The Rulers of Darkness

The Whole Armor of God - Message 3 - The Rulers of Darkness. We are engaged in a spiritual conflict. Of course the devil would have us believe that we are at peace – and that the true path to lasting unity is compromise. But the war is real and the implications are eternal. There is a great danger in failing to recognize who the enemy is. To help us see who it is that we fight against Paul reminds us “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.” The technical term he uses for this struggle is a term for hand-to-hand combat. We are not combating flesh and blood. The true enemy is not other people. It is those in the spiritual realm who comprise the Kingdom of Satan. These demonic powers are wielded by fallen angels – those who were cast out of heaven in the great rebellion of Lucifer against the Most High God. They are referred to as principalities, that is rulers. While God remains absolutely sovereign, He has allowed these fallen beings to have limited authority on this earth. They have been given this authority for a time and are willing to use it. They are also referred to as powers, reiterating this truth that there are realms of reality where they will come against us and we must be ready to identify them, stand, and fight. Another term used here identifies them as the “rulers of the darkness of this age.” What age? This age where men are blinded to the truth and dead in sin. These spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places are spiritual beings with great powers and great wickedness. They are the Devil and the demons. So how do we fight this enemy? Now that we know who he is, how do we defeat him? How then do we wrestle against these rulers of the darkness?