Your eyes lock onto an eye. Immediately you feel a heaviness of presence. This is no ordinary gaze — there is actual authority and power behind that stare. Powers so high that their positions are dizzying to consider. A feeling that can almost be explained as a hollowing realisation digging at your insides. The eyes are not inquisitive, they are malicious. The one you are locked onto is sneering at you. You feel the hatred from a being your superior in intelligence, strength, authority, and age. A powerful intelligence that despises you, even hates you. It feels entitled to you and would, with a twitch of a finger, send a storm of monsters to tear you apart. A strength that is on a cosmic scale, staggering and fierce.
Your thoughts are interrupted by the word, “sit.” A warm, loving comfort takes hold of your attention. Jesus Christ, your Lord, guides you to rest. He serves you and smiles. He placed a table in the very midst of your enemies (Psalm 23:5). He anoints your head and fills your cup to the point of overflow. He exalts your position in front of your enemies. He sits down and you talk.
We read in Ephesians 1:20–22 that Christ is placed above all power. All of the most powerful beings, placed under the feet of the Lord of Lords. It is this struggle that Paul refers to in Ephesians 6:12, “for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”
This world is shrouded in darkness, ruled by spiritual powers. We were wholly part of this world, following its ways and comfortably representing the ways of darkness (Ephesians 2:1–2). Once secure in the hands of the powers of darkness, we are now free. Ripped away with uncontested strength by the great and glorious Jesus Christ! We see this in Psalm 68:18–19, how Christ captured spoils out of the grasp of the enemy. In Him we were raised up and seated in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).
With a burning ferocity, the enemy wants to destroy you. You were once part of their domain and now you are with Christ. They want to fight to take back what was once theirs. Christ legitimately paid for you in full, and the enemy is furious. They fix their eyes on you. You are their target, and they are skilled and experienced in violence. They are forging weapons against you at this very moment.
Standing firm in your position. Rain falls on you. It is a constant wait — interrupted by a sudden weight of enemies volleying arrows. The next moment, out of almost nowhere, a weight of unified foes crashes into your line, almost crushing you as your shield presses into your body. Your sword lifted and ready. As a Christian, this is something you have faced before. Maybe you feel a flood of memories, a bit of fear even. But stay strong — He did not abandon us. An almost mundane wait stretched into a tired blur, suddenly interrupted by fierce attacks from the enemy… they are here to crush, kill, and destroy. You need your equipment, not for display and parades. You need the armour of God, for actual spiritual combat.
Now, to amplify it even more: the Captain of our salvation left us to go to His Father. He saved us from a hostile land and claimed it as His territory. Then He left us to defend it and stand firm. We see this pattern in the book of Ephesians — from the heavenly places, how to live and walk in faith, then called to stand firm against the heavenly forces. He did not leave us ill-equipped; in fact, He left the Holy Spirit with us, and He will return for us (John 14:16–18).
Let us explore the equipment He left with us to stand firm and hold the ground that He took. We are not called to conquer, but to hold what He has already won. On earth we go out and witness with the great news of this spiritual victory in Jesus Christ, but in the heavenlies, we hold the ground.
Stand firm and be faithful. Hold the already-won territory for our King. He left us well established and adequately equipped. Stand.