Angelic Conflict I: Origins

How do we grow spiritually? That is really a major theme in 1^st John. There are five different spiritual skills that are essential to get in place to make a part of our thinking if we are going to advance beyond spiritual childhood. The first is confession because if we don’t confess we are not in fellowship, we are not filled with the Spirit, and anything that we do is a product of the sin nature—whether it is good, bad, religious or irreligious. So we have to confess our sins in order to be restored to fellowship and to recover the filling of the Holy Spirit. Having said that we need to go forward. That puts us in a position to advance, it doesn’t move us anywhere. It resumes the potential for spiritual growth and then we have to walk by means of the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18; Galatians 5:16). We advance by means of faith, trusting doctrine, trusting in the promises of God, the principles of His Word, and that is the faith-rest drill—2 Peter 1:3, 4 which we appropriate by means of His promises. Then we go to the next stage, grace orientation and doctrinal orientation. These two work in tandem. By grace orientation we come to understand that everything in the spiritual life is based who and what God is, what Jesus Christ did on the cross, not who and what we are; doctrinal orientation is the process of renovating our thinking so that we learn to think as God thinks. The mind of Christ is the Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:16) and so we have to have the mind or thinking of Christ as our thinking. 2 Peter 3:18 states that we grow by means of grace and truth (doctrine). That is the means of growth under the teaching ministry and the sanctifying ministry of God the Holy Spirit. That is spiritual childhood.

Then we go to spiritual adolescence where we learn to think in terms of what God is doing in our lives in terms of His eternal program, preparing us for our place to rule and reign with Christ in the kingdom, to rule and judge angels, and on into eternity. This is where most people fail. Most Christians never get past this stage, they fall out for one reason or another; they become distracted, they lose their motivation, and they become failures in terms of spiritual warfare.

Spiritual adulthood involves the three aspects of the love triplex: personal love for God the Father, impersonal love or unconditional love for all mankind, and occupation with Christ. The result of that is inner happiness, a contentment, tranquillity, stability that is not affected by circumstances, people or events. So we can focus on what God has for us and as a result of applying the other skills we have this kind of tranquillity and stability in our own lives. We have to keep that in mind as we go through this study in this next section in 1 John so that we can understand it.

1 John 2:14 ^NASB “I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one. [15] Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. [16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. [17] The world is passing away, and {also} its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

The world here is the Greek word kosmos [kosmoj] and it refers to a system, usually an orderly or organised system. So it doesn’t necessarily refer to overt activity but it is a reference to the kind of thinking that characterises the world—expressed in terms of human viewpoint or paganism. James 3:13-15 identifies this as the thinking of demons, so immediately we realise that cosmic thinking or the world system is a term that is related to Satan and the demonic. There is a reference to Satan in verse 14, “you have overcome the evil one.” Furthermore, we see that the words “because you are strong” is a word that is also used in various contexts in the New Testament to refer to the believer’s role in spiritual warfare. Therefore we need to stop and take a look at the angelic conflict.

Ephesians chapter six, starting at verse 10, is a key passage on the armour of God which is another metaphor for the soul fortress: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” The word “strong” is from the Greek word dunamis [dunamij] which has to do with power, and it is potential power, the power that we get from God the Holy Spirit. It is God’s strength that protects us, not ours. That is our source of strength. Then Paul goes on to explain how we are to do that.

Ephesians 6:11 ^NASB “Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. [12] For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual {forces} of wickedness in the heavenly {places.}” The enemy really isn’t another person, another human being; ultimately the enemy has a spiritual dimension and is part of a broader conflict involving angels and demons. [13] “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.”

There are two words that are used here. The word for “stand” is the Greek word histemi [i(sthmi]. The word “withstand” or “stand against” is the compound from the Greek word anti and it comes across and anthistemi [a)nqisthmi]. Both of these words are used in military literature for taking a stand, taking up a defensive posture against the enemy. These are not aggressive terms. He doesn’t say to attack or rebuke the devil, he says to stand and withstand, that we are to take up a defensive posture. He goes on to say: “HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH,” i.e. doctrine. The belt that the Roman soldier wore around his waist was the anchor point for the rest of his armour; “and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,” i.e. the imputed righteousness of the believer, and then as he advances in spiritual growth the experiential righteousness that comes with growth; [15] and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE”, i.e. the foundation [16] “in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil {one.}” The shield of faith a defensive weapon designed to prevent an enemy’s weapons from getting to you. [17] “And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The Word of God there is rhema [r(hma] which is the spoken Word, not the written Word, and the sword of the Spirit here is the machairos [maxairoj], the short sword that was used in close combat situation, and it was used primarily as a defensive weapon. The sword of the Word is used to parry the assaults of the enemy.

The believer’s position to be strong, is that he stands. To be strong he stands firm protected by God’s provision. He stays inside the soul fortress.

1 Peter 5:6 ^NASB “Therefore humble [grace orientation] yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, [7] casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. [8] Be of sober {spirit,}…” i.e. to think clearly. The only way we can think clearly is if Bible doctrine dominates the thinking of our soul. “… be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

In 1 Peter 5:9 we are told the solution: ^NASB “But resist him, firm in {your} faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” The devil is certainly involved through the cosmic system, promoting all kinds of ideas, thoughts, beliefs, opinions, many of which sound good. He manufactures false systems that sound good, look good, and work, and as much as possible in accord with truth. They are going to look like the truth but if they are two or three percent wrong it is going to destroy the entire system and this devastates the spiritual life and gets the believer off-track and carnal. So the solution is to resist, and there we have an aorist active imperative anthistemi [a)nqisthmi], the same word as in Ephesians 6:10ff, and it means to stand against, to take up a defensive posture.

The angelic conflict

1. Definition. The angelic conflict is a term that relates to the invisible spiritual warfare between the forces of Satan and the forces of God. It began at some unknown time in eternity past. It is not eternal, it had a beginning, and it began with the fall of Satan. This is displayed in human history in what is called spiritual warfare, a metaphor in Scripture for the conflict, the struggle, of the spiritual life. It does not mean that we are fighting spirits.

2. The course of the angelic conflict. It began in eternity past when the highest of all the angels became proud and arrogant and rebelled against God because he wanted to be the one to be God. This was Satan’s fall and it began the prehistoric revolt where he managed to entice one third of the angels to follow him. Apparently there was a trial. There is nothing in Scripture that states that explicitly but it is implied by a number of metaphors and terms. Such a large emphasis in the Scriptures is on the idea of obedience to God’s authority, submission to His authority, that the path to true leadership and authority is to learn to be humble and to be a true servant, and not to get into arrogance which was the sin of the devil. So the true mature believer is someone who masters humility, is not arrogant, is someone who relies upon God, is completely oriented to divine authority, and those who become servants are those who will rule and reign over the angels in the millennial kingdom and in eternity. Therefore those character attributes that are emphasised in Scripture seem to be the ones that God is stressing and necessary in the creature, and the creature that doesn’t have those can’t function successfully. So God is demonstrating that His way is the only way and that the creature can only have success by being completely submissive to the creator. The angels were all created at one time prior to the creation of the universe—Job 38:7 ^NASB “When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?”