The Battlefield

Because the spiritual battle in which we are involved is not ours, but the Lord’s, that in no way implies that we are passive in the whole affair. Not at all. As called men, we are to be active in campaigning for the Lord’s truth. We, too, have the same quarrel to maintain in this evil world, against the enemies of Christ and the Gospel—the same enemies with which these five men had to contend. The battle never changes—it is always the world against God, error against truth, the devil’s agents against God’s servants. It is always the same, and it always will be the same, until Christ returns in splendour and glory.

You see, there are two sides to every spiritual conflict that we find ourselves in—God’s and Satan’s. These are the two great antagonists who are battling it out, where? In your life and mine. And as Calvin reminds us constantly, the outcome of this battle is never in any doubt. GOD MUST WIN! And He does!

Very often in the battle ground of our lives, we are not always aware of what is going on, or why. God and Satan are battling it out in us, as if we were, in one sense, in the wrong place at the
wrong time. Now, it’s no accident that the battle is being fought out in us, for we are already on the Lord’s side, the winning side, the victorious side. If we were no threat to the kingdom of darkness, then our lives would not have been chosen as the battlefield.

Remember Job? What a man and what a story! God and Satan in contention, and Job is chosen by God as the theatre of that war. ‘Through many trials, toils and snares’ poor Job had to come,
including incalculable personal loss, but ‘grace led him home’ to the full enjoyment of God’s fatherly love and kindness, and that triumphantly. Why? Because that’s the kind of God He is. This is His everyday work. And He’s our captain.