Spiritual Warfare
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How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.
We will come back to these two scriptures to exegete them further.
Intro:
I had spoken last year about spending some time dealing with Spiritual Warfare and how to engage in it. It is often a misunderstood subject within the church and often overlooked matter.
There are several reasons why spiritual warfare is often overlooked and/or not talked about:
Ignorance concerning spiritual warfare. This includes not knowing about it, not understanding the importance of it, and how to engage in it.
It is not taught in the churches. Today’s messages that dominate the pulpit is receiving blessings, getting rich, being prosperous and successful, and the over emphasis of spiritual gifts in particularly prophecy and the office of apostolic succession (apostles) (new doctrine that is arising).
Finally, fear is another reason why spiritual warfare isn’t talked about in the church. Many people when they think about the devil, they think about demons they think of the Hollywood version which invoke fear and make these demons to be more powerful than they are. Let’s stop there to say, demons and the devil are very powerful beings. But none of them are more powerful than God and the angels of the Lord. You have to remember that a 1/3 of the angels fell with Lucifer, that means that not only is God more powerful, but he has more angels at his disposal than Satan has.
One thing to remember is that for the believer spiritual warfare is not optional, if you are a child of God you will engage in it whether you realize or not. Satan wants you to be ignorant in this area so that he can take advantage of us and so that he can hinder the church.
What is warfare?
Ans: It is conflict between two entities, with the goal of either weakening the other or destroying the other. Spiritual warfare hence is two spiritual kingdoms in battle one against the other. Good vs Evil. God vs Satan. Angels vs Demons.
But there is a particular battle that is being waged. That is Satan vs the Church.
Think of it this way, the enemy….if he is a smart enemy may not go after the strongest part of the kingdom because they will suffer many casualties. A smart enemy will attempt to pick off the weaker ones.
Consider the hiearchy of God’s creation:
God the Father and Jesus Christ
The Angels
Humankind
Nature (Animals).
Now, Satan has no use for animals, they don’t have a soul like we have.
Consider this scripture:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Remember the scripture said in Isa 14:13
For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
Satan has always wanted his own kingdom. He wanted to be like God, he wanted to set his throne above the stars of God.
Notice the scripture says in verse 14 “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds”.
One common mistake is that many in the church have fallen victim to mythology. They think Satan is in Hell. But what does the scripture say about that?
Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them. And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Okay, lets stop right there. Where does Satan say he has been?
And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Where have you been Satan? Notice he doesn’t say “Hell”. Satan says “I’ve been going to and fro” not in Hell, not in Hades, but IN THE EARTH……walking up and down in it. I’ve been patrolling it watching everything that’s going on. He’s been looking for something to devour, he’s been looking for something to control, he’s been looking out for his kingdom because the scripture says:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
Let’s stop, because this is a powerful scripture to understand. Satan can care less about the things of God, what He is after, what he is concerned about is man, because he has fallen angels working for him, but one of the great strategies of Satan is to take the thing that God loves the most and turn it against him and have God’s created worship Him instead of worshipping God.
So that means that Satan will appeal to the things of man, that’s why he had to tempt Eve to eat of the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. Because mankind originally was good, because the scriptures declare that everything that God made in the creation was good.
So Satan had to plot, to take what was good and to turn it evil so that he could use and manipulate it.
Let’s look at more scripture to see exactly where Satan is, there are a couple more:
And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
Let’s consider another scripture, this scripture is often misinterpreted because we don’t understand it. Some of us think we understand it but we don’t, so let me give you some clear understanding of what Jesus is really saying.
And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
What does the scripture mean? Quick exegesis of this scripture.
What is the subject matter? Because again it is dangerous to grab one scripture and run with it, you will misinterpret the scripture. I’m sorry, but I hold God’s word in too much high esteem than to take a scripture a run with it. Or to preach something because someone else preached it…..and the thing we must understand is that even as preachers we are subject to human error and mistakes.
Whether we want to admit to it or not, we have made mistakes in interpreting scripture, and there are a lot of mistakes being made right now in the pulpit, some unintentional and some intentional. I think in understanding this scripture this is a case of unintentional.
The Lord brought this to my attention one day I was driving home and He started speaking to me about this scripture. He said study it. I was like “Hmmmm” had no idea I would be teaching on this tonight. I thought and contemplated the scripture without studying it and I was like Lord….we’ve been interpreting this scripture wrong. But I wanted to be sure that what I knew of the scripture and what I thought was the correct interpretation lined up with what Jesus was saying.
The subject matter says:
When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
He wasn’t asking the disciples about who men say that he was to find out the latest scoop. He already knew what people thought about him.
He was testing them to see what was going to come out of them. He wanted the other disciples to see that something had happened to one of them…..namely Peter.
When Jesus answered “Who do you say that I am” everyone else was at a loss for words except the outspoken Peter. Peter spoke up and said “Thou art the Christ” (the anointed one, the Messiah, Yahushuah Hamashiach) for those of you who thought that Jesus’ last name is Christ, Christ means anointed. Then Peter says “the Son of the Living God”. Because back then they didn’t have last names really. You were identified by who your father was. Many people from Jesus’ home town knew Him as Yahushua Ben Joseph. The word Ben means “son” they thought he was Joseph’s son.
But Peter says nahhhh your not the son of Joseph, you are the Son of the Living God, God is your father. Because every being that has ever came into this world has came through a Father. Even Adam and Eve, they were created by the Father.
But Peter says nahhhh your not the son of Joseph, you are the Son of the Living God, God is your father. Because every being that has ever came into this world has came through a Father. Even Adam and Eve, they were created by the Father.
Jesus the proceeds to tell Peter about himself, he says Simon Barjona you’re blessed, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven, God gave him spiritual insight even before he received the Holy Ghost.
Then the Lord tells him who he is, gives him a nickname “Peter” or Petra which means a stone. But notice what Jesus says afterwards, “and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Notice Jesus calls Peter a stone, but then Jesus says “upon this rock”. Guess what….Jesus wasn’t talking about building upon Peter. The church cannot be built upon a man because man is fragile and man can fail. This is the reason why so many churches are failing today because it is center around a man or centered around men, some are centered around women even. But the church has to be established upon the rock and Jesus is that rock!
He wasn’t talking about Peter, Jesus didn’t say upon you I will build my church, Jesus said upon THIS rock I will build my church.
And then Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Jesus isn’t talking about Satan, he isn’t talking necesscarily about demons. He isn’t talking about Gehenna which is also translated Hell.