Our Priesthood and Spiritual Warfare

“The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Genesis 2:15

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From the very beginning, humanity’s calling has included warfare.

Adam was placed in Eden not only to cultivate, but also to guard. The Hebrew verbs are ʿābad (“to work/serve”) and šāmar (“to guard/keep”).

What’s so interesting about God’s word choice here is that guarding assumes that there is a threat to be guarded against. So here we see that even before our first parents fell into sin, there was a threat to be guarded against. Isn’t that interesting?

As we explored last week, Adam was a prototype of the priests that would come later. Humanity was entrusted with a protective, outward-facing, priestly charge. Warfare was not a result of the fall. It was part of Adam’s original job description.

Priesthood has always included a warfare element.

We see this theme continue in Israel’s story. The priests went before the army to consecrate the people and remind them that the battle belonged to the Lord (Deut. 20:2–4). They carried the ark of the covenant, blew trumpets, and declared God’s presence (Num. 10:8–9; Josh. 6:6–7). And when idolatry broke out at Sinai, it was the Levites (under the authority of Moses) who picked up the sword and purged the camp of unfaithfulness (Ex. 32:26–29).

“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, ‘Who is on the Lord's side? Come to me.’ And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. And he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel, “Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.”’ And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. And Moses said, ‘Today you have been ordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.’” Exodus 32:26–29

The Priestly tasks were not only to lead in worship and be a mediator between God and the people, but also to guard the people of God from corruption, the very same word pairing “ābad (“to work/serve”) and šāmar (“to guard/keep”)” that we saw in Eden. And we see this theme of priesthood and warfare run all through the pages of Scripture.

As believers, we have been made a “royal priesthood” (1 Pet. 2:9). That identity includes not only dwelling with God and offering our lives as spiritual sacrifices, but also guarding against intruders and waging spiritual war. The apostle Paul makes this explicit:

“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. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God…” Eph. 6:12–13

As a royal priest to God, part of your job description is to wage war. It’s inherent in your job description. You are called, as a human, to “work and keep”, or in other words, to cultivate and to guard. We have to wage war against the outside threat of our enemy, but we also have to stand guard against our sin that would seek to corrupt our holiness and make us ineffective for kingdom work. We face threats from within, and from without.

How does all this tie in with our work life? Well, as I’ve written about before, our work is one of the three main avenues of worship we see in the garden of Eden. The three avenues are:

• Worship in our relationship with God (God walked with them)

• Worship in our relationships with each other (other image bearers)

• Worship in our work (the dominion mandate)
  

All other things (evangelism, parenting, etc.) are subsets of those three primary categories of worship.

So if our work is one of three main avenues of worship, we should not be surprised that it’s under attack. It is a primary battlefield. There is a war on our work. Our enemy wants to make us ineffective in these three areas.

Don’t forget, the devil has had thousands upon thousands of years to study us as humans. He is not a blundering idiot with red tights and a pitchfork. He is skilled in the art of subtlety. He knows how to exploit your weakness. He whispers: “You’re not good enough to do this.” He nudges comparison into your scrolling: “She’s far more successful than you.” He tempts you with shortcuts, dishonesty, or weariness to make you want to quit.

Now, I’m not saying that every insecurity or distraction is a direct demonic assault. But Satan is skilled at taking what’s already fragile in us and pressing on the bruise until it cripples us. His goal is to discourage, distract, and derail you from the fruitful work God prepared for you to walk in (Eph. 2:10).

The strength of these attacks and the frequency of them will ebb and flow. But the more you learn to live in alignment with God’s purposes for your work, the more you will be advancing His kingdom, and the more attacks you will face.

I’m not a sports gal, but you don’t really have to be to recognize that the highly skilled players are going to have more eyes on them. Think of LeBron James—he rarely gets left alone on the basketball court. The other team assigns defenders who shadow his every move, anticipating where he’ll go and doing everything possible to block his shots or shut down his passes. The better he plays, the more intentional the opposition becomes in trying to stop him.

And the same is true for you on the battlefield of your work. This is what God has called you to do. It’s his assignment to you. It’s important. And the more skilled and God-dependent you become, the more the enemy is going to try to block you. Why? Because the more we get out of the way and just let ourselves become God’s channels, the more fruitful our work will become. We think that we need to somehow learn to be mighty warriors in our own strength, but we forget the old Bible stories - narratives meant to teach us how God actually operates. Jericho wasn’t about Israel’s ability. When they simply acted in faith, God showed up and did things they never could have imagined. Our kingdom effectiveness always comes from dependence and letting God show up through us, not our own ability.

This is of utmost importance to your business.

If work was one of the three avenues of worship in Eden, then of course the enemy wages war there. He would love to see your work collapse under fear, pride, or despair. He would love to make your entrepreneurial calling unfruitful for God’s kingdom.

When you go to launch that new offer, expect resistance. When you serve your clients with faithfulness, don’t be surprised if distraction multiplies. When you try to write truth-filled words, insecurity will try to choke them out. This is not random. It is the reality of being a priest in a war.

But here is the good news: The war has already been won. Jesus has already conquered. It’s not as though victory rests on our shoulders to accomplish. No, Jesus our Warrior Priest-King has already secured victory for us. It’s finished. We don’t need to fight. But we get to.

“He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.” Colossians 2:15 “Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed…” Revelation 5:5 (empahsis mine)

This analogy has been used before, but it's helpful in illustrating the tension of the already/not yet we live in. There have been wars where victory is secured, but it takes time for the news to travel and for skirmishes to cease. Battles still occur even after the war is over. And that’s the already-not-yet era that we live in, between Jesus’ resurrection and his coming again. The lamb has won. Past tense. Done. But we still need to advance the kingdom and fight back the enemy. Peace has not yet come. That is our reality: we fight mop-up battles, even though the outcome is settled.

Jesus is our ultimate Warrior Priest-King. He is the second Adam who succeeded where the first Adam failed. After his baptism (By John the Baptist who was the son of high priest) into priesthood (Matthew 3:13-17), Jesus goes into the wilderness to be tempted. Adam, surrounded by Eden’s luxurious fullness, failed. Jesus, surrounded by the hunger and thirst of the desert, stayed faithful. Adam stood passively by as evil contaminated God’s holy dwelling place. Jesus rebuked the devil. Adam allowed God’s words to be questioned. Jesus said, “It is written”. And ultimately, Adam gave in to temptation, but Jesus crushed the head of the serpent. Jesus is our warrior priest, and He perfectly fulfills all the duties of a priest on our behalf. It’s not on us to perform our priestly duties perfectly. Jesus has once and for all taken on the mantle of our perfect High Priest forever.

I saved my favorite warrior-priest theme for last.

After Abraham defeated a coalition of kings, he was met on the battlefield by Melchizedek, the priest-king of Salem (Gen. 14:18–20). Do you know what he brought with him? Bread and wine. Communion, essentially. Some theologians argue that Melchizedek was Jesus Himself, and others say he was just a picture, pointing forward to Jesus. Either way, this is a beautiful portrait of Christ, who meets us on the battlefield.

Just as Melchizedek brought bread and wine to Abraham, Jesus nourishes us with His own body and blood (John 6:53–55).

He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies (Ps. 23:5).

So when you are exhausted from the fight, remember that Jesus meets you right there, in that place of struggle. He’s not far off. He’s not aloof from you. He’s right there on that battlefield, bringing you strength in the midst of struggle. When you feel like you’re fighting alone, you’re not. Jesus is with you. He’s the Lamb that has already overcome, and He is fully present with us in our struggles.

He is both our Captain and our Sustainer. He strengthens us to fight, and He promises that nothing—no sin, no scheme, no adversary—can separate us from His love (Rom. 8:38–39).

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)

So do not be surprised by the war on your work. Your work is not neutral, it is a battlefield.

Do not underestimate your adversary, nor obsess over him. Fix your eyes on Christ, your Warrior Savior. Put on the armor of God, lift up the shield of faith, wield the sword of the Spirit. You are not fighting for victory but from it.

And remember — you don’t fight alone. You belong to a priestly people who encourage, pray for, and hold each other up in battle (Exodus 17:11-13). That’s why community matters. We need to intercede for each other, and encourage one another as long as it is called “today” (Heb. 3:13).

Your work is not in vain. Your labor is part of the battlefront. And your Captain has already secured the triumph.

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” — 1 Corinthians 15:58