The Warrior King and the Spiritual Battle

We are engaged in a real war—a spiritual battle for our souls and for the souls of humanity. Yet the great news is that the battle is the Lord's. Our victory is certain as we stand in the armor He has given us, fully persuaded that He has already defeated our enemy at the cross and continues to fight for us until the war is over.

To stand strong in the battle, we need to first look back to where it all started and see how the Warrior King has been fighting for His people from the very beginning. Battle and spiritual warfare imagery are not just New Testament concepts but find their origin in the Old Testament, beginning with the first Gospel in Genesis 3:15. 

After the Fall, God promises that the Serpent will strike the heel of the Seed of the Woman, Jesus Christ, but that Christ will ultimately prevail by crushing the Serpent's head. From that first promise, Scripture unfolds the conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness throughout the history of Israel. 

Throughout the Old Testament, from the Law through the Prophets, God reveals Himself not only as the Lord of all creation but also as the Warrior King, the Commander of the armies of Israel and of heaven, who goes before them to fight their battles. The visible battles they fought revealed the invisible conflict that had been raging since the Garden of Eden.

One of the clearest demonstrations of God's role as Warrior King comes in His deliverance of Israel from Egypt as He sends the plagues and repeatedly commands Pharaoh to let His people go. This shows He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that every knee must bow before Him and confess Him as Lord. At the waters of the Red Sea, He makes a declaration of His role and intention as the sovereign Commander: "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14). 

In the book of Deuteronomy (1:30, 3:22, 20:4), He tells Israel not to fear because He is fighting for them to give them victory. We not only see passages testifying that "the Lord fought for Israel" (Joshua 10:14), but also that He always won the battle: "Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands" (Joshua 21:44).

While Israel saw God fighting for them through His sovereign rule, Isaiah gives us a prophetic glimpse of the Divine Warrior Himself preparing for battle. Here the veil is pulled back, and we see the preincarnate Christ clothing Himself as the Warrior King before going to judge His enemies. "The Lord goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war He stirs up His zeal; He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes" (Isaiah 42:13). 

Again, Isaiah declares, "He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal as a cloak" (Isaiah 59:17). In Isaiah 11:4–5, we find another example that echoes the warfare imagery of Ephesians 6: "Righteousness shall be the belt of His waist, and faithfulness the belt of His loins."

As we transition to the New Testament, Paul intentionally repeats Isaiah's Warrior King imagery when he commands believers to "put on the whole armor of God," the armor of light, and calls believers soldiers who are to be prepared for battle (Ephesians 6:10–18; 2 Timothy 2:3–4). 

They are given spiritual weapons that are not of this world (2 Corinthians 10:3–5) and are shown that, like Israel, this is primarily a fight of faith—a battle to remain fully persuaded in our trust that the Lord will save and deliver us from the enemy. Paul is not creating a new metaphor but reminding believers that the armor they are to wear is God's own armor. Amazingly, the Warrior King now clothes us with the same armor that He used against His enemies when He won the victory.

The physical battles of the Old Testament pointed to the greater spiritual battle Christ would ultimately win through His life, death, and resurrection. In the New Testament, Paul reminds us that our battle, regardless of how physical it may appear, "is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). 

The Old Testament battles were never recorded just to tell us Israel's history. They were written by the King Himself to teach His people where victory is truly found (Isaiah 6:1–3). Every battle reminds us that the Lord fights for His people, keeps every promise, and never loses a war. As we witness Him commanding the armies and winning battles, our faith is strengthened so that we, too, can declare with confidence that "the battle is not [ours], but God's" (2 Chronicles 20:15). The same Warrior King who fought for Israel now fights for us, clothing us in His own armor until the final victory is won.

"Give us aid against the enemy, for human help is worthless. With God we will gain the victory, and He will trample down our enemies." (Psalm 108:12–13)

Flourishing Through Resurrection Hope

I remember first clearly hearing the Gospel from a Campus Crusade intern when I was in college. She explained God’s good work of creation, the fall of humanity into sin, and the coming of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah, who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. She made it clear that if I repented and turned from trusting in my own works and myself, and instead placed my trust in Christ, I could receive His gift of eternal life and the hope of the resurrection.

For decades, this resurrection hope carried me through lean seasons in ministry, hardships in my marriage, challenges in parenting, battles in daily life, and health issues. But somewhere along the way, over the past eight years, it began to take second seat in my life to a cultural emphasis in America—the gospel of human flourishing.

Cultural Emphasis on Human Flourishing

What is the gospel of human flourishing? In reading on the topic recently, I’ve seen that there has been a shift in many denominations over the past several decades from a focus on the gift of Christianity as eternal life to a focus on life here and now and the blessings we can receive as we put our hope and trust in Christ. The purpose behind this teaching is logical, as it reminds believers of the essential truth that new life in Christ is much more than just waiting for eternity. I believe it has been developed to help Christians embrace the Gospel reality that when we receive the Holy Spirit and are brought into God’s family, we are called to work together in the Spirit’s power to build His kingdom on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

This emphasis was much-needed. Previously, theological imbalances caused many believers to embrace an overly spiritualized focus on the eternal to the neglect of the practical. With this imbalance came an abandoning of practical wisdom for flourishing in marriage, work, finances, parenting, and even the stewardship of our bodies. Leaders developed Bible studies and seminars to help believers learn to apply Biblical truths and concepts to all areas of life.

This brought great blessings to the church and spoke volumes to the watching world about the redeeming power of the Gospel. However, by spotlighting the call to flourish in this life, the light on the hope of the resurrection was dimmed. Instead of holding these Biblical truths in balance, which is crucial, the pendulum swung to the opposite extreme. Flourishing, which is evidence of the Gospel at work, is not the whole Gospel message, and when separated from the hope of Christ’s resurrection diminishes the finished work of Christ.

Paul explains the essential role of the resurrection hope of the Gospel clearly in Colossians 1:5. In this passage, he shows that Christ’s resurrection and our resurrection with and in Him are foundational to flourishing in faith and love—which includes all that we do in this life. He also highlights that our Father is the very “God of hope” who fills us “with joy and peace as we trust in Him” (Romans 15:13). Paul continues to echo this reality when he says that our hope is in the resurrection, and that if our hope is in this life only, we are to be pitied above all people (1 Corinthians 15:19–20).

Flourishing Anchored in the Resurrection

The blessing of flourishing in the Christian life, then, is not found in focusing on how we can thrive more in this life. Instead, as Paul reminds us, true flourishing—true blessedness—comes as we set our hope on the resurrected King, anchoring our hope in His resurrection, and setting our minds on things above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3:1–2).

As I’ve been reading Colossians 1, the Lord is reminding me of this essential truth. One practical step that I’m taking—and that may help you—is taking time to daily meditate on the resurrection, along with Christ's ascension: “Keep seeking the things above not the things of earth, because you have died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Not only is the ascension essential, but His second coming and our coming back with Him in glory is vital to the Gospel (Colossians 3:4).

The more we set our minds on the hope of the resurrection, the more we will realize we are created for a relationship with the eternal, triune God. Just as light reflects off an object, the light of Gospel hope will shine into our lives, guiding us to live in a way that pleases the Lord and leads to genuine flourishing. Simultaneously, we will also see that all blessings in this life are preparing us to reign and rule with Him and will soon pass away. Both our trials and triumphs are momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory waiting for us in the resurrection, where we will live with the Lord forever (2 Corinthians 4:17–18). This helps us focus our minds on Christ and Christ alone as our very life: “And when Christ who is our life is revealed, we will be revealed with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).

In essence, the hope of our eternal life in Christ is the crown jewel of our Christian life, with Jesus being the crown itself. True spiritual flourishing flows out of a deep and growing hope in His resurrection, not the other way around (Romans 5:2b-5). When we fix our eyes on Christ and the life He promises, we will be able to walk in faith and love in a way that bears fruit for His glory. 

“We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only [in this] so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love for us has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Romans 5:2b-5).

"The Immeasurable Greatness of His Power Toward Us"

I wanted to share a link to a sermon by John Piper titled “The Immeasurable Greatness of His Power Toward Us,” because it so beautifully captures the heart of our new life in Christ and God’s desire for us to truly know the riches of our union with Him.

Over the past year, as I’ve been reading and meditating on Ephesians 1 at night, I’ve become increasingly aware of my own need to grow in the very knowledge Paul prayed for the Ephesians—to have “the eyes of my heart enlightened” so that I may know the hope of my calling, the riches I have in Christ, and the incomparable power of God at work in me—the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand (Ephesians 1:17–21). Many nights I close my Bible with a sense of both awe and disappointment. I'm amazed that God has promised such incredible blessings for everyone who is in Christ, but also disappointed, asking why I do not have a deeper degree of this spiritual understanding in my own life.

If you’ve ever felt the same and are longing for a greater awareness and experience of God’s supernatural work through your union with Christ in His death and resurrection, I hope this sermon will be a great encouragement. It has been for me! Piper clearly explains why we often struggle to grasp these truths and provides much-needed insight into how we can grow in our ability to apprehend the riches of our new life in Christ.

https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-immeasurable-greatness-of-his-power-toward-us