The concept of spiritual warfare is rooted in the days of Joshua. For Israel, spiritual warfare took on a very physical form: Israel was called to destroy the Canaanites – to wipe them out from the face of the earth.
But even Israel saw that this physical warfare had a spiritual root – their task was to uproot idolatry as a sign of the coming judgment. Because God's wrath is coming upon the whole earth, Israel was to demonstrate this as agents of that wrath.
But Paul does not say “be strong in the Lord” to say that that we must be like Joshua, because he has already demonstrated that Jesus has received the inheritance; he has already shown that Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of the Father.
Therefore, the call for us to be strong and courageous – to “be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” reminds us that Jesus is Lord! To be strong in the Lord means “be strong in Jesus.” And because Jesus is Lord, because our great Joshua is mighty and has taken possession of the new creation, therefore we are to be strong in him, and in the strength of his might, and we are to wage our warfare with that confidence that Jesus has already won!
Unlike Joshua, we do not wage a bloody war. Flesh and blood is no true obstacle to the coming of the kingdom.
Paul says our foe is the devil and his minions, the cosmic powers over this present darkness – the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
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