Message Title: the church as the new man engaging in spiritual warfare to defeat God's enemy and to bring in the kingdom of God
now is the time for Satan to suffer loss. Lord, train us to be Your warrior. we want to be Your Bride as the warrior to deal with the enemy.
Revelation 12:1 And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
Revelation 12:2 And she was with child, and she cried out, travailing in birth and being in pain to bring forth.
Revelation 12:3 And another sign was seen in heaven; and behold, there was a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.
Revelation 12:4 And his tail drags away the third part of the stars of heaven, and he cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, so that when she brings forth he might devour her child.
Revelation 12:5 And she brought forth a son, a man-child, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels went to war with the dragon. And the dragon warred and his angels.
Revelation 12:8 And they did not prevail, neither was their place found any longer in heaven.
Revelation 12:9 And the great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole inhabited earth; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brothers has been cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
Revelation 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death.
Revelation 12:12 Therefore be glad, O heavens and those who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea because the devil has come down to you and has great rage, knowing that he has only a short time.
in this section of the Bible, the most crucial person is the son of this universal bright woman, the man-child. the bringing forth of the man-child participates the war among the angels and the red dragon. the man-child is actually the one new man, the church as the one new man, represented by the overcoming victorious believers.
God created us with the twofold purpose.
1. on the positive side: to bear His image to express Him corporately.
2. on the negative side: to represent His authority, to exercise His dominion on the earth, over all creeping things, especially the enemy, and to recover the earth for God's interest.
the first man, created by God fell, and became the old man. the second man, Christ, came to fulfill Genesus 1:26. He was the image of God, expressing the Father. He did the Father's will. in His earthly ministry, He resisted the devil, cast out the demons. on the cross, Christ, as the second man, crucified the old man, and created in Himself, the one new man. in His resurrection, Christ as the Head, the believers as the Body, the new man was born. it is a fact that the one new man is the reality of the earth. but there is the greatest need, for this one new man to grow, to brought to maturity, and to function corporately Genesis 1:26. we can see this in Ephesians chapter 4. the church is, in nature, this new man. there is a warrior, a corporate fighter, in Ephesians chapter 6. this is the new man, as the warrior, engaged in the spiritual warfare, to defeat the enemy, to testify the victory of Christ, to do the work of God, to cause Satan to lose ground on the earth, and to bring in the kingdom of God. we want the Lord Jesus to come back, in our life time. when the Lord comes, He will first come as the Bridegroom, to marry the prepared Bride.
spiritual warfare comes in the fourth stage of our experience of life, following the dealing of flesh, self, natural constitution; dealing with the spirit; accpeting the discipline of the Holy Spirit, being filled in spirit. the fourth stage begins with knowing the Body, knowing ascenstion, reigning, and warfare. though not many have arrived at this stage, but we are progressing, and we are arriving.
we need to realise that we are all part of this corporate warrior. we are all participating in this according to our measure. amons us, there are some experienced soldries, whom the Lord uses to blend with all the members, so as to train every believer for the spiritual warfare. we need to open our beging to the Lord, to allow the Spirit to penetrate every part of our being. we need the Lord as the Victor, because we are fighting in His victory. and the Lord also needs us to be the new man, to carry out, to testify, to maintain His victory on the earth.
I. the church as the new man accomplishes God's eternal purpose
Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.
Genesis 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.
1.the church as the new man is the corporate man in God's intention, and this new man will fulfill the twofold pirpose of expressing God and represent Him.
when God created man, He had an intention in blessing man to be fruitful and multiply, because He wants to bear the image and to have dominion. now the church as the new man is fulfilling this twofold purpose of God. Satan, the enemy hates the new man because of this. he has been fighting against the woman in Revelation 12, trying to destroy her. when God has this new man, His purpose will be fulfilled. God's intention that man would have dominion over all things will be fulfilled by the church as the new man
2. if man has not restored the earth from the usurpation of Satan, he has not yet achieved God's purpose in creating Him.
in brother Watchman Nee's book "the Glorious Church" chapter 1 "God's purpose and God's rest", Watchman Nee refers to the work of God. we may preach the gospel, getting souls saved, shepherding believers, teaching truths, or do many other things, but they may not necessarily be the work of God. then what is the work of God? it is that God's people on the earth, expressing Him and being one with Him, exercising His authority to cause Satan to suffer loss on this earth. while we are preaching the gospel, taking care of the believers, we may still hold back something for ourselves. But, to deal with the enemy, requires that nothing is reserved for the self. our attitude should be Revelation 12:11 "they loved not their soul-life even unto death." this is not a condition, but an attitude and a decision we make to the Lord's grace in response to the truth. the price is excedingly great. the principle of consecration is that we give the Lord the ground to work in us, to work on us, to direct our path. the new man is this kind of person. we, in ourselves cannot be such kind of person. but we can make a decision that we aspire to be this kind of person, and allow the Lord to make us such a one.
for more reading concerning this, you can check here
3. dealing with Satan requires that we pay a price that is extremely great; self must be utterly abandoned.
if we want to participate in the new man to deal with the enemy, we must not fear the price we would need to pay.
4. in order to recover the earth from the hand of Satan, we must be wholly and absolutely for God and for His purpose.
the Lord will not come back for numerous churches or believers. rather, the Lord is coming back for a glorious Bride, who has experienced in war, who is able to deal with the enemy. this is the purpose we are breathing, and this is our purpose.
5. the church as the corporate new man is the corporate warrior to defeat God's enemy and to bring in the kingdom of God.
II. in order to know God's enemy, we need to see the spiritual things behind the physical things, the spiritual world behind the physical world.
A. it is crucial for us to see that behind the physical scned a spiritual struggle, a struggle not seen with human eyes, is taking place.
Daniel 10:12 And he said to me, Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand this matter and to afflict yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.
Daniel 10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me for twenty-one days; but now Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I remained there alone with the kings of Persia.
from this portion in Daniel chapter 10, we can see that there is evil force, trying to stop the angel Michael to bring the answer to Daniel's prayer to come to the earth, that was why Daniel continued in prayer for 21 days. there is the unseen struggle behind the seen world, which is in spiritual realm.
B. in our fighting, we deal not with things that appear on the surface but with the power of darkness behind these things.
Ephesians 6:12 For our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.
III. Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan's will is set against God's will
the Bible tells us that God has a will.
Revelation 4:11 You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for You have created all things, and because of Your will they were, and were created.
but the Bible also tells us that Satan, the previous archangel Lucifer, also has a will.
Isaiah 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, O Daystar, son of the dawn! How you have been hewn down to earth, You who made nations fall prostrate!
Isaiah 14:13 But you, you said in your heart: I will ascend to heaven; Above the stars of God I will exalt my throne. And I will sit upon the mount of assembly In the uttermost parts of the north.
Isaiah 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.
apart from God's will and Satan's will, there is another will in the universe, human will. God did not creat us as robots or puppets. God created us with a free will, allowing us to choose. therefore, our human will must stand with the divine will.
D. as the church, our fighting is to subdue the satanic will and defeat God's enemy.
IV. the purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God.
C. the responsibility of the church is to continue the warfare that Christ fought on the earth; the church must continue the victorious work that Christ has carried out against Satan.
the victory has already been gained by the Lord. the church must continue the victory that the Lord has fought. so we are not fighting for victory, but fighting in His victory, carrying it out to apply in situations. in the end of 1 Peter chapter 3, we can see that in the ascension of Christ, all the powers have been subjected to Him.
1 Peter 3:22 Who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to Him.
all the evil powers, angels have been sujected. the Lord needs the church to cooperate with the ascended Christ here on the earth, to apply His victory, to these evil ones in so many countries, to open the way, for so many people to hear the high gospel.
E. wherever the devil has been cast out and wherever the work of the enemy as been displaced by God's power, the kingdom of God is there.
Psalms 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats, And a two-edged sword in their hand,
Psalms 149:7 To execute vengeance on the nations And punishment among the peoples;
Psalms 149:8 To bind their kings with fetters And their nobles with chains of iron;
Psalms 149:9 To execute upon them the judgment written. This honor is for all His faithful ones. Hallelujah!
V. "Your people will offer themselves willingly / in the day of Your warfare, / In the splendor of their consecration" - Psalms 110:3a
today is the day of the Lord's warfare, and the Lord needs someone to offer himself willingly. but in order to offer ourselves willingly, we need first to spend time with the Lord, instead of making our own mind or decision. the Lord asks us to take the way of the cross, and this is not an easy way. we should not trust in the lies of the enemy, that it is too late to offer ourselves to the Lord. No! it is never too late. the Lord can do so much beyond our thinking, within a short period of time in the ones who truly love Him and give themselves to Him, with His sevenfold intensified Spirit.
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