Throughout history God’s people have derived courage, comfort and strength from knowing the battle belongs to the Lord. David confronted Goliath. King Jehoshaphat and the men of Judah marched out against a vast army.

Today Christians encourage each other in song singing, “The battle belongs to the Lord.” If we allow the armor of God metaphor in Ephesians 6 to suggest a spiritual battle background lying behind the Ephesian letter, another reassurance of God’s victory comes into view.

As Paul wrapped up Ephesians, he explained that our struggle is not against difficult people. Rather, God’s people are pitted against spiritual forces of evil. This is not the first clash of opposing forces within this letter.

In Ephesians 2:2 we discover that prior to belonging to Christ, evil spiritual forces dominated our lives. Our sin had wrecked our lives severing our relationships with each other and with God leaving us spiritually dead.

Yet, it does not matter how many times we had sinned. It does not matter how horrific evil had been in our lives nor how malicious it had caused us to act. Neither the degree to which evil had reduced our lives to rubble nor how deeply evil had shattered our self-esteem, this battle belonged to the Lord!

Paul revealed how God had planned even before the world began how he would rescue us and triumph over sin (Ephesians 1:3-14). Christ’s blood would reign in victory.

The blood of Christ is greater than any of our sins or any weapon the enemy could have unleashed in our lives. Even though we were dead in transgressions, God makes us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5)!

God, not us, breaks the chains of death and condemnation. And not only does he grant us life, but he exalts us with Christ in the spiritual realms!

No wonder Paul began Ephesians by praising God for his master plan to rescue and unite all things under Christ. Yes, we live in a world rife with evil’s weapons: deceit, greed, jealousy, maliciousness, bitterness, self-loathing, etc. However, for those who come to the Lord, there is no contest. God’s power infuses life where death reigned. God wins.

God has completely rescued us. We can derive courage, comfort and strength from knowing this battle belongs to the Lord.

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Barry Newton

Barry has worked with congregations in Texas, California and Brazil. He and his wife Sofia have two sons. He believes we should love God above all and that to honor this principle will shape daily decisions and silence competing values. Furthermore, we ought to love people in those ways we would like to be treated.

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