Spiritual Warfare

The Church vs The Adversary

One of the most profound losses in the last decades has been our awareness of the spiritual dimensions of life. We are often so captured by the physical, the material aspects of life we ignore the spiritual dimension.

The world in which Jesus instructed His followers to make disciples of all peoples all across the world was inhabited by people who regularly attended to the spiritual dimensions of life. The Jews, those whom God had chosen as a witness to His power, often experienced long periods where their mind and heart was drawn to idolatry - the belief that some spirit controlled the weather, the harvest, the ability of a married couple to have children, and so on.

The world in which Jesus instructed His followers to make disciples of all peoples all across the world was inhabited by people who regularly attended to the spiritual dimensions of life. The Jews, those whom God had chosen as a witness to His power, often experienced long periods where their mind and heart was drawn to idolatry - the belief that some spirit controlled the weather, the harvest, the ability of a married couple to have children, and so on.

God sent men and women to call His people away from their idolatry and back to a whole hearted commitment to Him - we call these men and women ‘prophets;’ and their writings comprise much of the OT.

The arrival of Jesus and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God opens a new front on the battle between the adversary and God. We examined how the adversary tested Jesus. We have looked at how Jesus responded to the adversary - both in His personal temptation experience and as Satan and his demons inhabited the lives of people - Jew and Gentile alike.

The book of Acts, which is the story of how God’s Holy Spirit inhabited His people and compelled them to obey Jesus’ commission to make dsiciples, demonstrates how some of these men and women - particularly the leaders of the church - confronted Satan and his demons. By looking at their example we can learn more about the world in which we live - which is not as different was we often think it is.

TWO PASSAGES: ONE PRIMARY TRUTH

ACTS 5:6-12, ACTS 8:4-8

In these two instances we read of signs, wonders (healings - even by the shadow or Peter (5:15) and the deliverance of many who were possessed by unclean spirits) happening at the hands of the apostles (5:12; Philip (8:6).

these miracles are extensions of what those who followed Jesus had seen Jesus do: Mark 6:54-56

Mark 6:54–56 HCSB

As they got out of the boat, people immediately recognized Him. They hurried throughout that vicinity and began to carry the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. Wherever He would go, into villages, towns, or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him that they might touch just the tassel of His robe. And everyone who touched it was made well.

We are to understand that neither Peter or Philip had any power within themselves to heal or deliver people from Satanic oppression or possession. The healings and the deliverances occurred because God was at work - just as He was in His Son. God is the One who does the work, God is the One who is able to heal and to deliver,

“...the process itself is never the important point, but the demonstration of the power of Jesus by which He makes it plain that with Him the kingdom of God has broken into this suffering world.... The real miracle is victory in the conflict with forces which struggle for mastery over this cosmos.

Beyer, H. W. (1964–). θεραπεία, θεραπεύω, θεράπων. G. Kittel, G. W. Bromiley, & G. Friedrich (Eds.), Theological dictionary of the New Testament (electronic ed., Vol. 3, p. 131). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.

As Peter and Philip (and Paul - see Acts 19:11-12) performed ‘signs and wonders’ and saw unclean spirits cast out of possessed people, the focus was not on the acts themselves.

The word ‘sign’ is important. A sign is something that points beyond itself. All of Jesus’ miraculous acts were ‘signs’ in that they pointed to the presence of the Kingdom of God. Every healing, every exorcism, even the resuscitations of folks from the dead point to the new, eternal kingdom of God - no more illness, no more sin, no more death.

In the same way these acts of Peter and Philip are signs. They point not to themselves or even the church but to Jesus - the Son of God though whom they are empowered to perform these miracles. As with Jesus, the issue is not the process of healing but what the healing points toward.

Both in Jerusalem through Peter and in Samaria through Philip those tormented by unclean spirits are healed. Again, no specific formula or processes are mentioned. The focus is on the result: he e apower of God made visible in Jesus and given to disciples by the infilling of the Holy Spirit sets people free from demonic possession.

As a sign the ability to deliver individuals who are possessed by demons points to the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God. From Genesis 3 and following God’s Word assures us that the adversary will be defeated. Yes, the adversary will inflict damage, the adversary will have some victories. Ultimately the adversary will be defeated.

The most important link between these two passages is this: the signs ACCOMPANY AND TESTIFY to the proclamation of the gospel. Healing and setting free those possessed by demons is not the point. The point is that people are able to respond to the gospel. People whose lives were disrupted and nearly destroyed are made well, are set free as invitations are given for people to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just a few weeks earlier as Peter, John and others were on their way to a time of corporate prayer, a lame man was healed. As a crowd gathered to celebrate the miracle Peter took the opportunity to share the gospel. Listen to part of his message:

Acts 3:14–22 HCSB

But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you. You killed the source of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this. By faith in His name, His name has made this man strong, whom you see and know. So the faith that comes through Him has given him this perfect health in front of all of you. “And now, brothers, I know that you did it in ignorance, just as your leaders also did. But what God predicted through the mouth of all the prophets—that His Messiah would suffer—He has fulfilled in this way. Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. Heaven must welcome Him until the times of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about by the mouth of His holy prophets from the beginning. Moses said: The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He will say to you.

The battle in which we are engaged is more important than healing or exorcisms. The battle is about eternal life in the presence of God or eternal separation from Him.

Paul, through whom God worked signs and wonders and deliverances much in the same way as Peter and Philip shared the following testimony of what Jesus called him to:

Acts 26:16–18 HCSB

But get up and stand on your feet. For I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen and of what I will reveal to you. I will rescue you from the people and from the Gentiles. I now send you to them to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that by faith in Me they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified.’

Later, in a letter we call 2 Corinthians Paul makes this even clearer:

2 Corinthians 4:3–6 HCSB

But if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we are not proclaiming ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves because of Jesus. For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

We live in a spiritual world. Our lives - whether we acknolwedge it or not- are lived in the midst of a cosmic struggle. There is no doubt as to the outcome! Jesus wins!

There are battles to be fought. There are demonic things happening in our world. Let us not forget: the ultimate issue is that much is made of Jesus, that the gospel is proclaimed and people are invited into the kingdom of God, that seasons of refreshing may come, that the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus might be more visible than ever.