Spiritual Warfare 2

As seen in the Beatitudes --

Second in a Series By PHILIP POWELL

In our last study (Vanguard Feb 1999) we saw among other things that our Lord Jesus, in His masterly Sermon on the Mount, teaches US what is the spiritual counterpart of the Old Testament symbolism of removing the shoe before possessing the land...— see previous article and compare Exodus 3:1-6 with Joshua 5:13-15.

IN AN Eastern context the act signified a sense of inferiority and a recognition of depend-ence in the presence of a superior, who had un-disputed rights of ownership. This is why the LORD instructed both Moses and Joshua to "put off (loose) their shoe(s)". They stood in the presence of the owner and creator of the universe, who was about to lead them into an inheritance on which HE alone had the right of disposal. What happened there under direct divine command becomes the precedent, which defines the significance of subsequent similar incidents.

Extending the Imagery

The beautiful story of the marriage of Boaz the Israeli man, to Ruth the Moabitess, is incredibly instructive in this regard and when fully grasped moves one to tears in its pure disclosure of the wonder of our God. Read the whole book of Ruth to get the context and full significance. Here we see the grace and sovereignty of God at work in a manner that overwhelms and dwarfs the human mind. The first born kinsman renounced his right to Naomi's inheritance for racial reasons. He feared that his being thus legally obliged to marry Ruth, a foreigner and a woman from Moab at that, would "mar (ie corrupt) his own inheritance" (see Ruth 4:4). Boaz took up the responsibility required by law and in so doing prevented dishonour to his elder brother as outlined in the Mosaic statute. The agreement between Boaz and his kinsman was sealed by the taking off of the shoe — c/f Deuteronomy 25:5-10 with Ruth 4:6-8:

Deut 25:5-10: "If brothers dwell together, and one of them dies, and has no child, the wife of the dead man shall not marry a stranger outside the family: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her to wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother for her. And it shall be, that the firstborn she bears shall succeed to the name of his brother who is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel. And if the man does not want to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother. Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if confirms it, and says, I will not take her; then shall his brother's wife come to him in the presence of the elders, and pull his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, "So shall it be done to that man that will not build up his brother's house". And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him who had his shoe removed."

Ruth 4:6-10: "And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I mar my own inheritance: redeem my right for yourself; for I cannot redeem it. Now this was the manner in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and concerning changing, for to confirm anything; a man pulled off his shoe, and gave it to his neighbour: and this was a testimony in Israel. Therefore the kinsman said to Boaz, Buy it for yourself. So he took off his shoe. And Boaz said to the elders, and to all the people, You are witnesses this day, that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon, I have purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead on his inheritance, that the name of the dead is not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: you are witnesses this day."

Thus by the grace and sovereignty of God the Messianic line was established through Boaz and Ruth, both of whom, together with their first born son (see Ruth 4:17) are specifically named in Matthew's genealogy of Christ c/f Matt 1:5. How accurate was the divinely inspired blessing upon the happy couple as they were joined in marriage:

Ruth 4:11-12: "The LORD make the woman who is coming into your house like Rachel and Leah, who built the house of Israel: and may you succeed in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem: And may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, from the seed which the LORD shall give you from this young woman."

What marvellous words — "do thou worthily in Ephratah and be famous in Bethlehem" — Hundreds of years later the prophet Micah was to proclaim — "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" — Micah 5:2. Remember Ruth was dark skinned and a foreigner from Moab. Boaz was a Jew of Bethlehem, as was his elder kinsman, who, in refusing Ruth turned away from the very thing that he sought most — an uncorrupted inheritance if perchance he might be in the Messianic line. How ironic. What eternal regrets some, who thought to protect their reputations and their perceived integrity, will have. What joy and rejoicing among the "outcasts" whose choices put them in the divine favour as partakers of God's infinite grace. Let's always magnify the GRACE of God — "… for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain" — Gal 2:21.

Incidentally, did you notice that reference to "Pharez whom Tamar bare unto Judah" and have you read the story told in Genesis 38? Also have you noticed that five women are mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth and all except Mary were of somewhat doubtful repute from a Jewish pers-pective — Thamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Urias' wife. WONDERFUL grace of God.

But quite clearly there is also marvellous Messianic typology here, beyond the establishing of the Messianic line. Bethlehem was the lowly birth place of both Boaz and our Lord Jesus and it means "house of bread". How fitting that HE who IS the Bread of Life should be so linked both by place of birth and by direct heritage through His mother. "BUT", you ask, "what has all this got to do with Spiritual Warfare?" Well much every way. You see, as we pointed out in the first article, in the ongoing conflict associated with spiritual realities, God puts little or no emphasis on the enemy and that's where so much of the current teaching on Spiritual Warfare goes astray. It relates far too much to the so called "principalities and powers".

With God everything relates to the persons whom He will use. Pharaoh and all the Canaanite tribes are no match for Him. When He is ready to act He seeks for a Moses or a Joshua who are willing to "take off their shoes" of self reliance or trust in their own human personality traits. That is always the starting point of "spiritual warfare", and it's an important thing that is being missed, by both sides, in all the talk today about "taking strongholds", "capturing the high places" and "controlling cities" etc. When our Lord began His work He chose twelve men and later took them to a mountain to teach them, among other things, the spiritual significance of taking their shoes off.

But before going on to look further in some depth at the first two Beatitudes let's go back a bit to this issue of Boaz and the removal of the shoe associated with "possessing" the land which is the stated objective of most of the promoters of spiritual warfare. Remember that the conflict in which we, as Christians are all engaged, is as ancient as the Garden of Eden:

Genesis 3:15: "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

Boaz and Ruth came in on the act through that which the book of Ruth describes, which involves both the Sovereignty of God and the Responsibility of Man. God was at work in the human record of births, marriages, deaths, famine and the decisions of Naomi to return home and of Ruth to accompany and never to leave her. He was also at work in the wise counsel and guidance of a mother-in-law to her daughter in law. But beyond that, clinching the deal and thus ensuring the Messianic link, He was in the decisions and attitudes of Boaz. How those attitudes reflect our Lord Jesus of whom it is written:

Philippians 2:7-9: "But (He) made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:"

When Boaz took off his shoe and sealed the deal he was laying aside a reputation to which his older kinsman tenaciously clung. It was this which sealed his inheritance of land and links. Symbolically, he, like Moses and Joshua before him, was, in effect, humbly throwing himself and his future upon God. This is the first essential TRUTH contained in the Sermon on the Mount and it's the key to all spiritual activity and progress.

Spiritual Warfare is real

I am convinced that the teaching that is coming from men such as Costellanos, Peter Wagner and the voices that echo them around the world, like Reg Klimionok in Australasia and whoever may be his counter-part elsewhere, about Spiritual Warfare, is false and dangerous. It does not have a biblical basis. The whole thing is becoming extremely bizarre. For example the NZ AoG Evangel (Autumn 1999) page 10 reports a ceremony where seven pastors smashed bricks with a sledge hammer and an evangelist threw a bottle of oil into a northern river. Why? Evangelist Wayne Buchanan says: "We are living in an age where Prophetic Symbolism is a key to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit." As you read the article you get the impression that this is the stuff of which Spiritual Warfare is made. It's sheer nonsense. Just think for a moment! How can "Prophetic Symbolism", whatever that is, be "a key to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit"? I presume Wayne Buchanan means that somehow smashing bricks and throwing bottles in a river will effect a great move of God. Well, I ask you!

On the other hand there is an almost equal danger of dismissing the whole idea of there being such a thing as "spiritual warfare", when in fact the Bible does speak of it both directly in the NT and indirectly in the OT, through types, shadows and by "ensamples" ie illus-trations. Incidentally we are now living in the time of the fulfilment of types and shadows so why return to them? This is a trick of the devil to get us away from the real conflict and it's what's happening world-wide through the influence of the Church Growth movement, "Toronto" and "Pensacola" etc.

So what is Spiritual Warfare?

Our Lord said, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" — Matt 16:18. This is a description of the Church of Christ coming with a spiritual battering ram against the gates of hell until they have to give way. How do we do it? According to verse 19 by using the "keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

There are two things here: The first relates to the then fully understood significance of Christ giving to His Church the "KEYS", which represent knowledge. The passage deals with the fact of who Jesus of Nazareth really is — "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (v 16) and who or what is the foundation of His Church — "upon this rock I will build my church" (v18). Clearly Spiritual Warfare has to do principally with the preaching of the Gospel and the bringing of men and women and boys and girls into the true Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Bill Randles so clearly and so well explains, the gates of hell are weakened when people are so rescued from Satan's domain and this is real "spiritual warfare" ¹ . The New Testament knows nothing of the practices of "prayer or reconciliation marches" or "climbing mountains" or "controlling the heights" as part of the work and witness of the Church.

The second thing in Matt 16:19 is the instruction about "binding" and "loosing" which is a clear reference to PRAYER especially when considered in connection with the parallel passage just two chapters later:

Matt 18:18-20: "In truth I say to you, whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you shall agree on earth concerning anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them."

Contextually this applies to discipline in the local Church (see Matt 18:15-17), but in the light of Matt 16:19 it clearly establishes a principle of action within the Kingdom of God. It would appear that our English translation does not convey the full significance of Christ's Words, which would be more accurately translated — "Whatever you shall bind on earth, having been bound in heaven, shall be bound; and whatever you shall loose on earth, having been loosed in heaven, shall be loosed." This dramatically changes our perception as to what or who initiates the binding and/or loosing and whether it's man's or God's will that determines the issue. It also explains why so many who shout their "binding" or "loosing" curses or blessings never achieve the desired result.

Here allow me to deviate slightly to give two illustrations of something that happened back in the 80's which I think will help us to understand something more about this whole subject and hopefully bring a balance. For as I see it there are two extremes — both of which are wrong. On the one hand there is this formula for success that is being projected. We are told that what we need to do is lock ourselves — preferably in company of at least two — "if two of you shall agree on earth' — in a hotel room and discover the name of the "principality" in charge over the city then bind that principality and then the city will be released to be evangelised. Or that we must engage in "prayer walks" or "climbs" or "drives" or "marches" or whatever for the same purpose. Bill Randles says the New Testament knows nothing of these practices and of course he's right. But what the New Testament does teach is that we, as Christians, are engaged in a spiritual conflict against wicked spirits and against principalities and powers:

Eph 6:12: "For we do not wrestle (literally contend) against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places."

Please Note

It's not our purpose in this article to expound Paul's teaching about Spiritual Warfare in this passage or elsewhere in his masterful Epistle to the Ephesians. We'll look at that later in the series. For the present let me make two simple observations:

1) Clearly Paul is not talking here about a wrestling match between two people. You don't dress in armour to engage in wrestling. The word translated "wrestle" would be better rendered "contend" or even "fight". It's a Roman soldier in a battalion that is here in view;

2) Secondly the word translated "principalities" does not necessarily signify "wicked spirits". In its Greek form the word appears many times in
the New Testament and is quite frequently translated "beginning" and as such it most often has spiritually good not evil connotations.

What is clear from this verse and passage in Ephesians chapter 6 is that there is such a thing as Spiritual Warfare and linking it back to Matthew chapters 16 and 18 that warfare quite clearly involves something more than just preaching the Gospel and witnessing. It also has to do with this whole question of prayer and that's where I think the following illustrations may help our perception and save us from two extremes. These are true stories.

Illustration One

It was 1981. I was about to make my first ministry visit to India and had been meditating on one of the great promises of Jesus contained in John 15: 7 & 8 — "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done for you. Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples." I saw how in the context our Lord speaks of "some fruit" and "more fruit" (v 2) and twice about "much fruit" (vs 5 & 8). Obviously the fruit being the product of the vine has particular reference to Christ's nature and character being produced in us, but why the three levels of fruit bearing? Christ is the VINE we are the BRANCHES so the FRUIT is really the natural product of HIS life expressed through US. The first level may well be described therefore as the impact of His life on my life so that I become like Him at least in degree. The second level may be described as the impact of His life through me on others so that they become like Him in degree. That seems to be reasonable and in accordance with the general tenor of Scripture. According to verse 8 the third level is linked directly to PRAYER and is limitless in its impact. I was struggling with the concept when it was time to set out for India.

"What will be your ministry thrust when you come to us in India", my friend, colleague, organiser and interpreter asked? All I could suggest was that we hold Prayer and Bible camps for pastors and Christian Workers. So it was decided and that became the basis of five consecutive visits over a period of eight years. On that first year the Lord gave marvellous confirmation that we were on target. He also answered my dilemma regarding the much fruit and its link to the promise level of prayer — "you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done for you." (v 7).

En route for Madurai and the southern part of Tamil Nadu I stopped off for Sunday services at Pune, which is some 120 miles East of Bombay. At that time this town was the head quarters of a guru who later became world famous. The name that he took to himself was Shree (meaning "Master") Bhagwan (meaning "god") Rajneesh. He was known as the head of the Orange People so named after the colour of the robe that most of his devotees wore. As the pastor from Pune took me around the considerable settlement that had been established to accommodate the thousands of visitors who sought his "spiritual" counsel he told me about the bizarre and obscene things that took place during his three times a day lecture sessions to some 6,000 or 7,000 devotees who regularly gathered to imbibe his demonic instructions. My spirit was strangely stirred with a sense of divine indignation and without premeditating I said: "When we get to the south for our Prayer and Bible camps we will pray that GOD WILL REMOVE THIS MAN FROM INDIA; that HE WILL SILENCE HIM; and that HIS PROPERTY WILL COME UP FOR SALE SO THAT CHRISTIANS HAVE AN OPPORTU-NITY TO BUY IT."

Our prayer pattern for my visit that year had been established and so it was. In ten days I held 37 meetings, many of them lasting two and a half hours and being equally divided between teaching the Word and Prayer, with prayer being the major focus. At every meeting we prayed for those three things about that guru. I discovered something about the Indian Assemblies of God Pentecostal people that showed up as a feature on all my visits. Their prayer is intense. They pray in unity as did the early Church when they "lifted up their voice to God with one accord" (Acts 4:24). It was for me a powerful and life changing experience. After three weeks I returned to my home and pastorate in Australia.

Twelve months later I was back in the Bombay airport about to commence my second series of Prayer and Bible Camps among the Indian pastors and Christian workers. This time a visit to Pune was not part of the schedule, so the pastor from there came up to meet me at the Bombay airport. His first remark to me was by way of a question: "What happened to that guru?" When I told him that I had heard nothing he explained that within six months of my visit the guru had seemingly vanished off the face of the earth. He had disappeared but no one seemed to know where. I told him to thank the Lord. We had prayed for his removal from India and NOW it had happened.

Six months later I was sitting in our lounge in Northern Victoria, Australia watching a feature programme on Television. The presenter was speaking about an Indian guru called Shree Bhagwan Rajneesh, who some twelve months earlier, had unexpectedly left Pune in Northern India, much to the disillusionment of his devotees and was then establishing himself in California and buying up a fleet of Rolls Royce cars. He told how in (or about) the middle of 1981 this guru had chartered a jumbo jet and with some 100 tons of personal belongings had flown from Bombay to New York, before travelling on to California. Then he said something which made me just about jump out of my seat with excitement. On his arrival in USA the head of the Orange People had taken a vow of silence. We had prayed that God would remove him from India and that He would silence him. My understanding is that the vow of silence was on that man for some seven years. The third thing that we prayed for was that the property would be put on the market. On my last but one tour of India in the late 80's I actually visited Pune and discovered "For Sale" notices all around the property that had been owned by Mr Rajneesh.

Illustration Two

It was my third visit to India. During the second one our "prayer burden"
had been for the release of finance within India to do the work of God in India. I could tell you several exciting stories of ways in which God answered that prayer most remarkably, but they must wait for another time. In this incident I was preaching at a room hired by the American AOG pastor in Delhi. Frequently during those visits I was not absolutely certain what I would preach on until I reached the platform. Of course ideas would be going around in my mind and I would always have an overall burden from the Lord as to the general thrust. As I walked to the platform the Lord dropped something into my spirit based on John chapter 9. I preached on Christ the Light of the world.

Unbeknown to me the American pastor's wife had that very week been witnessing to a lady who was a member of the Baha'i faith and who had escaped from Iran during the religious purge by the late President. This lady turned up at our meeting. After the service the wife of the pastor told me that in my message I had been answering practically all of the questions asked by the woman from Iran. That's no credit to me. I couldn't do that of myself in a million years.

Towards the end of my message I invited the congregation to stand while we prayed for Iran and for the going forth of the Gospel in that country. It was a powerful time. I recall that I did actually address the "Prince of Persia" as I prayed, even though I don't make a habit of those sorts of things and always I use the Biblical approach outlined in Jude 9 — " Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Several times I repeated — "Satan, the Lord rebuke you!" It was March of that year.

In October of the same year we had a Prayer and Bible Camp scheduled near Melbourne in Australia. Two elderly ladies were with us representing The Lydia Prayer Fellowship of Wales. During one of our sessions the older woman in her 70s told us that something remarkable had happened in Iran and that it had taken place in the previous eight months. About the same time — either shortly before or soon after — I was preaching in Brisbane, Queensland when I responded to an invitation to meet a Missionary to the Arabs. The man told a similar story of an unusual spontaneous growth in the number of Christian Churches in Iran. Neither person knew anything about what had transpired in that Prayer and Bible Camp meeting in Delhi. Some carnal Christians will put it all down to mere coincidence. I can't. I was there and I tell the stories for the glory of God and as a tribute to the prayers of those dear Indian people.

Bible & Experience

Ultimately Christian Life and Service is EXPERIENTIAL. In our honest endeavours to be always Biblical we must not miss the point that Bible truth is to be hammered out on the anvil of human experience.

These two things do not contradict each other; they are not mutually exclusive. What I learned in India was simply an extension of what I had seen in the Scripture, but then and now it is far more real to me because it was translated into flesh and blood reality. That's how God works. We'll return to this later.

Now let me summarise and make some conclusions by returning to those first two Beatitudes.

Matt 5:3: "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

God's Kingdom operates on the basis of principles not formulae. Our problem is that we always want to turn principles into patterns and you can't do it in respect of the Kingdom of God. Revelation, spontaneity, unique happenings are constant features of God's Work, but these must ALWAYS be judged at the bar of Holy Scripture and outworked in Holy living. In this first beatitude our Lord declares, as the Scriptures show elsewhere, that arrogance, pride and human prominence are excluded from His Kingdom. These things cannot inherit the promises of God. That is always an acid test. Ask the question "Does this practice bring glory to God or position and prestige to a man or a group of men?" By its very nature Spiritual Warfare involves the crucified life. More of that next issue.

Matt 5:4: "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted."

This second Blessed Attitude is really an extension of the first, with emphasis on ACTION rather than on disposition. It is something that the person who has entered the Kingdom seeks to do and once more it reflects the character of his Lord, who was known as The Man of SORROWS. What Jesus does, in the first part of His Teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, is lay a CHARACTER foundation which is then built upon by spiritual CONDUCT. Character producing Conduct developing Character is the entire course that He takes His followers on in the Beatitudes.

Here are the KEYS to all things within the Kingdom of God, including Spiritual Warfare. To miss this is to miss everything and to end in a vain pursuit that simply confuses Leaders and Followers alike.
Spiritual warfare has to do principally with the preaching of the gospel...
When He (God) is ready to act He seeks for a Moses or a Joshua who is willing to take off his shoesof self reliance...
Warfare involves something more than preaching the gospel and witnessing ... it also has to do with the question of prayer...

1 "War in the Heavenlies" and "Beware the New Prophets" available from Christian Witness Ministries.

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Appeared in Issue 6 -- 1999
"...contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" -- Jude v3