Foes in High Places
by Pastor Ricky Kurth
While it is nice to have friends in high places, God’s people have foes in high places!
“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).
The
Greek word for “high” here is epouranios, elsewhere
translated “heavenly,” “celestial,” and “in heaven.” Only here is it
translated “high places,” a phrase that is elsewhere always found in the
Old Testament, where it was associated with the worship of the false
god Baal (Num. 22:41;
Jer. 19:5; 32:35) and idolatry (II Chron. 14:3). That’s why it angered
God when Israel allowed these high places to exist in their midst (Psa.
78:58), and why He was pleased when they were removed (II Kings 18:1-4)
and displeased when they were not (II Kings 12:3;14:4; 15:4,35).
But
here’s the kicker. As strange as it may sound, Jehovah was
often worshipped in these high places in the worship of idols (II Kings 17:32; II
Chron. 33:17)! If that sounds familiar, it is because fusing the
worship of God with idolatry is a device Satan used for centuries
during the Dark Ages in the church of Rome in our own dispensation.
This
pollution of worship was still going strong when our Authorized Version
was translated, and it might be why the translators rendered epouranios
as “high places” in our text. They may have perceived that while the
“spiritual wickedness” they wrestled was the host of fallen angels in
heavenly places, the sphere of operation of these wicked spirits on
earth was in the Roman church whose towering cathedrals reminded them of
the “high places” where God was worshipped with idols in Israel.
In
Daniel’s day, a wicked spirit wrestled with an angel sent from God to
try to keep a message from God from getting through to a man of God
(Dan. 10:10-14). Similarly, during the Reformation, the
Reformers wrestled with wicked spirits who tried to keep the message of
God’s Word from the people of God by using the brute strength of the
Roman church that restricted His Word to the Latin language that few
could read. The Reformers wrestled and overcame them by translating
the Bible into the languages of the people.
Today
those same wicked spirits strive to keep the message of God’s Word to
us from God’s people, the message of Paul’s distinctive apostleship.
This is the battle we fight here at Berean Bible Society, and it is the
wrestling in which you too must be engaged if you want to “fight the
good fight” (I Tim. 6:12). It is the “good fight” that Paul fought to his dying breath (II Tim. 4:7). Is it your fight too?
Does Your Pastor Preach Paul's Gospel
Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.
Romans
16:25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my
gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation
of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.
2 Timothy 2:8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.
King James Bible
The Preserved and Living Word of God
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