Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

A FIGHT TO THE FINISH

This entry was posted on 07-24-2008 and is filed under uncategorized.

"This is no afternoon athletic contest that we'll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels" (Eph. 6:12 The Message).

The NIV says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood." That is to say, our fight is not against any physical enemies. And yet the Christian does have enemies, the human kind. I think Charles Williams translates this correctly when he says, "For our contest is not with human foes alone." The Amplified Version agrees: "For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood - contending only with physical opponents..." Paul had many enemies who withstood him and so do we. We must understand, however, as Paul did, that our main opponent is the devil and all his angels.

"For our fight is not against any physical enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual. We are up against the unseen power that controls this dark world, and spiritual agents from the very headquarters of evil" (The N.T. in Modern English). That really spells out this "fight to the finish" doesn't it? Every soldier must know the enemy. Our enemy is not human in origin. They are:
"the world-rulers of this darkness" (ASV)
"the master-spirits of this dark world" (Goodspeed)
"huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world" (Taylor)

No wonder, then, that Paul insists that we must be standing strong in the Lord and in the power of His might! Little wonder, then, that Paul urges us to put on the FULL armor of God so that we can stand our ground against Satanic attacks!

Hymn: "Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be losing, Were not the right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He - Lord Sabaoth His name, from age to age the same, and He must win the battle" (Martin Luther) We will continue this hymn tomorrow.