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Our Adversary will be Defeated
January 03, 2026

The year of 2026 has arrived, and every new year is celebrated with optimism that is embodied in the persona of the New Year Baby. The prior year is personified as Father Time, and Father Time typically looks old, really old. Even if you think of yourself as somebody who is old, somehow Father Time looks even older. Every new year starts with incredible optimism and ends with the eventuality of being subject to human limitations. It’s almost as if humanity has this strong, unstated desire to be better than before and every year is forced to realize that the years and what happens during those years may change, but the fate of humanity remains constant.

Each year many people will come up with New Year’s resolutions to improve their life, and most will completely fail at their attempt. It makes little difference what the resolution is, most will fail at it. The second Friday of January, that’s Friday in the week that’s coming up, is known as Quitter’s Day, meaning in 2026 a full nine days into the year is the date when most will have given up on their New Year’s resolutions. When the Bible speaks of enduring to the end, that means reaching the end and not giving up so easily. The concept of enduring to the end gives us an idea that a determined effort is required to stay the course, and the faith that we have as Christians cannot be dismissed like a New Year’s resolution, in fact, enduring to the end means we never, ever give up.

There is a huge reason why we never give up on faith and why we endure to the end, because in the end the Bible makes it very clear that the faithful win and the unfaithful lose. Along the way, the Bible also tells us that the faithful will be persecuted and suffer because of the faith we have. We are told some of us will even die, and yet we endure to the end because in the end we know the faithful win. The faithful are those who are aligned to God and in the final few chapters of Revelation there is no mistaking that God and Jesus Christ completely and utterly defeat Satan and his demons. Make no mistake about, our adversary will be defeated.

The concept of God defeating enemies, including the ultimate defeat of our adversary is not something just saved for prophecy; it was part of a promise made by God to Israel and was predicated upon their obedience to what God expected of them. God knew the people would face opposition to taking control of the promised land from people who were already there, and he promised to be an enemy to the enemies of Israel and an adversary to the adversaries of Israel. Interestingly, the people would not be shielded from their enemies, never facing them. Their enemies and adversaries would not be made to magically disappear. The Angel of God would bring Israel to their enemies and adversaries, and with the obedience of the people, the enemies and adversaries would be cut off.

Israel was given a simple warning and command, to not worship and serve the gods of the people they conquered, to not absorb into their faith the rituals and beliefs surrounding these gods. Instead they were to destroy even the imagery of these gods. That’s what the people had to do have God’s promise to be an enemy to their enemies and an adversary to their adversaries. With obedience God promised a succession of victories over their enemies even using hornets to drive their enemies and adversaries away. With obedience, Israel would take possession of a land described as flowing with milk and honey, and a land where others had already done most of the heavy work. All they had to do was obey what God told them to do.

Exodus 23:20-33
Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him. But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off. Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images. And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil. I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land. And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee. Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.

Eventually, Israel and Judah went into captivity, because these pagan gods held an allure to the people. It’s sort of like with the Church of God. If you want to snap people to attention, talk about prophecy as if you really know what will happen, or talk about some type of new truth. As the faithful, we cannot allow the allure of something shiny and new to replace the faith we have, not if we want God to be an enemy to our enemies and an adversary to our adversaries. What makes all of that tricky, is Satan is clever enough to realize that bold and stark differences tend to stand out. Instead of presenting something that is radically different, Satan will shade the truth using arguments that have elements of logic making the lie seem believable. For instance when the serpent told Eve that if she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil she would not die, that lie became believable to Eve because she did not die right then and there. Satan knows for a lie to work, it must be believable.

Genesis 3:1-7
Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

By the way, if you want to pull a practical joke on somebody you know, the more the joke is believable the more likely you are to be successful. Back thirty plus years ago when I was in my late twenties I was assigned to a middle school campus special education department working with a handful of other special educators. During that time the district we worked for was growing very fast and a multi-track year-round calendar was used. Instead of taking the typical summer off, educational services were provided throughout the year with different tracks of students taking shorter breaks throughout the year, typically attending for nine weeks and then taking three weeks off. Because special education provided services to students on all tracks, my contract was extended along with other special education teachers, and instead of getting three months off throughout the year, we would get three weeks off, along with all the traditional school holidays. Because we taught kids throughout the year, we could only take time off when kids were still being taught, and in special education to comply with legal requirements, special education teachers not taking time off would absorb the students of those special education teachers who were taking time off. That multi-track year-round calendar ran from just after July fourth through the end of June. Three-fourths of the students would start in July just after July fourth and the remaining would start around early August, when some of the students who started in July would take their first three week vacation. We would coordinate time off so there would always be a special education teacher on campus, and we worked very well as a team. Most would take time off later in the year, and one year one of the teachers took time off in August, which nobody ever did. To be fair, the teacher did this because he would have his son for a few weeks in August as part of a child custody agreement, and like any father should, he wanted to spend time with his son.

The rest of us could have done nothing, but we decided to prank this teacher. After all, when working for an entire year nobody had taken so much time off this early in the school year before. When this teacher returned after his time off, we had a letter that very much looked like it was from Human Resources telling him he was being involuntarily transferred to a disciplinary alternative campus due to staffing needs and the fact that he had made himself unavailable due to his requested time off. To make it believable, this bogus letter was made to look official, and the receptionist for Human Resources, the disciplinary alternative campus, and even our campus secretary were clued in on what we were doing. The teacher arrived at work, saw the letter, and because it looked so real, the teacher didn’t question it, and was ready to complain to campus administration. We did let the teacher know they had been pranked before the teacher complained to campus administration, and later the teacher laughed with us and let us know we had made everything seem so real. I did all of that when I was in my late twenties. I wouldn’t do the same today and wouldn’t recommend that anybody pull an elaborate prank like this.

Making false things look real is what Satan does very well, and shades of truth will be used to set the stage for the lie. When Satan tempted Jesus in the wilderness, shades of truth were again used to encourage abandoning the truth. Satan appealed to human vanity telling Jesus to turn stones into bread, only to be defeated by the word of God. Satan again appealed to human vanity telling Jesus that God would save Him, no matter what, and once again Satan was defeated by the word of God. When Satan offered Jesus immediate power and control of the world, once again Satan was defeated by the word of God. Satan appealed to human vanity as part of his effort to tempt Jeus, even citing scripture when it fit his motive. We have to reject appeals to human vanity in our life, even when scripture is involved.

Matthew 4:1-11
Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Through the word of God, Satan, the adversary of Jesus and our common adversary, was defeated. We think of Satan as a vile and detestable entity, and while that might describe Satan’s character, it may not describe the outward appearance. In Ezekiel, Satan is personified as the King of Tyre, and is shown to have perfect beauty. In numerical terms, that would make Satan a ten out of ten. Satan also was given great wisdom. Keep in mind what that means is our adversary has great wisdom that he will weaponize against us. We might think that that wisdom was taken away from Satan, but all we can see from scripture is that iniquity was found with Satan. Righteousness and wisdom helps the faithful endure to the end as much as evil and wisdom propels our adversary till the end. When Jesus used the word of God to defeat Satan, Jesus did that because the word of God supersedes the wisdom that Satan has. It should clue us in that it takes more than human wisdom to defeat Satan.

Ezekiel 28:11-19
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick; therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.

From Ezekiel we can see that God will continue to be an enemy to our common enemy and an adversary to our common adversary as Satan is told he will be become nothing more than ashes and be soon forgotten. In Isaiah, we see it was Satan who decided in his mind that he would overthrow God, and yet God clearly took care of His adversary. One day all who look on Satan will be amazed that the unremarkable being before them was one time the epitome of creation.

Isaiah 14:12-17
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

Revelation shows Satan was effective in deceiving angels as one-third of the angels decided to follow him, shown in prophetic symbolism as the dragon casting one-third of the stars of heaven to earth.

Revelation 12:3-4
And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Satan deceived one-third of the angels of heaven and would do just about anything to be able to deceive the people of God today. Paul warned the Corinthians of people who seek their own glory through faith. These are the people who through faith want to look good before others. These are the people who seek to make themselves to be religiously better than others. While these people may look like people of faith, how they truly are can be much different. Just as much as Satan can transform himself into an angel of light, these people can live very dark lives, and yet transform themselves when convenient into God-fearing people. We cannot allow ourselves to be deceived by Satan, or these people, who while they are ministers of darkness, masquerade as ministers of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 11:7-15
Have I committed an offence in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely? I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service. And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself. As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia. Wherefore? because I love you not? God knoweth. But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

Jesus confronted the people and religious elites of his day who thought they were doing what God expected of them. When Jesus claimed God as His Father the people taunted Jesus telling Him He was born of fornication and that Abraham was their father, and then also claimed God as their Father. Jesus told them if God were their Father, they would accept Him, but they couldn’t accept Him because their father was Satan. Instead of doing what God expected, they would do what Satan expected.

John 8:39-47
They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.

Jesus, the Son of God, was made a little lower than the angels because unlike the angels, Jesus suffered in death, and was raised with great honor and glory. Having faced the people of His day who opposed Him along with the religious elites, Jesus suffered human death through the hands of these people at the bequest of Satan. Yet, through that human death Jesus became the ultimate enemy to our enemy and the ultimate adversary to our adversary, because through that human death, Jesus destroyed Satan who has the power of physical death by removing the penalty of sin that is enforced at death. Instead of the penalty of sin being enforced at death, through Jesus death is defeated because we have the opportunity for eternal life. This opportunity is extended to us not because we are spiritually perfect and without sin. Because we are human being spiritually imperfect with sin is part of who we are. As the faithful, we are called to a life of righteousness, and that is something along with the Kingdom of God we seek our entire life. Until the return of Jesus all who are faithful will continue to seek God’s righteousness and the Kingdom of God knowing that Jesus Christ is a faithful high priest who reconciles us to God, and helps those who are tempted because Jesus lived as a human knowing the temptations that come as part of the human condition.

Hebrews 2:9-18
But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Imagine working to achieve something only to have it at the end completely negated. Sports teams that work to achieve a championship, experience that somewhat especially when they lose the championship game. The difference between a sports game and faith is the prize that is awarded, and eternal life is a far greater prize than any championship trophy. Jesus is the ultimate enemy and adversary to our common enemy and adversary. Through Jesus we know a lifetime of faith where we seek the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness will result in the prize of eternal life being awarded to us, not because of anything we did, but because thousands of years ago, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We know that through Jesus, Satan who seeks our death and destruction will be defeated.

Living in the world it is easy to see the many who even with the promise of eternal life prefer the darkness and death that comes with it, rather than the light and eternal life that comes through Jesus. Even though the Bible clearly shows Jesus will utterly defeat Satan and his power over death, too many dismiss what is written in the Bible either because they do not believe in God and Jesus Christ, or because they have believed a false message of Christianity because Satan can transform himself into an angel of light. We are people of faith, and we do what God expects of us. We embrace spiritual light and reject spiritual darkness, knowing that it is through the word of God, the same word that Jesus used to defeat Satan during the temptation, that we choose to live by. When others reject the word of God because they want to continue to sin, we choose to embrace the word of God knowing it gives us a path toward the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.

John 3:14-21
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

In the psalms we are shown how the enemies of God flee, how they are destroyed. Conversely, we are also shown how the righteous are glad and rejoice.

Psalm 68:1-4
Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him.

James reminds us of the need not to be hypocritical. We cannot embrace sin and evil as this world might, because whoever embraces sin and evil declares themselves as an enemy of God. Instead of submitting to what this world does, we need to submit ourselves to God, and do what God expects of us. Do we want God as our enemy and adversary, or do we want God as an enemy and adversary to our enemies and adversaries?

James 4:1-10
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

From prophecy we know Satan’s power will be completely destroyed. In the end, even Satan will be tossed into the lake of fire. In the end, death will be defeated, and Satan will be defeated.

Revelation 20:7-10
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

When we submit to God, through Jesus Christ we have the opportunity for eternal life, a time when pain and sorrow as we know it will no longer exist. Expected of us is that we overcome, because it is to those who overcome who are given eternal life and will inherit all things. Excluded from those who overcome are the fearful and others. Nowhere in the ten commandments does it tell us we shall not be fearful, and yet in the end the fearful are excluded from eternal life. If we believe that God is an enemy and adversary to our enemies and adversaries, and if we believe that Jesus died so that our sins can be forgiven, there is nothing for us to fear. We need to seek first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness doing what is expected of us.

Revelation 21:1-8
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

In doing what is expected of us we need to consider we were once no different than the people in our life who do not know God the Father and Jesus Christ, who when the world believes sin is a great idea, they think that sin is a great idea. Having been given the Holy Spirit, we can no longer do and think like this world does and thinks. Instead of living a life of sin in opposition to what God expects of us, we need to live a life doing good works, doing what God expects of us, recognizing that the life of faith we have as a Christian was made possible by the incredible sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and that eternal life is nothing we could ever earn, because the price of eternal life was paid with the death and sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:1-10
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved; And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

The enemies we face are spiritual enemies reflecting wickedness and darkness. We have to put on the whole armor of God in our spiritual fight even when knowing God is the enemy and adversary to our spiritual enemies and adversaries. Truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation are our defensive weapons of faith, and the word of God through the Holy Spirit becomes our spiritual offensive weapon. God is an enemy and adversary to our enemies and adversaries, but we are still called to the spiritual battle, and it is a battle we will win, a battle that we will prevail in, a battle where our enemy will be defeated.

Ephesians 6:10-17
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Knowing God is an enemy and adversary to our enemies and adversaries should bring us comfort, but the fact that we have Satan as a spiritual enemy and adversary should be very sobering to us, because Satan wants our death and destruction. We must resist Satan and remain steadfast in the faith. We cannot allow ourselves to be overcome, rather, we must overcome. Some of the things we overcome will be a one and done challenge for us, and other things we overcome might be a life-long endeavor, but we never surrender, we never allow ourselves to be overcome.

1 Peter 5:8-10
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Seeking first the Kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, we cannot allow ourselves to be deceived like Eve was deceived. We must protect ourselves and not allow truth to be shaded from light to darkness.

2 Corinthians 11:1-4
Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Peter reminds us that God did not spare the angels that sinned, and did not spare the world at the time of Noah from its sin. Peter also reminds us that God through Jesus Christ knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation. God as the enemy of our enemies and adversary of our adversaries fights for us, and Jesus Christ died for us all so we can have the opportunity for eternal life.

2 Peter 2:1-9
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds; The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

It is with complete confidence of faith we know our adversary will be defeated. We know Satan and the spiritual forces of wickedness will be defeated. We know God fights for and protects his people and all that is needed is for the people of God to do what is expected by God. It is God who is an enemy to our enemies and an adversary to our adversaries, who through Jesus Christ will ultimately defeat Satan our enemy, and the power over death that he has. We know eventually Satan will be finally defeated when tossed into the lake of fire, and then those who have overcome, who have not been defeated by evil but who through righteousness overcame evil, will live in an incredible time of eternal life and peace. Our adversary will be defeated and over the next several weeks we will take a look at our Father in Heaven, and His Son Jesus Christ who make the defeat of our adversary and eternal life possible.

All verses are from the King James Version.
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