Outline
G
The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God—Rev. 12:10:
１
Spiritual warfare is the warfare between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan—Matt. 12:26, 28-29.
２
The kingdom of God is the exercise of the divine will and the overthrowing of the power of Satan by the power of God—6:10; 12:28.
３
The work of the church is to bring in the kingdom of God, and through prayer the church must release the power of the kingdom of God upon the earth—16:18-19; 6:9-10, 13; 18:19; Rev. 11:15.
Ⅲ
On the day of His wedding, Christ will marry those who have been fighting the battle against God’s enemy for years; that is, Christ will marry the overcomers, who have already overcome the evil one—19:7-9, 11-16:
A
When Christ comes to fight against Antichrist and his army, He will come as the Son of Man, and as the Son of Man, He will need a counterpart to match Him and complete Him; this counterpart will be His bride—14:14; 19:7-9.
B
The overcomers who constitute the bride of Christ fight the battle against all the enemies of God and defeat them—2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21:
１
The overcomers engage in the warfare of life against death and reign in life over death—Matt. 16:18; John 5:24; 1 Tim. 6:19; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 John 3:14; Rom. 5:17, 21.
２
The overcomers conquer the destructive chaos and triumph in the constructive divine economy; instead of being delivered out of the present chaos, they conquer the chaos by the processed and consummated Triune God as the all-sufficient grace—2 Tim. 1:9, 15; 2:1, 17-18; 4:22.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 12:10 …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.Rom. 5:17 …Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Although the kingdom of God has not yet completely come upon this earth, although God has not yet gained a sphere wherein He can exercise His authority in a full way, and although His glory has not yet been made fully manifest, nevertheless there is a small place, a small sphere, thank the Lord, where there still exists the condition of God’s partial reign, which thereby manifests a portion of God’s glory. This is the church. Today the church is a model of God’s reign…It is through the church that God will bind Satan and destroy his power. Thus, His name will be honored in the whole earth, His kingdom set up, and His will done. This is the commission of the church. This also is the purpose of the church’s spiritual warfare. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Experience of Life,” p. 519)
Today’s Reading
We have to conquer the satanic chaos by the processed and consummated Triune God as the all-sufficient grace…In 1 Corinthians 15:10 Paul says that the grace of the Lord was with him; in Galatians 6:18 he says that the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is with our spirit; and in 2 Timothy 4:22 he says that the Lord is with our spirit. The Lord as the all-sufficient grace is with our spirit, and we can conquer all the satanic chaos and carry out the unique divine economy by Him as our all-sufficient grace.We can conquer all the satanic chaos and carry out the divine economy according to the truth, of which the church, the manifestation of God in the flesh, is the pillar and base (1 Tim. 3:15-16). The rebellious ones cannot shake the church in the Lord’s recovery, because the church is the pillar and base of the truth. The pillar supports the building, and the base holds the pillar. The church is the pillar supporting the truth, and it is the base holding the truth. Because the church is the pillar and base of the truth, we need to be those who teach the truth. Our teaching of the truth will enlighten the darkened people, inoculate against the poison, swallow up the death, and bring the distracted back to the proper track.
Revelation 2 and 3 reveal that we need to conquer all the satanic chaos and carry out the unique divine economy in certain conditions.
We need to be those who love the Lord with the first love (2:4). The first love may be compared to the love of newlyweds. After a couple has been married for a period of time, it is easy for the first love to fade away…We must recover the wedding, bridal love toward our Husband, Christ.
We also need to enjoy eating Christ as the tree of life in the church as today’s Paradise so that we can be a shining lampstand (vv. 7, 5). The Lord… tells the overcomers that He will give them to eat of the entire tree of life, which is Christ Himself. We should eat one tree, the universal tree, the unique tree, that is, the tree of life, which is Christ as the embodiment of the divine life.
We have to love the Lord with a bridal love, and we have to enjoy Him as the entire tree of life. This tree is growing in the Paradise of God. The Paradise of God (v. 7) is the New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom. The New Jerusalem in the millennial kingdom will be a paradise to God. This paradise will be much more pleasant than the garden of Eden. Today the church life is the precursor of this coming paradise, the miniature of the New Jerusalem in the coming kingdom. (CWWL, 1991-1992, vol. 3, “The Satanic Chaos in the Old Creation and the Divine Economy for the New Creation,” pp. 257-258)
Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 4, “Lessons on Prayer,” ch. 18