LIFE IN THE HEAVENLIES
(The Epistle to the Ephesians)
Harry Foster
7. CONFLICT IN THE HEAVENLIES (6:10-20)
OUR final study brings us to the end of Paul's Letter and confronts us with the sombre fact that life in the heavenlies involves a constant battle with the forces of evil. Death is the last enemy and when we leave this world there will be no more warfare. At the Coming of Christ -- and not till then -- this earth will see the fulfilment of the Bible promises of Christ's reign of peace. Then -- and not till then -- the nations will beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning hooks, and not train for war any more (Isaiah 2:4). Meanwhile wars will go on in the seen world. What we are concerned with, however, is the realm of the unseen and there we find ourselves, with Daniel, in a great warfare. "The thing is true" (Daniel 10:1).
Man's day is an evil day and in it the Christian must learn to stand and fight. The hosts of darkness will fight on till the last, even though for them final defeat is inevitable. Paul did not have to argue about the reality of evil spirits. There was no need for that where the Ephesians were concerned, for their experience in the heavenly places had brought them into violent clashes with spiritual hosts of wickedness. We do not need to concern ourselves with any detailed consideration of specific principalities and powers, though no doubt they are busily opposing us. Rather does the Word of God suggest that we concentrate our thoughts on the ruler of that dark kingdom, even while we readily accept that it is impossible for Satan to give each of us his personal attention. Paul draws our attention to the embodiment of all evil, "the prince of the power of the air" (2:2), the Devil (6:11), "the evil one" (6:16), reminding us that he is not only a cruel but also a cunning foe who must be reckoned with at all times. We will be well advised to think in these Scriptural terms rather than to be thinking and talking of demons, though these are, of course, very real. Satan, however, is the master-mind of all evil, though he has many agents.
As to his human agents, we are specifically advised that our real struggle is not with them. As to the unseen powers, they are being permitted to exercise their might and their cunning until Christ rises up to banish them for ever. This is not because He cannot deal with them now, but because He can make use of them to train His redeemed church for its eternal destiny of sharing in Christ's reign. The verses we are considering are not merely advising us how we can be preserved from evil, though they are that. The main thrust of the passage, however, concerns the Church's task to overcome the devil by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony and by not loving their lives even unto death (Revelation 12:11).
We are to be aware of Satan's scheming. If God's will for His people means blessings, enlightenment, power, purity, unity and humility, as the earlier chapters of this Letter declare, then Satan's purpose will focus itself on the negatives and opposites of these spiritual realities, minimising them and contradicting them whenever and wherever he can. When Paul claimed "not to be ignorant of his devices" (2 Corinthians 2:11) he was dealing with the matter of love among the brethren and the advantage which Satan seeks to gain over God's people by breakdowns in relationships. There have never lacked differences among all of God's true people, differences often caused by the over-stressing of some Scriptures to the detriment of others. In some local situations, it may appear to require the wisdom of a Solomon to resolve the problems, but many of them would be minimised or even disappear if God's people remained more aware of Satan's wily interest in provoking or sustaining them.
In the earlier part of this Letter we have been urged and encouraged to walk. Now we are told that we must stand. This does not mean that we are to lessen our activities, nor that we are now [17/18] to go over to the defensive, but rather that we must be resolute and unyielding in this battle for the will of God which is a further feature of life in the heavenlies. We are to be resolute. And above all we are to be resolute in the matter of prayer. We kneel to worship God in glad submission to Him, but we must stand in firm opposition to whatever contests His will. And so fierce is the assault that the command to stand is repeated four times over.
