“We recognize that God’s children are engaged in warfare. It is not a warfare of flesh and blood, sure, but a warfare of spiritual power (Eph 6:12). Yet it is warfare that we are called to be equipped to fight (Eph 6:10–20), and it is not a spiritual conflict that is bifurcated from temporal realities. Our weapons of warfare are spiritual weapons.[Armor of God below] and we are called to resist both devil and flesh in this warfare. Our God is a warlike God, and consequently His children experience victory and conquest through union with Him…Christians are called to be ready for the attacks of spiritual warfare in this life, to be prepared for the battles that lay ahead.”
(Josh Howard – Clear Truth Media) Recent events in the world, from Ukraine and Russia, to Israel and Palestine, to the brooding shadow of conflict with Iran, have reminded our generation that war is quite real, quite perennial (historically speaking), and quite horrible. Our modern society has not experienced the sights and sounds of war on the large scale of many generations that preceded us, and we therefore understandably struggle with understanding how to process them….
But beyond the wars that occur between nations, the conflicts in our world may remind us of an often-neglected biblical dynamic: God’s people are to be those that remember the sounds of war. But unlike the world, our warfare is not the war against flesh and blood, but it is truly the war of darkness against light.
That They Might Know War
The book of Judges is the saga of an unrelenting downward spiral in many ways for God’s people. The repeated phrase “and the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” is, accordingly, a recurring phrase in the book that gives a sort of summary perspective on the spiritual state of things amongst the people of God (2:11; 3:7; 3:12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1). The first chapter of Judges introduces the continuing conquest of Canaan after Joshua’s death, and Israel’s habitual failures to drive the inhabitants from the land in the keeping with their instructions. The second chapter covers Joshua’s death, Israel’s continual forays into sin and idolatry, and God’s eventual appointment of Judges to preside over Israel.
Related
Are You Armed For Battle? – The Armor of God