Before God created the terrestrial and extraterrestrial worlds, He had created incorporeal heavenly beings (Job 38:7). God is spirit (Jn. 4:24), and for Christians, to believe in Him is to believe in the spiritual realm.
Spiritual warfare is not a secondary theme in Scripture. It is part of God’s purpose to bring people from every nation under the kingship of Jesus Christ. The Bible presents a conflict involving earthly nations and spiritual powers, but it also reveals the ultimate outcome: God will reclaim the nations for Himself through Christ.
Understanding the spiritual warfare in which Christians are actively engaged, the powers involved in this warfare, and how Christ calls His people to participate in it is the focus of this study.
After His resurrection, Jesus instructed His disciples:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19–20)
But before sending out His disciples, Jesus had to confirm His authority over the nations. He declared this in the verse preceding the Great Commission:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matt. 28:18).
The Great Commission, therefore, begins with Christ’s authority over the nations. Jesus is not sending His disciples into territory outside His ultimate authority. He is sending them to proclaim His kingship and make disciples of the nations that now belong under His authority.
But this raises an important question: Who exercised authority over the nations before Christ declared that all authority had been given to Him?
After His baptism, the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, where the devil tempted Him. In one of the temptations, the devil showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and claimed to have received authority over them. He promised to give Jesus their authority and glory if He would worship him (Lk. 4:1–13).
Jesus did not fall for the enemy’s temptation because He would later reclaim that authority through His death and resurrection without worshipping the devil.
This raises two questions: When did the devil receive authority over the kingdoms of the world, and who delivered that authority to him?
Nations Have Gods
To answer these questions, we have to go to the Old Testament. At Mount Sinai, God commanded the new nation of Israel:
“You shall not have other gods beside me.” (Ex. 20:3, NABRE)
This commandment is traditionally understood by some as an outright denial of the existence of other gods except Yahweh, the God of Israel. However, in the context of the more general prohibitions in the same chapter, vv. 4-5, verse 3 is more precisely God’s demand for Israel’s exclusive worship and allegiance.
Egypt, the place Israel was leaving, served a pantheon of gods that included Ra, king of gods and sun god; Osiris, god of the underworld; and Isis, goddess of magic and healing, among others. Canaan, the land Israel was headed to, had gods such as El, Baal and Asherah (Jgd. 3:7; 6:29; 1 Ki. 18:19; 14:23; 2 Ki. 11:18; 21:3).
It was therefore imperative that Yahweh declare Himself God of the new nation and warn them extensively about serving other gods.
“You shall not go after other gods, any of the gods of the surrounding peoples—for the LORD, your God who is in your midst, is a passionate God—lest the anger of the LORD, your God, flare up against you and He destroy you from the land.” (Deut. 6:14-15, NABRE)
“And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.” (Deut. 8:19-20)
Other references in which God warned Israel about serving other gods include Deuteronomy 23–26; 11:16–17, 28; 29:18–28; 30:17–18; and 2 Kings 17:7–18.
Israel was not faithful to Yahweh and indeed turned to the gods of their neighbors. When Solomon was old, his many wives turned his heart to follow other gods to the LORD’s displeasure. 1 Kings 11:5-9 records:
“For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.” (1 Kings 11:5–8)
It is clear from Scriptures that nations surrounding Israel had gods whom they served. It was for this reason that God prohibited Israel from marrying foreigners because “they would turn away your sons from following Me, to serve other gods” (Deut. 7:4).
Princes and Kings
We read in Daniel 10 that as Daniel was mourning for three weeks over a vision of what was to happen to the people of Israel, a man appeared to him on the twenty-fourth day and said:
“Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia, and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.” (Daniel 10:12–14)
Later in the same chapter the man also mentions the prince of Greece (Dan. 10:20).
What is the nature of these princes and kings? Human princes and kings would certainly not be able to fight Michael, one of the chief princes. They must be otherworldly beings who were given authority over earthly kingdoms and nations.
These passages show that Scripture presents a spiritual dimension behind the earthly nations. But the existence of these “princes,” “kings,” and “gods” does not mean that they are equal to Yahweh or that they possess independent divine authority. They are created spiritual beings who remain subject to the sovereignty of the Most High. The question, then, is how they came to exercise authority over the nations.
How Did the Gods Get Authority Over Nations?
The song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 offers the answer. Moses says:
“When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He divided mankind, He fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob His allotted heritage” (Deut. 32:8–9).
This passage raises two questions: When did this division and allocation occur? Who are the “sons of God”?
Genesis 11 records that after the flood, Noah’s descendants travelled east and settled at Shinar. They agreed to build for themselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens so that they would not be scattered over all the earth. This was in direct rebellion against God’s command for them to “be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it” (Gen. 9:7).
The LORD came down to see what they were building and decided to disperse them.
“So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” (Gen. 11:8–9)
Could the rebellion at Babel be the event associated with the division of mankind and the allocation of the nations described in Deuteronomy 32:8? Scripture does not explicitly state that Babel and Deuteronomy 32:8 are the same event, but the connection is significant. Genesis 11 provides the clearest narrative account of God dividing mankind and dispersing the nations in this way.
According to Deuteronomy 32:8, God assigned the dispersed nations according to the number of His sons. Other translations like the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE), for example, says, “after the number of the divine beings”
The “sons of God” are heavenly created beings in God’s service to whom He gives various responsibilities. They are the non-human princes and kings over kingdoms, like the ones mentioned earlier in Daniel 10.
The picture that emerges is that God divided the nations and permitted heavenly beings to exercise authority over them. But this arrangement would not last, because these beings would become corrupt.
God Judges the Gods and Reclaims the Nations
Because these heavenly beings were created with the capacity to choose, they chose to rebel and became corrupt. Psalm 82 records their downfall, Yahweh’s judgment, and ends with God repossessing the nations.
“God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: ‘How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’ They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.’ Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!“ (Psalm 82)
Psalm 82 helps explain the spiritual dimension behind Deuteronomy 32:8. The nations were divided and dispersed (Gen. 11:8–9), and Deuteronomy 32:8 describes their allocation according to the number of the sons of God. Together, these passages provide the biblical framework for understanding the division of the nations and the spiritual powers associated with them.
But those beings became corrupt. Psalm 82 records Yahweh’s judgment against them and His declaration that He would reclaim the nations as His own.
He reclaims the nations because they were His in the first place. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” Yahweh had entrusted the administration of the nations to His sons. But because of their failure, He judged them and declared that He would reclaim the nations as His inheritance.
The LORD’s Portion
While Yahweh allotted nations as inheritance according to the number of His sons, He also left Himself an inheritance.
“But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted heritage.” (Deut. 32:9)
But it is worth noting that at Babel (Gen. 11:8-9), God’s portion—Jacob—did not yet exist. So God began forming His inheritance by calling Abram out of Haran and asking him to go to a land He would show him (Gen. 12). He promised to make him a great nation and changed his name to Abraham.
Because of his obedience, God promised Abraham that in his offspring, “shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 22:18).
The promise was never limited to the nation God would form out of Abraham. From the beginning, God’s purpose was to bless all nations through Abraham’s offspring. That promise reaches its fulfillment in Christ as Paul explains:
“Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).
From Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God formed Israel who were to be His treasured possession among all the peoples of the earth if they obeyed His covenant (Ex. 19:5; Dt. 7:6; 14:6; 26:18; Ps. 135:4). Yahweh was the God of Israel, while other gods—described as “sons of God”—were associated with the other nations.
The LORD’s purpose was not simply to have one nation as His inheritance. His purpose was to reclaim the nations. The promise to Abraham points toward that larger inheritance through Christ.
Christ Inherits the Nations
“Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” (Ps. 2:8)
How does Christ—the offspring through whom all the nations of the earth are blessed—inherit all the nations? (Ps. 2:8) Through spiritual warfare.
The gospel of Christ is the means by which God reclaims people from the dominion of darkness and brings them into the kingdom of His Son. Preaching the gospel is spiritual warfare. Christ’s blessing to all nations through the gospel is an assault on the other gods’ claim on the nations.
After His resurrection, Christ declared to His disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him (Matt. 28:18). The declaration of Christ’s authority is immediately followed by the Great Commission. This is not accidental. Christ receives authority over the nations, and then He sends His disciples to all nations.
“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’” (Matt. 28:18–19)
The Great Commission is therefore not merely a command to evangelize individuals; it is the proclamation of Christ’s kingship to all nations. Through the gospel, Christ is taking possession of the nations because they all belong to Him.
Not only does Christ have authority over the earthly nations, but He also has authority over the spiritual realm. The corrupt sons of God, princes, kings of kingdoms and nations, and other evil spiritual forces cannot stop the advance of the gospel of Christ (Matt. 16:18), because all authority everywhere belongs to our LORD.
The Great Commission was therefore a warfare order from Christ to His disciples to go into the nations and proclaim his new rule. Christ, the rightful King, is taking back possession of all nations from other gods. He is inheriting them through the preaching of the gospel.
Don’t Go Alone: The Power of the Holy Spirit
Before His ascension, Christ ordered His disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit to receive power for the Great Commission in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:4-5, 8).
Christ did not send His disciples into this warfare in their own strength. He commanded them to wait for the Holy Spirit. Spiritual warfare must therefore be carried out in dependence upon God’s power, not human strength.
After Pentecost, the early disciples took the gospel of Christ throughout the known world of their time.
In spiritual warfare, the Holy Spirit is the seal identifying those who belong to Christ (Eph. 1:13-14). Don’t go to the battlefield without Him. Remember the sons of Sceva (Acts 19:13-14). Paul reminds us that:
“We do not wrestle 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.” (Eph. 6:12)
Do not go into spiritual battle with carnal weapons. Rather, put on the full armor of God (Eph. 6:13-18). The battle is spiritual, the authority belongs to Christ, and the power to engage in it comes from the Holy Spirit.
The Ongoing Warfare
There are still many people yet to be won for Christ. He is actively advancing His kingdom among the nations and inheriting them as His own—one person at a time. The god of this world is fighting to keep many people deceived by blinding them from seeing the light of the gospel of Christ (2 Cor. 4:4; Eph. 2:2).
The warfare continues because there are still people in every nation who have not yet come under the kingship of Christ. At Caesarea Philippi, Jesus declared:
“I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
The Church is therefore not advancing toward an uncertain outcome. Christ has already declared the outcome: the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church. With this assurance, we must preach the gospel with boldness, knowing that the LORD of hosts is on our side.
Spiritual warfare is part of God’s purpose to bring people from every nation out of the bondage of spiritual powers and under the kingship of Jesus Christ. Through the gospel, Christ is gathering people from every nation into the Kingdom of God.
God gets what He wants. He wanted to inherit all the nations, and He will. John saw the fulfillment of this purpose:
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:9)
The nations that were divided are being gathered. The people who were under the bondage of spiritual powers are being reclaimed by Christ. The nations promised to the Son are becoming His inheritance.
This is the story of spiritual warfare: God reclaims what belongs to Him through Christ, and He uses the proclamation of the gospel to gather people from every nation into His Kingdom.
Amen.
