The
Course of the Conflict; Character; Your Battlefield
All of human history is part of the huge conflict that we have been
studying called the angelic conflict. It was initiated by Lucifer in eternity
past and will come to a definite conclusion at some time in the future. If we
understand this conflict it will help us understand what human life is all
about. It will help to answer those questions we ask: Is there really purpose
and meaning in life as a whole? Is there purpose and meaning to my life as an individual?
After all, why am I here? What should I be involved in?
At the very core of this we learn that the most important issue in our
life, the most important issue in this conflict that defines the existence of
the human race, is our spiritual life. By spiritual life we don’t mean our
happiness or wellbeing. That is how many people use the word “spirituality.” We
live in an era today when spirituality is defined on the street in
psychological terms of wholeness and wellbeing and mental stability, some kind
of happiness. But that is not what the Bible means by spirituality. The Bible
defines spirituality in terms of our relationship with the eternal creator God
of the universe. It teaches us that we are all born spiritually dead. If we do
not have a trust, a belief in Jesus Christ as our Saviour we don’t have a
spiritual life, the Bible says, we are born dead in trespasses and sins,
separated from God, unable to understand the things of God, unable to have a
relationship with God.
The solution to that problem occurred when Jesus Christ died on the
cross. It wasn’t just a tragic death, it was a death that was intended and
planned from eternity past by God the Father in order to solve the sin problem
so that human beings who were created in His image and likeness could have a
relationship with Him and could have their spiritual life restored. If we are
believers in Jesus Christ our spiritual life our spiritual life and our
involvement in this cosmic conflict isn’t an option, it is a reality. The issue
at the very core of our life is that relationship with God and everything else
flows out from that relationship. As a result the development of our spiritual
life is the most important thing in our life. And if we study the Scripture
what we realise is that the development of our spiritual life doesn’t have
anything to do with emotions or happiness or psychological wellbeing, it has to
do with learning how to think like God thinks. We must learn to think, not as
our family thinks, as our peers think, not as our teachers have taught us, not
as the culture at large thinks, but as Jesus Christ thinks. Only when we face
the events of life or reality on the basis of reality, which is defined by how
Jesus Christ thinks, can we properly understand what is going on in this cosmic
conflict and angelic rebellion that is raging all around us. We can’t live our
lives apart from an understanding of the angelic conflict because that defines
history and our lives.
What we have to do as believers is to assimilate into our own thinking
the thinking of Jesus Christ which is revealed in only one place, and that is
the Bible. Therefore our job is to learn the Bible. Whatever our vocation might
be our avocation must be the study and assimilation of the Word of God into our
lives. That is what is supposed to drive everything else. We are to learn the
doctrines revealed in the Bible, we are to let the Holy Spirit expose the areas
in our own thinking that are contrary to the Word of God, we are to let the
Holy Spirit kick us out of our comfort zones of human viewpoint so that we can
let divine viewpoint dominate our thinking. To put it in computer terms, our
operating system has been corrupted by sin and we need to let God the Holy
Spirit completely reformat the hard drive and program it with Bible doctrine
and not human viewpoint. This tells us that our primary task as a soldier in
the angelic conflict, and every one of us is whether we like it or not, is to assimilate
this thinking into our souls.
Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NASB “For
though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
Titles that Satan is given in the Scriptures: a) Jesus says that he is
the ruler of this world [kosmoj], John 12:31. Cf. John
We must understand that man is truly in a Satanic kingdom when he is
born, and there are various passages which indicate the nature of that kingdom.
It is a position of slavery, Romans 6:6. We had no option until we were saved.
Romans 6:17, “…though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the
heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed.” Once we trust
Christ as Saviour we are freed from the tyranny of the sin nature, and
furthermore, we are transferred out of Satan’s domain. We still live in the
world but we are not of the world. Acts 26:18 NASB “to open their
eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of
Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance
among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.” As unbelievers we under
the power of Satan. The word that is used in the Greek for “power” is exousia [e)cousia] which means
authority, domain, dominion. We were born in the kingdom and as a subject of
Satan. In Colossians
He is a murderer, John 8:44 NASB “You are of {your} father
the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth
in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own {nature,} for he is a
liar and the father of lies.” At the very core of his character he is a liar
and a deceiver who wants to redefine reality. That is a very important concept
to understand because when we were born into the kingdom of Satan we were born
into a psychotic kingdom, totally divorced from reality, living as if God
doesn’t exist and the reality defined in Scripture is not reality. Only when we
understand that God exists and that He sent His Son to die on the cross for our
sins do we get the first glimpse of genuine reality. Reality is what God
created and God is the one who defines reality. But Satan came along and
thought that he could redefine reality, restructure reality, and that he should
be the one who operates as God. So we are born in Satan’s domain, we are born
under condemnation, we are blinded to the truth, and we operate on a worldview
of a lie, John 8:44. Satan’s primary mode of operation is to define truth as
error and error as truth. We see this in 2 Corinthians 11:14, 15 NASB
“No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
We share Satan’s destiny, Matthew 25:41 NASB “Then He will
also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal
fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels’.” He is set to go to
the lake of fire which has already been created. The centrepiece of history is
going to be what takes place at
As we study all of this one of the important things to understand is the
contrast between Satan and Jesus Christ because in that analysis we see that
the core issue in the angelic conflict is related to character, to what we do
with our spiritual life. It is not related to simply an knowledge of Scripture
but it is related to a demonstration that living life in dependence upon God in
relation to His virtue is the only life where there is meaning and purpose and
happiness. So we can contrast what is displayed by Satan and his character in
contrast to the Lord Jesus Christ.
First of all, everything flows from arrogance. He is oriented to what is
best for himself and he is totally self-absorbed. In contrast, Jesus Christ
exhibits perfect humility, Philippians 2:8. Satan’s total mental attitude is
expressed in the five “I wills” in Isaiah
Satan is concerned with his own glory, he wants to glorify himself.
Jesus Christ was more concerned with the glory of the Father, Matthew 5:16 NASB
“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven”; John 17:4 NASB “I
glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given
Me to do”; 14:13; 12:28. Satan is anti-authority, he is disobedient to
authority in his orientation, but we see that Jesus Christ is completely
obedient to the Father. This is the essence of humility. Humility isn’t being
walked over, isn’t giving in to everybody else, isn’t turning one’s self into
some sort of dish rag; it is being properly oriented to authority and obedient
to God.
Satan in his operation and use of authority is tyrannical, whereas Jesus
is a servant. He said He came to serve, not to be served. His leadership is not
tyrannical, it is non-coercive, Matthew
Satan is also self-serving in his ethics. He has a value system totally
oriented to what is best for him. He is the centre of his universe. But Jesus
Christ has an internal ethic that is absolute righteousness, Isaiah 9:6, 7 NASB
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government
will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
Satan operates on the principle of works—go out and earn it yourself, do
it yourself. The Lord Jesus Christ operates on the principle of grace. John
1:16, 17 NASB “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace
upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized
through Jesus Christ.”
Satan distorts reality, he wants to redefine reality, he wants to make
himself equal to the creator; Jesus Christ defines reality. Jesus said: “I am
the way, I am the truth.” John
Satan is over-reaching, he was grasping for deity. Jesus Christ who is
eternal deity did not think it something to grasped for, Philippians 2:6.
Satan is destructive, whereas the Lord Jesus Christ is the creator,
Colossians
Satan is hateful. He is the father hate and yet Jesus Christ is true
love, John 13:1 NASB “…having loved His own who were in the world,
He loved them to the end.”
Satan is hostile to the truth and hostile to God’s Word: Jesus Christ is
the embodiment of God’s Word.
In light of this, in light of the angelic conflict, what is the issue
for us? The first issue is to determine our relationship to the kingdom. Are we
part of God’s kingdom or are we part of Satan’s kingdom? We were born in
Satan’s kingdom and destined for death. We were in the kingdom if darkness
where there is no truth, no light, no real happiness, it is all just a sham. So
we have to make a decision. Do we want to remain in the kingdom of darkness or
do we want to be transferred into the kingdom of light? It is not a matter of
works or ritual, it is just a matter of realising and understanding that Jesus
Christ died on the cross for our sins. Our sins are paid for, all we have to do
is trust in Him and we will have eternal life. Then we are born again, the
Scripture says. We have new life in Christ, we are a new creature in Christ, we
have a new citizenship in God’s kingdom, and that can never be taken from us.
For the believer the issue is not whether we are in but how are we
living as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven. The issue is: Are you walking in
darkness, are you still living like an unbeliever, or are you walking in the
light as he is in the light. What is our priority? Is our priority just getting
enough to get by, our career, our education, our friends, our social life, the
details of life, or is our priority understanding our role and responsibility
as a citizen of the kingdom of heaven to live as Jesus lived, to think as Jesus
thought, and to understand the Scriptures. That is our priority and it doesn’t
happen by chance. The issue for the believer is to really learn how to think
like Christ. We have to always remember that we are in this battle. 1 Peter 5:8
NASB “Be of sober {spirit,} be on the alert. Your adversary, the
devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” Whether
you are an obedient Christian or not, wether you just want to hide and not
really be part of the conflict or not, Satan (and the hole demonic army) knows
who you are, where you are, and you have a target on your backside. The demons
have a licence through the cosmic system to put the assault on all of us. We
can’t escape the fact that as believers we are dead centre in the angelic
conflict. [9] “But resist him, firm in {your} faith [in doctrine]…” It is only
when we know the Word of God and learn to think as God thinks that we are truly
armed as soldiers in this war to have real victory in our own life in the
angelic conflict.