The Christian is in a war, who is the Christian’s enemy? In all of his infinite wisdom, what does God tell us about this evil one, the Devil? What does he want us to know about the enemy?
When the Bible describes the Devil, one of the chief attributes it gives to him is his power. Christian, remember that in your spiritual battle that you’re not facing a lightweight. We’re facing the one who the Bible actually calls, “the god of this world.” But as powerful as he is, we must also remember that the One who’s with us is far more powerful.
1. The Christian’s enemy engages us in close up combat; we wrestle with him. Paul wants us to see that this is mortal hand to hand combat; this is not us just lobbing artillery from afar. We have an enemy who comes into close contact with us, and we need to keep standing as wrestle with him. Paul uses this terminology on purpose.
2. The Christian’s enemy is not a novice but has power. We read in Hebrews 2:14 that Satan has power over death. We could also consider the allegories from Revelation 12 and Daniel 7. Whenever you find these ten horns, you see God’s people, and you find them being attacked and conquered and killed. That is the only way Satan can capture in this life by having Christians face physical death. One of the great hypnotists of the American church is to be deluded to think we don’t have a dangerous enemy. As the Martin Luther song says, “His craft and power are great and armed with cruel hate.”
3. The Christian’s enemy attacks us in the thoughts of our minds. This war is often taking place in a tranquil way, and Satan does not come in a military uniform, but he comes as an angel of light.
4. The Christian’s enemy uses unique weapons, such as slander and deceit, to attack believers. Satan pours out a flood of lies that is aimed in a certain direction.
5. The Christian’s enemy is called the “god of this world” (2 Cor. 4:4). We ourselves would not call the enemy such a phrase, but God does in His Word. This stresses to us the dominion that Satan has. And as mentioned above, he is using unique weapons, such as lies, to seek to blind our minds so that we do not see the truth.
