The Bible And War 2

Chico Alliance Church

WAR AND THE BIBLE

Part Two

IV. RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL WARFARE?

There are many parallels between the realities of our seen physical world and the realities in the unseen spiritual realm.

In fact, God has specifically created the physical world as an illustration of spiritual truth.

The problem is that we are often too dull to comprehend.

The disciples were continually caught off guard by Jesus.

Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees!

This temple will be destroyed and in three days be restored to life.

I am the bread of life.

I am the water of life.

I am the vine your are the branches.

Except a kernel fall into the ground and die, there is no life.

Why do you marvel that I said you must be born again.

The kingdom of God is like...

You shall mount up with wings like eagles.

All of creation finds parallels in the spiritual realm.

This is also true concerning war.

God warned Adam and Eve that sin would bring about death.

They did not die physically first, they died spiritually.

Yet as an illustration of the horror of death, physical death became a reality beginning with Abel’s murder and rang all though Genesis 5 and on through to present times.

There is continual war in the celestial realm just as we have continual war on the terrestrial scheme of things.

There is a conflict to battle aggression against the kingdom of God and its citizens and a continual battle to defend and reclaim territory.

Satan wants to claim what was rightfully given to man to rule.

Satan may be the prince of the power of the air, but to man was given dominion over the earth.

Man forfeited his birthright and the whole of creation groans (Rom 8) until the revealing of the liberated sons of God who will bring liberation to creation through Jesus Christ.

There has thus been a conflict between the seed of Satan and the sons of God for centuries.

We are provided a rare glimpse of the interplay between the two dimensions in a discipline session between Elisha and his servant.

Then the king of Syria sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city. When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. "Oh, my lord, what shall we do?" the servant asked. "Don’t be afraid," the prophet answered. "Those who are with us are more than those who are with them." And Elisha prayed, "O Lord, open his eyes so he may see." Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. 2Ki 6:14-17

Daniel furnishes us another fascinating facet of the celestial battle in Daniel 10.

He said, "Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you." And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come." Dan 10:14

Ephesians 6 makes it clear that our real battle is not against flesh and blood although that is often where the battle manifests itself.

WE are commanded to march against the gates of hell.

We are to be engaged in warfare.

in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; 2Co 6:7

The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2Co 10:5

Wars and fighting are a fact of life. In fact they will increase in the end times because man’s wickedness increases along with Satan’s activity.

There is a interrelation to what goes on in the world and what is happening in the spiritual realm of things.

Even though these things are not always understood we are part of the overall direction of God’s plan.