Who is the Enemy?

 Who is the Enemy?

September 30, 2025

Ephesians 6:10-12 - The Armor of God

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. 11 Put on the full armorof God, so that you will 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.

2 Corinthians 10:4

4for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.

Romans 8:38-39

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We are at war but who is the enemy? Here in the US we have MAGA raging against the progressives and Antifa; but neither one is the true enemy. In Europe, we have the Russians fighting the Ukrainians; but again, neither side is the true enemy. Yesterday, we had news of a possible end to the conflict in Gaza; but in this case as well neither the Israelies nor the Palestinians are the true enemy. So who is the enemy? Who are these principalities and powers that are behind all the world’s conflicts? The Bible gives us some details of the eternal battle between good and evil. Here are a few references:

Isaiah 14:12

12 “How you have fallen from heaven,

O star of the morning, son of the dawn!

You have been cut down to the earth,

You who have weakened the nations!

Daniel 10:13

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.

Revelation 12:7-9

7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. Thedragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

So the battle is not a new thing but war has been raging in the heavenlies since the fall of Lucifer in Isaiah 14. In Daniel we see a glimpse of the battle between the Prince of Persia and MIchael the archangel. Later on in Daniel, we are told that the Prince of Persia (a spiritual principality) was displaced by the Prince of Greece, so even the evil forces are in conflict with themselves. In world history, we see when this happened when the kingdom of the Meads and Persians was conquered by Alexander the Great of Greece. Thus we see that heavenly battles can lead to real world wars. In Revelation, we learn that the battle is ongoing and that the dragon and his angels were thrown down to earth, so earth is now involved the this battle.

So if our battle is not against flesh and blood but against these spiritual principalities and powers, how to we fight the battle? Paul tells us that our weapons are mighty and that our armor is the armor of God. We fight a spiritual battle with spiritual weapons. We will go into that more tomorrow, but for today, the important point is to recognize that our enemies are not flesh and blood. However vile the murderer and rapist is, he is not the real enemy. We are to pray for and love our earthly enemies, but to discern the true evil powers behind their actions and fight against those. 

When Erika Kirk forgave Charlie’s assassin publicly, it struck a mighty blow in the heavenlies. What the devil sought to do to stir up animosity and strive between the left and right in America was thwarted. Some of those present that day say that they felt something break in the heavenlies when she made that declaration of forgiveness. The battle turned because forgiveness is a powerful spiritual weapon and it put to flight those demons that were stirring up hate and civil war. We need to follow that example as we continue to fight the battle and be mindful to not hate our human foes, but to hate the powers and principalities that motivate them to do evil. The first step is to recognize who the true enemy is and direct our spiritual weapons in their direction. So let us take courage and fight the good fight, but to also remember the admonition of Jesus to love our enemies.