When Jesus told us that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church He not only assured us of the Church’s ultimate triumph against the forces of evil He also served us notice that the Church’s victory would be in the face of hostility.

The Church is built on enemy-occupied territory and the enemy doesn’t take too kindly to intrusions. One of the weapons the Church has in her arsenal is preaching. Preaching is spiritual warfare. Probably not many of us have ever thought of preaching in this way but it is essential that we do if we wish to see God’s kingdom advance.

Preaching and listening to preaching is spiritual warfare. I would venture to say it is the most intense battle a Christian faces in his life of spiritual warfare. Why is this? It is because in preaching the Kingdom of God strives to advance. The Lord, the commander of the army, engages the evil one and fights to defeat his strongholds and bring all things together under Christ. Through preaching God seeks to free the captives of the kingdom of darkness and bring them into the Kingdom of his Son. Through preaching God fights by his Holy Spirit against the flesh and seeks to liberate his people from the influence of sin. Through preaching Christ is lifted up and exhibited before the eyes of the congregation. Satan detests the freedom of his captives and despises the exaltation of the Saviour and resists it with all his might.

Paul confirms that preaching is spiritual warfare and when he encourages Timothy to endure hardship with him like a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Timothy 2:3). It is through the preaching of the gospel that the Church of Christ advances against the forces of darkness. And where the Kingdom of God makes these attacks and forays into enemy territory you can be certain that the evil one will counter-attack to protect his domain.

Satan has a bevy of strategies as he attempts to thwart the outworking of the Conqueror Christ’s death and resurrection victory. The first and most obvious stratagem is to keep men from becoming ambassadors of Christ as ministers of the gospel. As a result of a variety of Satan’s ruses there is a dearth in our land and throughout the world of qualified men who will fill the pulpits and preach the dominion destroying message of the cross. How many strongholds in our own nation are bereft of Timothy-like soldiers of the cross?

Another device the enemy employs is to keep people from hearing Christ preach through his messengers. How many people have been captivated by this-world realities without any thought of the life to come? So many are plodding to eternity, entertained into a spiritual stupor, oblivious to their need of Christ.

If unsuccessful in these schemes Satan resorts to other machinations. There are many ways by which he designs to limit the effectiveness of the preacher. Or, if the preaching is faithful, he contrives so that the hearers are not receptive or responsive to the declaration of God’s Word.

Whatever the scheme, the Kingdom of God faces stringent opposition from the prince of darkness who seeks to obstruct the forward march of the Church of Christ.

Thankfully, however, the Church is not at the mercy of the Kingdom of darkness and preaching doesn’t depend for its success on the indulgence of Satan. Preaching can be triumphant and be the instrument of convicting and converting sinners and of building them up in their salvation (Shorter Catechism 89).

The first arrow the Church has in its arsenal is prayer. The Church must charge the throne room of God in its battle against the evil one. Second Chronicles 20 relates the seemingly hopeless situation facing King Jehoshaphat when the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites came to make war against him.

Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord. In his prayer he cried out, “O our God ... we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you” (2 Chronicles 2:12). This is our first line of attack: we lay out our situation and acknowledge our weakness.

What we will find is that the Lord is saying to us what he said to King Jehoshaphat: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s’. Ultimately, world history is the unfolding of the enmity between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

By the grace of God the Church shares in the victory of Christ. Until victory’s consummation we ought not to become disheartened; rather, we should pray. Prayer is the project for the people of God.