Part 1
“This is not a wrestling match against a human opponent.
We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern this world of darkness,
and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world.
Ephesians 6:12
For me, anything to do with “wrestling” is about appealing as cleaning a fish. When my eldest son took up the sport in high school, I spent most of the time covering my face and looking in the opposite direction, praying that he wouldn’t die. It looked like one body with 4 arms, 4 legs, and 2 heads, one being my son’s. And his head should not have been in the place nor position it was poking out of. UGH!!
However, I have since come to appreciate the raw, human struggle that wrestling embodies. My desert nation has the sport of wrestling in their ancient history, and I have come to understand the human struggle it demonstrates. There is no distance between the two wrestlers. It is one of the most ancient and raw human means of physically struggling with another person. Face to face, hand to hand, skin to skin. Wrestlers do not have heavy armor for their matches. They wear very little, actually. Their defense and offense is purely physical.
In this passage, wrestling is used to exemplify the very real human struggle in which we are engaged during our time on earth. It is not as tangible as a wrestling match with a human enemy. Our opponent is not a physical, visible being. It is much more sinister and evil. But it is as real as anything physical…and always takes place in our own minds. Our Wrestling match is against the Enemy of our Souls….the dark, deadly Ruler of this earthly world.
In the sport of Wrestling, there is no armor nor weapon. It is hand to hand, face to face, and skin to skin combat. Wrestling is one of the most ancient sports of combat that exists. God describes our time on this earth as being a wrestling match between us as humans, and the spiritual powers of evil that cover our world.
In our “wrestling match” on earth, we are in a battle against the Evil One who dominates this planet. God knows that we are not strong nor powerful enough to battle the evil forces on earth.
Evil has covered the earth, and had its way for far too long. God is drawing us into this Battle, but not as a wrestler who has no weapons. This Wrestling Match is not one of human to human. This one is against evil itself.
Our Hope….our Light in the midst of the Darkness is God Himself, and all that He has provided.
….To be continued….
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