"For our struggle is not against flesh and
blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly
realms."
{Ephesians 6:12} (NIV1984)
The
Christmas story as told by Luke and Matthew, is a wonderful story of a loving
God, worshipful people and obedient and joyful angels. The only wickedness that
can be found is in the man named Herod, yet the rest of the story is
told in Revelation 12.
This chapter leaves no doubt that the dragon is Satan
(vs.9), and that the baby is our Lord Jesus (vs.5). John has been given a glimpse
into the spiritual world, the heavenly battle that moved onto earth. This
battle between Michael and his angels, and Satan and his angels, has moved to
earth and it is real! We can forget this truth as we live physical lives in a
physical world. If we can’t touch it or quantify it we don’t believe that it
exists, yet the spiritual world is real, angels and demons are real, and our
Lord inserted Himself into this spiritual battle fought on earth and won the
decisive battle Himself (Heb 2:14).
Paul reminds all Christians that behind all
the wicked people is a spiritual enemy, and that we need to arm ourselves with
the spiritual weapons that we need for victory. Weapons like, truth,
righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Word, and prayer. May we pick
these weapons up today and stand firm against our defeated, yet vengeful,
enemy.
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