Chapter 5: Principalities and Powers
I came to Christ in a “non-denominational” church that was a part of the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement. There was a stress on demons, overcoming the devil in our own lives, how we used to be slaves to Satan, and those sorts of things. When I had left this congregation, I left questioning just about everything that they stood upon. I was questioning spiritual gifts, I was questioning demonic forces, I was questioning the legitimacy of fasting, I was questioning whether church is supposed to even meet in buildings, I was questioning the emphasis on “fire”, I was questioning manifestations of the spirit, and I was questioning just about everything else in the faith as well. The only thing that I did not question was whether God existed, and whether Christ truly rose from the dead. I was convinced of my salvation in Christ, but that was about all I was convinced of.
It was that journey of leaving the Charismatic groups and searching for answers in the Scripture that I began to realize truth and authenticity. There is a real sense in which we were once governed by the ways of this world, which is the kingdom of darkness.{cix} There is a real sense in which we can say that Satan was at work within us. However, what I find is that we have too glib a notion of the principalities and powers. We, too, often think so small. Our perception barely passes demonic possession. We assume that Satan either possesses or oppresses, and that beyond that, the devil really doesn’t have a whole lot of authority.{cx}
Yet, many times we read passages about “this present evil age,”{cxi} or not being conformed to the ways of this world.{cxii} We read Paul’s words to the Corinthians about the god of this world being the one who blinds the unbelievers.{cxiii} We read in Ephesians that “the days are evil.”{cxiv} John tells us that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.{cxv} Even Jesus called Satan “the prince of this world.”{cxvi} It is one thing to quote Ephesians 2:2 and claim that we were blinded and deceived. It is something completely different to say that the devil is actually the ruler of this present world.
I’ve heard multiple times in my life about how the believer “tears down strongholds” and thwarts the plans of the devil. I’ve heard over and over again about commanding the devil “in the name of Jesus.” I have experienced demonic possession in a close friend, and after four hours of prayer and fasting, he was delivered. I have experienced the chains of the enemy on other’s lives, and after laying hands and loosing them in the name of Jesus Christ, they walk in freedom from then on. I have seen the truth of the statements that we are given the authority over the enemy to push back the kingdom of darkness. I have experienced the power of God in my life.
Yet, something still seemed so far off. It seems like there is a deeper realm that wasn’t being discussed. I understand full well that there are demonic forces that can possess and oppress. I understand full well about having authority and victory. I would like to suggest, however, a deeper understanding. The deeper understanding actually helps to put into perspective the lightness that we teach. It is not that Christ has simply disarmed the devil on the cross,{cxvii} and so now we have the authority to command that toothless lion, the devil.{cxviii} Let’s not forget that Satan stripped the seven men and chased them out into the street. “Jesus we know, and Paul we know, but who are you?”{cxix}
There is a demonic force that is influencing all government and institutions. Nothing is beyond that influence. These demonic figures, typically the name Satan is given to represent all of them, are also called “the principalities and powers…” Principality and power causes for many Christians to think of governmental authority. However, what is being addressed is bigger than a king or ruler. These demonic principalities and powers have rule and sway over the realm of systems that causes for the whole world to be a massive Egypt in which all of humanity is subject to their rule. Humanity has been taken away from the place of freedom and brought into the place of bondage. But, bondage of what kind?
A system is any institution, corporation, or organization that seeks it’s own perpetuation and/or goals over and above anything or anyone else. People do not matter. They are only numbers – means to an end. The ultimate end for systems is their perpetuation or success. Depending on what the “goal” of the institution, corporation, or organization is, we find the degree to which it despises and oppresses humanity. Even the organizations that are supposed to be bringing water to other countries and helping their fellow man are systems that ultimately cause oppression and slavery.
I’ll give an example from a Christian college that I had visited while looking to go into “ministry training.” The college was a prominent college in my area, and they had a program where I could get a degree in Biblical Studies. When my wife and I (fiancé at that time) visited the school, they had bragged about how they are debt free. We saw the campus: an easy 30 acres, about 15 or more buildings, the latest technology, sprinkler systems going, and all the bells and whistles that say, “We are just as credible as any secular college that you will find.”
This Christian college bragged about being debt free. They claimed that the Bible is their foundation. They claimed that being debt free is something to take seriously. (I’m not opposed to being debt free, seeing as I am also debt free. It is taught in the Bible.) They claimed that they use their budget wisely so that they can keep up-to-date on all of the latest technology and trends. They claimed that, as a Christian college, they need to uphold the morality of the Bible. The Bible speaks against debt, so they are debt-free. Yet, when we asked about scholarships they said they don’t have any.
Did you see it? This Christian college that would brag about being debt free keeps from going into debt by putting children into debt. Their goal is to be just as great, if not even better, than the secular universities. Their goal is to do all of that and more, because they are doing it Scripturally. Their goal is to keep from going into debt. How are they going to attain that end? They will force their thousands of students to go into massive debt of $5,000 to $15,000 a year, depending on their major and whether it is seminary or not. Tell me, how Christian is it to fund your empire on the backs of slaves?
In the Bible, God told Israel that because they were enslaved in Egypt that they should never have slaves. If a foreigner comes into your land, you can hire them and cause them to work for you, but no Israelite has an occupation, and no Hebrew owns slaves. The Bible is very careful in its wording. They have servants, yes, but not slaves. Everyone tends to their own homestead and trades with their community so that everyone is able to feed their families. If someone is in need, you take care of the poor. You take care of the widow and orphan. If someone can’t take care of himself or herself, for whatever reason, then it is your job to take care of them.
There are regulations for hired servants. Some translations use the word “slave”, but the Hebrew says no such thing. The author was very careful to let everyone know that these are not slaves – they are hired servants. Because they are hired, when the year of Jubilee comes, they are released as freemen. If they decide that they enjoy working for you, then you are allowed to pierce their ear to show that they are your servant – but not your property. This is a willing submission, and it is where Paul gets his term “bondservant” or “bondslave”. The idea is that you have willingly accepted that you will work for this person for the rest of your life. This is not forced slave labor. The whole point is for they who are unable to maintain life for their family. They are then allowed to come under another man and work for him in order to support his family. It wasn’t the first intention, but it was understood that this might happen – and it did indeed happen. God wanted to ensure that this man was not taken as a slave because of debt or inability to afford the necessities of life.{cxx}
Yet, when we get to 1 Kings, we begin to read of the kingdom of Solomon. Solomon was the son of David. He had 300 wives, which was specifically condemned for kings to do.{cxxi} He gathered horses; another thing condemned by God for kings to do.{cxxii} Then he also built the Temple of the Lord on the backs of slave labor.{cxxiii} He also used that slave labor to build his palace and military bases. Behold Solomon’s kingdom: the New Egypt.
The way that 1 Kings records Solomon’s kingdom is very subtle, but very insulting. Solomon’s income is an annual 666 “talents” of gold – a talent being about 25 tons.{cxxiv} Going up to Solomon’s throne are six steps. On each step are two lions opposing each other. You have six lions on the left, six lions on the right, and six steps going up to the throne to give us another “6-6-6.”{cxxv} Solomon’s kingdom is being equated with the kingdom of Satan. Why? The reason for this equation is that Solomon had deliberately gone against the commandment of the Lord in multiple behaviors. In Solomon’s disobedience to God, he is actually establishing that even Israel itself is a system that is influenced more by the principalities and powers than by God.
That “Christian college” that enslaves countless students each year so that they can look good has the same fate. I don’t care who the dean is. I don’t care how saved the staff are. I don’t care how Biblical the messages at chapel are. When you forfeit standing with God in absolution in such a way to push your agenda over and above the lives of people, then you have forsaken the command to “walk worthy of your calling.”{cxxvi} The only thing left after Jerusalem becomes the “New Egypt” is judgment. First, God split the kingdom during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon’s son. From there we find both good and bad kings in the Southern Judah, but only wicked kings in Northern Israel. There was never a king to fully restore the kingdom of God – Josiah being the only one to attempt. Thus, with the wickedness of both Israel and Judah not being repented of, there came only one more judgment from God: exile. Babylon is the true kingdom of darkness, the nation that Satan has put his name upon, and any establishment that sacrifices their Christianity (or in this case, the next generation) upon the altar of Baal will inevitably be taken away into that darkened kingdom. For Israel to be captured by Assyria, and for Judah to be captured by Babylon, we need to understand that these are not only countries, but also types. They are symbolic of something. The person, tribe, nation, or people group that willingly submits to the principalities will in the end be handed over to them.
If you love the darkness so much that you reject the light, then the darkness is what you will receive.{cxxvii} Whether we have establishments and institutions of religion, or whether they are systems of government, it doesn’t matter. A system by definition looks out for itself before bending the knee to help out those that are connected to it. It might be true that they do a lot of good. But somewhere in the core of that foundation will be darkness. You cannot be beyond this. The only way to be free from this kind of manipulation of the principalities and powers is to not be a system. The only way to not be a system is to be an organism. What exactly an organism looks like is equally as difficult to understand.
For we as the Body of Christ to be an organism instead of a religious institution would require that we are no longer supporting any kind of Egypt. Either God brings us out from Egypt or we’re still in Egypt. A partial deliverance is no deliverance. We might come out from the world in the sense that we are no longer enslaved to sin, but if we then continue in the ways of the world – the establishment and perpetuation of systems – then we haven’t truly been brought out of the world. This is all or nothing. That doesn’t necessarily mean that we are to be jobless, without schooling, etcetera. It means that even if we are in that system, we are not of that system. We do not endorse it, and we blow the whistle. We make it clear where we stand and we are not afraid to condemn such things as evil. Even if we are at a “Christian college,” we call the entire infrastructure to repentance and not merely a few souls within it. This is what the prophets of old did. By speaking to the whole of the nation of the sin of the nation – it might not have been the sin of some of the individual hearers, but you’re guilt remains in that you have not done anything about it – individuals within that nation see the corruption and repent of the wickedness in their own hearts and lives. This has always been the message of the prophets: Come out from her my people.{cxxviii}
An organism builds itself up, teaching the next generation how to live. In the case of the Christian college, there is a certain degree to which it will always be a system of education. Yet, there is another degree where you can indeed cease to be a system. When the goal is no longer to perform these selfish ambitions, but instead to teach the student to learn for themselves (Paul calls it “preparing the people of God for the work of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up”{cxxix}) and that these students would not need to rely upon their professors, you have begun to be an organism. When the students learn how to learn for self, and to discuss and debate among themselves, the college has started to become an organism instead of system. There is a certain degree of immediacy in college. Instead of waiting upon the Lord to reveal the depth of these subjects to us, we go to college to be taught by the professors.
Likewise, in church congregations, when it is taught that we need to continue to serve the system and go to the elders, deacons, pastors, church board, district supervisor, etc, we’re actually sacrificing the hope of being an organism. Organic living of the Body requires that we would build one another up in Christ, so that they might be able to live and move and have their being in Him,{cxxx} and not in anyone else. The equipping of the saints is about bearing the heart and burden of the Lord, and carrying that heart and burden together as the Lord gives each person. The equipping of the saints is not about teaching them information. It is about working in them character and reality to live as Christ lived. It is about maturity in both the congregation and the individual.
Governmental Influence Over All Nations
I had mentioned earlier that the whole world is a system. Until we can recognize this, we cannot truly bring a message to this world or generation. We are called to speak to our nations, and not only individuals that we want to ‘witness’ to. It is in the context of seeing the world as system that we can better understand the condition of our own nations. Our nations are under the manipulation of the principalities and powers. Speaking forth words that condemn the practices of the system – the oppression of the poor, the enslavement of children/teenagers, the promotion of premeditated “self defense”, the rebuke of anyone that doesn’t ‘go with the flow’, the constant and incessant proclamation of relativity of morale, etc – are actually the very things that reach to the heart of the people within that system. To those that are in Jerusalem using slave labor to “build the Temple,” these words are words of conviction. To those that are enslaved, they are words of freedom and hope.
It is our calling as the Church to wrestle and engage those spiritual powers of darkness. It says in Ephesians 3:10-11, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is our high calling to engage those demonic powers. We are to broadcast and call out the fraud. To engage those powers is not some sort of “hidden” thing.
The way that we engage those powers is by being an organism. When we care for the poor, when we take in the widow and fatherless, when we show love to the despised, when we are unified, when culture and nationality don’t matter, when hostility has been broken, and when our love covers over a multitude of sins we have engaged those powers. Wrestling the principalities and powers is not some sort of “prayer warrior” thing. It is taking up the cross and dying to self. To deny self and promote another over and above self is to wrestle the principalities and powers, which is to say, to blow the lid off of the system.
A “prayer warrior” is a term that is dubious to say the least. It robs from the spirit of humility and expresses instead a spirit of hostility. It is to fight fire with fire. When we think we can engage the powers by our “prayers” that look more like what the world would insist “true prayer” should look like, then the game is over. They have already conquered us. Wrestling doesn’t imply writhing of the hands or shouts or big motions and booming “in the name of Jesus” vanity. Wrestling is a daily submission to God. Wrestling comes from a daily contending for the faith.{cxxxi} We will not settle for anything less than something that engages those powers.
Ultimately, I think that terms like “prayer warrior” might be one of the many reasons that have given rise to our lack of humility in our daily lives. We completely misunderstand the faith and the heart of God. For a lack of knowledge, we perish.{cxxxii} God has equipped us with every need, but instead we insist on a soulish, or maybe even carnal, working up so that we can “feel” as though we’re pressing through, but the reality of our condition is something to mock. Those demonic powers yawn and ask us, “Jesus we know, and Paul we know, but who are you?” And we love it to be so. We take the cheap route because to live costly before the Lord is difficult.
Difficulty means suffering, and every suffering is vehemently opposed. But we must suffer and endure that suffering in this life if we are to be a testimony.{cxxxiii} We must depend solely upon God, or else what credit can we give Him? Like Eve that bore Cain and said, “I have bore with the help of God…” so often we also take credit. That credit is sometimes ours to take. We have indeed worked it out for ourselves. This statement, I think, is symbolic of the way of Cain. Our religion is more Cain-like than Abel-like. When it says of Abel that he brought “the firstborn of the flock without blemish,” it makes no such reference of the grandeur of Cain’s offering.
Instead of bringing the costly thing, that which would require a trust in Christ, Cain instead brought “the fruit of the ground.” These sacrifices represent the relationship that each had in God. Abel brought something that costs deeply, because His relationship unto God was a continual deep calling unto deep. Yet, Cain brought the fruit of the ground – not a hint of anything of extravagance, like the first fruit – because he did not cultivate a relationship of doing what was difficult for the love of truth. Instead, Cain continued to do bring what was cheap and easy. If we continue to bring what is cheap and easy, then we will continue to bring what is cheap and easy.{cxxxiv}
The religion of Abel brought a costly sacrifice. The cost of Abel’s sacrifice attests to his faith, which is ultimately what God examines. What God saw as the “sweet savor” was actually the fat portions. The fat is a representation of our rest. I can’t help but wonder at how many of our Sunday “sacrifices” are performed by the sweat of our brow instead of in the rest of God, when we have finished our work. How much of our doing is by our own ability instead of leaning not on our own understanding?{cxxxv} This might be pivotal for the last days. The system gives an offering made by the sweat of our brow, but the organism gives an offering out of rest. This is the very thing that the nations recognize: hard labor to make it to the top, so that when you’re on the top (whatever that means) you will be able to live the good life (whatever that means). Instead, God seems to indicate that this life is never the good life, and so we are to live out of a heavenly reality in place of the “fruit of the earth.”
In the first mention of the nations in Genesis 11, all of the nations come together united to build a tower that would “reach unto heaven.” In Revelation 13:3, all the nations gather together to promote the Antichrist. The parallel here needs to be noted. When the nations come together, it is in a technical unity, yes, but it is actually united in disunity. There is still scoffing and striving among the nations, because these nations are not pursuing the purposes of God. Every time the nations come together, from the first mention until the return of Christ, it is demonic in its purpose.
However, there is a Body in the earth that is not deceived. There are a people that are “wise,” according to Daniel 11:33-35. These wise are they that see through the deception. They are those that are organically together. To be organically united is to be united first and foremost unto Christ. Through His grace and power we are able to be united one to another. When the nations will be united in that manner, even as nations instead of individuals, there will be no more war or rumor of war. There will be no more stereotypes. There will be no more bureaucracy. Society and culture and national pride will have come into maturity to be expressed in love instead of violence.
Currently, the nations are not united as this Antichrist kingdom. However, there is a spiritual reality that pervades over them. That spiritual reality is the kingdom of darkness. When that kingdom merges with the physical plane, the Antichrist will be established. It happens in the moment of time when Satan is kicked out of heaven.{cxxxvi} We’ll see later as to why this must be a future event instead of an event of the past where Satan took a third of the angels with him.
The suppression and manipulation of these nations is hinted at in Luke 4:5-7. Satan tells Jesus, “If you will bow down before me and worship me, I will give you the nations of the world…” He even says, “They are mine to give…” There is another subtle hint in Daniel 10:20 when the angel speaking to Daniel says, “Soon I will have to return to fight against the prince of Persia, and when I go, the prince of Greece will come…” In both of these passages we’re given the hint that Satan currently ‘owns’ and manipulates the nations, but there will come a time when that ownership is revoked.
Defeat by God’s Wisdom
It is said in Colossians 2:15 that Christ made a public spectacle of the principalities and powers through the cross. It is the cross that defeats the powers. They have not come to that ultimate demise,{cxxxvii} because there is an ultimate saga to be played out that defeats them. Their final defeat waits for a time when the cross will be reiterated through a Body of believers on behalf of a people that are the least deserving of all to receive this mercy. It is God’s wisdom to go to the least and offer the greatest grace that can be bestowed.{cxxxviii}
Throughout the history of the Bible God has made it clear that He does not choose the firstborn, but instead the youngest. It has taken me years of wrestling with this before I finally understood what was happening here. Why does God accept Abel’s sacrifice and reject Cain’s? Why does God then take Seth’s lineage as the holy lineage to redeem humanity (through Noah) instead of choosing one of Cain’s offspring?{cxxxix} Why does God say through Noah that Shem shall be blessed over Japheth in that Japheth must enter the tents of Shem?{cxl} Why does God choose Isaac over Ishmael?{cxli} Why does God say of Jacob and Esau that “the elder shall serve the younger?”{cxlii} Why does God bless Joseph over his brothers?{cxliii} Why does Ephraim get the blessing over Manasseh?{cxliv}
Throughout the entire book of Genesis, one thing persists: God chooses the younger to be ruler and exalted over the elder. Even in the choosing of Israel’s King, God says that the Messiah will come through the line of David. David was the youngest of his brothers.{cxlv} When it is the natural impulse to say that the elder should be chosen over the younger, it is God that chooses the younger over the elder. Even Rachel was loved, but Leah was hated.{cxlvi} Thus, Rachel’s two children were blessed over all the others.
This is no small thing, because it is attached to the very heart of God. We find in Romans 1:17 that the Gospel is actually the righteousness of God. Why is this statement made? We can come to a general conclusion that God is righteous in redeeming people that are sinners. “This is how we know love: that He loved us while we were still yet sinners.”{cxlvii} But I don’t think that is it. I think we find the answer at the end of Romans 1:16, “…to the Jew first, and then to the Greek.” Why is the statement made that the Gospel is first to the Jew, and then to the Greek?
I think that the reason is because God chooses the least of all people to be His people. I think that God chooses the elder to serve the younger. When Japheth was the older sibling, Noah declared that Japheth would have to dwell in the tents of Shem. That line of Shem was blessed through Abram. God is righteous because He promotes the weak. He promotes the foolish. Those that are not strong are made strong through God’s power. Those that are fools are made wise through God’s wisdom. He takes the undeserving – the least deserving – and chooses that vessel to bless all the families of the earth. That is the Gospel. That is the righteousness of God.
It is that wisdom that will defeat the principalities and powers. When we can display that kind of character in our daily lives with one another, we have overcome the evil one. When we display that kind of character in the end times when it matters most, we break the power of the enemy over the people. This will come into an important part of the understanding of the end times. Our calling is not for ourselves, but for something much larger than ourselves. God has made it that we are saved so that we will “drive the Jew to jealousy.”{cxlviii} Since we are not merely going about our lives with a little Jesus sprinkled on, but instead engaging ultimate purposes, we are given freedom from anything and everything that might cause for pride, arrogance, and deception.
This is pivotal to the entire understanding of the faith. In order to engage those principalities and powers, we are not to somehow work up the Spirit and “war” against them. Instead, we live our lives in humility and love. When Israel sees our love for them – not mere sentimentality that wants to see the nation of Israel to succeed – it will cause a reaction that we cannot predict. There has never been a church through the generations that has had this kind of testimony to them. They have never before witnessed a people that are not of the genes of Jacob, and yet are somehow enjoying the very promises of Jacob.
This one thing is what defeats the powers. When we can identify with that people in a way that their sin is our sin, their struggle is our struggle, their burden is our burden, and their joy is our joy, we have come to the place of defeating the principalities a final time. It is actually in our witness to that people that we are no longer contending against demons in the sense of demonic deliverance, but are instead now being a Moses people plaguing the kingdom of darkness. Even Moses was the youngest of his family.{cxlix} God chooses the younger to rule over the elder. When we subject ourselves to that choosing of God, we actually find that He promotes us to a status that we hadn’t intended.
Anyone who will put his or her hand to this plow and turn back is not fit for the Kingdom of Heaven.{cl} That Kingdom is one that takes ruthless zeal to honor the name of the Lord. God chooses the elder to serve the younger, because in doing so we are broken of our pride. When