Will you please turn to Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 6? We read from verse 10.
For the rest, brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the might of His strength.
Put on the panoply of God, the complete armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the artifices of the devil.
Because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against principalities, against authorities, against the universal lords of this darkness, against spiritual power of wickedness in the heavenlies.
For this reason, take to you the panoply of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having accomplished all things, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded about your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and shod your feet with the preparation of the glad tidings of peace.
Besides all these, having taken the shield of faith, with which ye will be able to quench all the inflamed darts of the wicked one.
Have also the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s Word; praying at all seasons, with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching unto this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints;
And for me, in order that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the glad tidings.—Ephesians 6:10-19
Second Corinthians, Chapter 10. We begin with verse 3 through verse 5.
For walking in flesh, we do not war according to flesh; for the arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds; overthrowing reasonings, and every high thing that lifts itself up against the knowledge of God, and leading captive every thought unto the obedience of the Christ.
—2 Corinthians 10:3-5
Let us have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, as we gather together unto Thy name, we have the assurance that Thou art in our midst. We praise and thank Thee, even though these are evil days; yet Thou art on the throne.
We do come and ask that Thou wilt give us spiritual intelligence, that we may know our time, that we may know Thy will. Lord, it is our prayer that Thou wilt take us up and make us vessels and instruments in Thy own hand.
We pray that Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. May Thy name be hallowed. Lord, we commit this time into Thy hands.
Our sufficiency is empty. We ask Thee that Thou wilt grant us the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
The theme of this time is spiritual warfare.
Now, in order to understand spiritual warfare, I think first of all we need to recognize that there is a spiritual world.
You know, we are accustomed to our physical world, to the things that are seen. In a sense, we take it for granted that this is all that there is. We live in this physical world; we touch physical things. Sometimes we think that that is all.
I think this is one of the greatest deceptions in the world, because there is a spiritual world—a world that is unseen, and yet it is very real. We can say that it is more real than the physical.
Everything that is physical is, in a sense, being controlled by that which is spiritual. What we can see is just a shadow, but the reality is the unseen.
You know, the people of this world have their eyes blinded by the god of this world, so all they can see is the physical world. They live in it and seek it. They think that they can live according to what they desire.
But the Scripture says in Ephesians 2:1 that we were dead in trespasses and sins, and once walked according to the age of this world, according to the ruler of the authority of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience.
So you find people walking in this world according to the age of this world—that is, according to the fashion and current of this cosmos, this world. Outwardly, it seems that everybody is able to do whatever he or she wants to do.
Yet the Word tells us that actually they are walking according to the ruler of the authority in the air—the evil spirits that work in the hearts of the disobedient ones.
So, brothers and sisters, once we were sons of disobedience. Once we thought that we lived according to what we desired, and yet, unknowingly, we were actually under the control of evil spirits. We did not know that.
But thank God, being under that kind of rulership, we suffered so much until we cried out for deliverance.
You know, just like the children of Israel: they lived in Egypt, under the rulership of Pharaoh. They were put under hard labour, and more than that, they were deprived even of the hope of living. Only in that kind of oppression did they cry out for deliverance.
That is exactly what happened to each one of us. Thank God, He heard the cry of our hearts. He saved us. He forgave us our sins.
For, brothers and sisters, when we are saved, it is more than just a matter of having our sins forgiven—and that is great. Once we were so burdened with our sins, and yet, as we looked at the Lord Jesus, that burden rolled away. It is a happy day.
But, dear brothers and sisters, you find that the Lord has done much more than that. Not only has He forgiven our sins, but actually He has delivered us out of the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
Now, oftentimes we do not realize that. We think only of what happened to us and how we feel about it. Once we were so laden with sins, and yet He has freed us, forgetting that something much more has happened.
Actually, at the moment when we believed in the Lord Jesus, He delivered us out of the power of darkness. Before that, we were in darkness; we were under the power of darkness. But He delivered us.
Not only that, but He actually translated us—transported us out of darkness, out of that power, into the kingdom of the Son of His love.
We not only live in the physical world, but we also live in the spiritual world. We not only live in the world that is seen, but also in the world that is unseen.
Now, in this world, on this earth, you have many kingdoms. But in the spiritual world, it is divided into only two kingdoms. One is the power of darkness; the other is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love.
One is the satanic kingdom, and the other is God’s kingdom. These two kingdoms are at war.
This war is on the earth, and it is centred upon human beings such as we are.
Now, in order to understand spiritual warfare, I think it is important for us to know its history. So bear with me. Those who have known need to be reminded, and those who do not know need to know.
You know, as you open the Bible, in Genesis 1:1 it says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
In this creation, the highest of God’s created beings are the angels. They might be the first created, because when you read Job 38, it is said that when God laid the foundation of the earth, the morning stars sang together and the sons of God shouted for joy.
Now, the angels are called morning stars, perhaps because they may have been the first created. They are called the sons of God because they were created by God—sons by creation, not sons by birth.
So perhaps in the first creation the angels were first created, and they were the highest in creation. The angels are ministering servants. They were created to minister unto God, to worship God, and to serve God’s will.
We believe that when God created, it must have been perfect. In that creation, you find that the angels led the whole creation in worship and in praising God.
There was peace. There was harmony. God was glorified in all things.
Now, we do not know how long this condition continued, but we do know that in Genesis 1:2, the earth became waste and empty.
When God creates, it must be perfect. God created for habitation, not for chaos, not for emptiness. But somehow, one day, the earth became waste, ruined, empty, and without purpose. Why?
We find some hints in the Word of God. Now, God does not tell us the details because He does not want to satisfy our curiosity. He just tells us what we need to know.
But somehow you find, from Isaiah 14:12-15 and Ezekiel 28:12-19, some things concerning what had happened in the first world.
Now, among the created beings, the first and foremost was Lucifer, the brilliant star. Lucifer was an archangel. He was created with such beauty and perfection. He was endowed by God with such talents, and he was placed in such a high position.
He was an anointed covering cherub; that is, he was a cherub that covered the throne of God. He was very musical, and probably he led the angelic host to sing praises unto God.
On the day when he was created, he was perfect. But unfortunately, as his trade—that is, his work—began to increase, unrighteousness was found in him.
There arose in his heart a pride. He was not content to be above all and under One. He wanted to be equal with God.
In Isaiah 14, five times he mentioned the word I. In other words, he should have been conscious only of God, of his Creator, and been thankful. Yet he turned his eyes upon himself.
He looked upon his own beauty, forgetting Who had adorned him with such beauty. He began to look at his own talent, forgetting Who had given him the talent. He began to look at his own position and power, forgetting Who had put him there.
He turned to himself. Brothers and sisters, that is the origin of sin.
When that angel turned away from God and unto himself, he wanted to be equal with God. There was violence. There was unrighteousness.
Because of that, he was banished from the mountain of God. While he was banished from heaven, one third of the angelic beings followed him in rebellion against God.
The dominion that God had put under his rule was judged and entered into waste and emptiness. So we feel that probably our universe was put under the dominion of this archangel, and when he was judged, all that was under his dominion entered into judgment.
You find that our earth was covered with waters, and darkness was over the whole earth.
Then, in Genesis 1:3, thank God, He would not allow this situation to last forever. In His love and mercy, you find the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the deep.
The Spirit of God is like a hen brooding over the eggs, putting warmth upon the eggs and trying to bring forth a birth. So, brothers and sisters, out of the great love of God, He began to restore and repair this ruined earth into a habitable place.
That is what you find in Genesis 1 from verse 3 onward.
In this creation, God decided to create man. Man was not created in the first creation; man was created in the second one, on the sixth day.
In other words, God had repaired and recovered this earth to be habitable for man, whom He was going to create. So God created man in His own image, according to His likeness. God gave dominion to man to rule over the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fishes of the sea.
Brothers and sisters, do you know that God created you according to His image and in His likeness? Did you ever inquire why God should do that?
When God created angels, He did not create them according to His image. Man is the only one God created according to His own image and after His own likeness. And God gave dominion to man.
In other words, God took away that which had been given to Lucifer in the ages before, took away that dominion, and put it in the hands of man.
Man was to rule this earth and bring all created beings back to God. That is our mission.
You know, it is very easy for God. He can destroy Satan by His breath. But there would not be glory to God. For a grown man to beat a baby, that is ugly.
So, for the glory of God, He created man, who is a little lower than the angels.
Now, in the created order, we are lower than angels. Why? The angels are spirits; they can be everywhere. But we have a body. We are confined and limited, and we are not as intellectual as the angels.
We are made a little inferior to the angels, and yet God can use the inferior to defeat the superior. Now, that is the wisdom of God.
You know, in heaven there was no war. Well, in the air, yes, but not in heaven—in the third heaven. Even when Lucifer and his angels rebelled, there was no war. He was simply dismissed, banished, and judged.
The real spiritual war began on earth with man.
God put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. God gave them the command to watch and to keep. They were to subdue all this; that is, to bring everything back to the feet of God. That was man’s responsibility.
Satan knew about it, so you find the war began. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve were not watchful.
Satan slipped in, in the form of a serpent. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve should have been together, but somehow they were separated. The enemy got the chance to tempt Eve.
Eventually, Adam and Eve fell into the trap of Satan. Instead of obeying God, they followed the footsteps of the fallen angel.
They thought of themselves: “If I take of the forbidden tree, I will be as God. I will have my eyes opened. I will be so intelligent. I do not need God anymore. I am god myself.”
It was the same principle of sin. In doing that, not only did man fall into rebellion and sin, but man lost his dominion.
He handed over what God had entrusted to him to the adversary of God. Brothers and sisters, it is more than a matter of man’s sin. In sinning, man lost his dominion.
The dominion God had given to man was handed over to the one from whom God had taken it away. Satan, by deception, deceived Eve and got hold of the dominion of this world.
Therefore, you find that he is called the ruler of this world, the prince of this world—not by right, but by deception. He became a usurper of this world, and he organized this created world into a system, a cosmos, using that system to oppose God.
Unfortunately, man became helpless. So, in Adam, that dominion was lost.
I think it is very clear. When a lion comes to you and you say, “Sit,” he will not listen to you. He will jump on you. You have lost your dominion.
But thank God, God did not give up. You may think that in the garden of Eden God lost the battle, but God was patient. He was working.
At the fullness of time, He brought in the last Adam, the second Man. The second Man came to the fight.
God’s only Son became man. He took upon Himself the form of a man. He lived on this earth as a man.
Satan tried to tempt Him to act as God: “If You are the Son of God”—and of course He is—“You can turn the stone into bread, because You are hungry.”
Yet our Lord Jesus stood as a man. As a man, the second Man, He defeated the enemy.
On Calvary’s cross, Satan thought that he had won the victory. He thought he had put this Man away, not knowing that on Calvary’s cross his head was crushed.
“It is finished.” The victory is won.
By this Man, and those who are in Him, God’s will shall be done. We do not yet see all things brought under His feet, but we see Jesus.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the victory is won, and yet the war goes on. Actually, the spiritual warfare that we are in is the mopping-up business.
Now, as we mentioned, before we believed in the Lord Jesus, there was no spiritual warfare to talk about. We were so blinded. We saw only the physical, the earthly, and we were all in the grip of the enemy.
He could do whatever he liked with us. We thought we were free. That is the greatest deception. We were not free; we were under the rulership of the authorities in the air, the power of darkness. There was no war.
But once we are saved, that war begins.
In Christ there is victory, but in Adam there is defeat. What the enemy has been trying to do is to draw us, who have been translated into Christ, out of Christ and back to Adam.
Whenever he is able to entice us to go back to Adam—that is, to live according to our flesh and not according to the Spirit—he has ground over us. That is the way he tries to fight.
Abiding in Christ is the secret of victory.
Now, in this war, you know, when you have the First World War and the Second World War, you have countries that claim neutrality. But in this spiritual warfare, there is no neutrality.
You are either on this side or on the other side. You are either with the Lord or with the enemy.
If we love the world, we are in enmity with God. James 4:4. Love not the world, nor the things in the world, because if you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you. First John 2.
There is no neutrality.
Brothers and sisters, do you know that we are at war? Our lives are on a war footing. Are we watchful and alert?
Now, in order to understand spiritual warfare, perhaps we will use the children of Israel as an illustration. What was written is for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
When God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, in Exodus 13, you find that God did not lead them into Canaan by the way of the Philistines, which was the shorter way, the direct way.
Instead, He led them out by a roundabout way, through the Red Sea. Why? Because God knew His people.
God said that if they went by the way of the Philistines, when they met conflict and war, they would be so discouraged that they would go back to Egypt. So God did not lead them that way. Instead, God led them through the Red Sea into the wilderness.
Brothers and sisters, you find that this is exactly, in principle, the way God is leading us.
When you first believe in the Lord Jesus, when you are first saved, you go through a period as if there is no conflict. Thank God, in our first love there is no conflict.
You are just saved. You are full of gratitude. You love the Lord. You love the brothers and sisters—you do not know them too well yet. No conflict.
You love to read the Word of God. You love to pray. You love to witness for the Lord. You love to meet with the brothers and sisters and seek the Lord together. There seems to be nothing too hard.
Then you go through the wilderness.
You know, the wilderness experience: so far as the Word of God shows us, God led the children of Israel through the wilderness to Mount Sinai, gave them the law and the tabernacle, and then led them on.
From Mount Sinai to the southern border of the promised land is only an eleven-days’ journey. In other words, two years would have been enough. But they wandered forty years because of their unbelief.
Now, what is the wilderness experience to us? In Deuteronomy 8, God revealed to the children of Israel what the wilderness experience meant.
He said, “In the wilderness, I tested you. I proved you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would really keep the commandment of God or not. There I humbled you.”
“I made you hungry and gave you manna, so that you might know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. There I chastened you, as a father chastens his son, so that you might fear Me.”
Now, that is the wilderness. Brothers and sisters, after we believe in the Lord Jesus, after the first warmth of love begins to wane, we begin to enter into a wilderness experience.
It is the experience of exposing our flesh. We think that now we are saved, so we are perfect. But not knowing that the old flesh is still there, and is as fleshly as it was before.
God knows, so He tests us. He brings it out from us, that we may know too. He chastens and disciplines us as His own sons.
Now, in the wilderness there is conflict, but mainly the conflict is between the Spirit and the flesh, the old man and the new man, that which is natural and that which is supernatural.
They are fighting. In Galatians 5, it says that the Spirit lusts against the flesh, and the flesh against the Spirit. They are contrary to one another.
In a general sense, we can say this can be considered part of spiritual warfare. But actually, strictly speaking, these are just skirmishes—probings of the enemy.
You know, now that we are on the other side, the enemy tries to probe and find a weak spot through which he can penetrate. To us, it seems tremendous, right? To fight against the flesh and the Spirit is very real to us, and it is spiritual warfare. But actually, these are just skirmishes.
They are testing the ground, as it were, trying to find a weak spot. Whenever the enemy can find the flesh, he can attack.
The only real battle in the wilderness is in Exodus 17, with Amalek. Amalek fought against the children of Israel, and Joshua led the army.
But in that fight, it was very strange, because the fight did not depend upon Joshua or all the strength of Amalek. Actually, it depended upon the hands of Moses.
When Moses’ hands were lifted, Joshua overcame. When his hands were weary and let down, Amalek overcame.
Now, Amalek in the Scripture represents the flesh. How do you fight against the flesh? By lifting your arms in prayer, connecting yourself with heaven, abiding in Christ, until the name of Amalek is completely destroyed.
So, yes, you find that when you really come into this matter of spiritual warfare, what we have experienced are just skirmishes, testing the ground and trying to find a weak spot.
The real warfare with the children of Israel did not begin until they entered into Canaan.
Canaan was inhabited by seven tribes of the Canaanites. They were so wicked that God decided to wipe them out.
God led the children of Israel into Canaan, on the one hand to wipe out the enemies that occupied the land, and on the other hand to inherit the promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
So there you find, in the book of Joshua, the real battle, the real spiritual warfare.
You know, as you read Ephesians, you will find, as our brother Watchman Nee says, “Sit, walk, stand.”
First of all, you need to sit. Then you need to walk. Only after you walk do you go to war, to stand.
Put it this way: unless we know how to sit, to rest in the finished work of Christ, we will not be able to walk as we should, to be like Him.
If we are not in that kind of position yet, we are not really in the centre of the fight.
That is the reason why we feel spiritual warfare is something very few of God’s people know. We have heard about it, but how much have we really entered into it?
It needs some preparation. We need to know how to abide in Christ, how to walk according to the Spirit. Then the battle would be very fierce.
Why? Because it is a matter of dislodging the enemy and inheriting our inheritance.
What is the issue of this spiritual warfare? What is spiritual warfare all about? Why this warfare?
Now, brothers and sisters, you find that it goes back to the very centre of God’s purpose. This warfare is fought between God and His enemy, Satan. It is fought over man.
Is it not over the issue of who is to be worshipped? Who is to be served?
You know, when our Lord was tempted in the wilderness, His declaration to the tempter was:
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.
—Matthew 4:10
That is the issue. Who is in control? Who has the worship and the service?
It hinges upon man, because man is now supposed to lead all created things to worship. Man is supposed to serve God, to bring everything back to the service of God.
That is why man becomes the target in this spiritual war.
We are to inherit all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies that have been given to us. Christ is to inherit us as His inheritance. So it is all in this matter of inheritance: who is to inherit?
Who is to fulfil the will of God? Who will bring worship and service to God in its destination?
Even though you find the battle seems to be on earth, actually it is fought in the heavenlies.
You know, when you read Ephesians, you find a number of places where “the heavenlies,” or the heavenly realm, is mentioned. It is not a physical realm, something that you can locate at a certain location, but it is a heavenly realm.
It is typified by Canaan. This heavenly realm is the place where God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. It is like Canaan, flowing with milk and honey. This is Ephesians 1:3.
Then, in Ephesians 1:20, you find that when our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, He was raised to the throne of God, seated in the heavenlies. That is where our Lord Jesus now is.
When you read Ephesians 2:6, you find that we who have been quickened are also raised from the dead and seated with Christ in the heavenlies. We are in the heavenlies.
Then, in Ephesians 3:10, you find that it is the will of God that at this time the church is to teach the principalities and authorities the manifold wisdom of God.
Now, who are these principalities and authorities in the heavenlies? We believe these are the good angels, the angels that serve God. Even the angels will learn something from us: the manifold wisdom of God.
Then you come to Ephesians 6:12. Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and authorities, powers, universal lords of darkness, and powers of evil spirits in the air. These are the rebellious angels.
So here you find that the heavenlies are quite crowded, are they not? You find Christ there, all the riches of Christ there, and the good angels there.
The good angels serve the redeemed, that they may arrive at the purpose of God. The wicked angels are there also, standing in the way, trying to stand against us in order to prevent us from fulfilling our responsibility.
That is the fight. That is the battle. The battle is in the heavenlies. What you find on earth is just a shadow. The real battle is fought in the heavenlies.
So, dear brothers and sisters, unless we live in the heavenlies, we cannot fight that battle.
That is how important it is, brothers and sisters, by the grace of God, that we be completely delivered from sin, from the world, and from our flesh, that we may really live in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus.
Then we may be engaged by God in the spiritual warfare.
I think probably this morning that is enough. In other words, brothers and sisters, together we want to learn what spiritual warfare really is and why it is so important.
The eternal purpose of God hangs upon this warfare. Even though we know the outcome already, how long this warfare will continue has something to do with us.
You know what happened recently in New York? I feel that what the Lord is trying to say to me is, “Why should this thing happen?”
Maybe it is because we, as the church of God, have failed to be a restraining force against evil. We are here to restrain evil.
But this is not to be fought on earth; it is to be fought in the heavenlies. Somehow we are not watchful, and that is what happened.
What happened on earth is the effect, the aftermath, of what has happened in the heavenlies. These are only the effects, but the real battle is to be fought in the heavenlies.
What a responsibility we have. So may the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee, because Thou hast overcome. Thou art already seated with God in the heavenlies, on the throne. The victory is won.
Thou hast left with us the finishing job. Lord, we do confess our failures, how we prolong this battle.
Lord, wake up Thy church. Wake us up, that we may be in a position that can be used by Thee to restrain evil until it is time for it to be finished.
Do keep us. Do stir us. Do use us for Thy glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.