THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
Spiritual Warfare
Message One—God’s Intention, Satan’s Strategy, and the Spiritual Warfare
Scripture Reading: Prov. 29:18a; Eph. 3:8-10; Matt. 16:18; Col. 1:18b; Eph. 4:3; 1 Pet. 2:5
I. God’s intention in His economy is to dispense Christ with all His riches into His believers chosen by God for the constitution and building up of the Body of Christ, the church, to consummate the New Jerusalem for the full expression of the processed Triune God—Eph. 3:8-10; cf. Jer. 2:13.
II. Because the church has become degraded through the many centuries of its history, it needs to be restored according to God’s original intention and standard as revealed in the Scriptures—cf. 2 Kings 22:8; Ezra 1:3-11; Neh. 2:11, 17; Rev. 18:4.
III. The word recovery means the restoration or return to a normal condition after a damage or a loss has been incurred:
A. After Satan’s destruction, God came in to redo the things that He had done before; this redoing is His recovery, which is to bring back whatever has been lost and destroyed by God’s enemy, Satan—1 John 3:8b.
B. In Matthew 19:8 we see the principle of recovery: “from the beginning it has not been so”:
1. Recovery means to go back to the beginning; we need to go back to the beginning, receiving the Lord’s grace to go back to God’s original intention, to what God ordained in the beginning.
2. The word recovery means that something was there originally and then was damaged or lost; thus, there is a need to bring that thing back to its original state and to its normal condition—Dan. 1:1-2; Ezra 1:3-11; 6:3-5.
C. The words recovery and economy refer to one thing as seen from two different viewpoints—1 Tim. 1:4; Eph. 1:10; 3:9:
1. With God, it is a matter of economy; with us, it is a matter of recovery.
2. God’s economy was unveiled through the apostles, but because the believers lost the proper understanding of God’s economy, there is the need for it to be recovered—vv. 3-5; Acts 2:42.
3. We in the Lord’s recovery must have a clear vision of God’s economy and then be governed, controlled, and directed by this vision, for we are here to carry out God’s economy in His recovery—26:19; Prov. 29:18a.
IV. Satan’s strategy is versus the Lord’s recovery—Isa. 14:12-15; Ezek. 28:12-19; John 14:30; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 6:10-11:
A. The first category of Satan’s activity is to produce many substitutes for Christ:
1. In Colossae human philosophy was brought in as a substitute for Christ— Col. 2:8; 1:12.
2. Hebrews reveals that Satan utilized Judaism to replace Christ—8:6; 9:23; 10:5-10.
3. Galatians reveals that the Judaizers were making the law a substitute for Christ—3:1-3, 24; 1:15-16a; 2:20; 4:19.
4. In Corinth the gifts, signs, and wisdom were used by the enemy to replace Christ—1 Cor. 1:22-23; 12:31.
5. Anything that replaces Christ or occupies the position of Christ is an idol that becomes a burden to the worshipper—Isa. 46:1; 1 John 5:21.
B. The second category of Satan’s work is to divide the Body of Christ; the sects, denominations, and divisions in the Body wipe out the corporate expression of Christ—1 Cor. 1:10-13a; Gal. 5:19-20.
C. The third category of Satan’s work is to kill the function of all the members of Christ’s Body by the clergy-laity system; we need to have the Lord’s hate for the works of the Nicolaitans—Rev. 2:6; 1:5b-6; 1 Pet. 2:5, 9.
V. The book of Numbers reveals that the redeemed and sanctified Israelites were formed into a holy army of God, which was to proceed by following God’s leading and was to fight for Him throughout their journey—1:1-3:
A. The Bible shows us that God’s intention is to have a people formed into an army to take Christ as their meaning of life, testimony, center, Leader, way, and goal and to proceed on and fight for God so that He may gain the ground on earth and have a people built up as His kingdom and His house, which will consummate in the New Jerusalem—vv. 1-3; 2:1, 34; Eph. 6:10-20; 2:21-22; Rev. 21:2.
B. The picture in Numbers shows us God and His chosen people mingled together as one entity to conquer the enemy on earth—chs. 1—2.
C. The formation of the children of Israel into an army to fight for God typifies the New Testament believers being built up into the organic Body of Christ to fight for God and with God for the carrying out of His economy—Eph. 4:16; 6:10-20.
D. On the negative side, Canaan signifies the aerial part, the heavenly part, of the dark kingdom of Satan—Num. 21:1-3; Eph. 2:2; 6:12:
1. The Canaanites typify the fallen angels, the rebellious angels who follow Satan, who have become the powers, rulers, and authorities in Satan’s kingdom—Matt. 12:26; Rev. 12:4, 7; cf. Dan. 10:13, 20.
2. The fighting of the children of Israel against the Canaanites that they might possess the good land typifies the spiritual warfare of the church as a whole against “the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies”—Eph. 6:12.
E. There is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage; we must fight the battle for God’s interests on earth—vv. 10-12; 1 Tim. 6:12a; 2 Tim. 2:3-4.
Ministry Excerpts:
SCRIPTURAL BASIS
Let us first read Matthew 12:26, 28-29: “If Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then shall his kingdom stand?…But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.” In this passage of the Lord’s words, there are several important points related to spiritual warfare. First, the Lord says here that Satan has his kingdom. Not only is there the kingdom of God in this universe, but also the kingdom of Satan. Second, the Lord says that if He casts out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto men. Hence, we see that to cast out demons by the Spirit of God is to bring in the kingdom of God, which is to engage in spiritual warfare.Third, since to cast out demons is to bring in the kingdom of God, then before the demons are cast out, it is the kingdom of Satan that reigns. It is through the demons that Satan usurps men and reigns. Fourth, the strong man that the Lord mentions here is Satan. Satan is a strong man; he has that which he usurps and has seized by force. Fifth, both the kingdom of Satan and the house of the strong man are mentioned here. The kingdom of Satan is the house of the strong man. Therefore, the people in the world are on one hand the subjects in the kingdom of Satan, and on the other hand the possessions in the house of Satan. It says here that a certain man enters into the strong man’s house and spoils his goods. This refers to the Lord coming to the kingdom of Satan to rescue men out of Satan’s usurpation and possession. Sixth, it says here also that in order for one to spoil the goods of the strong man, he must first bind the strong man. This means that when the Lord comes to rescue us, He must first overcome Satan and bind him.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD VERSUS THE KINGDOM OF SATAN
We have said that in the universe there is the kingdom of God, and there is also the kingdom of Satan. The spiritual warfare we are speaking of is the warfare between these two kingdoms. Therefore, in order to engage in spiritual warfare, we must first know the opposition between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
God’s kingdom is eternal, both in time and in space. Since God Himself is from eternity to eternity, so also is His kingdom from eternity to eternity. Furthermore, since God Himself is in light, so also is God’s kingdom in light. In addition, there is still another great difference: God’s kingdom is legal, whereas the kingdom of Satan is illegal. The whole universe was created by God and belongs to Him; hence, God has the legal right to reign. On the contrary, Satan’s kingdom was established by rebellion against God; hence, it is entirely illegal.
Satan’s kingdom is the sphere of Satan’s reign. The Lord Jesus once called Satan “the prince of the world” (John 14:30). This reveals that Satan not only has his kingdom, but also reigns in his kingdom. Moreover, within his kingdom are his messengers of various ranks, all of which were angels who followed Satan in rebelling against God. Today these are the principalities, powers, rulers, dominions, and spiritual hosts of wickedness of the air, Satan being their head.
Furthermore, in Satan’s kindom there are many demons, evil spirits, who serve as his servants. Based on the various records in the Bible, we can ascertain that before the six days’ recovery work of the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1), there existed a world wherein lived a group of living beings with spirits. When Satan rebelled against God, they all followed him and rebelled together. Therefore God judged that world, on one hand by shutting off the sun and moon in the sky so that they gave forth no light, and on the other hand by destroying the earth and the living beings with water. These living beings, judged as they were by water, became separated in spirit and body. These disembodied spirits who dwell in the waters of judgment are the demons, the evil spirits, mentioned in the Bible.
Therefore, originally, there were three groups of characters in the kingdom of Satan: first, Satan, the head, the ruler; second, the angels who followed Satan in rebelling against God and who served as ministers and officials to rule for him in the air; third, the disembodied spirits, or the demons, the evil spirits, who acted as Satan’s servants to run his errands on earth.
ALL SPIRITUAL WORK IS A WARFARE
Since warfare exists between the kingdoms of God and Satan, all the spiritual work we are doing for God, whatever form it may take, as long as it touches the things of the spiritual realm, is in nature a warfare. For example, preaching the gospel, according to Acts 26:18, is “to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God.” This shows us that preaching the gospel is not only to open men’s eyes and turn them from darkness to light, but also to deliver them from the power of Satan. Again, Colossians 1:13 says, “Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.” To be delivered from the power of darkness is to be delivered from the power of Satan or the kingdom of Satan. And to be translated into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love is to be translated into the kingdom of God. Therefore, preaching the gospel is wholly a spiritual warfare to drive out the power of Satan in men and bring in the kingdom of God. A person who does not believe in the Lord obviously rejects the name of God, does not have God’s reign in him, and has nothing to do with the will of God. Instead, he is fully under the power of Satan, and his whole being is in the dark kingdom of Satan. When a person is saved, he first believes in the name of the Lord; second, he calls on the Lord’s name; and third, he is in the name of the Lord; he belongs to the Lord’s name. Hence, he is delivered from the power of Satan and belongs to the name of the Lord. Once the name of the Lord is upon him, the authority of the Lord follows. Once the authority of the Lord comes upon him, Satan’s authority is removed. Therefore, strictly speaking, preaching the gospel, bringing salvation to men, and leading them to the Lord, is a kind of spiritual warfare.
Second Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “Though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds); casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” This word shows us that even after a Christian is saved, it is possible that a large portion of his mind and thoughts remains the stronghold of Satan, and many of his ideas and concepts still serve as the base usurped by Satan. Therefore, when the apostles edify the saints, their purpose is to cast down through warfare all the strongholds and bases of Satan in the saints and eventually bring their thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Hence, edifying the saints is also a kind of spiritual warfare. Moreover, even administering the church is a warfare. The purpose of administering the church is to deliver the church out of the power of darkness, to let God gain the place of rule in the church, to let the name of God be exalted in the church, to let His will be done in the church, and to let the glory of God be increasingly manifested in the church. Hence, administering the church is also a kind of warfare.
Moreover, even administering the church is a warfare. The purpose of administering the church is to deliver the church out of the power of darkness, to let God gain the place of rule in the church, to let the name of God be exalted in the church, to let His will be done in the church, and to let the glory of God be increasingly manifested in the church. Hence, administering the church is also a kind of warfare.
THE RESULTS OF SPIRITUAL WARFARE
The first result of spiritual warfare is the bringing in the God’s authority. How much we fight determines how much God’s authority will be brought in. The second result of spiritual warfare is that Satan is driven out and chased away. This is true in the individual, in the home, and in the church as well. So also it is even in the air and on the earth. The place where the saints maintain the spiritual warfare is also the place where God’s authority is brought in; consequently, Satan is driven out from that place. (The Experience of Life, msg. 18)