In gaining a Fighting Army God wants a Corporate Man to Subdue and Regain the Earth

In the forming of the house of Israel into a fighting army we see the principle revealed in Gen. 1:26-28, that is, that God desires a corporate man to represent Him in subduing and regaining the earth from the usurping hand of Satan.

The book of Numbers show us how God’s people were formed into a priestly army to journey with God and also to fight with God for His interest on earth.

From the very first chapter of this book God asked Moses to number the people, all those who are able to go forth for military service; these were to be formed into a fighting army to be the corporate man to represent Him in subduing and regaining the earth from the usurping hand of Satan.

Today the Lord is looking for those who are of the spiritual age of twenty, those who are the young men, the strong ones according to the resurrection power, those in whom the word of God abides and who are grown in the divine life.

When we let the word of God abide in us and we do not love the world or the things in the world, we are being formed into the fighting army the Lord needs today.

The whole world lies in evil one, and Satan as the devil affects others and influences them to be evil and vicious; whether it is the medical system, the educational system, or the technology today, the whole world lies in the evil one.

May we be those who are formed as God’s army to fight so that God can gain more ground on the earth to build up His kingdom with His habitation!

May we be those who first give the Lord ground in our being, allowing Him to nullify the works of the devil in us and letting the word of God abide in us richly, so that we may be formed into the Lord’s army.

The army the Lord wants to gain is for the protection of God’s testimony.

God has a testimony, His testimony is among us His people, and the enemies surround us from every side; therefore, the Lord needs an army who cooperate with Him in prayer to deal with God’s enemy so that God would expand His kingdom and Christ would build up the church.

We may look at ourselves and think we are weak and not trained for the battle, but God views the church just as He views Israel in the wilderness, as an army fighting for His testimony.

Amen, may we give ourselves to the Lord for this, for us to be formed into a fighting army to protect God’s testimony on the earth!

In gaining a Fighting Army God wants a Corporate Man to Subdue and Regain the Earth from Satan’s Usurping Hand

From the very beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible, God’s purpose is the same; He wants to gain a corporate man who would express Him in His image and represent Him to deal with His enemy (see Gen. 1:26-28).

In the forming of the house of Israel into a fighting army, we see the principle revealed in Gen. 1:26-28.

God desires to gain a corporate man to represent Him in subduing and regaining the earth from the usurping hand of Satan.

First, He wants to gain some who would have His image to express Him; the more we bear His image, the more we can represent Him with His authority, and thus fulfill our commission to recover the earth.

We need to be formed into a fighting army to recover the ground on earth to establish the church as the kingdom of God and the dwelling place of God, where the bride will be prepared and the new man would be manifested, so that our Lord may come back as the Bridegroom for His bride and the king to inherit the earth.

Today we are approaching the consummation of the age; the Lord told us that He will be with us unto the consummation of the age, and so there’s a process reaching its fulfillment and completion.

We do not want to speculate about the year when the Lord will come – we’re not interested in that; what we want is to be part of the bridal army which is being prepared, and we would raptured live to the throne!

Our aspiration is to be part of the fighting army that God wants to gain to subdue and regain the earth from Satan’s usurping hand; we want to be raptured with Him and then return with Him to deal with the enemy at Armageddon!

We aspire to be part of the corporate smiting stone that will smash the human government and eliminate it, and bring in the kingdom of God to fill the whole earth!

We aspire that we would be gained by the Lord as His fighting army, the dispensational instrument that He will use to make the greatest change this world has ever seen!

God needs a dispensational instrument – He needs the Body, the overcomers, His bridal army; this is what is in His heart, and for this He is longing, He is speaking, He is shepherding, He is ministering, and He is administrating all things.

Satan usurps the whole world, and especially in the case of the people of Israel, the whole land of Canaan was occupied by God’s enemy.

Therefore, in order for the people of Israel to take the good land and bring in the kingdom of God, they had to fight inch by inch, defeating all their enemies; the purpose and goal of their fighting was to possess the land.

Are we part of the Lord’s army? Where is the fighting army that God desires to gain so that He may have a corporate man to subdue and regain the earth from Satan’s usurping hand?

If there’s no army, the Lord is delayed in fulfilling His purpose, and He will delay His return. But when there’s an army, He also has a building; when there’s a priesthood, there is an army for the Lord to fulfill His purpose. May we be those who tell the Lord,

Lord Jesus, gain us as Your fighting army who are made into the corporate man who subdues and regains the earth from Satan’s usurping hand! We want to be part of Your dispensational instrument who is raptured to the throne and will return with You to defeat Your enemy and bring Your kingdom in! Amen, Lord Jesus, gain us as part of the priesthood who expresses You and the army who represents You on the earth. May the church be built up for Your expression and the fighting army for Your representation on earth!

To Enjoy the Unsearchably Rich Christ, the Church must Defeat the Enemy and Take over his Territory

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 had to gain the land by fighting, defeating all the enemies (Num. 21:1-3).

Similarly in the spiritual realm God has allotted to us the all-inclusive Christ as our rich portion, and in order for us to take this land, we need to be the fighting army that defeats the enemy.

In Num. 21:1-3 and 21-35 we see that the army of God defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan. These were two kings who were guarding the entrance of the good land.

The kings of Arad (v. 1), of the Amorites (v. 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.

For the children of Israel to enter into the good land, they had to pass through the territory controlled by these kings, and therefore they had to fight against them, destroy them, and take over their territory.

When reading these stories some people, in their right vs wrong mind (that is, in their thinking in the good vs evil tree of knowledge) they may say, What right did the children of Israel have to take this land from them?

Well, actually, no part of the earth belongs to man but the whole earth is the Lord’s, so these tribes were illegally occupying and usurping part of the land, and the fighting army of God was standing to defeat them and destroy them and then take over their territory, to bring the whole earth back to the Lord.

Today we need to be the fighting army who defeats the enemies so that we may enter into the good land, that is, for us to enter into the enjoyment of the unsearchably rich Christ.

The children of Israel defeated the king of Arad and destroyed his people (Num. 21:1-3), Sihon the king of the Amorites with his people, Og the king of Bashan with his people (21:21-35), and the Midianites with their five kings (31:1-12).

By defeating these people, the fighting army of God 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 rulers and powers and defeat the spiritual powers, rulers, and authorities in the air, so that the kingdom of God would spread and be established.

We need to be the priestly army carrying out the holy war, those bearing God’s testimony upon their shoulders and at the same time being the fighting army for God’s interest.

For us to enjoy the unsearchably rich Christ, the church as the fighting army of God must defeat the enemy and take of his territory.

The history of the children of Israel is a type of our history today; on one hand today we need to bear God’s testimony on our shoulders as the people of Israel bore the Ark of the Testimony, and on the other hand we need to be formed as the fighting army of God to defeat God’s enemies.

What is recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers prefigures what is recorded in Acts and in the Epistles.

Lord Jesus, we want to enter into the enjoyment of the unsearchably rich Christ as the reality of the good land. Form us into a fighting army who defeats the enemy and takes over his territory for the spreading of the kingdom of God and the building up of His dwelling place. Amen, Lord Jesus, make us those who bear Your testimony on our shoulders and who fight one with You for Your interest on the earth. Oh Lord, gain what You are after today, the bridal army who is a fighting army for Your interest and who also expresses You with Your image!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 32, 50 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 1, Being Formed into an Army to Fight with God for His Interest on Earth.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # To inherit the good land, we must be renumbered; / Make a willing vow to Him to fulfill His standard. / For the Lord’s up-to-date move, let’s fight and pay the price, / Enter and possess the land, our all-inclusive Christ! (Song on, Christ in Numbers)
  # 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)
  # Let us fight together with the Lord through prayer; / Over death, Christ’s vict’ry we declare. / One with the ascended Christ; we soar in prayer, / Fight as one for God’s move everywhere. (Song on, Let us work together with the Lord through prayer)