A Spiritual War

There are two extremes: The first is to disbelieve in the existence of the Devil and his demons. The second is to believe excessively that the Devil is everywhere. It is possible to move from practical disbelief in the Devil and his minions to a preoccupation with them. Believing that the Devil is a demon in your car’s transmission or in your boss at work is taking it too far.

Apostle Paul warns us about spiritual warfare: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12).

We know from Paul that this is a supernatural struggle in which human weapons and human power are futile. These powers and angels are organized into a formidable force. An example of these mighty angels is the angel prince of Persia and Greece, who hindered the archangel Gabriel in his divine errand in the Book of Daniel. When the angel finally got to Daniel, he explained, 

Daniel 10:12-13 “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.

After he explained the meaning of a vision that Daniel had received, he said this to Daniel:

Daniel 10:20-21 So he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Soon I will return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come; but first I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one supports me against them except Michael, your prince. Daniel was given an explanation of the future that was far beyond his own lifetime. But Gabriel pulls the curtain back and allows us to see this spiritual warfare around Daniel.

There is a great demonic enemy with a defined chain of command. The evil described here is not the trivialized little red Devil with a pitchfork.

“Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.” Our enemy is subtle and powerful.

• He hates Jesus.
• He hates everyone who loves Jesus.
• He hates the Church.
• He hates God’s Word.
• He hates our dependence on the Holy Spirit.
• He hates the people who love God and obey his word!

I hate snakes, but I love what happened when Moses and Aaron appeared before Pharaoh to ask for God’s people to be released. At God’s command, Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh, and it became a snake, demonstrating that God’s power was with Moses and Aaron (Exodus 7:8-12). Pharaoh’s magicians did the same, and their staff became snakes, too. What a scene! However, this is what happened! “Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs” (Exodus 7:12).

 Aaron’s snake swallowed all the rest. This was a scary but decisive moment as Aaron’s snake eradicated each snake one by one. That demonstration said, “God has power over Satan, and it is far greater!” Think how Aaron felt when he reached down and picked up his huge snake, and it again became his staff. The message is that God has no equal!