Tuesday, November 16, 2010

When the Devil Comes in a Three Piece Suit

Many people, when approaching the topic of spiritual warfare, have in mind the picture painted in Frank Perretti's Novel "This Present Darkness". They envision angels and demons crossing swords in battle. This is certainly one aspect of warfare that is presented in Scripture. But there is another picture that the Bible paints. Imagine the devil walking into a court room wearing a three piece suit. He wears this suit because he is a prosecuting attorney. Now imagine you are on trial and He is accusing you of serious crimes against the King of kings.

Rev 12:7-11 paints precisely this picture of spiritual warfare. Satan comes in as a prosecuting attorney. The text refers to him as the accuser of the brethren. Court is in session 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and Satan is constantly there as a prosecuting attorney filing both civil and criminal lawsuits against God's people. He is asking God to execute judgment against His own people.

Satan is often so successful because we do not respond to these lawsuits. He gets one victory after another not because he has the upper hand, but because we do nothing. We have the means to victory over Satan.

There are three keys to victory. The first is the blood of the Lamb. In Col 2:15 we learn that Jesus Christ defeated Satan on the cross, nailing to the cross all of the accusations against us. The second weapon is the word of our testimony. In Rom 10:10 we learn that confessing the Word of God results in the essential reality of that Word to manifest in the visible world. As we confess the power of the blood, we experience it working in our lives. The third is that the saints "loved not their lives unto the death." We are at war to give glory to God, and not ourselves.

If the church commits herself to the task of battling Satan by confessing the blood of Jesus continually Satan will be defeated and eventually cast out of heaven permanently.