit of land. They have a rule or dominion that encompasses more than just a local city or area. These are the big fallen angels. Now, God did not make them evil. They were once good, but have fallen.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).
Wrestling is a sport that is usually associated with boys and men, only a few of whom engaged in organized wrestling in high school or college. But whether you are a man or a woman, the Apostle Paul says that you are engaged in a life-long wrestling match against the members of Satan’s host.
But did you ever wonder how you are supposed to wrestle a spirit? And what is this wrestling match all about, anyway? Paul doesn’t say, but we believe he was thinking of Daniel 10. Here an angel was sent to Daniel to deliver a message from God, but a fallen angel “withstood” him for 21 days (vv. 11-14). Since Paul says of our wrestling match that we must “withstand” (Eph. 6:13), we feel he had this passage in mind, especially when we consider what was happening in Daniel 10. The Prince of Persia, one of “the rulers of the darkness of this world,” was fighting to keep a message from God from getting through to a man of God. It is our firm conviction that “the rulers of the darkness of this world” are still fighting to keep a message from God from getting through to men and women of God—the grace message. Today, however, God is not using angels to deliver His message to His people, He is using grace believers. Because of this, the members of Satan’s host are no longer withstanding angels, they are withstanding us.
And so if you’ve been wondering howyou are supposed to wrestle against the devil’s principalities and powers, wonder no more. Every time you share the grace message with someone, you walk out onto the wrestling mat. Every time you try to “make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery” (Eph. 3:9), you engage your wicked opponent. And every dollar you invest in grace ministries helps defeat the adversary’s attempts to keep men and women of God from obtaining the message that unlocks the Scriptures, the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery. Why not reach someone with the message today, and know the thrill of pinning a Satanic combatant to the mat, and liberating a bewildered believer from the dark shackles of religious tradition that envelope every saint who has not yet learned to rightly divide the Word of truth.
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Our present life in this world is a battlefield. There is no time for spiritual ease and comfort but only time for wariness and preparedness. In our present society, where it seems that the world welcomes us and gives us no trouble, this is easily forgotten. We are reminded, however, in Ephesians 6:11, 12 that, no matter what the age or society, the devil is at large and is at work to destroy us. We read of this truth in these verses of Ephesians 6. “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We must wrestle with the devil and his fallen host of angels—in order that we may, above all, stand faithful to our God.
One cannot miss it. There is a certain urgency surrounding the command of our text. It is not a command that can be ignored. Ignoring it would result in dire consequences. We must put on the armor of God and make a stand in this evil day. The urgency of this command is given us in verse 12: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” God’s people are fighting a battle, a fierce, relentless battle against sin. And they fight that battle not simply against sin from within, but against sin that attacks us from without as well. The battle we carry on is a war not only with our sinful flesh, not only with the wicked, unbelieving world that surrounds us, but with a whole host of spiritual beings, as we are told by Paul. We are warring against spiritual principalities and powers. We are in hand-to-hand combat with the rulers of darkness. These are our spiritual foes. And these we must know in order that we might fight them.
Who are these powers of darkness to which the apostle Paul refers in these verses and of which we ought to be intensely aware? There is only one being out of them all that is identified by name in our text, and that is the devil, at the end of verse 11: “That we might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
We ought to take note of that fact, first of all. The Bible does not identify anywhere any fallen angel other than Satan. That some try to identify other powers of darkness is wrong. It is the vain invention of man’s foolish and superstitious imagination. Satan is identified for us by name, however. He is so because the devil, or Satan, stands at the top of the ranks of fallen angels. He is the prince of the power of the air, the most powerful, therefore, of all the rulers of darkness. He it was who, soon after his creation, led a large part of the angelic world in rebellion against God, in order to usurp God’s authority and seat. Ever since, Satan heads his host of fallen angels, called devils, in order to attempt to accomplish that same purpose.
Now just think of that for a moment. We are in combat with the devil himself, a devil who, we are told, walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. How are you fighting? Can you take on the strength, the prowess of the devil? Well, he is, first of all and foremost, our adversary. Each day of our lives we are called to battle against him or those who are under him. He looks us in the eye and he defies us. And he defies the living God whom we serve.
Now, that is just one of the foes that we fight—the mightiest of them, for sure, but only one. Already at this point we, or at least I, begin to feel a bit helpless. We must not forget the host of fallen angels that Satan has under his rule. These make up, together with Satan, the spiritual foes against which we are called to fight. This passage describes this host of devils in three ways. There are three matters it deals with as regards our enemy. First of all, this foe against which we war, we are told in verse 12, is made up of principalities and powers. These terms point out to us the fact that the devil’s host is organized and powerful. It is made up of various ranks of demons. There are high-ranking devils who have authority over other devils who, in turn, have authority over still other devils. All these devils themselves are very powerful. They have great strength and ability to fight the spiritual warfare. They are “powers” of darkness who, like their prince, are much mightier than we.
Secondly, we are told in our text that these fallen rulers are, in fact, the rulers of the darkness of this world, or literally, they are cosmic rulers of darkness. Now we are not speaking here of the literal darkness of the nighttime, so that we must think of these devils as only coming at night and then fighting against us. This passage of God’s Word speaks of spiritual darkness. You see, God is light, and everything that belongs to Him and proceeds from Him is light. That light is the shining forth of God’s holiness and perfection. It is all that is good and right. And darkness is the opposite of light. It signifies all that which is evil and depraved. It is the lie as opposed to the truth, wrong as opposed to right. The enemy against which we fight is made up of those who rule and direct the evil and depravity of this world. They are the darkness of this world, the powers of darkness. And these powers persuade and lead sinful, unbelieving men to accomplish their evil designs and purposes. The world of darkness and unbelief is under the command of Satan and his host. Wicked, unbelieving man is Satan’s ally.
Finally, Paul describes the fallen angels as spiritual wickedness in high places. This description of these powers of darkness makes me shutter. You know, if I had to fight hand-to-hand an enemy I could see, that would be frightening enough. If I had to fight against flesh and blood it would be disconcerting enough, especially if I knew that the man I fought against was bigger and stronger than I. But God’s people are called to fight against spiritual wickedness in high places. That is to say, we must wage a warfare with depraved beings of a totally different dimension—those belonging to a spiritual realm. These are beings, powerful and organized beings, that carry on their battle with us from a higher plane, an invisible realm, from high places. And when I think about fighting these spiritual powers of darkness, I begin to feel so utterly helpless. I mean, how do I fight them? What are they doing to destroy me? I cannot see their moves. So it is almost in panic that I start flailing my arms about, battling the air, in a wild attempt to combat the foe. I feel so helpless. How can I possibly win in battle against such overwhelming odds?
Now you understand the urgency of the command of these verses we are considering. We are weaklings, so frail in comparison to our foes. How will we be able to war against them? And yet, war we must.
But to battle the enemy, we must not only know who he is, but what is his method of warfare, his battle tactics, as well. We are warned of this in the last part of verse 11. We must be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, or, literally, the methods that the devil uses. What are these methods?
In the first place, they are highly spiritual. Satan and his host do not carry on a physical or even a visible battle with God’s angels or with us. Many superstitious people and their vivid imaginations claim to see both angels and devils locked in some kind of mortal combat with each other. There are even books out there that like to portray this kind of thing. That is not the method of warfare that Satan carries on. It is invisible and it is highly spiritual. Satan and his host of fallen angels are interested in our souls. Their desire is to draw us away from God and into the arms of this present world of darkness and unbelief. They do not want to kill us physically. They do not want to hack us in pieces and be rid of us. They want us to forsake the way of truth and right and join forces with them. So their intent is spiritual. They come to us from within and without in order to turn us from that which is good to do the evil. So our struggle against them is spiritual as well.
In the second place, the method of achieving their goal is that of deceit and falsehood. The methods of Satan are sinfully shrewd. They are wiles. Such is the meaning of “devil” itself. It means “liar.” The power of darkness will use every means at his disposal to make the dark to appear as light and the light to be seen as darkness. These powers will attempt to make evil look good to us and the good appear as evil. And they will do this through falsehood and deceit. “Has God told you not to eat of the tree of knowledge, of good and evil? He knows that the day you eat of it you will be as gods yourself, knowing good and evil. He says you will die? Ha! You will not die!”
Liar! But Satan succeeded, did he not? Adam and Eve were convinced and fell into sin. And the devil, who is the father of the lie, has continued his battle ever since. The same is true of us. New houses? Property? Luxury? Vacations? Fun? Ha, these are not sin. On the contrary, these are the things that count. That is what matters. These will give you true joy and happiness in this life.
Liar! But Satan succeeds so often, does he not? Fornication, greed, drunkenness—it is all innocent fun. And, after all, it is very enjoyable. What does it hurt you?
Liar! But how often it is that our sinful flesh is attracted exactly to these things. You see, Satan is a deceiver, and we must be aware of the wiles of the devil, the shrewd methods of the devil because he appeals to our sinful natures and truly makes the evil seem so good and desirable. At the same time, he makes serving God and being spiritually minded seem so boring and useless.
One last reality we must be aware of concerning Satan’s method of warfare. It is relentless. Our English translation cannot show it like the original does. Actually the command of these verses is this: “Keep on putting on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to keep on standing against the wiles of the devil.” And the reason we must keep on standing is because the devil and his host are constant in their warfare. They do not take a moment to sleep. They come at us from every conceivable angle and at all times. We turn one way, they assail us from another way. We let our guard down for a moment, and they are on us. They do not give up. They throw at us constantly every trick in the book that they have written over the past six thousand years. Satan, remember, is the prince of darkness. He reigns, therefore, over a kingdom of darkness, a kingdom where man is free to walk in sin. And it is his ultimate purpose and goal in all of this warfare against the church to usurp the kingdom of God and replace it with his own kingdom of darkness.
Now Paul speaks of this warfare in terms of wrestling in our text. We have to wrestle. We all know what wrestling is. It is not standing a quarter of a mile away from a person and aiming a gun at him to shoot him. It is not even boxing, where we stand and dodge the blows of our assailant and deliver a few punches ourselves. Wrestling is grabbing hold of our foe and grappling with him arm-in-arm. It is pitting our strength against his in an attempt to throw him down and conquer him. Wrestling is personal confrontation, where we look the enemy right in the face, we smell his sweat, and with might and main we try to subdue him. It is the greatest test of strength and endurance. That is the kind of warfare we are called to fight with the devil and the powers of darkness.
Remember, we are not fighting against flesh and blood as we wrestle. This is not some physical fight we are having here. It has nothing to do with how physically fit you and I are. It has nothing to do with whether we know karate or kung fu or are quick-witted in defending ourselves in a fistfight.
How well are you doing in battling Satan and the powers of darkness and high places? Examine yourself. How strong are we in battling against our foes? How fit do we make ourselves spiritually? How much do we exercise ourselves in spiritual matters? How strong are we in prayer and in the Word of God? That, truly, is of the essence, because, I’ll tell you something, Christian soldiers, we are fighting for our eternal life in this battle. We are fighting for our souls. And that is far more serious than any battle in earthly masteries. How dare we think that our life could be one in which we take our ease? That is the one thing so wrong with modern Christianity today, it seems. Salvation and belonging to Christ are made so easy. That is exactly one of the shrewd attacks of Satan himself to make us think there is nothing to fight, that the Christian life is a breeze. All we have to say is that we believe in Jesus Christ and we can go on living like the wicked world. It does not matter. Satan wants us to feel at ease in Zion. Life can go on status-quo. No battle with ourselves. No struggle against the temptations of the evil world. No need to defend ourselves. All is well.
No, all is not well, as Satan would have us think. Do you imagine that the devil comes only boldly and openly to do battle with us? He is a deceiver. He comes undetected, in what might even seem the little things in life. You do not think so? He sure does. He is sly. He wants us to join those who believe the lie. He wants us to join hands with them in common cause, forgetting the truth, forgetting what makes us distinctive as believers. And he makes himself look so good, so right. Satan is so shrewd. Anything to get everyone together under the one throne of the kingdom of man, his kingdom, the kingdom of darkness. Satan attacks us as far as our walk of life is concerned. He attacks us in the family. He attacks us in our relationships. He attacks us through our so-called friends and acquaintances. He attacks us in those moments when we are alone or when we are with friends. Do you see him? He attacks us in the area of recreation. He attacks us in the area of doctrine.
We must wrestle. Never underestimate the wiles of the devil. We must struggle. We must not grow weary against our foe. If we are spiritually lazy, then we will be taken in by the powers of darkness. Our life in this world is not a playground. It is a battlefield. Are you fighting? Or are you playing?
This Word of God to us is certainly not meant to discourage those who are truly fighting. I know that to the true child of God, who battles long and hard with his sin, these mighty foes seem invincible. But they are not. That is why Paul enjoins us to put on the whole armor of God.
Now we surely do not have time in our broadcast today to describe each piece of this armor and its function. That is not the intent of these couple of verses that we consider anyway. But look briefly at that armor. In the verses that follow the passage that we consider today, there is a description of the spiritual armor we must put on. In those verses we find that we must be equipped with truth, righteousness, the gospel of peace, faith, salvation, and the Word of God. These make up our spiritual armor. All of these are necessary to defend ourselves against the attacks of the devil. And with these, we are able to wrestle the powers of darkness, and we are able to gain the victory.
How is that possible? If we were to take a close look at all of these pieces of our spiritual armor, they would lead us to one conclusion: we must put on Christ! Where is truth and righteousness to be found, other than in the cross of Jesus Christ? Where can we find true peace? Where can we find faith and salvation, other than in the cross of our Savior? What we need to fight this battle is Christ, because He it is who gives us the victory over our enemies. He already has accomplished the victory over those enemies. He accomplished it at the cross, because it was there at the cross that Christ Himself did battle with Satan. Satan attempted to kill the Christ through the hands of wicked men. But all they served to do was to bruise our Savior. It was there at the cross of Jesus Christ that Christ crushed the head of the serpent, that is, Satan.
In order for us to fight the battle, we must take to ourselves the blessings of salvation that Christ has earned for us, and we must live in that salvation. We must constantly be asking God in prayer to give us the necessary strength to fight the battle of faith. That is the only way to wrestle with spiritual powers in high places. We must maintain the truth rigidly. We must detest all that is of the lie. We must regularly, in true sorrow, seek the forgiveness of sins at the foot of the cross. We must, in truth, cling to Christ, trusting in Him for all our strength. And then we go forth conquering our enemies with the Word of God.
Ah, the special weapons of warfare. God’s Word. This is in what we must exercise ourselves. If we are going to be able to be strong and stand against the mightiest of our foes, even Satan himself, we must equip ourselves with the Word of God. Then we will stand.
Can we win this warfare? Surely not in ourselves. But when we are equipped with all that God has given us in Christ, we will be able to stand. And being able to stand, we will receive the victory too. So we fight. We do not despair in that battle. We do not falter in that battle. But, through the cross of Jesus Christ, we fight. And we win.
We end with the victory cry of the believer recorded in I Corinthians 15:57: “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Let us pray together.
Father in heaven, thanks be unto Thee for the victory that we have received in Christ. May we go forth fighting the good fight of faith and battling against our spiritual enemies. May we do that by clinging to the cross of Jesus Christ. And may we do that through Thy Word which Thou hast given to us. Strengthen us, Father, in our faith so that we might go forth and be victorious over against our foes in Christ. Bless us. And where we stumble in that battle, forgive. We thank Thee for the cross and the forgiveness that we receive there. For Christ’s sake, Amen.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
— Ephesians 6:12
Spiritual warfare is real! The devil and his demon spirits are not myths or fantasies. These are real beings that hate the human race and therefore roam about seeking whom they might destroy and devour. That’s why it is vitally important to know how to best protect yourself against their attacks!
Most of the attacks the devil wages against you will occur in your mind. He knows that your mind is the central control center for your life; therefore, if he can take control of one small area of your mind, he can begin to expand outward into other weak areas that need to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. By poisoning your mind with unbelief and lying strongholds, the devil can then manipulate not only your mind, but also your emotions and your body. There is no doubt about it — the mind is the strategic center where the battle is won or lost in spiritual warfare!
The devil wants to get access into your life — and if he finds that access, you may be headed for quite a conflict! You can see why it is so important that you keep every door shut; then the enemy won’t be able to find any entrance through which he can begin to wage warfare against you.
However, the devil will often put up quite a fight even when he doesn’t find an entrance into our lives. That’s why we need to know exactly what the Bible says about spiritual warfare.
In Ephesians 6:12, Paul told us, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” I want to especially draw your attention to the word “wrestle” in this verse, for this word is the key to understanding how intense spiritual warfare can become!
The word “wrestle” is from the old Greek word pale, which refers to struggling, wrestling, or hand-to-hand combat. However, the word pale is also the Greek word from which the Greeks derived their name for the Palaestra — a huge palace of combat sports that was situated in the center of most larger, ancient cities.
The Palaestra was a huge building that outwardly looked like a palace but was dedicated to the cultivation of athletic skills. Every morning, afternoon, and night, the most committed, determined, and daring athletes of the day could be found in this fabulous building, working out and training for their respective sports. Three kinds of athletes primarily worked out at the Palaestra: boxers, wrestlers, and pankratists.
Let me tell you a little about how these sports functioned in the first century when Paul wrote this verse, because it forms the backdrop to the word “wrestle” in Ephesians 6:12. The first and most feared combat sport was boxing. But the boxers from the first century were not like our boxers today. Their sport was extremely violent — so violent that they were not permitted to box without wearing helmets. Without the protection of helmets, their heads would have been crushed! In fact, this sport was so severe that few boxers ever lived to retire from their profession. Most of them died in the ring. Of all the sports, the ancients viewed boxing as the most hazardous and deadly.
In this brutal and barbaric sport, the ancient boxers wore gloves ribbed with steel and spiked with nails. At times the steel wrapped around their gloves was serrated, like the blade of a hunting knife, in order to make deep gashes in the opponent’s skin. In addition to this, they used extremely heavy gloves that made every punch more damaging. It is quite usual to find artwork from the time of the ancient Greeks that includes boxers whose faces, ears, and noses are totally deformed from being struck by these dangerous gloves.
Making this sport even more dangerous was the fact that there were no rules — except that a boxer couldn’t clench his opponent’s fist. That was the only rule of the game! There were no “rounds” like there are in boxing today. The fight just went on and on until one of the two surrendered or died in the ring.
Next, there were wrestlers! Wrestling was the most ancient of the combat sports. Because it was an essential part of the education of Roman boys in the wealthier classes, every adult male in those classes learned to wrestle. However, combat-sport wrestling was very different than simple wrestling. Although not quite as ugly and bloody as the other two combat sports, combat wrestling was still very aggressive and dangerous. Certain rules applied to the competitions of this combat sport. For instance, some of the most violent fighting techniques weren’t allowed in wrestling, such as blows, kicks, thrusts, throttle holds, twisting of the joints, and fighting on the ground.
The third combat sport was pankration, from the Greek words pan and kratos. The word pan means all, and kration is from the word kratos, which means power. When these two words were put together, they formed the word pankration, which means all powerful. These fighters were the fiercest, toughest, and most committed of all! In this sport, they were permitted to kick, punch, bite, gouge, strike, break fingers, break legs, and to do any other horrible thing you could imagine. There was no part of the human body that was off limits. They could do anything they wanted to any part of their competitor’s body, for there were basically no rules.
An early inscription from a father to his sons who participated in pankration says this: “If you should hear your son has died, you can believe it. But if you hear he has been defeated and chose to retire, do not believe it!” Why? Because like the other combat sports, pankration was extremely violent. While participating in this sport, more professional pankratists died than surrendered or were simply defeated.
I realize that these are very graphic images, but they are also very important images, for they are all contained in the word “wrestle” that Paul uses in Ephesians 6:12. In the day when Paul wrote this letter, everyone who saw the Greek word pale(“wrestle”) saw all these images in their minds. You can see, then, that this was a powerful, pungent word for Paul to use when he started to describe our conflict with unseen, demonic powers that Satan has marshaled together to try to destroy us. By using the word “wrestle” from the Greek word pale, Paul was telling every reader (and us) that spiritual warfare can be a bitter struggle and an intense conflict.
This first phrase in Ephesians 6:12 really carries this idea:
“For our wrestling — that is, our intense struggle, fierce combat, contest, challenge, and ongoing conflict — is not really with flesh and blood, but with….”
Then Paul goes on to describe the different levels of demonic powers that exist in Satan’s kingdom. As we look at what Paul said, I want you to see that this conflict can be fierce! I don’t mean to alarm you, but you need to know that the devil is serious in his attempts to destroy you — and if you haven’t prepared yourself spiritually to thwart such attacks, you may find yourself in a real quandary.
You see, our adversary is real. There are foul forces of darkness that work covertly behind most disasters and many moral failures. However, these demonic spirits can’t do anything unless our flesh cooperates with them! They may come to tempt, to seduce, to deceive, and to assault the mind — but unless they find a partner to listen or cooperate with them, their evil attempts are futile and powerless.
Therefore, the greatest key to winning every battle the devil wages against you is to keep your mind dominated by the Word of God. As you do that, your flesh will be kept under the control of the Holy Spirit, which will block the majority of the enemy’s attacks against your mind! This is why Peter urges us to “…gird up the loins of your mind…” (1 Peter 1:13).
Remember, the devil knows that if he can take control of one small area of your mind, he can begin to expand outward into other weak areas of your life. Therefore, don’t you think it’s time for you to start reading your Bible and filling your mind with God’s thoughts? There is no better mental protection against the enemy’s strategies than to fill your brain with God’s Word! It will strengthen you and keep your mind free from unbelief and lying strongholds.
So take God’s Word deep into your mind, and stop the devil from finding access into your life. Do everything you can to shut every door. Don’t give the enemy any entrance through which he can begin to wage warfare against you!
My Prayer for Today
Lord, I don’t want to ever give the devil access to my mind. I ask for forgiveness for the times I’ve permitted wrong thinking to go on inside me when I knew it was wrong. Now I understand that these are the areas through which the devil seeks to find entrance into my life. Starting today, I am asking You to help me locate each “open door” in my mind; then help me seal those doors shut by the power of Your Spirit and Your Word!
I pray this in Jesus’ name!
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
It was not that there were no “flesh-and-blood” enemies at Ephesus. During the great awakening in that city, Paul had faced the wrath of Demetrius the silversmith, who called together an assembly of idol-makers to protest his preaching (Acts 19:23-41). Later, he gave Timothy a warning to beware of Alexander the coppersmith, “Who did me much evil. . .” in Ephesus (2 Timothy 4:14). Jewish antagonists caused him many tears through the difficulties they brought on him at Ephesus (Acts 20:18-19). And the very adversaries who had set themselves against Paul were also the troublesome opponents of the Ephesian Christians to whom he was writing. Nevertheless, the apostle who at the time was actually in prison said that their human persecutors were not the real enemy. What Paul tells them, God is saying to us. The real war is in the invisible world, and the real enemies are spirit beings.
That’s what the “principalities,” “powers,” “rulers of the darkness of this world,” and “spiritual wickedness in high places” spoken of in Ephesians 6:12 actually are. They are the cohorts of the devil that were defeated by Christ in His resurrection and ascension, according to Ephesians 1:15-21. We understand from the Bible that the angels, both elect and fallen, are organized into combat units that are led by spirits with authority over them. The prophet Daniel experienced some of these invisible authorities during his long periods of fasting and prayer. He talked with a good angel who had been aided in his battles against the bad angels by Michael, “one of the chief princes.” Among the bad angels were “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” and “the prince of Grecia” (look up and read Daniel 10). These were “principalities.” The invisible world is real, apparently created about the same time that the visible world was (Colossians 1:16). And the things that happen in the invisible world of spirits, angels, and devils do affect what happens in the visible, material world. It is in the spiritual realm that spiritual wars must be fought, with spiritual weapons (see 2 Corinthians 10:1-6).
Unfortunately, we tend to fight our battles with human foes instead of the real enemy because, by definition, the visible world can be seen. Because we can see them, we wrestle with flesh-and-blood enemies, ignore our spirit antagonists, and bring on our own defeat. The fact is that when Christians divert their attention from the real war in the invisible world to the apparent conflict with human enemies, they lose the fight in both worlds.
Did you know that each of the great national revivals in American history ended when Christians turned their attention from spiritual concerns to some moral or political crusade? It is true. Although other factors also seem to have contributed to the demise of these powerful revivals, the element of wrestling with flesh and blood seems always to have been the main force against them. The Great Awakening of the middle eighteenth century was cooled by the controversy with the Mother Country. The Second Great Awakening ended with the Abolition Movement. The era of mass evangelism that began in the decade after the Civil War ended with Prohibition and was actually killed through the enthusiasm of Christians over the Temperance or Anti-Saloon crusade. All of these moral/political causes had merit and deserved the attention of believers, but the revivals declined as the focus of revived saints was diverted from evangelism, prayer meetings, church planting, and personal holiness and redirected to political activism.
In recent years, we saw it happen again. In the 1960s and 1970s, the independent Baptists saw a real movement of God in their midst. Although not everything they did was perfect (the human side of any revival can be flawed), these fundamentalists really did seek God for His power and went out to win the multitudes to Christ. What resulted was the formation of many new churches, the salvation of many souls, and the phenomenal growth of many congregations. But when the election year of 1976 came, some Baptist fundamentalists became aware of the new political power they potentially could wield because of the great numbers that now attended their churches. The great evil in the land, in the minds of American Christians at that time, was the explosion of abortions caused by the Roe v. Wade decision at the Supreme Court in 1973. Soon pastors had the idea that the political climate could be changed by the new influx of born-again voters if they could be organized to fight against abortion. The problem was that, before the 1980 elections, although the Baptist and evangelical voting block was big, it was not big enough to vote pro-abortion politicians in significant numbers out of office. As a result of this situation, pro-life Catholics and even the Moonies were courted to join the fundamentalists in the crusade. The usual sensitivity of the fundamental Baptists to the issue of separation from false doctrine was somehow set aside for the abortion crusade.
The new focus, along with the new alliances, did accomplish something big: the election of pro-life President Ronald Reagan. However, his election and re-election were about the only significant accomplishments of the Christian war against abortion. It certainly never overturned Roe v. Wade or banned abortions. After the 2008 election, the prospect of a pro-life majority on the Supreme Court was put farther away than ever before. The Christian involvement in the abortion crusade did have other major results, however. During the Reagan administration, Sunday school attendance plummeted by millions. The fundamentalist churches that were so large when they were aflame for evangelism have become much smaller, and some of the biggest have gone out of existence. The effect of wrestling with flesh and blood is always detrimental to the cause of Christ. It always has been and always will be.
This truth applies to more localized situations, too. Pastors and evangelists, as well as earnest Christians that are serving Christ as active church members, often face the wrath and mistreatment of human enemies. The Bible does not gloss over or ignore this fact. It says plainly that good servants of the Lord will have human enemies (see Psalm 23:5, Matthew 5:44, and Romans 12:20). But they are not our real enemies. As a matter of fact, Paul was inspired by God to tell Timothy to think of his human adversaries as captives of the real Enemy.
And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26
Those who hinder and hurt the man of God are not his real enemies. They are prisoners that Satan, his real enemy, has snatched from under his protection. By meekness and by teaching the truth of the Word of God, he can hope to free them. But, of course, he won’t do this if he is angry or wrestling with them. When the preacher turns his focus from the invisible world to his foes in the visible world, he will be defeated.
Ephesians 6 admonishes all of us to take up spiritual armor and arms and to get into the spiritual battle! Read again the classic passage on spiritual warfare, Ephesians 6:10-20. In 2010, the time is right for God’s soldiers to get back into the fight—the right fight. Of course, we must raise our voice for scriptural truth in the public debates of our day, and American Christians have a duty to exercise their right to vote and run for office. But let our focus be on the war in the invisible world. As the passage says, let us gird our loins with truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, wear the shoes of evangelism, and take the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation. Let us use the sword of God’s Word as we give ourselves to prayer for the cause of Christ. Let’s be filled with the Spirit and lead the charge for a new revival among believers and another awakening among the lost. Let us not become distracted or (worse) carnal by wrestling with men. The battle is before us. May we shun the foolish trends of the day to minimize doctrine (truth), lower standards (righteousness), abandon evangelism, neglect faith, doubt the power of the Word, and give up on prayer. May we get back on the revival road and see Satan put to flight in the conquering name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Colossians 2:15).
Although they are invisible to us, there does exist a great host of evil spirits, organized by the arch-rebel, Satan, into a vast conspiracy against their Creator. The angelic creation had originally been organized by God into a hierarchical structure—“principalities and powers”—for the purpose of most efficiently serving God. Those who now serve Satan apparently still retain their primeval ranking and have become a hierarchy of evil, so that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Ephesians 6:12).
No matter how powerful these dark princes may be, however, our resurrected Savior is mightier than they—“far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:21). As a matter of fact, it was “by Him” that all things were created in heaven and earth, “visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: All things were created by Him, and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).
Eventually, He will “put down all rule [same word as ‘principality’] and all authority and power” (I Corinthians 15:24). This mighty triumph is all because the Lord Jesus “spoiled principalities and powers,” that “through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).
Because of Calvary, we can be persuaded “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers . . . nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39). HMM
10:1 Daniel is now about 90 years old. Why he mentions his Babylonian name is not clear but may be ironic. ("May Bel protect him.")
10:2 He was in mourning for three weeks. He may have heard bad news from Jerusalem, or he may have been simply waiting on God. We understand from 10:13 that his vision with God had been delayed 21 days by spiritual battle that he was unaware of.
10:4–7 On this occasion he was on the banks of the Tigris and saw a flaming Being. The sight overwhelmed him and drove his companions away. It is described as a man appearing very much like John's vision in Revelation:
•a man in linen / clothed with a long robe Rev.1:13
•loins girded with gold / a golden girdle around his breast Rev.1:13
•body like a beryl or topaz
•face like lightning / face like the sun at full strength, Rev.1:16
•eyes like flaming torches / eyes like a flame of fire Rev.1:14
•legs and arms like burnished bronze / feet like bronze Rev.1:15
•sound of His voice like a multitude / voice like the sound of many waters Rev.1:15
•at the sound of his words, I fell on my face in a deep sleep / when I saw Him I fell at his feet as though dead, Rev.1:17
John's vision of Revelation is Christ: "I am the First and Last and the Living One; I died and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of Death and Hades." (Rev.1:17). Because of the similarity of the two visions, our conclusion is that we are seeing a vision of Christ to Daniel in OT as He also appeared to John in NT.
10:9–11 Daniel fell into a swoon but a hand brought him to his hands and knees, shaking. He was told to stand upright, and did so, trembling.
10:15 As the words of the vision came, he was standing with his face down and speechless; no strength, pains, no breath. One “like a Son of Man” touched his lips so that he could speak.
10:18 Again he was touched by one with the appearance of a man and strengthened.
It appears that there are attendants with the Christ who ministered to Daniel three times in order to get him fully alert and functional again.
10:12 The message is that God had heard Daniel's words from the first and this vision is an answer to his prayer.
10:13 Christ has been in contest with the Prince of Persia three weeks, and Michael was left to continue the struggle.
10:20 He returns now to fight against the Prince of Persia, and after him the Prince of Greece. No one else is involved except Michael, Prince of Israel.
Comments:
Humans, even the godly, cannot stand in the direct presence of God. Ezekiel, who had a similar vision, fell on his face (Ezek.1:28), as did John in the Revelation. Daniel's companions fled trembling from something they could not really see. (Dan.10:7). One may expect a certain amount of suffering for the privilege of standing in the presence of God. But this is, after all, the Beatific Vision, the goal of all of life. Moses begged to see the glory of God. The disciples got their opportunity on the Mount of Transfiguration. Paul was smitten on the road to Damascus. Would we run trembling from such glory?
What work did Christ do before His Incarnation? We know He is the active agent in creation (Jn.1:1–3; Col.1:1–16). But what then? He is not named in the Old Testament in a way that is easy to identify. The principle that guides us is in Jn.1:18. "No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." Consequently we look for a human figure in the OT who is called The Angel of the Lord, and also God or LORD.
•God walked with Adam (Gen.3:8) and Enoch. Gen.5:24
•The Angel of the LORD ministered to Hagar. Gen.16:7
•Three "men", one of whom is the LORD, met with Abraham (Gen.18:1–33) in preparation for the destruction of Sodom.
•The Angel of God visited Jacob in a dream. Gen.31:11
•The Angel of the LORD spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. Ex.3:2
•"The Angel of God who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the host of Egypt and host of Israel." (Ex.14:19)
•The Angel of the LORD commanded Gideon to deliver Israel. Judg.6:11–14
•The Angel of the LORD instructed the parents of Samson. Jdg.13:3
•At the end of the plague, the Angel of the LORD was on the threshing floor of Araunah. IISam.24:16
•The high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Zech.3:1
•"...the house of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the LORD, at their head. Zech.12:8
Most all of this work is individual, except in the fight with Egypt at Exodus. The work of Christ in Dan.10 is political. Why is there a fight with the Prince of Persia? We recall that a Persian pogrom against the Jews was planned--and thwarted--as Esther describes. Perhaps that was the battle. The Prince of Greece would do outrageous things against Israel in the person of Antiochus Epiphanes, but at a time when Israel had begun to apostasize, as we read in the Maccabees. Ultimately, Israel was given the victory. During the Roman period, Jesus came in human form to wrestle with demonic forces and ironically, appeared to die in total defeat.
How can Satanic forces resist God? Obviously they do. Dualists would say that there is an eternal struggle between good and evil. Christians acknowledge that there is a struggle, but that God over-rules evil for good and will triumph over Satan in the end and drive evil from the universe.
How are we to think of evil powers today?
Racine, a French Christian playwright, rewrote an ancient Greek tragedy, "Phaedre" in 1677. Phaedre was the daughter of Minos and wife of Theseus. She had a consuming lust for her step-son Hippolytus but he refused her advances. In spite of his innocence and the pleas of her attendants and her own awareness of guilt, she denounced him to her husband Theseus, who had him killed in a fit of jealous rage. In remorse, she strangled herself. In their soliloquies, Phaedre blamed her fate on her goddess, Venus, and Theseus blamed his unjust killing on Mars, the god of war. Racine perceived however, that the gods of the Greeks were demons, as Paul teaches us in ICor.10:20, and he brings this out in the play. His non-Christian rivals wrote a corresponding play which they hoped would eclipse his.
With the growth of rationalism during the Enlightenment, belief in the supernatural faded. Spirits were part of the superstitious past that died with the Middle Ages. Western Christians were also inclined to discount evil spirits as part of the pagan cultures of Africa and Asia.
"{Anthropologist Paul Hiebert} came to the conclusion that Western culture has a significant blind spot when it comes to the question of spirits and evil powers. He describes Western evangelicalism as answering questions of life experience either in empirical (scientific) or theistic (divine) terms, but neglecting the middle zone of spirit forces that are believed by non-Western cultures to influence life. When tribal people spoke of fear of evil spirits, {Western missionaries} denied the existence of the spirits rather than claim the power of Christ over them. The result, as Newbigin has pointed out, is that Western Christian missions has been one of the greatest secularizing forces in history." (Powers of Darkness. CE Arnold; IVP,’92; p.180).
The dreadful conditions in Haiti have been attributed to its dedication to Voodoo, practised even by 75% of the Christians. "The most historically important Vodou ceremony in Haitian history was the Bwa Kayiman (Bois Caiman) ceremony of August 1791 near the city of Cap Haitien that began the Haitian Revolution, led by the Vodou priest named Boukman. During this ceremony the spirit Ezili Dantor came and received a black pig as an offering, and all those present pledged themselves to the fight for freedom. This ceremony ultimately resulted in the liberation of the Haitian people from their French masters in‘04, and the establishment of the first and only black people’s republic in the Western Hemisphere, the first such republic in the history of the world. "
(Internet: Hiaitian voodou.)
Another example is Cambodia where demonic power has shown its destructive force.
"A tragic victim of the Vietnam War (1970–75) which opened the way for the extreme Marxist Khmer Rouge take-over in1975, followed by one of the most savage slaughters in the 20th Century. Almost all former military personnel, civil servants, educated or wealthy people and their families were killed and the nation turned into a vast labor camp." {Two million people were killed.}
"The major economic activities are receiving international aid (the largest per capita receiver nation in the world) and sin (pornography, prostitution, drugs and illegal logging.)"
"The spiritual darkness of Cambodia must be lifted by prayer. That darkness is shown by the ubiquitous spirit shrines, the strong opposition of Buddhism to an ideological rival and the moral collapse. The sex industry thrives, but a third of all prostitutes (an estimated 50,000) are children. Cambodia has the highest rate of child abandonment in SE Asia."
(Operation World; P.Johnstone, J.Mandryk; Paternoster, Waynesboro Ga.2001; pp.137–138)
We are not to ignore the forces of darkness, but we are not to focus on them either. We keep our eyes on Jesus, LORD of Hosts. "And He must win the battle."
What is the primary aim of "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2)? The abolition of man! Ever since God created the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden, Satan has been interested in nothing else but the eradication of humanity from his "proper domain" (Jude 6). He sees mankind, made after the God-kind (Genesis 1:26-27) with the potential of being born again into the God Family (John 3:3-8; Revelation 14:1-5; 20:4-6; etc.), as interlopers, squatters, and vagrants in his realm. He is painfully aware that God intends humanity to replace him and his demons as rulers of this planet, and he is fighting like a cornered rat to retain his place and power. Though he has already been personally defeated by Jesus Christ(Hebrews 2:14), he still believes he can win or at least frustrate and perhaps ruin God's plan by deceiving, attacking, destroying, and killing as many human beings as he can (I Peter 5:8). He especially desires to derail and exterminate as many of God's children as he can (Revelation 12:17).
Most people would probably laugh at such a notion, for it is not popular to believe in a being of ultimate evil like Satan the Devil. This is a very skeptical world. If people cannot see it, they do not believe it—and Satan has done a good job of deceiving the whole world into believing that he does not exist (Revelation 12:9). Now he can hide in plain sight and go virtually unnoticed. Mankind blithely ascribes his malicious works to "natural causes," "unfortunate accidents," "coincidences," "delusions," "mental illnesses," "misunderstandings," even "progress." Thus, the valueless educational methods of today are considered by the intelligentsia to be an evolutionary step forward for mankind—while the truth is that Satan has merely handed Western civilization a time bomb calibrated to render millions of people spiritually deaf to God's call.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
What are these principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness?
Given our evangelical education, it would be easy to believe that it is God himself that directs all events in the world from the heavenlies without intermediate agents. But revelation points out that spiritual beings often carry out God’s purpose in the natural world, and not only as messengers. (Exodus 12:23, 2 Samuel 24:16, Ps 91:11, Ps 34:7, Ex 23:20).
Principalities and powers simply describe angelic powers, those invisible, whether they be good or bad. But, in this context, the verse turns dark with the mention of the rulers and the spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places.
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Daniel 10:10-21
This passage in the whole of scriptures might be the one that speaks most clearly about the invisible powers which rule and influence nations. It speaks about “patron” angels that preside over the destinies of particular nations; a prince of Persia, a prince of Greece, and Michael, a chief prince of Israel.
Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. Revelation 12:7
So Israel has a spiritual champion (Dan. 10:21) and there are powers opposed to Israel. These “princes” of the heathen powers will face God and be judged in the future for their deeds as any other created being.
In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. Isaiah 24:21
Two summary truths to keep in mind…
- There are structures of ruling and power beyond those that we can see and touch here on Earth.
- Demonic hosts, exerting power, do so from a position of usurped power. All true power and authority belongs to God and flows from Him.
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. Colossians 1:16
Principalities and powers in the Bible are levels of demons or the presence of demonic activity. These beings are real, and their primary goal is to kill, injure, worry, destroy, vex, harass, irritate, confuse, frustrate, and bother humans. This is all to get back at God for kicking the devil out of Heaven (Luke 10:18) and sealing his fate to hell and then transference into the lake of fire.
What Are Principalities and Powers?
So, the goal is to cause as much damage to humans as God will allow. These beings are a part of the rank of the kingdom of darkness and include fallen angels that were kicked out of heaven with Lucifer. The intent of the spirits is to hinder the purpose of God on earth and to take as many people as possible with them to hell in the process.
A lot of what these spirits stand for has been glamorized through media, books, songs, and other outlets. However, Christian materials, films, books, songs, magazines, etc. do have a presence in society and are gaining as the appetite of the public desires something better to feed off.
Witches really exist. There are people who communicate with the dead that are possessed by spirits. So, what we use to think was a bunch of hocus pocus has legitimate backgrounds in some respect. Demonic spirits can camouflage themselves. 2 Corinthians 11:14 says “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.”
Principalities and powers are not just relegated to individuals. These beings cover territories. Their presence is felt in cities. Some cities may have a principality of murder hovering over it. Another city may have a hindrance principality operating in their region. Another can have racism or sexual perversion. Some may have a gang principality or kidnapping principality operating over their region. Unfortunately, there are spirits operating that are too numerous to name.
We have protection and help as Christians. We can pray one for the other. We can fast. We can guard our eyes, ears, and other senses from wickedness. Christians should read the Word and stay prayed up. As Saints, be on the lookout for a sister or brother who might be oppressed and pray for them. Sometimes, we as Christians think we have seen it all when something strange happens in the spirit world.
There are probably testimonies that you or I am not prepared to hear. Jesus did perform an exorcism when He delivered Mary Magdalene from seven devils (Luke 8:2). There are other references to Jesus casting out devils. In Luke 8:27-33, you will find where Jesus casts legions of devils out of a man. This man had been possessed for a long time. The devils even pleaded with Jesus on where their destination would be. They wanted to remain in the area and begged Him to cast them into the swine.
Understand that at the name Jesus, the devil must flee. When I say the devil, I also mean a power or a principality. The devil is not like God and is not omniscient or all-knowing. The enemy is only allowed to vex man for a season and only with God’s permission. In the second chapter of Job, the devil asked permission to oppress, harass, afflict, and steal from Job. God told him that he must spare Job’s life.
So it is safe to assume that more than one spirit can be oppressing a person that does not have the Holy Spirit. A Christian may have the Holy Ghost and still will come under testing from the devil. As Christians, we need to seek God for the Holy Spirit. We can plead the blood against the devil. We may not be at the level of Paul or others who cast out spirits, but we can go to God in prayer to obtain grace and mercy to help in a time of need. Paul cast a fortune-telling spirit out of a girl in the Bible. Her masters were not happy because they had been making money off her possession (Acts 16:16-18).
Principalities and Powers in Scripture
Ephesians 6:12-18 offers this advice. “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, Above all, taking the shield of faith, where with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit and watching there unto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
We are victorious against these principalities and powers because of Christ. Colossians 2:14-15 declares “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.”
What We Can Learn from Matthew 4:1-11
This verse says. “Then the devil leaveth Him, and behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.”
Any time you are under attack, it will take a lot out of you. You must be replenished. You need ministry. Listen to the Word of God. Read the Word. Go to church. Be sure to be a part of a ministry that believes in the Holy Ghost. That is extra power for you if you are attached to a ministry of excellence. This will help keep the devil at bay. Yes, we know that from time to time there might be turbulence. But life is so much sweeter being in the arms and under the protection of the Lord. You will miss a lot of drama that will inflict others who are not under the banner of Christianity.
Why Should Christians Know about This?
Christians need to know that when they become Christians they may also come under attack from powers and principalities. First, they may have been flying under the radar. Now, they are on the radar. You have been added to the kingdom and you are a threat. The more attacks that you come up under signifies that God has a great work for you to do and that you are a threat. You might have the influence to impress others to come out of darkness and into the marvelous light. You getting saved might encourage your family members and friends to get saved. You might have been delivered from certain lifestyles and now those you use to hang with want to get delivered as well.
Anyone that has joy, is happy, and is grateful is a threat to the devil. This intimidates him because he has an expiration date, and he knows it. He already knows his fate and there is no redemption for him like there is for us. God loves us. He created man in his own image. He sent His Son from Heaven to die for us. Who does that? When the devil sees us, he is reminded constantly of his mistake of causing rebellion in Heaven and aspiring to be God. He was not content with being an anointed being. God loves us and is not willing that any of us would perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).
Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.Ephesians 6:11
The purpose of the armour of God is to enable you “to stand against the wiles of the devil; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).” When you fail to put on the armour of God you go naked onto the battlefield and may get eaten.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 6:12
This reminds us that the true nature of the fight is spiritual, not carnal and our enemies are spirits and not other people! When you are in a battle that involves other people, bind the spirits and pray for the other people. “Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven”.(Matthew 5:44-45) Jesus said, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34) even after being nailed to the cross. This is the response that shows you are a child of God!
Having your loins girt about with truth Ephesians 6:14
1 Peter 1:13 tells us that these loins are the loins of our minds. The loins of your mind are where the generative thought processes take place ie, where the seed of a thought can root in the heart and spring up into words and actions. You know, when “you’d like to give ’em a piece of your mind.”
Girding up the loins of your mind is …Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ 2 Corinthians 10:5. To “girt or girdle” means to attach or fasten garments. The girdle of truth is what anchors all the rest of our armour. It goes all the way around us and covers our front, back and sides. Jesus was stripped and beaten beyond recognition, having no protection, yet his “Truth” protects us today and forever!
Having on the breastplate of righteousnessEphesians 6:14
God said in Ezekiel 36:26 that He will give you a new heart, a heart of flesh and not stone. The breastplate of righteousness protects our heart and vital organs. You put it on by having Jesus cleanse you from all unrighteousness, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9) and then professing that righteousness. I am made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was naked and a sword pierced his heart in death. Now he pierces our hearts to life and his righteousness!
Having your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peaceEphesians 6:14
These are the “shoes of readiness.” Preaching instantly in season; out of season (2 Timothy 4:2)”, being ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15)” and having your speech always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man Colossians 4:6.
The shoes come by studying to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth 2 Timothy 2:15. and a willingness to just do it. The shoes also are fit to tread on serpents and scorpions crushing the enemy under our feet and bringing peace to the downtrodden. Jesus feet were bare when he walked the way of the cross!
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.Ephesians 6:16
God is our shield and our hiding place (Psalm 119:114). he is a shield unto them that put their trust in himProverbs 30:5. When you’ve taken up the shield of faith and know that God is going before you and watching behind you it doesn’t matter who or what is against you, for He will always give you the victory through Christ Jesus and the wicked one can’t touch you! Jesus hands were pierced and held no weapon or defense for himself. He did it all for us!
And take the helmet of salvationEphesians 6:17
The helmet of salvation is to protect our minds from all the lies of the enemy, our ears from deafness and our eyes from blindness. Jesus head was uncovered and he wore a crown of thorns. They smote him in the face and pulled out his beard. His face was marred more than any man’s and they spit on him. Yet he is our headship, the head of the church and we have the mind of Christ 1 Corinthians 2:16.
The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God!Ephesians 6:17
The sword of the Spirit is the word of God spoken out loud. On the mount of temptation (Matthew 4:1-11) Jesus showed us how to use the sword; each time the devil tempted him he responded with the sword and said, it is written… And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword…Revelation 19:15. Now when you’ve put on this armour you’ll discover you have put on Christ and are dressed for the Battle of Victory.
Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day…for the battle is the Lord’s!
Principalities and powers are two names or titles given to spiritual forces, along with authorities, and rulers. Depending on the version of the Bible being used, the words "principalities" and "powers" occur more or less frequently. The King James Version and its derivatives (NKJV, MKJV) use the words principalities and powers most frequently. These spiritual forces are mentioned in six different Scripture passages.
The first occurrence is in Romans 8:37-39. In this passage, Paul makes the point that there is nothing in heaven or earth that can separate believers from God's love. Principalities and powers are included in the list of things that are unable to separate us from God. In this context, principalities and powers can mean demonic forces themselves, or the false prophets and teachers empowered by demonic forces to come against the truth and deceive us. In either case, the passage is clear that they will not succeed.
The second occurrence is in Colossians 1:16, which says that principalities and powers are among the created beings, made by God for His purposes. The fact that God made and sustains the very enemies that rebel against Him is a mind-boggling reality that may never be fully clear to us. He is the King, and has a purpose for everything—even for evil principalities and powers (Proverbs 16:4; Daniel 4:35; Isaiah 46:10-11).
Again in Colossians, we see that principalities and powers have been defeated and shamed by Jesus Christ's work on the cross (Colossians 2:15). The verse says they have been "disarmed" and that Jesus "made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross" (Colossians 2:15 NIV). Satan's goal has always been to steal the affections of mankind from God, and to then destroy His beloved creation. But Jesus made it possible for all who believe to be reconciled to God—apart from the law, and in spite of any and all sins by which Satan has tempted them (Romans 3:21-28).
Two more references to principalities and powers are found in Ephesians. The first passage talks about the heavenly powers and authorities, who see the church, Christ's body, advancing through the world and understand something about God's wisdom by what they see (Ephesians 3:10-11). This concept is seen again in 1 Peter 1:12, as Peter speaks of the gospel as something "into which angels long to look." These principalities and powers are holy, good, and powerful, and they love to see the display of God's work and wisdom on the earth. Conversely, the unholy principalities and powers are unhappy to see God's work and wisdom through humanity, and they struggle against us to defeat us (Ephesians 6:12). That being so, they will not win. As Martin Luther's famous hymn, A Mighty Fortress, says: The Prince of Darkness Grim / We tremble not for him / His rage will not endure / For lo, his doom is sure / one little Word shall fell him (Romans 16:20; Revelation 20:10).
The last reference in the Bible to principalities and powers is in Titus 3:1. This is a reference to earthly authorities and governments, who are ultimately placed over us by God's will. We are told to submit to governments out of respect for the God who ordained their rule over us. Rebellion against earthly authority brings judgment (Romans 13:2).
The passage about which inquiry is made is Ephesians 6:12 – “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (KJV).
In this context Paul begins his discussion of the armor of God by encouraging the saints to be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might (v. 10). In that strength and power, Paul admonishes the brethren to put on the whole armor of God that they may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil (v. 11). In verse 12, Paul discusses the nature of the enemy against whom Christians struggle and why they need the whole armor of God to be successful.
This is the only passage in Paul’s writings in which he explicitly speaks of Christians’ struggling against evil spirit powers. Its uniqueness has led some to say that the passage is an interpolation; however, there is no manuscript evidence for its omission. In fact, while not as explicit Paul lays the groundwork for this explicit statement in Eph. 1:20-23 where he tell us that Christ, at the right hand of God, is “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” The scope of the victory wrought in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ is made clear in the listing of these defeated cosmic powers. Colossians 1:16 and 2:10, 15 are related passages. Certainly, there has been much discussion over whether these powers are good, benign, or hostile. While it may be that an absolute answer is difficult, beyond doubt these powers (“all rule and all authority and power”) are among the enemies that Christ shall have put down at his coming. Eph. 6:12 makes certain that the powers mentioned there are evil. Eph. 2:2 does the same.
What then are these powers? In verse 11 Paul identifies the primary enemy as the Devil. Whatever the powers are they are of the Devil and thus have a personal center and commander-in-chief. Eph. 2:2 tells us that they have human beings through whom they are operative (“the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience”). Eph. 4:14 lists some of their activities directed at the church of the Lord. It is truly a battle or a “wrestling” match, but unlike the usual wrestling match where one can “lay hold” on the opponent, our opponent is spiritual in nature.
Thus, the evil powers here listed as opposing believers are subject to the devil, the prince of the power of the air. They include the principalities and authorities mentioned in 1:21 was those over whom Christ rules both in this age and in the age to come. Because this age continues and Christians must live in it (John 17:15), these powers are still a threat. Among these powers are “the rulers of the darkness of this world,” a description that signifies the power and authority that they exercise over the world. In Matt. 4:8-9 the Devil took Jesus to an exceeding high mountain, showed him the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and promised to give them to Christ if he would bow down and worship Satan. Certainly Satan claimed ownership of the kingdoms of the world. These beings are also called “spiritual wickedness in high places.” Some assert that this expression was used to emphasize that our battle is spiritual and not against men (“flesh and blood”). Others think that Paul is really speaking of “wicked spirits.” The ASV translates it “the spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places.” Both understandings are scripturally correct. “Heavenly places” is the same word used in Ephesians 1:3, 20; 2:6; and 3:10. Some suggest that Paul is using the “layered” understanding of Heaven (he was called to the “third Heaven,” 2 Cor. 12:2) with God occupying the highest heaven and Satan and his minions the lowest. Others think that the term does not always mean the same thing and that the meaning must be understood from the context, thus concluding that, since it is the dwelling place of Satan, it cannot refer to the same location where the word is used elsewhere. There are other understandings but they are not supported by good rationale or scripture. Charles Hodge, in his commentary on Ephesians, concludes:
"The whole context, however, shows that the design of the apostle is to present the formidable character of our adversaries in the most impressive point of view. Others suppose that Paul means to refer to the former, and not to the present residence of these exalted beings. They are fallen angels, who once dwelt in heave. But his is obviously inconsistent with the nature meaning of his words. He speaks of them as in heaven. It is better to take the word heaven in a wised sense. It is very often used antithetically to the word earth. “Heaven and earth,” include the whole universe. All intelligent beings are terrestrial or celestial. Of the latter class some are good and some are bad, as of the angels some are holy and some are unholy. These principalities and potentates, these rulers and spirits of wickedness, are no earthly magnates, they belong to the order of celestial intelligences, and therefore are the more to be dreaded, and something more than human strength and earthly armour is required for the conflict to which the apostle refers."
One thing is clear – the Christ is over all such powers of whatever nature. By his strength and power the victory can be ours as well. We ought not to become so involved in trying to figure out the minute details of who these beings are that we miss Paul’s real message – our opponents are such that the only way that we can hope for victory is by putting on the whole armor of God and taking advantage of the mighty power of God that he has put at our disposal.
God's Plan of Salvation
You must hear the gospel and then understand and recognize that you are lost without Jesus Christ no matter who you are and no matter what your background is. The Bible tells us that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) Before you can be saved, you must understand that you are lost and that the only way to be saved is by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ. (2 Thessalonians 1:8) Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)
You must believe and have faith in God because “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) But neither belief alone nor faith alone is sufficient to save. (James 2:19; James 2:24; Matthew 7:21)
You must repent of your sins. (Acts 3:19) But repentance alone is not enough. The so-called “Sinner’s Prayer” that you hear so much about today from denominational preachers does not appear anywhere in the Bible. Indeed, nowhere in the Bible was anyone ever told to pray the “Sinner’s Prayer” to be saved. By contrast, there are numerous examples showing that prayer alone does not save. Saul, for example, prayed following his meeting with Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:11), but Saul was still in his sins when Ananias met him three days later (Acts 22:16). Cornelius prayed to God always, and yet there was something else he needed to do to be saved (Acts 10:2, 6, 33, 48). If prayer alone did not save Saul or Cornelius, prayer alone will not save you. You must obey the gospel. (2 Thess. 1:8)
You must confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Romans 10:9-10) Note that you do NOT need to make Jesus “Lord of your life.” Why? Because Jesus is already Lord of your life whether or not you have obeyed his gospel. Indeed, we obey him, not to make him Lord, but because he already is Lord. (Acts 2:36) Also, no one in the Bible was ever told to just “accept Jesus as your personal savior.” We must confess that Jesus is the Son of God, but, as with faith and repentance, confession alone does not save. (Matthew 7:21)
Having believed, repented, and confessed that Jesus is the Son of God, you must be baptized for the remission of your sins. (Acts 2:38) It is at this point (and not before) that your sins are forgiven. (Acts 22:16) It is impossible to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ without teaching the absolute necessity of baptism for salvation. (Acts 8:35-36; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Peter 3:21) Anyone who responds to the question in Acts 2:37 with an answer that contradicts Acts 2:38 is NOT proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ!
Once you are saved, God adds you to his church and writes your name in the Book of Life. (Acts 2:47; Philippians 4:3) To continue in God’s grace, you must continue to serve God faithfully until death. Unless they remain faithful, those who are in God’s grace will fall from grace, and those whose names are in the Book of Life will have their names blotted out of that book. (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:5; Galatians 5:4)
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