Church Series-The Church's Relationship to Satan's Kingdom
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday December 1, 2016
The Church Series: The Church’s Relationship to Satan’s Kingdom
Lesson # 22
The church age believer has three great enemies according to the Scriptures:
(1) Satan, our chief adversary, the devil (1 Peter 5:8-9; Ephesians 6:12; John 16:11; Colossians 2:15; but note 1 John 2:13-14).
(2) The world, a system and arrangement of the affairs of people and government under the control of the evil one and opposed to God and His purposes for the human race: (John 16:33; 1 John 5:4; Ephesians 2:2).
(3) Indwelling Adamic sin nature or the flesh and all its corrupting power and life-dominating patterns (Rom. 7:15; 8:4-8, 13; Gal. 5:16-26).
The intelligence apparatus of a nation plays a vital part in modern warfare.
Unless, the church knows who its enemy is, where he is, and what he can do, they will have a difficult time defeating him.
The leader of the church’s great invisible enemy is of course Satan whose name means, “adversary” because he is the enemy of God.
He is also called the “tempter” (Matthew 4:3), the murderer (Jn. 8:44).
He is compared to “lion” in 1 Peter 5:8, and described as a serpent (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:9), an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13-15), and the “god of this age” (2 Corinthians 4:4).
The Christian is not to be ignorant of his schemes and devices (2 Corinthians 2:11).
The cosmos, composed of the stellar universe (second heaven), the earth and its atmosphere (first heaven) serve as the theater of military operations for the angelic conflict pitting the kingdom of God against the kingdom of Satan which are described in Scripture as light and darkness respectively.
The voluntary substitutionary spiritual and physical deaths of Jesus Christ at the cross 2000 years was a great strategic victory over Satan in the angelic conflict (John 12:31; 16:8-11; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews2:14).
Our Lord’s strategic victory has paved the way for other tactical victories by church age believers.
Church age believers are involved in spiritual warfare with the kingdom of darkness (Ephesians 6:12-16; Philippians 1:27-30).
They are described as a “soldier” in Scripture (1 Corinthians 9:7; Philippians 2:25; 2 Timothy 3-4).
God has provided the believer the means to fight in this intensive stage of the angelic conflict.
Satan and the kingdom of darkness would easily destroy the believer if the believer were left to their own devices using their own human power.
God has provided the believer the power to overcome their spiritual adversary, Satan and the kingdom of darkness through obedience to the Father’s will, which is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the communication of the Word of God (1 John 4:4).
The kingdom of darkness will employ fear and intimidation tactics to get the believer to go AWOL (Absent without Official Leave) from the plan of God (Philippians 1:28; Hebrews2:15; 1 Peter 5:1-9).
Fear is a contradiction to the believer’s spiritual life, which is a lifestyle of power, love and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7).
Occupation with Christ is the greatest weapon that a church age believer can employ when entering into offensive action (Colossians 3:1-4; Hebrews12:2-3).
The believer who is occupied with Christ is appropriating by faith their union with Christ, which is revealed by the Holy Spirit in the pages of Scripture.
The intimidation tactics launched by the kingdom of darkness through unregenerate humanity and unfaithful believers are rendered inoperative when the believer goes on the offensive by utilizing the Word of God and appropriating by faith their union with Christ for defensive purposes.
In the same way that light overcomes darkness in the natural realm, the divine omnipotence of the Spirit and the Word overcomes Satan and his invisible army.
All precedence for glorifying God the Father during the church age is derived from the dispensation of the hypostatic union since the church age is the extension of the dispensation of the hypostatic union.
The believer who is obedient to the Father’s will as the humanity of Christ in hypostatic union was will achieve tactical victory over Satan and the kingdom of darkness in the angelic conflict.
The believer who appropriates by faith their union with Christ will experience victory in spiritual combat and thus they are to fight “from” victory and not “for” victory since Christ has already gained the victory.
The soldier of Christ Jesus who achieves the objective of executing the plan of God appears as a luminary or a light in the cosmic system of Satan exposing his deceitful schemes and defeating him in his own territory (Philippians 2:15).
The base of operations and activities of the kingdom of darkness is located in the earth’s atmosphere.
The fact that they reside in the earth’s atmosphere is implied by the Hebrew text of Genesis 1:6-8 where the second day of restoration is not identified by the Lord as tov, “perfect, good.”
A comparison of Scripture with this passage indicates that the reason why the Lord did not call it tov was because the kingdom of darkness, the fallen angels reside in the earth’s atmosphere.
In Genesis 1:3-5, Moses under the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit records for us the first day of restoration where the Spirit under the direction of the pre-incarnate Christ restored light to planet earth.
Upon the restoration of light, the Lord pronounced it tov, “good” but He does not say this after the second day of restoration, which is recorded in Genesis 1:6-8 and the reason for this omission is that Satan and the fallen angels inhabit the earth’s atmosphere (Eph. 2:1-2).
In the 21st century there is a lot of misinformation regarding the nature of angels and their activities and this is to be expected since we do live in the devil’s world.
He has been from the beginning and continues to deceive the entire world regarding his existence, and the nature of himself and his objectives for becoming like the Most High.
The only place where we can find the truth about the angels and concerning Satan himself is the infallible Word of God.
The Bible teaches that angels are temporarily superior to mankind (Hebrews 2).
In terms of power and ability, the present angelic superiority to mankind is obvious in every passage of scripture in which they are described and this current angelic superiority significantly also extends to the area of longevity.
While mankind is enjoying a sequential residence on earth (generation following generation), angelic kind has been experiencing a continuum of existence in heaven, even before the creation of Man.
This longevity, combined with the fact that angels (though creatures like Man) are not subject to the same degree to the restraints and necessities of time and space that encumber mankind, undoubtedly contributes to their superior knowledge and wisdom as well.
By its very essence, therefore, the angelic nature is superior to our present earthly human nature in terms of appearance, intellect, power, mobility and authority (2 Peter 2:11).
Angels will ultimately be inferior to mankind since they will not always be superior to mankind.
Just as our Lord’s humanity in a resurrection body is superior to angels in every way (Heb.1:4-2:18), so also we are destined to share that superiority with Him in our resurrection body (1 Corinthians 6:3; Heb. 2:5).
Angels are acutely aware of and involved in human affairs.
The involvement of angelic beings in human affairs is part and parcel of their role in promoting (or, in the case of the fallen angels, opposing) God’s plan for human history.
On a more personal level, however, angels are also apparently extremely interested in observing human behavior in general and in the playing out of God’s plan (1Timothy 3:16; 5:21; 1 Peter 1:10-12).
The observation of human behavior is particularly true in the case of the Son of Man, our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 3:16).
They were present at His birth (Lk.2:13-14), temptation (Matt.4:11), resurrection (Lk.24:4), ascension (Acts 1:10-11), and will be present at His return (2 Thes.1:7), evidence which underscores angelic interest in the most crucial phase of God’s plan, namely the life and work of the Messiah.
By observation, angels are learning (to their joy in the case of the elect angels, to their sorrow in the case of the fallen angels) about the wisdom, the power, the grace and the mercy of God (cf. Lk.15:10; 1Corinthians 4:9; 11:10).
Angels should neither be worshiped nor disrespected.
Angels are not to be disrespected (Lk.10:20; 1 Peter 2:10-12; Jude 8-10; cf. Rom.13:7), but neither angels are to be worshiped (Revelation 19:10; 22:9; cf. 2 Kng.17:16; Jer.19:13; Colossians 2:18) and this is especially important in regard to fallen angels.
God counterbalances their evil efforts with the work and ministrations of His holy, elect angels.
Therefore, although we are to have a healthy respect for the Adversary and his potential to oppose us (2 Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11; 1 Peter 5:8), we are not to be unduly terrified by him and his minions.