«　WEEK 1　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 6:10-11 Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.

　　In the forming of the house of Israel into a fighting army, we again see the principle revealed in Genesis 1: God desires a corporate man to represent Him in subduing and regaining this earth from the usurping hand of Satan. God had given Israel a good land called Canaan, but the Israelites had to take this land from the usurping hand of God's enemy. They could not gain the land easily; they had to fight inch by inch, defeating all their enemies. The purpose and goal of the fighting was to possess the land.

　　The book of Numbers is a book of vital principles for us to apply today. Where is the army now? Are you in the army? This is the problem. There is no army, because there is no building. If the church is not built, there is no priesthood, and if there is no priesthood, there is no army. (CWWL, 1964, vol. 4, "The Vision of God's Building," p. 246)

　　The kings of Arad, of the Amorites (Num. 21:21), and of Bashan (v. 33) were the "gate guards" on the east of the Jordan, guarding the land of Canaan, the kingdom of darkness, for Satan. In order for the children of Israel to enter into the good land, they had to pass through the territory controlled by these kings and had to fight against them, destroy them, and take over their territory. This signifies that in order to enjoy the unsearchably rich Christ, the church must defeat and take over the territory of the enemies signified by these kings. (Num. 21:1, footnote 2)

　　In their fighting together with God and for God, the children of Israel defeated the king of Arad and destroyed his people (Num. 21:1-3). By doing this, they overcame the first enemy among the Canaanites.

　　God's people also defeated Sihon king of the Amorites with his people and Og king of Bashan with his people (21:21-35). This means that they overcame Canaan's two gate guards.

　　The children of Israel also defeated the Midianites with their five kings (31:1-12). By defeating the Midianites, the people overcame Canaan's gate army.

　　The kings defeated by God's chosen and redeemed people signify the spiritual powers, rulers, and authorities in the air. Today we need to fight against these powers and defeat them.

　　The fighting of God's people against the kings was for the entrance into the God-promised good land that the kingdom of God might be spread and established there. The principle is the same with us today. When we defeat the rulers, powers, and authorities in the air, the kingdom of God surely is spread and established.

　　As the priestly army carrying out the holy war, God's chosen and redeemed people bore with them God's dwelling, the Tabernacle of the Testimony with the Ark of the Testimony. This indicates that in the church life today we are bearing God's testimony with God Himself. Upon our shoulder we not only have God's dwelling place but also the Dweller, God Himself. As long as the church bears the testimony of God, the church is God's dwelling place. Actually, the dwelling place of God is the testimony of God. Today, this testimony of God, this dwelling place of God, is upon our shoulder.

　　The Tabernacle of the Testimony signifies God's chosen and redeemed people built up with Him as His dwelling on the earth (the church in the New Testament).

　　Here we would point out that, spiritually speaking, the history of Israel and the history of the church are one. The history of Israel is a prefigure, and the history of the church is the reality of the prefigure. This means that what is recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers prefigures what is recorded in Acts and in the Epistles.

　　The Ark of the Testimony signifies Christ as the center of God's economy among His chosen and redeemed people. Today we have the Ark among us; that is, we have Christ with us in a personal way. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 355-357)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 32, 50