God pulled back the curtain to reveal to Elisha and his servant the angelic army that was poised and ready to do battle with the Syrians. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Ki. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” And Elisha prayed, and said, “Lord, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. When the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. What could two men do against all those chariots, spears, and armor? One example of this is when Elisha and his servant were surrounded by the fearsome Syrian army. Yet there are times in biblical history when the veil is lifted. This curtain prevents us from being disoriented by the spiritual activity in this parallel world. The God of the Bible asks us to live within the physical boundaries He has set for us while trusting Him to oversee everything in the visible and invisible worlds. If there are a host of spiritual beings interacting with our world, why don’t we see them? The answer is that God has graciously veiled their activity from our view. There are good angels who do God’s bidding and demons who follow direction from the devil. 6:12).įrom Genesis to Revelation, the Bible depicts a worldview with spiritual dimensions that interact with our observable world of space and time. These spirit beings, who were once angels, chose to rebel against God and align themselves with the evil one, becoming demons or “spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. They rule over our visible world under a veil of darkness. The broader picture includes a vast host of evil spirit beings who are aligned in a hierarchy under the control of Satan. Paul’s statement expresses the biblical worldview-that the enemies of God are not limited to human beings (flesh and blood). 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 (Eph. In fact, the Bible teaches that this struggle is as real as our own visible world. But both the Old and New Testaments also talk about a world of the supernatural where good and evil spirits carry on spiritual warfare. With the revival of neopaganism and the magic arts, the relentless pursuit of the paranormal by parapsychologists, and the denial by scientists of any evidence for the supernatural, it’s important that we understand what the Bible says about magic.Īt first glance, one would assume the Bible talks only about God, angels, and human beings.
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