By Christopher Dryden
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
you who destroyed the nations of the world.
For you said to yourself,
‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods
far away in the north.
I will climb to the highest heavens
and be like the Most High.’
Isaiah 14:12-14 NLT
Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels.
Revelation 12:7-9 NLT
Know your enemy, for there is conflict taking place.
One of the questions people have about the existence of God is the problem of evil. If there is such a good God, how can there be such evil rampant in the world? The answer to this question leads to the issue of two kingdoms in conflict. There are two kingdoms in conflict, but not the two kings of each kingdom. The king of the second kingdom – the devil - wants to rival the other King, but seeing as though he’s a created being then, his chances of being successful are slim to nothing.
Nevertheless, he still wages war against the kingdom of light, and the battleground for that conflict is the earth. Scriptures inform us that the reach of the kingdom of darkness reaches to heavenly realms and is responsible for much of what passes off for influence in the systems around us. We’ll discover that we are complicit with that rule because of our sinful nature. That leads us to go against the rule of God in a bid to operate on the basis that we are the measuring stick of what is right and wrong. There’s the sinful nature, there’s the systems of the world, and there’s the devil with all his demonic spiritual forces operating to continue the status of delusion, division and dismay.
This kingdom of darkness has operated over the millennia and has wreaked havoc. The good news remains that they are operating on borrowed time. Their rule and influence are limited both in scope and in time. The rule of God triumphs time and again in history, particularly at the centre of human history, when Jesus, the Son of God, took on flesh, lived a sinless life, and was the sacrifice that brought about the glorious victory.
That was a prelude to a full realisation of that victory one day when the Risen Lord will place all enemies under His feet, including those of the wicked forces of this kingdom of darkness. One day, it will be eliminated – until that day, we are to be aware of who they are, how they operate and how they are thwarted and defeated in the light of the Kingdom of Light.
Ask: How would you describe the kingdom of darkness?
Seek: How do you recognise the works of the kingdom of darkness in the world around you?
Knock: Pray as Jesus taught us to pray – lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the wicked one. Help us not to be ignorant of the ways in which the kingdom of darkness operates. Help us to be alert and armed to repel each attack with the weapons of our warfare that you make available to us so we can celebrate the victory in Christ.
