Derek Prince - Our Fight Against Spirits
Now I want to speak in this talk about the nature and the structure of Satan’s kingdom and we will turn to Ephesians Chapter 6 and verse 12, which is, I think, the main verse that brings this out. And again, I want to remind you we are now talking about things you cannot perceive with your senses. I will read from the New King James which is like the old King James but a little bit modernized. Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly “places”.
The word “places” is in inverted commas. It is put in by the translators. I think it is better to say in the heavenlies. Somebody commented once that most of the church has punctuated that verse wrong. The way they read it is like this: For we do not wrestle. Full stop. That’s not what it is saying. I want to give you the Prince version of this particular verse. I studied Greek since I was 10 years old and I am qualified to teach it on university level. I do not say that to boast but at least it gives me the right to give my opinion. I do not mean I am right but I’m entitled to an opinion.
I like to begin by taking a phrase from The Living Bible which says: Our wrestling match is not against persons with bodies. I think that is very vivid. It is extremely important to understand that we are dealing with persons. Until we grasp that we are really like a blindfolded boxer. We are dealing with persons but they are persons without bodies, spirit beings.
Now we’ll go on... For our wrestling match. Again, I would point out that this is a very intense conflict. I think of all the forms of interpersonal conflict, wrestling is the most intense. It is one person totally pitted against another person. It is no accident that Paul uses that phrase for our warfare against Satan’s kingdom. It is total warfare. Our wrestling match is not against persons with bodies. Now here comes the Prince version: But against rulerships with various areas and descending orders of authority, against the world dominators of this present darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenlies.
What I want to point out to you is that Satan’s kingdom is no jumble; it is a highly-organized kingdom, for which he gets no credit because he was, I believe, (and I will deal with this in a few moments) one of the chief angels in charge of a large section of the angels. And as such he had a divinely given organizational system. And when he rebelled against God and led his angels in rebellion he simply took the system with him but turned it against God. So don't imagine that Satan does not have a highly organized kingdom. For which, as I said, he gets no credit. The credit goes to God. But let us take into account the fact that he is no simpleton. He is a very astute, powerful and evil being.