We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Jesus and the Reality of Spiritual Warfare
In yesterday’s post, we discussed how challenging it can be to believe in the reality of a spiritual realm in the modern world. Today, let’s look at how Jesus’ ministry relates to this spiritual reality.
While Jesus and his followers of course believed that God was the ultimate Lord over all creation, they clearly viewed Satan as the functional Lord of earth at the present time. Satan is depicted as possessing “all the kingdoms of the world”—to the point that he is able to give authority to rule these kingdoms to anyone he pleases (Luke 4:5-6).
Paul doesn’t shy away from labeling Satan “the God of the world” (2 Cor 4:4) and “the ruler of the power of the air” (Eph 2:2). He depicts this entire present world system as fundamentally evil (Gal 1:4, Eph 5:6).
According to the NT, the central reason the Son of God came into the world was to drive out the “prince of the world” (John 12:31), to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8), and to “destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil” in order to “free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death” (Heb 2:14-15).
Jesus “disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them” (Col 2:15). In a word, Jesus came to bring a victorious end to the cosmic war that has been raging from time immemorial and to set Satan’s captives and all creation free.
The centrality of cosmic conflict in the ministry of Jesus is reflected in the first messianic prophesy given in Scripture which focuses on his victory over the serpent (Gen 3:15). Related to this, Jesus’ victory over the serpent and all other cosmic opponents pervades the NT. Psalm 110:1 celebrates the victory of God’s anointed one over his foes, which is the most referenced OT passage by NT writers and it always applies to Jesus.
The centrality of Jesus’s conflict with, and victory over, Satan and the powers is evident in the fact that salvation in the NT is portrayed not primarily as a matter of individuals being forgiven their sin but as humans and the whole cosmos being delivered from the power of Satan. Every aspect of Jesus’ life can be understood as part of his battle against, and victory over, the powers of darkness. Every one of Jesus’ healings and deliverances, for example, should be viewed as an act of war that advances God’s kingdom and diminishes Satan’s kingdom. Peter summarized it by saying that Jesus “went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” (Acts 10:38).
In this spiritual battle with Satan and the principalities, Jesus in principle won the war, struck the decisive deathblow, vanquished Satan, restored humanity, and established the kingdom; yet some battles must still be fought before this ultimate victory is fully manifested. Hence Jesus did not just carry out his warfare ministry; he commissioned, equipped and empowered his disciples, and the whole of the later church, to do the same. He set in motion the creation of a new humanity, one that again exercises dominion over the earth, by giving us his power and authority to proclaim and demonstrate the kingdom just as he did.
—Adapted from Understanding Spiritual Warfare, pages 136-137 and God at War, page 214
Photo credit: Ybrayym Esenov via Unsplash
Category: General
Tags: Demons, Jesus, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Related Reading
Is Hell Eternal Punishment?
The end of time, according to the Bible, is marked by hope, the hope that God’s will shall someday be done “on earth as it is in heaven.” The hope is that however terrible our present circumstances may be, before long they will all come to an end. Then creation will be what God always…
Jesus: True Myth and True History
Though the Jesus story gives us every reason to believe it is substantially rooted in history, it has a curious, and fascinating, relationship with myth and legend. The story of God coming to earth, being born of a virgin, manifesting a heroic, counter-cultural love toward outcasts, dying for the people who crucified him and then…
The One True Image of God: God’s Self-Portrait, Part 4
This point is emphasized throughout the New Testament because, if we don’t get this, we are left to our own imaginations about God, and we’ll draw from a multitude of different sources to construct a mental picture of God that will, to one degree or another, fall short of the beauty of the true God…
What do you think of the “Penal Substitution” view of the atonement?
If asked what Jesus came to do and how he did it, most contemporary western Christians would automatically say something like, “Jesus took the punishment from God that I deserved.” This is what’s usually called “Penal Substitution” view of the atonement, for it emphasizes that Jesus was punished by God in our place. His sacrifice…
Thou Shalt Not Fear Science-Part II
Yesterday I called your attention to Bev Mitchell’s essay in which he integrated science and theology as he reflected on power and love. This is part II of his essay and it’s on the limiting conditions of creation. It’s a fascinating speculative reflection on why God’s creation is the way it is and what our role is in…
You’re Not a Pacifist Are You?
Jayel Aheram via Compfight Brian Zahnd wrote a great piece the other day on this topic. He contends that when he is asked this question, it often has the same flavor of the question, “You’re not a pornographer are you?” Why is this question so contentious among believers? Brian has some interesting ideas about it.…