Why is there Spiritual warfare and who is fighting who?
Which side are we on?
Matthew 12
Highlights the fact that there are two invisible spiritual kingdoms.
That are at war with one another.
One is the kingdom of satan and the other is the Kingdom of God.
Most of you I'm sure know that God has a Kingdom HOWEVER some of you may not be aware that satan has a kingdom as well. Be it is not as powerful as the Kingdom of God, but still, it is a kingdom.
It is most important for us as Christians that we understand the nature of his kingdom and how it operates.
If we are in the the Kingdom of God through Christ we are automatically at war with the kingdom of satan.
Suppose I were say a citizen of The United States and the United States was in an all-out war with Canada which we pray never happens…
However, if it were so as a citizen of the United States I would automatically be at war with Canada because I belong to a nation that is at war with them.
So if the Kingdom of God is indeed at war with the kingdom of satan and we are in the Kingdom of God we have no options. We are automatically at war with the kingdom of satan.
It is very important for us to know it and to understand the nature of the war.
Matthew 12:22-30 NKJV Jesus had just healed a man who was considered to be deaf and dumb by casting out the evil spirit that caused this man to be bound in this deafness and dumbness. Yes, evil spirits cause people to be deaf and dumb.
22 Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the [d]blind and mute man both spoke and saw. 23 And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
24 Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by [e]Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
This is not a theory or a tradition. This is a very real reality of what goes on when the Kingdom of God is at war with the kingdom of satan.
The Pharisees make a terrible and spiritually inaccurate accusation that this man Jesus can only cast out demons by the ruler of the demons.
It was very clear they had zero clue about the spiritual laws and authority in the Kingdom of God and the power God gave to His son Jesus Christ. They were ignorant of the enemy’s kingdom and how it operated and God’s Kingdom and how it truly operated.
They were angry because they could not do what Jesus did because they had no discernment and they did not operate under the true power and authority of Almighty God.
Jesus’s answer is:
25 But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.
Very clearly here Jesus states that satan indeed does have a kingdom and that kingdom is not divided because satan cannot cast out satan. Satan has a cohesive yet competitive kingdom.
Jesus also makes it very clear that God has a Kingdom and it is way more powerful.
In this ministry of delivering people from evil spirits, the two kingdoms and how they are at war are brought right out into the open before the people.
The invisible kingdom of satan is represented by the demons who are keeping this man bound and the invisible Kingdom of God is represented by Jesus and those who continue His ministry in His name.
Satan particularly fears this ministry of deliverance because of two things:
It brings out into the open his invisible kingdom. Satan would much rather have it invisible to be able to covertly operate and affect the natural in ways people are not even aware they are a part of.
It shows the victory and supremacy of the Kingdom of God over his kingdom.
So we see the new testament clearly reveals there are 2 invisible kingdoms at war with each other because it was uncovered before the people and the Pharisees by Jesus Christ and those who continued His ministry.
Now for a brief description of the kingdom of satan and its headquarters, we go to
Ephesians 6:12-14 (emphasis on verse 12) which is a key verse to all of this:
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of [a]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Derek Prince gives an amplified version of this verse...he was qualified to teach Greek at the university level:
Our wrestling match is not against persons with bodies. Taken from the living bible we are indeed in a wrestling match against persons who do not have bodies, spirits, against rulers with various areas and descending orders of authority. The kingdom of darkness is a very highly organized kingdom. There are rulers in this kingdom each with a particular area of responsibility and under each of those rulers are sub-rulers who are responsible for sub-areas in that kingdom. Well, you might say "satan was very clever to devise such an organization". This is not so! The truth is satan rebelled against God.
Luke 10:18-19 NKJV: 18 And He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.
It is believed through scripture that satan, lucifer, before his fall was in charge of 1/3 of the creative angels. He proceeded to bring those angels into rebellion against God with him, so there was an agreement amongst them, and were cast out of heaven. They proceeded to simply set up a rival kingdom, keeping the organizational structure that they had and were privy to while a part of God’s Kingdom.
So satan does not get any credit for this extremely clever organization.
What is one of the hallmark characteristics of satan? He is the father of lies and a counterfeit, he counterfeits what has already been created.
If there is a $50 dollar bill, and it is authentic and printed on the right paper and holds its value and everything is in its proper place and you have someone who says works at the mint where they print money and that individual who was privy to all that went on in the mint and the treasury became envious of all that money being printed that they had no access to so they set out in their heart to attempt a hostile takeover of the mint by gathering some of the other employees they have worked alongside closely and convinced them to try to take over that mint from its rightful headship and the plot gets found out and that individual who was so high up at the mint and the treasury is now cast out by the one who is at the very top who runs the entire operation...fired along with the rest of the employees who joined them, and not allowed to return to the mint.
Well, this now totally corrupted individual, who has seen so much of how the mint is set up, and it operates and it prints money and its operations, decides that they are going to set up a rival mint and treasury, EXCEPT they don't have access to the right paper so they set up and organize it the same way without the original components that make the mint the mint, and they begin to print and run a COUNTERFEIT operation that is built on what they saw when they worked at the real mint and now is running a largescale counterfeit organized operation with the sole purpose of taking down the original mint and establishing themselves as supreme. You have in human terms an example of what happened between God and satan.
So neither satan nor the individual in my example gets any credit for this extremely clever organization.
So once again…Our wrestling match is not against persons with bodies. They are against rulers with various areas and descending orders of authority. Against the world dominators of the present darkness now for a moment why use the word dominate:
Dominate in Greek
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