Question
I wanted to express in written my deep appreciation for your book, “Satan and His Plan of Evil.”
Without taking much time from your ministry, I wonder if you could expand a little for me on the truth of Satan producing ‘spiritual wickedness in high places’?
Response
As I mentioned in the book, there is the broad concept of Satan ‘speaking reproachfully’ and I only talked about it in a very general way. However, in order to narrow it down a bit and to describe it more particularly some further aspects about what it means to “reproach” need to be underscored.
The word “reproach” is used in a number of contexts to describe the general issue of expressing disapprobation/disapproval, and in this the word is akin to other words such as “blame” and “reprove” and the like. Though each of these words denotes the expression of disapprobation, the difference is primarily in the intensity of the disapprobation as well as in the motive behind expressing it. And though “reproach” can be used to describe strong disapprobation that is designed for one’s benefit, (for one can be reproached by a friend; by one who loves you), it is most often used to describe the expression of strong disapprobation from one who does not appreciate another. And when this is the case the reproach is designed to bring dishonor upon another; to discredit someone in the eyes of others to the advantage of the one doing the reproaching. Moreover, when the motive of the one doing the reproaching is selfish, or self-serving, or vindictive, or scornful, or based on hate or bitterness, the advantage that is sought by the one doing the reproaching is generally one of endeavoring to ‘save face,’ bolster his ego, assuage his wounded pride, restore or repair the former prestige or honor that he used to have in the eyes of others, and the like.
Now when it comes to us and the Adversary, we know the nature of the reproach we are dealing with. It isn’t coming from a loving friend designed for our benefit, but from an enemy whose great pride has been sorely wounded, and whose esteem and prestige both in his own eyes and in the eyes of his cohorts has been dealt a devastating and crippling blow, by the revelation of God’s “hidden wisdom” and the creation of His “new creature.” Hence, he seeks opportunity to speak reproachfully about us to bring dishonor upon us and God’s use of us, and to discredit us in the eyes of his cohorts to the advantage of him saving face in their eyes and also to the repairing of damage that has been done to his prestige and to the claims he originally made about himself regarding his right to be “like the most High.” In connection with this my understanding is that when Paul speaks of the “spiritual wickedness” in Ephesians 6, we are to understand that it is the devil’s own counterpart and counteracting response to the “spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” that God has blessed us with, which Paul tells us about in Ephesians 1. Satan, as “the devil” or slanderer that he is, counters God’s “spiritual blessing” of us with his own “spiritual wickedness” by means of speaking reproachfully of us.
Now this is still a general description of his “speaking reproachfully.” Yet it has amplified upon the concept just enough to provide us with the issue that allows us to describe the reproach more particularly. Once again, reproach is designed to bring dishonor and discredit upon someone in the eyes of others. And in our case that dishonor and discredit is sought after by the devil in view of the fact that God has honored us and credited us “in Christ” and has set that forth by having “blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ”. So the fact that the aim is one of producing dishonor and discredit to counter the honor and credit we have “in Christ”; this is the key to understanding what kind of particular things are being spoken by way of reproach.
Briefly put, my understanding is that our “all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” that we have been blessed with are composed not only of the pronouncements of God concerning Him having made us fully fit “in Christ” to be utilized by Him as His “new creature” for the reconciliation of the heavenly places unto Himself; but such “spiritual blessings” are also composed of pronouncements of how He has provided for edifying us as His “sons” in the issue of godliness, and that this is for the purpose of making us ‘edificationally fit’ (if I can coin that term) and trained to occupy and function in the very positions of authority that He has created for the administration of His purpose with the heavenly places.
Hence, when the devil speaks reproachfully of us to dishonor and discredit us, my understanding is that he does so with specific reference to these pronouncements; especially to the issue of our edification and training that is designed by God to provide for us to be able to occupy and function in the positions of administration in the heavenly places. Whenever we are successfully victimized by his policy of evil against us, the devil is able to slander us through words of reproach that specifically denounce the issue of God being successful in edifying us, and in so doing specifically discredit us in his own eyes and those of his cohorts as being ones who would be capable of occupying and functioning in the positions of administration in the heavenly places.
To be more specific than this one needs to look at the individual components that comprise and constitute our sonship edification in this dispensation, match them up with the components of Satan’s policy of evil designed to oppose them, and realize that when he is successful with his policy of evil in some particular area then he is able to speak reproachfully about that with specific reference to having thwarted, hindered, or corrupted the effectual working of God’s word for our godly edifying.
This is the gist of my understanding regarding a more particular description of our Adversary’s ability to speak reproachfully of us. I hope that it is of some help.
Keith Blades
Enjoy The Bible Ministries
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