There is an unseen war raging in the spiritual dimension, a war more deadly than you and I can ever imagine. Underneath the surface of world politics, cross-cultural missions and church ministries, the struggle for dominion rages on. Yet many of us go on living our mundane lives, oblivious to the deadly struggle beneath. The stakes of this battle: dominion for heaven and earth and the souls of man. The forces: the Kingdom of God vs the kingdom of darkness. Here is how the story unfolds...
From eternity past, since the creation of heaven, the sovereignty of the Almighty was unchallenged. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit was all in all. The reign of the Holy Trinity supreme over the vast creation. Then there was Lucifer, the archangel of worship, the anointed cherub whose glorious wing covered the throne of God (Eze 28:11-15). He was perfect in all his ways, the most powerful and most glorious of the angels. Till the day pride was found in him. His heart was lifted up because of his beauty. His glory corrupted him. And Lucifer proclaimed "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. I will be like God." With him, a third of heaven rebelled. A war waged in the heavens. Michael, the archangel of war fought against the Lucifer and his fallen angels and quashed the rebellion (Rev 12:7-9). Lucifer, the once great archangel, was cast to the dark and formless earth to await final judgment.
In the midst of the deformed earth, God created man, the pinnacle of creation. And God recreated the earth (Gen 1:2,3). To man was given dominion over all of creation (Gen 1:26, Psalms 8:4-6). To man, the only created being who reflected the very likeness and glory of God, nobility was conferred. But that dominion was shortlived. Like Lucifer, man chose the path of self-glorification and independence. "You will be like God" (Gen 3:5) said the tempter, and man ate of the fruit. The fall of man brought sin and death into the beautiful earth, condemning it to decay. Now in bondage to sin and death, man forfeited the dominion of the earth to the tempter. Seizing dominion, Lucifer, now called Satan, installed himself as the prince of this world, the "kosmokrator" (Greek: ruler of the world), a title even the Christ Himself acknowledged (see John 12:31). The whole world was now under the dominion of the prince of darkness (1 John 5:19)
Yet the fall of man had long been prophesied and the Christ ordained before the creation of the world to execute the most mind-boggling plan of salvation and conquest creation had ever seen. Into the dominion of Satan, the Messiah was born. For the first time, was born a man Satan had no control over (John 14:30). As that God-man grew, the prince of darkness sensed his impending downfall. Satan tried unsuccessfully to derail the plan of salvation by offering the Messiah the path to self-glory, but faithfulness triumphed that day in the desert. As Christ entered his ministry, demons were cast out, the sick healed, and the truth of salvation preached. With each exorcised demon, with each converted believer, soul by soul was freed from the dominion of darkness and the dominion of God re-established in that life. The kingdom of God had come upon the kingdom of darkness. The messianic invasion had begun. Yet Satan plotted and schemed, gaining control of the hearts of one of the Messiah's 12 disciples, Judas, moving him to betray his Lord to death. Yet the cross proved to be a catastrophic miscalculation on the part of the unholy one. As the nails were driven into the hands of the Messiah on that bloodstained cross, those nails proved to be the final nail in Satan's coffin. As the Messiah uttered his last breath and cried "it is finished", Satan was finished. What Satan thought was to be his greatest triumph by killing the Messiah, turned out to be his greatest undoing. With the shedding of sinless blood and the sacrifice of the perfect life, sin was wiped away forever. The curse of sin and death was broken over the souls of man and the dominion of Satan over the souls of man disarmed (Col 2:15). Satan was made a public spectacle.
"All authority on heaven and earth has been given to me" the resurrected and victorious Christ proclaimed (Mat 28:18) The dominion of heaven and earth and over the souls of man now lay in the hands of the Messiah. At His name, every knee would bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue would confess that Jesus is Lord (Phil 2:9-11). Yet in these end times, the battle rages on for dominion for Satan refuses to acknowledge the dominion of Christ. Very soon, the anti-Christ will rise and for 3 and a half years persecute the saints and all who do not bow their knee to him. He is the Beast, a representation of violence and cruelty, and his number is the number of man: His number is 666. Satan will make one final stand against the God of heaven and His chosen people. At the end of the great tribulation, the anti-Christ will gather all the armies of the world under his Satanic control to lay siege against the chosen of God, the greatest demonstration of military might the world had ever seen, in a place called Armageddon. And scripture reveals that in that hour, the heavens will open and Christ will return with the armies of heaven. On him will bear the glorious name, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords (Rev 19:11-21). His feet will touch the mount of olives (Zech 12:4). And he will overcome the beast and his armies by His very Word (2 Thess 2:8). As the King speaks, a plague will fall upon the armies of the beast and their very flesh will dissolve from their bones (Zech 14:12). There will be wholesale carnage of the armies of the beast and anyone who dares challenge the authority of God and of His Christ. On that day, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign forever and ever (Rev 11:15). And the end will come, and the victorious Christ will enter the throne room of heaven and deliver the kingdom to God the Father, that God may once again be all in all (1 Cor 15:24-28).
Until the time of the end, the battle for dominion rages in heaven and on earth and over the souls of man. Though Jesus has won it by right, Satan continues to hold families and churches and nations in bondage. To us has been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Matt 16:19), the mark of the supreme authority of Christ. Our task, to enforce the dominion and authority of Christ against Satan and forces of darkness. For in this last days, Christ will build His church and the gates of Hell will not overcome it (Matt 16:18). The time has come for the people of God to arise and to claim back the ground seized illegally by the devil. In the Name of Jesus, we break the dominion of Satan over our families, our schools, our churches, our nations and our lives and bring them into the glorious freedom of Christ. We submit ourselves to the Lord and resist the devil, and he will flee from us (James 4:7).
You see my friends, there is a battle raging over heaven and earth and for the souls of man. And there are only two sides. Jesus says if we are not for him, we are against him. There is no place for indifference. Which side are you fighting for?