In this issue:

i) Making Headlines - J. Carattini

ii) The Spiritual Warfare (Part 9) - B. Deffinbaugh

Making Headlines

Jill Carattini

Swedish chemist Alfred Bernhard Nobel was once largely known as a maker and inventor of explosives. In 1866 Nobel invented dynamite, which earned him both fame and the majority of his wealth. At one point in his life he held more than 350 patents, operated labs in 20 countries, and had more than 90 factories manufacturing explosives and ammunition. Yet today he is most often remembered as the name behind the Nobel Prize, the most highly regarded of international awards for efforts in peace, chemistry, physics, literature, and economics.

In 1888 a bizarre incident occurred, which seemed to have afforded Alfred Nobel an unlikely opportunity for reflection. Many believe it was this event that ultimately led to his establishment of the Nobel Prize and subsequent change in his reputation. When Alfred's brother Ludvig died while staying in Cannes, France, the French newspapers mistakenly confused the two brothers, reporting the death of the inventor of explosives. One paper's headline read: "Le marchand de la mort est mort."—The merchant of death is dead.

I can't imagine reading the headlines of my life written at the hands of my harshest critic, but I do remember laboring over an assignment in middle school in which I was required to write my own obituary. Some of the class was given the task of writing it as if they died well in their eighties; others had to write as if they died that year. The assignment was meant to incite reflection—and at least in most of us it did, particularly those of us who were designated early deaths. Like Alfred Nobel my premature obituary suggested headlines I didn't want to live with—and I was the one writing them.

In a very real sense, I am still the writer of my own obituary. But I am not thinking about the words and headlines in the way I was thinking about them in middle school. As I struggled to find the words, it seemed I had so little to work with—no graduations, no accomplishments worth mentioning, no overarching purpose for my life. I was imagining all the things I hadn't done and feeling insignificant about the things I had. At that point in time, it seemed a few more years were necessary to make a meaningful headline.

Today I realize a life well lived is not about time. The writers of Scripture seem less concerned with the reputation we are leaving behind as they are with the reputation we are going to. "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven" (Matthew 6:1). There is the sense that our hearts hold the words of an obituary that no one here will see. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19-21).

The headlines we write on earth are printed on pages that will eventually fade and crumble. But there is one who reads the words imprinted across our hearts. As he stood with his tempter high on a mountain taking in the kingdoms of the world and all of the splendor that was being offered to him, Jesus considered the reputation of God and not his own. As he hung on the Cross, scorning its shame, he took death instead of glory; he bore the disgrace of man instead of the splendor of God. His obituary was insignificant to all but a few. And then he rose from the grave, forever rewriting the headlines of those who would believe.
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[Copyright(c) 2005 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission.]

The Spiritual Warfare (Eph 6:10-13) (Part 9)

Bob Deffinbaugh, Th.M

What Our Text Tells Us About The Spiritual War (6:10-13): (10) Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. (11) Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. (12) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (13) Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

(1) Coming to faith in Jesus Christ is to be understood as entering into every spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), but it is also the commencement of a great struggle with Satan and his forces. Let those who would dwell on the blessings of our faith also take note of the battle which we have entered into by faith in Jesus Christ, and which we must wage in His strength.

(2) The church is engaged in a spiritual war, and its enemy is Satan and a host of unseen angelic and celestial enemies whose power vastly exceeds our own. With a few exceptions, our enemies remain invisible to our eyes, but they nevertheless are real, and so is their opposition. These celestial enemies seem to have various forms, as is suggested by the variety of terms used by Paul to identify them: “rulers,” “powers,” “world forces of this darkness,” “spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (verse 12). I doubt that we can fully grasp the variety and the number of those forces which oppose us. I would simply remind you that there seem to be various rankings of angelic beings, and that the description of heaven in Revelation speaks of creatures which will probably not be understood by us until we are in God’s presence (see Revelation 5:6, 8, 11).

The angelic beings have great power. Satan would seem to possess the greatest power. One dare not underestimate this power. Some time ago I heard a fine preacher speak of Satan as a “wimp.” I was shocked. How could one ever come to this conclusion from our text, or from any other? To underestimate his power is to underestimate the immensity of the spiritual struggle, and the corresponding need which we have for divine enablement, if we are to withstand Satan’s attacks. I would remind you that those who speak lightly of the celestial powers should be taken back by these verses:

(9) then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment, (10) and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, (11) whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord. (12) But these, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed (2 Peter 2:9-12).

(8) Yet in the same manner these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority, and revile angelic majesties. (9) But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” (10) But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed (Jude 8-10).

We dare not underestimate our enemy, “who prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). From these words in 1 Peter, it take it that Satan does not have false teeth. He not only desires to devour, he will devour those who do not take up the “whole armor of God.”

(3) Paul’s focus in our text is not on every aspect of Satan’s opposition to God and man, but on his war with the saints. Satan carries on his warfare on various fronts. He seeks to keep unbelievers from the truth, and he may use his demons to possess men, but in Ephesians chapter 6 Paul’s concern is with Satan’s war against the church, and with the defenses which God has provided the Christian.

(4) In the spiritual war Satan employs a variety of strategies to oppose and to defeat the Christian. Paul does not speak of the “scheme” of the devil, but of his “schemes” (plural). When Satan tempted our Lord, as recorded in Matthew 4 and Luke 4, he gave up, for the moment. But Luke makes it clear that it was only for a time, only until he could regroup: “And when the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). Not only did Satan tempt our Lord with several different lines of approach, he purposed to continue to tempt Him, when the opportunity presented itself. Satan is an opportunist, with an almost endless variety of “schemes.”

(5) At the present, Satan’s opposition against the church is not a frontal attack, but a subversive attack through intrigue, deception, and trickery. The demons were shocked to discover that Jesus had come. They were expecting Him to come later, for their final confrontation (see Matthew 8:28-29). Satan’s strategy for the present time (until the final conflict) is that of subversive activity. He is presently employing deception and intrigue to trip up the Christian. This is a time of guerilla warfare, of snipers and booby traps, not of frontal attack.

(6) There is a coming, “evil day,” when the spiritual war will intensify, and when the dangers for believers will increase. It is true, in one sense, that the days are evil: “Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:15-16). But Paul does not seem to be speaking of “evil days” in general but of a coming “evil day.” I understand this day to be that future day when satanic opposition will intensify, leading to the second coming of our Lord and the final destruction of Satan and his hosts (see 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12; Revelation 12, 20). The Christian warrior is to be characterized by vigilance, so that he will not be caught off guard by Satan’s schemes, and so that he will be able to stand in the final days of confrontation.

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[Courtesy: Bible.org]