WARS

“And WAR broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer” – Revelations 12:7-8

The taste of Victory presupposes the reality of WARS. War is not new to creation. Since the fall of Adam in Eden, the world has been at war! Physical War is a state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties. The plight of humankind has, from time immemorial, been plagued by war, hot and cold; by conflict, provoked and unprovoked; and by enmity, overt and covert. However, far more fundamental than visible physical wars are invisible spiritual wars. A severe but subtle warfare is going on in the world that’s far more fatal than nuclear or chemical warfare. This is the mother of all wars, with hatred, bitterness, envy, jealousy, insatiable desires and divisions as its hallmarks: “Where do WARS and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?” (Jam. 4:1). One of the signs of the End-times is the increased intrusion of this unseen warfare into the physical.

The first declaration of war in the Bible is recorded in Genesis 3:15 following the fall of Adam and Eve. God addressed the serpent, saying, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” This had however been preceded by War in heaven: “and WAR broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer” (Rev.12:7-8). The great dragon, Satan the Devil was defeated and cast out of heaven to the earth’s atmosphere – the heavenly places. The arena of battles has now shifted to the earth. The battle lines are drawn – God’s Kingdom of light, life, and righteousness versus Satan’s kingdom of darkness, death, and wickedness: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph.5:8).

The point must be established that this is not a God versus Satan scenario. God is not a direct combatant. The Creator will not condescend to the level of His creature – the devil – to combat. He is the Sovereign One who has pre-ordained the outcome of all wars. Man is the agent responsible for the temporal advancement of either kingdom. He decides to whom he owes allegiance: to God, through the obedience of faith; or to Satan, through the deceptive promises of power, pleasure, fortune, and fame. All of humanity belongs to either of these two kingdoms. Since the fall of Adam, all human beings upon physical birth have been subject to Satan’s kingdom of darkness, until Redemption came in Christ. Our Father-God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son if His love” (Col.1:13). He has called us “out of darkness into His marvellous light” (1Pet.2:9b). But we are still in the thick of the War!

Although, this unseen warfare often has vivid, sometimes violent physical manifestations, it is essentially a war of spirits and spiritual forces. Life on earth is a perpetual warfare between forces of light and darkness (Eph. 6:12). The conflicts between good and evil occur predominantly through the medium of words. We are in a War of Words. Man also is a spirit being, with a soul, living in a body (1The.5:23). As these spirits indwell and exert influence through the voices and words of their human ‘channels’ or vessels, the world witnesses tangible exchanges of bitterness, bullets and bombs. Humanity in its fallen state has been speaking the devil’s words to worsen the world! Spirits are at war, using words as their weapons. To whom are you giving allegiance in words and deeds – to God or to the devil? You are destined to overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb, the Word of your testimony, and the absolute commitment of your life (Rev.12:11).