Scripture Reading: Rev. 11:15; 12:10; 4:11; Matt. 6:10; 7:21; 12:26, 28; Col. 1:12-13
Ⅰ
The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God—Matt. 6:10:
A
Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan’s will is set against God’s will— Eph. 5:17.
B
Spiritual warfare has its source in the conflict between the divine will and the satanic will—Matt. 6:10; 7:21; Isa. 14:12-14:
１
Lucifer’s pride in his high position and beauty gave rise to an evil intention, which became the satanic will—Ezek. 28:12-19; Isa. 14:12-15.
２
Before the archangel of God rose up to contradict the divine will, there was no war in the universe; the rebellion of Lucifer was the beginning of all the fighting that is now taking place among nations, in society, in the family, and within individuals—cf. Rev. 12:3-11; Gal. 5:17.
C
God wants His creature man todeal with His fallen creation Satan; for this, the human will must stand with the divine will—Gen. 1:26; Matt. 26:39; 12:30; 7:21.
D
As the church, our fighting is to subdue the satanic will and defeat God’s enemy— Eph. 6:11-13.
E
Spiritual warfare is the warfare between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan—Matt. 12:26, 28:
１
The kingdom of God is versus the kingdom of Satan—vv. 26, 28:
ａ
God’s kingdom is eternal, both in time and in space; Satan’s kingdom is not eternal.
ｂ
God’s kingdom is legal, whereas Satan’s kingdom is not legal, for it was established by rebellion against God.
２
The kingdom of God will not come automatically; in order for the kingdom of God to come, there is the need of spiritual fighting—vv. 22-29.
３
The responsibility of the church is to continue the victorious work that Christ has carried out against Satan—Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8b; Col. 2:15; Psa. 149:5-9.
４
The kingdom of God is the exercise of the divine will and the overthrowing of the power of Satan by the power of God—Matt. 6:10.
５
Whenever the devil has been cast out and wherever the work of the enemy has been displaced by God’s power, the kingdom of God is there—12:28.
F
“Your people will offer themselves willingly ⁄ In the day of Your warfare, ⁄ In the splendor of their consecration”—Psa. 110:3a:
１
In a spiritual sense, we are now in the day of Christ’s warfare, and for Him we need to be a voluntary offering, a freewill offering—Lev. 22:18; Deut. 12:6.
２
In order to engage in spiritual warfare to defeat God’s enemy and bring in the kingdom of God, we need an absolute and thorough consecration to the Lord; in the eyes of God, such a consecration is a matter of splendor—Psa. 110:3a.
Ⅱ
The Father has “delivered us out of the authority of darkness” and has “transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love”—Col. 1:12-13:
A
The authority of darkness denotes the authority of Satan; God is light, and Satan is darkness:
１
Satan’s authority of darkness is the authority of evil in the heavenlies, in the air—Eph. 6:12.
２
The authority of evil, of rebellion, in the heavenlies is the kingdom of Satan, the authority of darkness—Matt. 12:26.
３
To be delivered out of the authority of darkness is to be delivered from the devil, who has the might of death—Heb. 2:14; John 17:15.
４
We have been delivered from the devil, Satan, by the death of Christ and by the life of Christ in resurrection—Col. 2:15; John 5:24.
B
The Father has “transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love”—Col. 1:13:
１
The kingdom of the Son of God’s love is the authority of Christ—Rev. 11:15; 12:10.
２
The Son of God is the embodiment and expression of the divine life; therefore, the kingdom is of the Son as a realm of life—1 John 5:11-12:
ａ
To be transferred into the kingdom of the Son of the Father’s love is to be transferred into the Son, who is life to us—Col. 3:4.
ｂ
The Son as resurrection is now the life-giving Spirit, and He rules us in His resurrection life with His love—1 Pet. 1:3; Rom. 6:3-4; 1 Cor. 15:45b.
ｃ
When we live by the Son as our life in resurrection, we are living in His kingdom, enjoying Him in the Father’s love—John 6:57.
３
The fact that we have been transferred into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love indicates that this realm of life is in love, not in fear—Col. 1:13:
ａ
The kingdom in which we find ourselves today is a realm full of life, light, and love—1 John 1:1-2, 5, 7; 4:8, 16.
ｂ
The Son as the object of the divine love becomes to us the embodiment of the divine life in the divine love with the authority of resurrection; this is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love—Col. 1:13.
ｃ
The Father has transferred us into a realm where we are ruled in love with life:
⑴
Here, under the heavenly ruling and restriction, we have genuine freedom in love, with life, and under light—Matt. 7:13-14.
⑵
Here in this kingdom we enjoy Christ and have the church life—Col. 1:12; 4:15-16.
C
The kingdom of the Son of God’s love is a crucial aspect of God’s will—1:9; 4:12:
１
God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will so that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose—Rev. 4:11; Eph. 3:9-11.
２
The Father’s eternal will is to build up the church upon Christ the Son as the rock—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16.
３
The will of God is to obtain a Body for Christ to be His fullness, His expression—Rom. 12:2-5; Eph. 1:5, 9, 11, 22-23.
４
The kingdom is absolutely a matter of God’s willand completely fulfills His will; in fact, the kingdom is God’s will—Matt. 6:10.
５
As the kingdom people, those who are living in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, we are here on earth to do the Father’s will—7:21; 12:50.
D
In the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, there is only one person—the all-inclusive Christ—and one way—the cross—Col. 2:9, 14-15:
１
The one person, Christ, is the center, the focal point, of the universe—1:15-17.
２
God’s intention is not to give us many items; He intends to give us one person, the all-inclusive Christ—2:10.
３
The cross is the center of God’s government—vv. 14-15:
ａ
By the cross God has dealt with all the negative things in the universe.
ｂ
God governs everything by the cross and deals with everything by the cross.
E
In the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, Christ has the first place, the preeminence, in all things—1:18:
１
Both in the old creation and in the new creation, in the universe and in the church, Christ is the first and occupies the first place of preeminence.
２
If we see the vision of the preeminence of Christ, our Christian life and our church life will be revolutionized, for we will realize that in all things Christ must be first:
ａ
To give the Lord the first place in all things is to love Him with the first love, the best love—Rev. 2:4.
ｂ
In order to give Christ the preeminence, we must be willing to be adjusted, to be broken, and to be made nothing so that He can have a way in us, through us, and among us for the building up of His organic Body.
３
In the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, we experience and enjoy Christ in His all-inclusiveness—Col. 1:12, 27; 2:9, 16-17; 3:1, 4, 11:
ａ
Christ is the embodiment of the Triune God, the One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily—2:9.
ｂ
Christ is our allotted portion, our good land—the divine inheritance for our enjoyment—1:12.
ｃ
Christ is the reality of every positive thing in the universe—2:16-17.
ｄ
Christ is the One sitting at the right hand of God—3:1. e. Christ dwells in us as our hope of glory—1:27.
ｆ
Christ is our life—3:4.
ｇ
Christ is the constituent of the one new man—vv. 10-11.