Becoming a City that is Lovely to the Lord and an Army that is Terrible to the Enemy

We as lovers of Christ should be both lovely and lovable to the Lord and terrible to the enemy, both a city and an army with banners.

Loving the Lord with the best love and advancing in the divine romance will bring us into spiritual warfare with the enemy.

On the one hand, we enjoy the Lord and become a private garden to Him, a fountain sealed up, something completely for His satisfaction. On the other hand, we become terrible to the enemy, terrifying him and putting him to shame.

When the overcoming lovers of Christ become one with God to be God’s dwelling place, in the eyes of God they corporately become as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem. At the same time, to the enemy they become as terrible as an army with banners.

We don’t have to try to be terrible to the enemy; we simply need to stay in the divine romance and allow the Lord to transform us day by day, and we will be produced as part of the glorious and lovely city of God, His dwelling place, and also as part of the art with banners, terrible to the enemy.

On one hand we spend time with the Lord to be in a fresh, new, living, and active relationship and love with Him, and on the other, we are so one with the Lord that the enemy is terrified.

Before the Lord as are beautiful and comely, as solid as the heavenly city and as serene as the sanctuary. At the same time, we display the glory in our victory before the enemy and the whole world.

As we advance with the Lord in the divine romance, we become so one with Him that we are part of an army with banners, showing the glory of victory to the world and being terrifying to the enemy.

We are ready to fight, and our fighting is not in ourselves but in the Lord’s victory, for He has already won the victory. Our life with the Lord in the veil is lived not only before the Lord but also before the enemy, for He sees us being one with the Lord and being transformed to be His duplication, and he is terrified.

In Acts we see the story with the sons of Sceva who tried to cast out demons in the name of Jesus whom Paul preached, but the demons didn’t know them – they knew Paul and Jesus but they didn’t know them.

We as lovers of Christ posses not only the heavenly nature with its beauty, but also a warring nature, being ready to fight with the enemy and display the Lord’s victory.

This is what we should be and what we are becoming, overcoming lovers of the Lord that have a future full of hope, a life that is absolutely heavenly, and a constant display of the victory over the enemy.

We are Becoming a City to the Lord and an Army to the Enemy, Lovely to God and Terrible to the Enemy

The lovers of Christ should be both lovable and terrible at the same time. To the Lord we are becoming lovely and lovable, and to the enemy we are terrible as an army. However, many believers today have lost their loveliness to the Lord and their terribleness before the enemy and the world.

The world considers the believers who are not overcoming as being part of the world, and the Lord doesn’t consider them lovely.

May the Lord have mercy on us that we may become part of God’s building, His city, which is lovable and lovely in His sight, and that we become an army to the enemy, terrible to the enemy. The building of God is always an army, for building always involves a warfare.

In Neh. 4:1-23 we see how the building of God is related to the battle; here we see how the enemies were angry when the people of God started to build the wall, they spoke against them, and they made provocation before the builders. So Nehemiah set a watch by night, and during the day each man had a building instrument in one hand and a weapon to fight in the other.

This is our work of building: we build with one hand and we fight with the other. We should not be afraid to fight, but we should fight for one another – we should fight for our brothers and sisters, and God will fight for us.

Fighting always accompanies the building, and the building always brings in the victory in the battle (see Matt. 16:18-19).

When the Lord revealed that He will build His church, He also said that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

So today we have the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, which are denying the self, taking up our cross, and losing our soul-life.

We need to deny and reject the self, and take Christ as our life; we need to take up the cross – which is God’s will, and we need to lose the present enjoyment of the soul in this age to enjoy God in this age. Amen!

As we enjoy the Lord and learn to deny the self, lose the soul-life, and take up our cross, we become an army marching in triumphant victory. The word for “army” in Song of Songs 6:4 is plural, referring to hosts, troops, many armies.

Whenever we build the church – which is pleasing, lovable, and lovely in the Lord’s sight, we are formed into an army, even in troops for the army, so that we may defeat the enemy in the spiritual warfare; this is lovely to the Lord and terrible to the enemy.

The building of God – the church – cannot be separated from spiritual warfare, for wherever and whenever we exercise our spirit to build the church, the enemy will come in to frustrate that. Fighting always accompanies the building, and the building always brings in the victory in the battle.

This is the consummation of our Christian life, and the uttermost completion that a seeking one of the Lord can attain – being part of the city (lovely to the Lord) and the army (terrible to the enemy).

This is also what the Lord is after: expression (the city expressing Him) and representation (the army represents Him and fights for His interest).

This is similar to what we see in Ezek. 37:2-10, where there are many dry bones, and the Spirit was breathed into them, they became alive to be built up into God’s habitation, and they were formed into an army to fight for God’s interest.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we give ourselves to You for the building up of the church as the city of God! We exercise our spirit, Lord, to deny the self, lose the soul-life, and take up our cross for the church to be built up. Amen, Lord, take us on with You until we become part of the city of God who expresses God in His glory, and a part of God’s army that is terrible to the enemy and puts him to shame. Make us those who both build up the church and fight the enemy in spiritual warfare. Lord Jesus, gain the church as the city of God and the army of God!

Being the Lord’s Overcomers as His Built-up Church, His Army, who Terrifies His Enemy

In Song of Songs 6:4 and 10 we see that the lover of Christ becomes not only a city that is lovely and beautiful, but also an army that is terrible; this shows us that on the one hand we are for God’s expression, so lovely and beautiful, and on the other, we are terrible to the enemy.

A terrible army here signifies that the Lord’s overcomers terrify God’s enemy, Satan. Satan is afraid of only one kind of people: those who do not love their soul life.

The overcomers overcome the enemy because of the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and by not loving their soul-life even unto death (Rev. 12:11).

The enemy is terrified of Bethel, the house of God (see Gen. 35:1-5); just as the people around Jacob were terrified of him and his family as he returned to Bethel, so the enemy is terrified when we are built up as the church, the house of God.

The enemy is frightened by the church that is built up as the city of God; whenever the church becomes the city of God for His expression, the enemy is afraid, for such a church will also defeat him (see Neh. 6:15-16; Psa. 102:12-16).

The church is built up as the house of God for God’s expression, and the church is also being built up as the city of God for His representation. When the enemy sees that the church is built as the city of God with the help of our God, this is terrible to the enemy, and the enemy is terrified.

The demons and the evil angels are all terrified of the one new man created by Christ on the cross (see Eph. 2:15-16; Col. 2:14-15).

The bringing forth of the new man was done on the cross, where Christ stripped off the angelic rulers and powers in the heavenlies, He made them of open shame, and He triumphed over them through His work on the cross. Hallelujah!

Therefore, we as believers need to be full of joy – the joy of salvation, the joy of being in the church life, the joy of entering into the reality of the Body of Christ, and the joy of being the one new man, where Christ is all the members and in all the members.

We need to realize that Satan is not afraid of individualistic Christians; even if there are thousands of individualistic Christians, Satan is not afraid of them. But Satan is terrified of the church as the Body of Christ, the corporate warrior fighting against him and his kingdom (see Eph. 6:10-20).

When we as the church are built up and strengthened in the Lord and in the might of His strength, we put on the whole armor of God as the Body of Christ, and the enemy flees. Satan trembles at the built up church, for when the church is built up the Father has rest, Christ is expressed, and the enemy is defeated.

We need to be built up in the Body as the Lord’s overcomers today to be the Body of Christ, the new man, the bride of Christ, the family of God, the kingdom of God, the dwelling place of God, and the warrior.

Lord, build us up as the church to be the army of God, the corporate warrior of God, for the defeat of Your enemy! Save us from trying to be individualistic “giant spiritual warriors” who try to defeat the enemy by themselves. Lord, build us up into the church as the corporate warrior, the army of God, the one new man who both expresses God and represents Him with His dominion. Amen, Lord, gain the church to be Your corporate expression and also a corporate warrior that terrifies the enemy!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1972, vol. 1, “Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs,” ch. 12, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man (2018 Memorial Day Conference), week 4, Fighting the Spiritual Warfare through Living in Christ’s Ascension as the New Creation in Resurrection to Become Christ’s Duplication and Counterpart.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Lord, teach us to discern the spirit, / The soul-life ever to deny, / And ever follow Thee in spirit, / Thyself, the Spirit, to apply. (Hymns #746)
  # As a member of the Body, / With the brethren stand for God; / Praying always in the Spirit, / Claim the vict’ry through the Blood. / In the heav’nlies more than conqu’ror, / In the power of His might, / As a soldier in the army, / In the Lord the battle fight. (Hymns #885)
  # The churches are the Body / Of Christ on earth today. / They are His testimony, / That He may have a way. / They are the golden lampstands / In cities far and wide. / They are His fighting army, / And His beloved Bride. (Hymns #1265)