Strongholds
Strongholds
In the government of the universe God employs a vast number of angels
arranged in hierarchical tiers.
Around his throne are four mighty archangels (the "living
creatures" in Revelation 4-5, Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1ff). Also there are
twenty-four "elders" around the throne of our Father in heaven.
(These beings are probably not men but angels since the Apostle John would
surely have been among them if they were men). Lesser angelic orders, labeled
in Scriptures as thrones, dominions, principalities and powers, serve in the
affairs of men and they are involved in events in the natural world as
well. So called "guardian
angels" care for each of us who are in the family of God.
Satan ("the Adversary") was once among the highest of all angels. Satan's rebellion against God brought
ruin and destruction into the natural order, and also the fall of the human
race into sin and death (Genesis 3). Yet the fallen angels still populate the
invisible spiritual realm which surrounds us and is within us (Job 1). Satan
and his angels will be cast of heaven to earth during the coming seven-year
tribulation period which is to take place before the public return of open
Jesus Christ to rule the nations from Jerusalem. For now the destructive
actions of the devil are everywhere. Revelation 12,
In the era of history we live in now Satan is in fact in charge of human
affairs! He is "the god of this present world" (system).
Nevertheless, the devil, his angels, the unfallen angels, and every one of us
is under the sovereign rule of Jesus, "...who
has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities
and powers having been made subject to Him"
(1 Peter 3:22). All that Satan does is strictly by God's permission. His
activity is allowed for the present age with the result that most of mankind
remains deceived and blinded to eternal realities. (2 Corinthians 3, 2
Thessalonians 2). Satan is known as a murderer from
the beginning, a liar and the father of lies. (John 8:44) His deceptions
are increasing rapidly as we near the end of the age (2 Thessalonians 2).
Jesus
has been "declared to be the Son of God with
power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the
dead" (Romans 1:4).
Our Lord now rules from the highest throne in the entire universe. He
has full authority even to raise the dead and to judge men and angels (John 5).
"...God also has highly exalted Him
and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11)
The world we live in now is a world of shadows and dark places. The
physical universe (which we sense and relate to through our physical bodies) is
actually embedded within the greater unseen spiritual world. (We sense, or
relate to, the spiritual realm through our spirits). Ultimate, eternal
realities reside in the spiritual dimension. At Mt. Sinai, for instance, God
told Moses to built a tabernacle fashioned as a copy of an eternal temple which
is in the spiritual realm Revelation 15. In our present state of being we Christians are mere ghosts. Our ultimate
destiny as the children of light will be glorious indeed.
the physical
things which God has made are reflections of an inner and greater reality. Do
not turn that around. It is not that the things that take place in the inner
life are shadows or reflections of the physical universe around. It is quite
the other way. The physical universe was made to correspond to the inner
reality. It is the inner truth, the truths that affect the soul and spirit of
man, with which God is primarily concerned. He made the physical universe in
order to reflect these so that, as we look around us and observe and assimilate
with our senses, we are constantly reminded of the great things that are taking
place within us, and around us, in the invisible kingdom that surrounds us on
all sides."
The
root issues in the fall of Satan center around that archangel's proud challenge
to the throne of God. The fall of Satan occurred in the early history of the
created universe, and of course prior to the fall of man.
"How you are fallen
from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground,
you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will
ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I
will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the
north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be
like the Most High.' Yet you shall be
brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit." (Isaiah 14:12-15)
Working in the human race through many deceptions, Satan has long
been in the business of building "strongholds of evil" everywhere in
the world. These invisible strongholds are like well-fortified,
heavily-defended medieval castles. The Apostle Paul talks about them in 2
Corinthians 10. Our assignment as Christians is to be partners with Jesus in
the destroying these strongholds:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we
do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments
and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing
every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to
punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians
10:3-6 NKJV)
Another translation puts it,
It is I Paul who call upon you--and I am doing it in
the gentleness and the sweet reasonableness of Christ--I, who, as you say, am a
poor creature when I am with you, but a man of courage when I am absent. It is
my prayer that, when I do come to you, I may not have to be bold with that
confidence with which I reckon that I can boldly face some who reckon that we
direct our conduct by purely human motives. It is true that we live in a human
body, but for all that we do not carry on our campaign with human motives and
resources (for the weapons of our campaign are not merely human weapons, but
God has made them powerful to destroy fortresses). Our campaign is such that we
can destroy plausible fallacies and all lofty-mindedness which raises itself up
against the knowledge that God has given, such that we capture every intention
and bring it into obedience to Christ, such that we are prepared to punish all
disobedience, when your obedience has been fulfilled.
What
and where are these enemy-held fortresses, or strongholds, we are to assault
and tear down? Evidently these unseen entities "reside" in government
and politics, in commerce and industry, in schools and in churches--and inside
of each of us as well. Wherever these fortresses prevail, men
are held captive to superstition, to empty tradition, to the exaltation of
self. The influence of strongholds
in our lives can be seen when we continue to "act out" the unresolved
conflicts which developed earlier in our lives. Any of us can get stuck in the
past and find that we are unable to move on to maturity. The strongholds that
affect us the most are probably those within our own "unconscious,"
and in our immediate environment of family and friends. Strongholds bring
bondage; Jesus brings liberty and fullness of life.
The strongholds of evil in ourselves (and in others) are buttressed and
fortified with rationalizations and arguments, with defense mechanisms and
illogical patterns of thought based on ignorance, tradition, or the false
philosophies of this world. The core of these strongholds is always pride,
whether it takes the form of arrogance, self-exaltation, or, alternately, as
touchiness and resentment (i.e., pride turned inward).
Successfully attacking, invading, and destroying enemy-held strongholds
is somewhat analogous to storming a medieval castle. "In Christ" we
have been armed with an infinitely better set of weapons than any earthly,
historical knight would possess:
"...be strong
in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God
that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not
contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the
powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the
spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole
armor of God that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done
all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having
put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the
equipment of the gospel of peace; besides all these, taking the shield of
faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And
take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of
God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that
end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the
saints." (Ephesians 6:10-18)
God's goal for us Christians is that we should become whole persons. The
enemy's intentions are to damage or destroy us. While many believers content
themselves with second-best, there is no need settling for less, considering
the unlimited nature of the life God offers us in Christ, and the mighty
weapons He gives us for helping one another to fullness of life now. The on-going efforts of the enemy to keep us from giving over these
areas to Christ often show up as our "defense mechanisms."
Unfortunately we all have
strongholds in our lives, and we usually resent anyone interfering with what
lies beneath them. We are likely to become defensive even when the outer
periphery our defenses is barely approached. We often find in our very make up
a whole host of reasons, (rationalizations) for our not allowing Christ to
penetrate more deeply into our motives and our deep instinctive self-centered
beliefs inherited from Adam.
Pride, arrogance, and self-righteousness are not sinful roots which once
dealt with, never grow back. Covetousness and lust and hatred in our hearts are
all too common among Christians. These root evils (strongholds) are at the
heart of our resistance to spiritual growth. The weeds grow back in the garden
faster than the flowers!
Most of us also tend to resist God's humbling processes--do we not often
seek only to justify ourselves or to rationalize our behavior? The Bible says,
"Humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God so that in due time He may
exalt you."
Because our own strongholds can easily blind us, we must
be careful in meddling in the lives of people around us. Jesus told us to
remove the plank, or log, in our own eyes before attempting to remove the speck
from our brother's eye. In helping others by "speaking the truth in
love" we help the entire Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:15).
"Who are you to
pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own Master that he
stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Master is able to make him
stand." (Romans 14:4)
For both He who sanctifies (Jesus) and
those who are being sanctified (us) are all of one (body), for which reason He
is not ashamed to call them (us) brethren, saying: "I will declare Your
name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will sing praise to You.
And again: "I will put My trust in Him." And again: "Here am I
and the children whom God has given Me." (Hebrews 2:11-13)
A
sad commentary on many of the churches of our day is that they no longer teach
the scriptures in any depth. The result is that whole congregations are
starving for want of a decent spiritual meal. Some churches compensate by
specializing in excessive emotionalism, charged appeals, and endless
chorus-singing. Such worship activities provide a temporary lifting of the
spirits but do not give us the "strong meat of the word" we all need
to flourish the rest of the week.
But
especially, the New Testament theme of spiritual warfare is seldom taught in
churches today. We need knowledge and experience in this aspect of the
Christian life now more than ever in all of history.
God
has called us, (we who follow Jesus as our Lord), to be conformed to the image
of Christ. We are being made whole (holy), in the process known in theology as
"sanctification." Obviously all the strongholds in our lives must be
dealt with eventually. God has already "qualified us to be partakers of
the inheritance of the saints of light" (Colossians 1:12).
we have dealt here, in these rambling thoughts, only personal strongholds. Many of the enemy-held strongholds of
evil in society are found in politics, business, education and religion. Some
of these fortresses of the evil-one have been in place for hundreds or
thousands of years.
The
letter to the Hebrews assures us that God will soon purge the heavens (and the
earth) of all evil --destroying
all the works of fallen man, and all the strongholds of Satan--leaving only
those things God has built.
See that you do not refuse Him who
speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much
more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose
voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, "Yet once
more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven." Now this, "Yet
once more," indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken,
as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have
grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For
our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:25-29)
Daily life seems to
be accelerating now faster and faster for all of us. Surely the world's
problems are about to cascade into the great judgments predicted in the book of
the Revelation. Man has had "his day" to run things here on this
planet--and man has failed very badly.
