#13 - WHEN I SURVEY THE WONDROUS CROSS - Fifteen Reasons God the Son Came To Die (part 1)

JESUS CHRIST DIED ON THE CROSS TO DISARM PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS AND CANCEL THEIR POWER OVER OUR LIVES

Ephesians 6:10-13 - “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. [12] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. [13] Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

Numbers 23:22-23 - “God brings them out of Egypt and is for them like the horns of the wild ox. [23] For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’”

Colossians 2:13-15 - “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. [15] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.”

Each of these texts contains truth that needs to be related and balanced with the other two. In Ephesians Paul speaks of the ongoing battle with the powers of darkness. We don’t run. We “stand firm.” These powers are engaged with believers in a particular way. They don’t possess true Christians. The battle isn’t with indwelling spirits.

Paul says these powers “scheme.” Their power lies in their ability to deceive and lie. Your bondage to the enemy is directly proportional to his ability to make you think untrue things true, or his ability to make you doubt and ignore things absolutely essential. But one thing is for certain, says Paul. There is an ongoing battle. The warfare, once understood, is very real. We need to “resist” the outward attacks of these lying spirits.

The second text, from Numbers, while much less known, is equally important for the body of Christ. Balak, king of Moab, is afraid because the children of Israel are encamped on the border of his land. The armies of Israel have just defeated the Ammonites and Balak imagines he’s next. Balak sends for the prophet Balaam in order to have Balaam put a curse on the Israelites. After a long, convoluted process, Balam finally comes to Balak and, under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, tells him, among other things, that there is a serious problem - “For there is no enchantment against Jacob, no divination against Israel; now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel, ‘What has God wrought!’”(23:23).

This is profound. “You can’t stick a curse on people whom God has blessed. It won’t work. It can never work!” We’re going to talk about these words more later on, but for now we take these two texts - one from Ephesians about the reality of spiritual warfare and one from Numbers that says there is no curse that can stand against the people of God - and we add the third text.

Colossians teaches so clearly that something dreadfully decisive has happened to those powers of spiritual darkness through the cross of Christ. These words don’t erase Paul’s words in Ephesians about the reality of spiritual warfare, but they do define and explain the nature of the warfare in stronger, clearer terms. The Colossians text says we can be absolutely certain of this - Christ’s death on the cross has disarmed principalities and powers and cancelled their power over our lives directly.

“Well which is it, Pastor Don? Are we involved in spiritual warfare or are these dark powers defeated? Can they mess up our lives or are we blessed so that we cannot be cursed?”

And my answer is “Yes.” My answer is a wise Christian must learn to take all that the Bible teaches on this controversial subject and digest it with a mature mind. That’s why we are going to look at each of these texts, particularly in light of the finished work of the Passion of the Christ.

We’ll start with the foundational Ephesians text:

1) SCRIPTURALLY DEFINED, SPIRITUAL WARFARE EXTENDS IN AN ONGOING WAY TO AREAS OF OUR LIVES WHERE WE DON’T USUALLY FACTOR ITS EXISTENCE

Look at Paul’s words carefully again - Ephesians 6:10-13 - “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. [11] Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. [12] For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. [13] Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

These words can be read in two ways, and until recently I only read them one way. The way I read these words is certainly correct, but, I have come to see, it is tragically incomplete. When I read these verses I saw Paul reminding me that there are invisible spiritual powers behind all the outward events that plague and wear down my life. There are enemies much bigger than the ones I see. The real enemies aren’t physical and they aren’t material.

All of this is , of course, true. But it’s only part - and I don’t think the biggest part - of what Paul is saying. I have recently come to see more clearly that these aren’t just verses describing the nature of the battle as much as they are a reminder of the danger of not thinking about this battle in large, visible slices of my daily life.

In other words, I don’t believe Paul was merely telling us that there are such things as the Devil and demonic powers. Rather, I think he was red flagging what can happen when Christians lose sight of the presence of these enemies - and here’s the important part - when we lose sight of the presence of these enemies in the small moral compromises we make almost naturally with the world around us.

Let me explain. It has just recently become so obvious to me that, when Paul warns of the spiritual powers behind visible realities he isn’t warning us about the occult, or seances, or witchcraft, or spiritism, or Satan worship, or fortune tellers, or psychic hotlines, or the like. In other words, Paul’s not wasting ink warning the church about the link between the visible and the invisible where the connection is so obvious you’d have to be a self-destructive fool to miss it.

No. Paul’s not doing that. I think that misreads the intent of the Holy Spirit in this famous text. Rather, what Paul is doing is warning the Christians that when they make compromises with the world around them - even when those compromises seem innocent, common, and totally unrelated to any sort of dark spiritual power - they are inviting spiritual deception and bondage, even when they don’t think they are doing so.

This is what Ephesians six is all about. It’s a wake-up call! When I make small concessions to increasingly demanding, common accommodations to self I am not just acclimatizing myself to the changing cultural times. I am surrendering myself to more than I know. I am bowing before dark spiritual powers, though I may not see, or even expect their presence.

This is why our warfare role is constantly described as standing - “Having done all, to stand firm”(6:13). What kind of war can you win just by standing? You win the war by standing because the temptation of the enemy is to shift, to slide, to bend, and finally to bow. Standing means you don’t get sucked in. You stay in place. You don’t bow to the enemy. This is a call to stand in revealed truth. Standing is the opposite of drifting. You resist the fluctuating standards of this dark age by standing in the truth of God’s Word and the accomplished victory of Christ Jesus on the cross.

So we see that holiness, according to Paul, isn’t just about ethics. It’s not just about rules. And, for those younger, it isn’t just about maintaining old fashioned standards. Paul reminds us not to miss what’s happening behind the scenes - behind the visible events. It’s about spiritual warfare you never see. It’s about not bowing your knee to dark spiritual powers. People who would never dream of involvement with the occult embrace Satan’s presence in common daily decisions. They don’t know they do because they don’t see his presence in the compromises they make.

Your life and mine are a constant daily dance with visible, material, physical realities and events. That’s the part of life we see. We will become drastically weakened in our ability to resist temptation to the extent that we forget the one to whom we bend our knee when we offer weakened resistance to small visible compromises because the compromise seems less than joining hands with demonic principalities and powers.

This is Paul’s heart-beat in Ephesians six. Spiritual warfare is lessened and overlooked when it is recognized only in the realm of the occult and victims foaming at the mouth. You and I join hands with those same principalities and powers in a thousand small compromises where we never even consider our surrender to them.

How many Christians would sit through some morally dark movie if they pictured themselves joining together in a group and praying something like this: “Satan, we come into your presence. We offer our minds to you for these next two hours. Come and dominate our thinking and affections. Accomplish your purpose for this crowd in our hearts and lives. Amen”

“Pastor Don, that’s ridiculous. We’d never pray such a prayer.”

Listen, that’s Paul’s whole point. You don’t have to pray that prayer. That is what you are doing when you watch that stuff. There’s more than just flesh and blood - more than just the visible events involved in your evening out. You are praying that prayer whether or not those words are even spoken. You just don’t know you’re praying that prayer.

Or how many Christians find the fellowship of the church becoming less and less a force in their lives through an overly aggressive and passionate commitment to sports and recreation. They never dream that the baseball team or the hockey league or the country club are not the only forces involved in that addiction. Those are just the visible components. You’re presenting your life and your families’ life at an entirely different altar.

Or how many Christian business people find it harder and harder to turn the work engine off and come together with God’s people to worship the Lord and learn from His Word. The schedule seems to drive God to the edge of life all by itself. And people who can be brilliant in business can be as sharp as wet liver in seeing what’s really happening and who’s really behind it. Do you honestly think it’s just IBM, or General Motors, or whatever the name of your own business is, that’s pulling your heart away from Father God? Paul says, not in your life. You’re bowing at an entirely different altar.

Remember Paul’s warning. The strongest and deepest infiltration of the deception of principalities and powers takes place where Christians aren’t thinking about the battle they’re in. There are no ordinary moral compromises. You bow your life to dark powers when you ignore their presence in the outward choices of your life. Your mind will become increasingly darkened to truth and your affections will increasingly be turned away from the beauty and glory of Christ Jesus.