Ephesians 6:10-12 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the fall armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”

Paul identifies our most dangerous enemy as the devil and his angels. He is not merely imaginary, as some believe. Ten years ago New York Magazine asked Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia if he believed in the devil. He answered that he did. The reporter seemed surprised. One commentator later concluded, “We have a lunatic on the court.” That kind of denial of Satan’s existence is just the way the devil wants it.

It is part of his schemes. If he can’t convince you that he is stronger, kinder, more reasonable, and more fun than God, then he doesn’t want you to think that he exists at all. That’s because denial of the devil’s existence tends to go along with denial of belief that there is a God, a denial that sin has eternal consequences, a willingness to rethink what is right and what is wrong.

He has always been clever at playing both sides of an issue, at finding a way to make seemingly contradictory beliefs or behaviors serve his purposes. If he can’t get you to indulge your sinful desires, he will fill you with pride about how superior you are. If he can’t fill you with pride and blind you to your sin, then he will drive you to despair that God could ever be gracious to you. If he can’t drive you to despair of God’s grace, he will lead you to see God’s grace as a kind of license to sin all you want, as a sign that sin isn’t really so bad if God can forgive it so easily. If he can’t get you to take grace as a license, then he will convince you that grace has all kinds of conditions and stipulations attached to it, so that it ends up being no real grace at all. It’s like a game of chess, and the devil has a way to counter your every move, and he is always thinking at least three or four moves ahead.

Except that it is no game at all. It is a fight for your eternal soul. And look again at what Paul calls your spiritual enemies: rulers, authorities, powers of this dark world, spiritual forces of evil. These aren’t just ghosts that jump out and say, “Boo!” There is real power and influence here. These spiritual forces inflict real cruelty on people. They create genuine misery–suffering, shame, fear, doubt, and unbelief.

In Daniel 10 one evil angel was able to delay one of God’s good angels from delivering a message for three weeks until the Lord finally sent the archangel Michael to intervene. If that scares you a little bit, good! Far too many people fail to take the devil and his angels seriously. Of course, in Christ we have the victory, but only in Christ. If you and I are going to be strong for our battle, we need to know our true enemy.