Revelation 2:8-17, We Wrestle Against Spiritual Forces

Paul told us we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against spirituals of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).  Sometimes it seems that we forget this today, that our battle is with politicians or public school officials or greedy businessmen and so forth.  The battle we are in is spiritual, not political or philosophical or materialistic. 

To emphasize this, look at how Jesus, in His letters to the churches, describes the enemy.  Opposition and persecution in the first century came from the Jewish community first, and then the Roman government.  Look at how Jesus refers to this opposition. 

The Jewish enemy He called “the Synagogue of Satan.”  He described them as “those who say they are Jews and are not” (2:9; 3:9).  Jesus does not give much detail as to the nature of these people but He does tell the Church at Philadelphia that they (the Church) will overcome them.  I wonder if this group was akin to Reformed Judaism today.  They have basically given up on the thought of a real Messiah.  In that sense, they are not really Jews, even though they claim to be by their ancestry.  I believe the arguments are strong that Revelation was written after 70AD (in the 90’s according to second century Christians).  After the destruction of Jerusalem there would have been an attempt to define Judaism without a nation or land.  Perhaps.

But the point is, they were dealing with people, and those people were identified as the “Synagogue of Satan.”  Satan’s opposition to the people of God revolves around his attempt to prevent the Savior from doing His work.  He tried to destroy the Messianic line in the days of wicked Athaliah.  He sought to kill the Child through the Massacre of the Innocents.  He sought to derail the Messiah in the desert temptations.  And today he seeks to infect the Church with any focus other than Jesus’ “Great Commission.”  The opposition was evident in people, but the problem was not the people but Satan.

The same could be said of the opposition from Rome.  Jesus told the Smyrna Church that the devil was about to throw some of them in prison.  Prison was the domain of Rome, but, as Jesus said, “you dwell where Satan’s throne is … where Satan dwells” (2:13).  The “throne” may have referred to a pagan temple in Pergamos, but still the enemy is tied to the philosophy of Rome.  By the time of John’s visions on Patmos the Church was no longer seen by Rome as a cult of Judaism.  But again, with Jesus the problem is with Satan who controlled Rome.

There is a third enemy Jesus refers to and that is the enemy from within.  You might think that this enemy is identified with men, as it is the “doctrine of Balaam,” “the Nicolaitans,” and “the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess.”  Certainly, those names helped the Church to identify the false doctrines.  But again, in the end, the problem is Satan.  The doctrine of Jezebel was called “the depths of Satan” (2:24). 

We know that Satan uses people, even as Jesus uses people.  All those people are responsible for their own actions.  But that responsibility is to God before whom all will appear; they are not responsible to us.  Recognizing that our battle is with Satan is critical in terms of how we fight the battle.  Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (2 Cor. 10:3).  By the armor of God (Eph. 6:10-20) our warfare is mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (2 Cor. 10:1-6).