The Book of Ephesians Pt. 53 Preparing For Spiritual warfare.

 Paul just introduced the subject of spiritual warfare and the wiles of the Devil. Let us take a quick look at the context that leads us to the individual parts of His armor.

Hand to hand combat in spiritual warfare. 

Ephesians 6:10-12  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11) Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. 

We saw that we must run to Jesus Christ our Lord for strength and an infusion of His mighty power. We need His power so we can stand against the wiles of the Devil. The idea of "standing against" means not yielding up any ground to our enemy, concerning what we believe and how we live out the gospel. 

Paul continues to use "put off" and "put on" commands very effectively to teach believers that there are some sinful things we must not permit (put off) in our lives. And, there are some spiritual things that we can do (put on) that will help us live victoriously in Christ. 

We are in a spiritual battle for control of our lives. 

Paul gives us the primary motivation for putting on the whole armor of God. The word "wrestle" means a wrestling contest between two foes in which each attempts to throw the other down. “Wrestling” implies that it is a hand-to-hand and foot-to-foot struggle for mastery over an opponent. A wrestling match is decided when the victor is able to hold his opponent down with his hand upon his neck. 

Metaphorically, this refers to each believer struggling with the power of evil while seeking to honor God with our choices. 

We are not facing mortals of flesh and blood because flesh and blood is a symbol of weakness. Flesh and blood foes are merely the tools of Satan, who is the real foe with whom our conflict is. 

Principalities refer to an evil archenemy.

Who are our enemies? The word "principalities" is the Greek word "arche." The word "archenemy" means the chief of our foes. This is an enemy of the worst sort. An archenemy is driven by intense hatred, deep hostility and unchecked malice. There is no greater enemy than an archenemy.   Satan and the fallen angels he controls are God's great enemies and our great enemies. 

Paul's teaching implies that there is a demonic hierarchy in the kingdom of darkness. Satan is the head of the kingdom of darkness and he is going to establish his own unholy trinity as the book of Revelation tells us. He will have a false prophet imitating the Holy Spirit and the antichrist imitating Jesus Christ. Satan will be the unholy Father in this unclean trinity of darkness. 

Matthew 12:43-45  When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. 44) Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. 45) Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation. 

Our Lord Jesus Christ has many encounters with demons and was tempted by Satan. Christ pulled back the curtain to give us a glimpse of the unseen spirit world where spiritual warfare is taking place. 

This teaching is a picture of the worthlessness of self reformation. The unclean spirit of a demon who was possessing a man. He went out from this person for a while, and sought a resting place but found none. 

He returned to his human host only to find his former abode was swept, garnished and emptied of filth. This represents a person who determines in the strength of their own will to be a better person. Therefore, they cleaned up their act and outwardly appeared moral and decent. 

Many people attempt self reformation but because it is always done in the energy of our flesh, it brings no lasting change. I know, because I tried in vain for years to stop cursing and I did do better for a while, but I ultimately could not overcome this sin. However, when I was born again, cursing was one of the things that God removed from my life when making me a new creation in Christ. 

Notice what happened to the man in Jesus' teaching. The demon came back to this man and saw the attempts made to clean things up. This demon went out and found seven more demons who were more wicked than he was. This man's life became even more horrible than it was before.

This also shows us that there are ranks of demons with some being worse than others. 

Jesus gave us this insight in the unseen spiritual realm because we need to see that we must be born again, born from above, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. Self reformation will not work.

Luke 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. 

Powers of wickedness.

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. 

We also wrestle against "powers." The word "powers" means having force, mastery, an authority to do things. Satan has been given limited power by God until the church age is over and the gospel of Christ is fully preached. He tried to tempt Jesus to worship him by offering to give Christ the Creator all these things that already belonged to Him because He made them. 

Ephesians 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Notice that Satan has a title. He is the prince of the power of the air. He is doing all that he can to thwart the completion of God's prophecies. However, God is in control moving all things according to His purposes, plan and timing. Satan is limited to our planet as his title "prince of the power of the air" implies. He is also called the "prince of this world" (John 14:30) and the "god of this age" (2 Corinthians 4:4).

Rulers of darkness.

The phrase "rulers of darkness" is from the Greek word "kosmokrator" and it is only used once in the Bible. It refers to a world ruler and is used exclusively for Satan. This word crops up in the Orphic Hymns of Satan and in various Gnostic writings about the devil. 

The word "darkness" literally means in the shade and has the idea of laboring in obscurity. This makes sense because we are studying about spiritual warfare which involve an unseen spirit world. "Darkness" also is used to describe people in whom darkness becomes visible and holds sway. 

"World-rulers" denotes the extent of the dominion of these invisible foes. The term is applied only to the rulers of the most widely extended tracts; there is no part of the globe to which their influence does not extend, and where their dark rule does not show itself. The misery, death and destruction spread by the rulers of darkness are readily seen by all. 

Spiritual wickedness in high places. 

This is the final description Paul provided before telling us about the armor of God. This is the idea of a host of fallen angels united by evil and malice, who seek to do their master's bidding. This battle rages on the earth and into the high places within the spirit world.  Our “wrestling” is with foes of evil, natural and supernatural. We sorely need “the panoply of God” by putting on the whole armor that He has for us. 

Observe contrast with the servants of Jesus Christ. We are children of light, and our lives exhibit the beauty and order of God's creation.  Knowledge, purity, joy, peace, love, hope and other spiritual graces are worked into us by the Holy Spirit.  

The primary evidences seen in the devil and his servants is darkness, equivalent to confusion, ignorance, crime, terror, strife, and all misery.

Thoughts to Ponder...

When it is said that "we have been seated with Christ in heavenly places," it is a picture of the spiritual experience of God's people. In our spirit, day by day, we are at the gate of heaven, and our hearts should be full of heavenly thoughts and feelings. 

Christ has given us all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. He gives us permanent positional blessings like justification, or sanctification and He gives us practical blessings to help us live our lives for His glory. He sends His Spirit to indwell us, and we have the completed Word of God to read and obey.  

Paul is teaching us that, even in such heavenly places, amid our most fervent experiences as we lean on Christ, we can be under attack.  During our most satisfying periods of worship and walking the worthy walk, we are subject to the attacks of the spirits of wickedness.

Because all of this is true, we must be totally reliant upon our Lord. His Spirit is in us, He will grant us strength and He has provided the spiritual armor we need for fighting in spiritual warfare. 

May our confidence in God grow, may He sustain us when the evil one seeks to harm or destroy us. 

Bob