What Is Christian Warfare?
Jonathan Parnell
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Psalm 109,
Be not silent, O God of my praise!
2 For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
3 They encircle me with words of hate,
and attack me without cause.
4 In return for my love they accuse me,
but I give myself to prayer.
5 So they reward me evil for good,
and hatred for my love.
6 Appoint a wicked man againsthim;
letan accuser stand at his right hand.
7 When he is tried, let him come forth guilty;
let his prayer be counted as sin!
8 May his days be few;
may another take his office!
9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow!
10 May his children wander about and beg,
seeking food far from the ruins they inhabit!
11 May the creditor seize all that he has;
may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil!
12 Let there be none to extend kindness to him,
nor any to pity his fatherless children!
13 May his posterity be cut off;
may his name be blotted out in the second generation!
14 May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the Lord,
and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out!
15 Let them be before the Lord continually,
that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth!
16 For he did not remember to show kindness,
but pursued the poor and needy
and the brokenhearted, to put them to death.
17 He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
18 He clothed himself with cursing as his coat;
may it soak into his body like water,
like oil into his bones!
19 May it be like a garment that he wraps around him,
like a belt that he puts on every day!
20 May this be the reward of my accusers from the Lord,
of those who speak evil against my life!
21 But you, O God myLord,
deal on my behalf for your name's sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
22 For I am poor and needy,
and my heart is stricken within me.
23 I am gone like a shadow at evening;
I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees are weak through fasting;
my body has become gaunt, with no fat.
25 I am an object of scorn to my accusers;
when they see me, they wag their heads.
26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Save me according to your steadfast love!
27 Let them know that this is your hand;
you, O Lord, have done it!
28 Let them curse, but you will bless!
They arise and are put to shame, but your servant will be glad!
29 May my accusers be clothed with dishonor;
may they be wrapped in their own shame as in a cloak!
30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.
In 1657, an English Puritan named John Arrowsmith wrote a book describing the Christian life as warfare. He says this warfare is not something that happens every now and then, but it’s constant: To be a Christian is to be at war, period.
Sometimes we can have moments of respite — which are gifts — but the baseline reality of the Christian life is that we actually live behind enemy lines.
Arrowsmith writes: [quote]
“Christians dwell in enemy territory so long as they [are in this] world.”
Everyday we fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil, but he explains the real enemy is Satan himself. The Book of Revelation calls Satan “that ancient serpent” (going back to Genesis Chapter 3)…
This means we’re in an ancient war, against an ancient enemy, and therefore Christians should understand themselves as spiritual warriors.
That’s Arrowsmith’s main point, and it’s a good one.
And what I find fascinating about it is that in 17th century Europe nobody heard him explain this and thought he was being too intense. Nobody thought he was forcing the framework.
And so if we hear it and we think he’s being too extreme, it’s probably because we’re the ones living in the bubble … Understand most of human history has been marked by suffering and violence …
And it’s not just that life itself is hard, but it’s that for most humans throughout history, they’ve understood what it means to have enemies— I don’t mean metaphorical enemies; not merely ideological enemies. But I’m talking about real, physical enemies who are active threats.
That category has been normal for most people historically, and so the concept of the Christian life as warfare makes sense to them. … And I believe it’ll make more sense to us the more we are shaped by the Bible.
That’s what we’re gonna see this morning. Looking at Psalm 109, I want to show you four facts about Christian warfare.
These facts were true when David wrote this psalm; they were true in the 17th century when Arrowsmith wrote his book; and they’re true right now — so we can’t afford not to know these things. The first fact is this:
1. There are enemies of Christ.Right away we see that Psalm 109 is about enemies.
Verse 1 opens:
“Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues …”
This is obvious opposition. Then in verse 6, there’s still plural enemies, but a singular enemy comes into view and verse 8 says:
“May his days be few; may another take his office!”
“May his days be few; may another take his office!”
Now if you’ve recently read the Book of Acts in the New Testament, that might sound familiar to you. That’s because in Acts Chapter 1, one of the first things Peter does after Jesus’s resurrection, is he tells the other disciples that they need to replace Judas (remember Jesus had twelve disciples, but Judas betrayed Jesus and hung himself, so they were down to eleven disciples).
And the reason Peter gives for replacing Judas is Psalm 109, verse 8.
This is Acts 1:15 — there were 120 brand-new Christians altogether, and Peter says:
Hey, everyone, we need to replace Judas because the Holy Spirit spoke by the mouth of David concerning Judas that another should take his office.
Peter quotes Psalm 109:8, which means that Peter (and the other early Christians), who had been trained by Jesus how to read the Old Testament, they interpreted the enemy in Psalm 109 to be Judas.
This is amazing! Now I wanna show you how they get there …
Psalm 109 is a Psalm of David, and as we’ve seen many times before, David writes the psalms as a type of Christ. He writes from own situations, but he also looks forward in time, and the Holy Spirit, through David’s original voice, speaks as the voice of the Messiah.
That’s what’s happening in Psalm 109. So we should read this psalm as prayed ultimately by Jesus himself.
The enemies described here are not just enemies of David, the Anointed One, but they’re enemies of David’s Son, the ultimate Anointed One. Psalm 109 is about the enemies of the true Messiah. It’s about the enemies of Christ.
Archetypal EnemyAnd focus is on Judas as the singular enemy because Judas became the ringleader of those who crucified Jesus. Peter says in Acts 1:16 that Judas was their guide. Judas became the lead human instrument of Satan’s schemes — we know from the Gospel accounts! They tell us that Satan entered Judas (Luke 22:3; John 13:2, 27).
And so to this day, Judas is an archetype of an enemy of Christ. He’s the head representative. Every enemy of Christ ever since has been cut from that same cloth. So, like Judas, enemies of Christ become people in whom Satan has his way.
They oppose the message of Christ and the people of Christ, and they distort the truth of Christ. And we see this already throughout the New Testament.
The apostle John calls this the “spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3) — it’s the ongoing satanic pattern of hatred for Jesus.
There are people in this world who hate Jesus and hate his people. And of course we know this because Jesus has told us this in the Gospel of John.
So it’s first fact we gotta nail down: there are enemies of Christ.
Second fact about our warfare is …
2. The enemies of Christ speak evil.Now when you think of the enemies of Christ, you might imagine all kinds of terrible things these enemies do, but it’s important to see in Psalm 109 that the main evil of these enemies has to do with what they say.
Ten different times we read that the enemies of Christ have: Deceitful mouths, lying tongues, they speak words of hate, they accuse, they curse, they speak evil.
We see this actively in the Gospels, in the trial of Jesus; we see this in those who reviled Jesus when he was on the cross; we see this in Judas when he conspired against Jesus — he used words. We also see this today in how the enemies of Christ oppose his people.
Now none of this should surprise us because Jesus called Satan “a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). That was Satan’s way from the start in the Garden of Eden, and it’s happening now. The enemies of Christ — those in whom Satan has his way — they most resemble Satan with their words. Their messaging. They are liars.
Falsehood. Deception. Half-truths. Spinning truths. Full-out distortions. Blatant contradictions. Or as they say in Australia, bull-DUST — all of that is speaking evil. And there is something especially Satanic about it … And in this country, you’re technically free to do it.
Just understand that freedom of speech doesn’t mean that the words you speak are harmless to your soul. Words have consequences. And every word ever spoken against Jesus Christ will be punished.
I remember as a kid something Jesus said really got my attention. It’s Matthew 12:36. Jesus says,
“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak…”
Jesus said that. And if people will be held accountable for their careless words, how much more the enemies of Christ for their words against Christ?
That’s the third fact.
3. God will curse the enemies of Christ.The bulk of Psalm 109 is an imprecatory prayer. An imprecatory prayer is when you ask God to curse someone. I counted 23 curses (or imprecations) in this psalm — that’s 23 petitions where David, in the voice of Messiah, is asking God to curse his enemies.
Now we’d be sidetracked if all of a sudden we make the topic here about whether or not we can pray imprecatory prayers. (Of course we can. They’re in the Bible! And if you want to read more about it, I encourage you to go check out a sermon I preached a few years ago on Psalm 58 titled, “How to Pray Imprecations.”)
But for this morning, there’s something more important for us to see. Most of the curses are in verses 6–20, but the direct center of the psalm is verse 17. Here’s verse 17:
He [the enemy of Christ] … He loved to curse; let curses come upon him!
He did not delight in blessing; may it be far from him!
So the Messiah is asking God the Father to curse his enemies who tried to curse him. And if you’re a reader of Scripture, this makes total sense — Jesus is just asking God to do what God already promised. Because way back in the Book of Genesis, God promised Abraham, Genesis 12:3,
I will bless those who bless you,
and him who dishonors you [or curses you] I will curse …
God said that! And this promise becomes a covenantal thread that runs all the way through the Old Testament and finally reaches its fulfillment in Jesus. Jesus becomes the ultimate dividing line between blessing and curse — are you with him or against him? That’s the question. And if you’re against him, God will curse you.
And then the apostle Paul applies this same logic to the church.
Applied to the ChurchPaul tells the church in Thessalonica that “God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you” (2 Thessalonians 1:6).
God the Father says it is right to curse those who curse the church.
This is a big deal.
And I can’t help but imagine that when Paul wrote those words, he remembered the very first thing Jesus ever said to him. This in Acts Chapter 9, on the road to Damascus, when the old Paul was on his way to persecute Christians. Remember Jesus appeared to him and said:
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Paul said, “Who are you?”
Jesus said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting?”
You get that? Jesus identifies himself so completely with his church that the persecution of them is persecution of him.
So for the enemies of Christ who afflict his church, God the Father will afflict them. And Jesus prays for that. Look, the main thing we need to know about these curses in Psalm 109 is that they will happen whether we pray for them or not. Psalm 109 is about what will be.
The Father has promised it. The Son has requested it.
God will curse the enemies of Christ.
That is a fact about Christian warfare. Here’s the last one. In this warfare …
4. God will magnify his glory by saving his people.In the midst of this opposition, as these enemies are set against him, the Messiah prays for God to deliver him. We read this in verse 21, and this a verse that you gotta see. So y’all help me out. Find Psalm 109, verse 21:
But you, O God my Lord, deal on my behalf for your name’s sake;
because your steadfast love is good, deliver me!
Now skip down to verse 26:
Help me, O Lord my God! Save me according to your steadfast love!
Let them know that this is your hand; you, O Lord, have done it!
I want you to see here that the Messiah’s not just asking for God to save him, he’s asking for God to be glorified. He’s saying:
Save me because of who you are!
Save me for your name’s sake!
Save me because of your steadfast love!
And save me in such a way that my enemies know it’s you!
Make it clear that my salvation is from your hand!
Now, how might God do that?
What kind of salvation would require God to do what nobody else can do?
What kind of enemy could God defeat that makes people say … “wow!”?
If there’s one place where we know for sure “vain is the salvation of man” it’s the grave. Death is the enemy that no man can outrun, no army can defeat, no power on earth can reverse. Nobody raises themselves from the dead.
But do you know what God can do?
On the third day, God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. It was only by his hand. God did that! We see this confidence all throughout the Psalms in the voice of the Messiah:
O Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. (30:3)
You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption! (16:10)
You, God, will ransom my soul from the power of the grave! (49:15)
God is the one who resurrects. God alone! It’s true of physical resurrection, and it’s true of spiritual resurrection …
I hope you know that if you’re a Christian it’s because God did that.
The Bible tells us that spiritually speaking, left to ourselves, we’re all in graves.
Ephesians 2:1, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins…” Dead! — Therefore, God has to be the one to spiritually resurrect us, and he did! That’s why God gets the glory!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8–9)
Christian, don’t pat yourself on the back for being a Christian, but thank God he made you alive! Thank God that he has worked a miracle in you! God did that!
Be humbled and happy! That’s how we live as Christians for the glory of God.
God magnifies his glory by saving his people … he raised Jesus from the dead, he raises his church from spiritual death, and one day he will raise our bodies from the grave and make us like Jesus, with him, forever.
But until then, church, it’s warfare. We are, for now, the church militant.
In this life we cling to Jesus by faith behind enemy lines, and we fight everyday against the world, the flesh, and the devil. Why did God do it this way? You ever think about this?
What if God had made it so that at our conversion, we get instant, complete triumph? No more struggle. No more enemies. Just instant heaven. Wouldn’t that be nice! Why does God leave us here to fight?
John Arrowsmith asked that question. This is what he said:
[In our fight,] God directs and ordains the wickedness of Satan and the unrighteous such that they result in His glory, [and his glory is manifest in] the advantage of His church, and the destruction of the wicked at the day of the Lord. (120)
That’s not an easy answer, but it’s true.
That’s how we should think about the enemies of Christ: God has ordained it all for the maximum display of his glory, which is the maximum joy of his people.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be glory forever. Amen.
This is what brings us to the Table
The TableWe come here each week to remember the death of Jesus. By the death of Jesus, God’s love was poured out for us. By his resurrection, although we’re at war, our victory is secured.
And we come here to thank him. We thank Jesus for his death; we thank him that he’s alive; and we thank him for making us alive. And hey, if you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian … if you’ve not put your faith in Jesus, God can make you alive right now. Turn to Jesus and be spiritually resurrected.
If that is your story, if you are a Christian, we invite you to eat and drink with us…