Jesus Christ is a general, the Christian church is a fighting force, Christian people are soldiers, and Christian living is war. The call to become a Christian is a call to combat. It’s a call to enlist in the forces of General Jesus, to fight his enemies, to pursue his strategy and objectives, to wear his protective gear and attack with his weapons. The enemy is not a nation or its military; the enemy is far worse. The war is not conflict between nations; the powers involved are greater than any nation. The weapons are not guns and blades and bombs that destroy humans; the Lord’s weapons blast the deepest bunkers of evil and devastate demons. Christianity is spiritual warfare, with larger and longer-lasting consequences than any physical, political war. If you think Jesus came into the world to make it peaceful and comfortable, think again. Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). Jesus came to start a fight, and he has already won the decisive battle. But the war isn’t over yet. Jesus calls people to join his forces and march with him to final victory. The outcome is certain, but the fighting still rages, and there can be no peace until every stronghold falls and the last enemy is defeated. Only when the war is over can we enjoy the benefits of peace and freedom. Until then we live in a combat zone. We must fight for Jesus, or else we are against him. It is impossible to be neutral. Does this sound too aggressive and violent? At some points in history, bloody religious wars have been fought under the sign of the cross, and terrible crimes have been committed in the name of Jesus. But that’s not the kind of combat Jesus calls for. It is impossible to change hearts by force. When Christ calls people to combat, it is warfare of a very different kind. Our main focus is going to be on spiritual warfare, but first, a few words about government use of force. Some people are pacifists. They oppose not only wars to spread religion but oppose all wars and all government use of force. Pacifists believe that war is always wrong, that police with weapons are always wrong, that the death penalty is always wrong. But in the Bible, God gives government the power of the sword to resist aggressive nations and to punish criminals (Romans 13:4). Does this contradict Jesus’ command to turn the other cheek if someone strikes you (Matthew 5:39)? No, Jesus means that we must not seek personal revenge when someone hurts us. It’s better to suffer a wrong than to inflict one. We must not be violent vigilantes. But this does not mean that a government may never use force or that a Christian may never be a ruler, a soldier, or a police officer. Police must exercise great restraint in the use of force, courts must impose the death penalty only when the crime is terrible and when guilt is beyond doubt, and a nation must fight a war only as a last resort. No doubt we are sometimes too quick to quarrel, too prone to violence, but sometimes it’s right to fight. In a world where evil is aggressive, a policy of pacifism would result in the encouragement of criminals, appeasement of tyrants, and oppression of countless ordinary people. Sometimes liberty and justice must be fought for. Now, if it is sometimes necessary to fight tyrants and criminals, it’s far more necessary to fight Satan and his demons. If it’s good to defend and spread political freedom, it’s far better to defend and spread spiritual freedom. We must stand and fight for Christ, not be spiritual appeasers.
Peace in Our Time? Spiritual appeasers see no need for conflict, no need for a fight. Some churches are eager to avoid every hint of combat. [They don’t sing “Onward, Christian Soldiers, Marching as to War” or “Stand Up, Stand Up for Jesus as Soldiers of the Cross” or any other hymn about battling sin and Satan. They don’t preach Bible passages that describe Christianity in military language. Why not? Why no mention of spiritual warfare?] Some church leaders and their followers don’t see Satan as a threat; they might not even believe that Satan and his demons are real. They think human nature is basically good; they see little need to fight sin. They don’t see false religion as a danger to souls, they aren’t eager to lead non-Christians to a relationship with Jesus, and they oppose vigorous evangelism. Spiritual appeasers think we just have to love ourselves, be tolerant of others, and all will be well. The Bible says otherwise: I must fight against my own sins and Satan’s attacks against me, and I must join Jesus’ mission of bringing gospel freedom to others and winning them to his cause. This kind of warfare-fighting Satan in our personal life and spreading gospel freedom to others-does not involve physical force. The Bible allows government to use physical force and weapons in some situations, but that is not the church’s calling. The church must mobilize people not for political and military conflict but for spiritual warfare. When the Bible calls the church and individual Christians to combat, it calls for something very different from the kind of wars and weaponry that make the news. Scripture calls for warfare in the unseen realm, spiritual warfare against Satan and the power of sin. This doesn’t require guns, tanks, and fighter jets-but it does require courage, determination, and strength. There’s a lot more to following Jesus than being a nice, tame pussycat. The Bible speaks of Jesus as a lion (Revelation 5:5), and Scripture says, “The righteous are as bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). Do you see Jesus as a lion or as a fluffy kitten? Do you want to be a tame pet in a safe home that does nothing but lie around and eat? Or do you want to be a lion in the service of the ultimate lion, Jesus Christ? To live as a real Christian, it’s not enough to be tame and safe. You need to be bold, strong, even fierce. By the way, lack of this warrior mentality may be one reason many churches have little appeal to men. Instead of God’s call to be strong, some churches merely call men to be nice. Author John Eldredge says,
- Christianity, as it currently exists, has done some terrible things to men. When all is said and done, I think most men in the church believe God put them on earth to be a good boy? If they try really hard they can reach the lofty summit of becoming ? a nice guy. That’s what we hold up as models of Christian maturity: Really Nice Guys.
Wouldn’t Bible study be more exciting if it became a strategy session of warriors? Wouldn’t church be different if it became a place to rally for war against Satan? Church might then be a place not just for children, women, and old people, but for men-bold, vigorous, dangerous men who are strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Church would invigorate, not emasculate. In any case, whether the church has turned men off by becoming too wimpy or men have simply hardened their hearts against the Lord, the fact remains that all of us-men and women alike-are living in a spiritual war zone. You might want nothing but a peaceful, easy feeling, but if you aren’t prepared to fight sin, if you’re not ready to battle Satan, if you’re not on a mission to win victories for Jesus, you are doomed. You can’t negotiate or make peace with Satan. In the days before World War II, the British government was so eager to avoid conflict that it stood back as Adolph Hitler invaded one country after another. Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain boasted of solving disputes “by discussion instead of by force of arms” and spoke flattering words about Hitler and Mussolini. After the Munich agreement giving Czechoslovakia to Hitler, Chamberlain said, “I believe it is peace for our time. Go home and get a nice, quiet sleep.” Many British people cheered wildly. But there would be no peace and very little quiet sleep. The only way to stop Hitler was to fight. When a tyrant wants to conquer everything he can, there can be no peace. Satan is a tyrant, and he wants to conquer everything he can. Satan wants to dominate you and hold you under the power of sin. Satan wants you to die in your sin and end up in hell with him. He wants people around you to perish too. He wants them to ignore Jesus, believe false religions, and end up in hell. If you expect peace in our time, a life without struggle or conflict, Satan will completely control you. Don’t be a spiritual appeaser. Stand against Satan. Fight him. Be a warrior. Join Jesus’ army, and don’t expect an easy, peaceful life. It’s hard to stand against Satan’s attacks. It’s hard to go into enemy-occupied territory and bring the liberty of Christ to those ruled by Satan. There will be no peace in our time. There will be spiritual warfare till Jesus comes again. In Ephesians 6:10-11 the Bible says, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” [Today’s program is the first of a series about this warfare and how to be strong in God’s power and use the protection and weapons he gives us.]
His Mighty Power The first and most important thing about spiritual warfare is to look to the strength and leadership of the ultimate warrior. Scripture says plainly, “The Lord is a warrior” (Exodus 15:3). Why did Jesus come to earth? To pick a fight! Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). The final result of Jesus’ coming will be peace, but before he brings peace, he brings a sword against evil, and he brings division between those who join him and those who reject him. Jesus did not come to earth to negotiate with Satan. He did not come for diplomacy or to work out a compromise. Jesus came to destroy. “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8). The Son of God became one of us and died for us “to destroy him who holds the power of death-that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). Do you think of the Lord as a warrior, as a destroyer of his enemies? In the Bible God often reveals himself that way, and biblical prayers speak of him that way. Psalm 18 starts out with words of love-“I love you, O Lord”-but is this love for a sugary, sentimental deity? No, he’s the God of strength and battle. The psalmist says, “I love you, O Lord, my strength,” and goes on to say,
- The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them? With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall? You armed me with strength for battle” (Psalm 18).
Another Scripture, Psalm 68, speaks of God’s concern for orphans and widows, but does that mean God is just a gentle do-gooder? No, one reason God is such a comfort to the weak and vulnerable is that he wields terrifying power against enemies:
- May God arise, may his enemies be scattered, may his foes flee before him? A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling? Kings and armies flee in haste? The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands? Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies? Summon your power, O God; show us your strength, O God as you have done before” (Psalm 68).
The Lord Jesus calls us to join his fight against Satan and evil, against sin, cruelty, fear, discouragement, and all Satan’s other weapons. Jesus could be very gentle with weak and wounded souls, but he could also be combative and downright terrifying to Satan and his demons. Jesus often met people who were possessed and tormented by demons. These people did not have the strength to liberate themselves from demonic power. But Jesus had more than enough strength, and the demons knew it. They panicked whenever they saw Jesus coming. Some demons yelled in rage; some whimpered in fear; all felt threatened by Jesus. They knew they could not stand against him. As the Bible says of the Lord, “How awesome are your deeds! So great is your power that your enemies cringe before you” (Psalm 66:3). Demons are not wimps. They are rebel angels who have lost all goodness but still have terrible strength. Human power can’t scare them, but the divine power of Jesus terrifies them. In fact, Jesus only had to speak a few words to make the demons flee. If you’ve always thought of Jesus as a mild-mannered wimp, please watch the real Jesus in action. When he’s confronted by a legion of demons, Jesus sends them fleeing in terror (Luke 8:26-33). When he’s told that King Herod wants to kill him, Jesus fearlessly denounces the wicked king (Luke 13:32). When he’s told that his words have offended some elite religious leaders, Jesus offends them even more by calling them “blind guides” (Matthew 15:12-14). When he sees God’s temple made into a marketplace, Jesus goes on a rampage with a whip, driving out the merchants and flipping their tables upside down (John 2:15). When he sees a mob coming to arrest him, Jesus calmly tells them that he’s the one they’re after-and something about him makes them shrink back and fall to the ground (John 18:3-6). When Jesus enters death itself and takes on the ultimate enemy, the ground shakes, the grave opens, and death is defeated. These are not the actions of a passive, harmless wimp. This is the Lord of hosts, the commander of angels, the ruler of the kings of the earth, the General who calls us to combat in his forces. Here is one of the final glimpses the Bible gives us of Jesus:
- I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war? He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him” (Revelation 19:11-14).
If you’ve seen The Two Towers, the second film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, think of the great battle scene where a monstrous army is launching a terrible assault on Helm’s Deep. The weary, wounded defenders have little hope for success, but they won’t give up, and they try a desperate counterattack. At that very moment, a rider on a white horse appears at the top of a hill, followed by a mighty army. It is their friend Gandalf, racing to help. On their own, the defenders could not win, but once the rider on the white horse shows up, they can’t lose. The enemy is crushed. That’s just a hint of how the ultimate rider on the white horse, Jesus Christ, has power to defeat the forces of Satan.
Be Strong That same power can be yours and mine-not because we’re divine or equal to Jesus, but because Jesus gives the power of his Holy Spirit to those who trust him. When Scripture says, “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power,” it means that we can be strong in the very same power that enabled Jesus to terrify demons and to defeat death. God calls us to be strong, not on our own, but in the strength of Christ. Expect victory, not because you’re so strong on your own, but because you’re part of the irresistible forces of Jesus. If you’ve been bullied by evil power, you may realize that Satan is much stronger than you are, and you might find it hard to believe that Satan will ever be defeated or that you will ever be free. Even after Jesus has entered the conflict, even though Satan is losing ground and is doomed to destruction, you still might have a hard time believing it. The good news of the gospel might not be getting through to you. Satan is losing, but he won’t tell you that. He’ll do everything he can to keep you from finding out about his defeat at the hands of Christ. Think of Iraq as Saddam Hussein’s armies were being defeated and his power was crumbling. Saddam’s troops and his secret police were too strong for ordinary citizens, but they were no match for the firepower of the coalition that invaded Iraq. Even so, when Saddam was confronted by superior force, did he admit that he was totally outgunned? No, he boasted that he would win, and many Iraqi people continued to fear him. City after city fell to the coalition, but Saddam’s government kept broadcasting lies about its power. After coalition forces took control of Baghdad airport, Iraq’s information minister insisted that coalition forces were not within 100 miles of Baghdad. As armored vehicles from the coalition rumbled through downtown Baghdad, he continued the propaganda: “All is under control. I think we will finish them soon.” Now, if you lived in Iraq and your only experience was decades of Saddam’s reign and your only information was from government-controlled media, you might have believed Saddam’s forces were winning. But that was a lie. In a similar way, Satan has dominated so many of us for so long that we find it hard to believe in the defeat of evil and in our liberation. Even as his power collapses, Satan keeps telling lies. He keeps saying that Jesus is dead. He keeps tempting us to side with evil rather than with Christ. Satan tries to keep us from finding out the real truth about his defeat so that we won’t rise up against him and shake off the shackles of sin. But the gospel announced the triumph of Christ, the defeat of Satan, and the call to be free of a dying regime. The gospel calls us to accept the rule of Christ and to rejoice in freedom from sin and fear. Don’t be intimidated by lies that the forces of evil are winning. Satan is too strong for the average human, true enough, but a far greater power has entered the battle. Satan is no match for Jesus and his angel armies. The Lord is a warrior, and he calls you to join him in the warfare against the spiritual forces of evil. Be brave and fierce in resisting evil. “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.” Join Jesus in demolishing Satan’s crumbling regime. In future messages we’ll see more details on what that involves, but for now the main point is that Christ calls us to combat, that he will equip us, and that if we join him, we are on the winning side. Psalm 144:1-2 says, “Praise be to the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle. He is my loving God and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me” (Psalm 144:1-2). Psalm 149:6 says, “May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands” (Psalm 149:6). The day of peace will come when Christ returns, but in this day of battle, we have the heroic calling to battle against sin, doubt, and despair, and to tell others the good news that Satan is losing and that they can be free from his tyranny and enjoy freedom under the loving leadership of Jesus Christ. Are you taking your stand, or just taking a nap? Have you put on the armor of God, or have you refused to join his forces? This is no time for indecision. It is no time for cowardice. It is no time for appeasement. It is time to accept Jesus as your leader and to become a daring, dangerous soldier in his army. You might think it’s ridiculous even to imagine yourself as daring and dangerous. But if dare to live by faith, you are an extreme danger to Satan and his demons. You have a very strong Father-the Lord is a warrior-and you can be strong warrior who stands firm in faith. So be bold. Strike fear into Satan. Keep capturing more territory for General Jesus. Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
