We are at War!
The very first thing as Christians we have to understand is we are at war. There has been an uprising in the heavens and we have landed in the middle of it. In fact you could say we are in enemy occupied territory. We live like we are on a playground many times when we should live like we are on a battleground. In the letter to the Ephesians Paul outlines this most clearly at the end of the letter in chapter 6. For the last few chapters of the letter Paul tells us 'to live a life worthy of our calling" (Eph 4:1). He tells us to be 'imitators' of God (Eph 5:1), to 'walk in Love' (Eph 5:2), to 'walk as children of the light' (Eph 5:8), and finally to 'walk not as unwise people but as wise' (Eph 5:15). Next Paul outlines how we are to live this new life out in Christ with others, our church, home and work. He finishes the letter with dealing with the enemy. He knows if you are to live the Christian life in the world there will be opposition.
"Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by His vast strength. Put on the full armor of God so that you can stand against the tactics of the Devil. For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world powers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens." Ephesians 6:10-12 HCSB
Reading Paul's word we soon realize we have been enlisted into the army of the Lord. He starts by saying "finally", the word would better translated "henceforth" or "for the time remaining". In others words we are going to struggle with this until Christ returns.
Christ has Overcome
It's easy to think we are in a losing battle. But we must not lose heart and we must always remember Christ has overcome. In John 16:38 Jesus tells the disciples "but take heart I have overcome the world". He has also overcome the flesh (Gal 2:20) and over Satan himself (Eph 1:19-23). We know who has won, we know the score of the game before it's finished. In the end Christ wins and Satan loses. So in reality we do not fight for victory—we fight from victory! And when you really think about it we don't fight all, God fights for us.
The Enemy
So who is this enemy, what comes to mind when you think about him? When I posed this question on Facebook I got a variety of answers and they could be boiled down as "lair, cheater, murderer, divider, and thief. We have to know our enemy! Intelligence is vital to any battle and this battle isn't any different. We have to know our enemy to defeat him and also not to be caught off guard. He has many names, he is known as the Devil which means "accuser". He is called this because he stands before God accusing the saints (Rev 12:7-11). He is also known as Satan, which means the "adversary". He is known as the tempter, murderer and liar (John 8:44), compared to a lion (1Peter 5:8), a serpent in Genesis, and can disguised himself as an angel of light. (2 Cor. 11:13-15) He is also known as the 'god of this age'. (2 Cor 4:4)
You look through the list of names and realize the enemy is very powerful, but we have to realize he was created. Many have debated how Satan fell from heaven and the Bible as passages that allude to it, but many scholars are divided. But I would encourage you to read Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:11-17, I tend to believe these passages are referencing the rise and fall of Satan, but I will leave that for another time. What we do know is he is limited in knowledge and activity. He is not all knowing, all powerful or everywhere like God. So the question quickly become how does he do so much? The answer is he has help, a lot of help.
The Bible tells us he took one-third of the angels with him (Rev 12:4), no one knows the exact number but that has to be a lot of angels. Secondly he has people in place, rulers and authorities. Daniel 10:13-20 tells us he battles in the heavens and interferes with the nations.
Don't Underestimate Him
Taking all of this into account we do not want to underestimate him. He has been around from the very beginning and we cannot defeat him on our own. And the worst mistake of all is to ignore or make him a myth. Jesus tells us in John 10:10 "A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy." I believe Satan wants to steal your peace, that is get you to believe that God doesn't love you. He wants to disrupt the peace you have with God through Christ. If he can get you to say you're not good enough, he can kill your joy. Losing your joy, takes away your hope and if we lose hope we will certainly doubt our faith. Once faith is gone there will be little talk from you about Jesus to others! This is why we must always remember the cross and the victory won there! It is at the cross where our sins were forgiven by the shedding of Christ blood. It is where God's wrath is settled and by putting our faith in Jesus we have salvation. It is on the cross we find peace with God. In the end Satan and his army with be thrown into the lake of fire, until then we stand and resist. But only through Christ can we have the victory!
I heard an old, old story,
How a Savior came from glory,
How He gave His life on Calvary
To save a wretch like me;
I heard about His groaning,
Of His precious blood's atoning,
Then I repented of my sins
And won the victory.
Chorus
O victory in Jesus,
My Savior, forever.
He sought me and bought me
With His redeeming blood;
He loved me ere I knew Him
And all my love is due Him,
He plunged me to victory,
Beneath the cleansing flood.
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