Ephesians

Our Enemy

In Ephesians 6:12 Paul tells us, “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.” This is a crucially important point: our conflict is not against flesh and blood. The invisible war involves human beings, it is waged within and around human beings, and there are human beings on both sides of the battle lines—but human beings are not the enemy. Those human beings who appear to be against us are really nothing more than pawns of the real enemy. Our struggle is not man against man. Our enemy is an inhuman enemy.

Our battle, in short, is not against other people. As long as we look only for human enemies, we are in danger of being blindsided by the real enemy. Arrayed against you and me and the entire human race are forces beyond our comprehension—rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, and spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Once we accept the proposition of a spiritual battle, then so many events in history become clear: the repeated persecutions against Christians and attempts to destroy the church; the relentless attempts through history to ban, burn, and eradicate the Bible; the pogroms against the Jews and the genocidal Holocaust of World War II; the repeated attempts by various nations to scour the nation of Israel off the map. Clearly, there is a vast demonic conspiracy seeking to upset God’s program, but His plan is sure, His ultimate victory will take place in the fullness of time.