Our God wants us to exercise His dominion on earth by participating in the spiritual warfare of the church as the one new man.
God’s intention in His creation of man is for man to express Him and represent Him; He wants man in particular to represent God by having dominion over all things and by subduing the enemy so that man would regain the earth for God.
This week in our time with the Lord in the morning we come to a new topic, a new series based on the 2018 Memorial day Weekend Conference on, The Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the New Man.
In particular this week we want to see something more concerning, The Church as the New Man Engaging in Spiritual Warfare to Defeat God’s Enemy and to Bring In the Kingdom of God.
If we read Rev. 12 we see a view of what’s really taking place in the universe right now; here we see a spiritual unveiling of the real situation.
There’s a great bright universal woman who is about to deliver a manchild, and the dragon wants to devour this child; however, when the man-child is delivered, he is taken up to God, there’s war in heaven, and the enemy is defeated and cast down.
When coming to the matter of spiritual warfare, we all are at various levels of growth in life, spiritual understanding, and building up, but Christ as the Head wants to speak something in particular concerning this to each and every member of the Body (each member is indispensable).
The bringing forth of the son of this universal bright woman, the man-child, precipitates war among the angels; the devil and his cohorts are cast down, the last three and a half years of this age has begun, and the coming of the end of the age is imminent.
The man-child is actually the one new man, the church as the one new man, as represented by the overcoming and victorious believers.
Seeing the Importance of the Spiritual Warfare of the Church as the One New man
God created us with a twofold purpose – on the positive side we are to be His expression (so He created us in His image and according to His likeness), and on the negative side we are to represent Him with His authority on earth (so He gave us His dominion) – see Gen. 1:26.
Positively, we are to express God corporately, and negatively, we are to exercise His dominion over the earth, over the enemy, and over every creeping thing, and recover the earth for God’s interest.
The first man, Adam, failed God and became the old man. So in the fulness of the times (1 Cor. 15:22) Christ as the second man came by incarnation to be a God-man, and He lived on earth for thirty-three and a half ears.
This precious One, our Lord Jesus, personally fulfilled Gen. 1:26; He was the image of God, He expressed God the Father, He didn’t do His own work but did the Father’s work, He didn’t come in His name but did the Father’s will.
He also resisted, defeated, and conquered the devil and all his demons throughout His life, and on the cross Christ judged and destroyed the devil and all the principalities and powers.
In resurrection Christ was given all authority in heaven and on earth, and He has the keys of death and Hades. When He was on the cross, Christ as the second man crucified the first man, and He created in Himself one new man; in His resurrection both Christ as the Head and the believers as His Body were born.
Right now the fact and reality in this universe is that there’s a one new man; the enemy hates this and fears this one, and God rejoices.
However, there’s a great need for this one new man to grow to maturity, to be brought forth, and to function so that he may corporately fulfill Gen. 1:26. We need to put on the one new man who was created in God’s image (see Eph. 4).
The new man is a warrior – a corporate fighter, engaged in spiritual warfare to subdue the rebellious will of the enemy, testify of the victory of Christ, do the work of God at any cost, cause Satan to lose ground on earth, and bring in the kingdom of God. Amen!
When the Lord returns, He will come as the Bridegroom, and He will marry His prepared bride, composed of the matured ones, those who express Him, and those who are experienced in battle.
Concerning the spiritual warfare of the church as the one new man there are two aspects of our involvement: first we need to grow and mature in life to reach the stage of spiritual warfare, and we need to realize that it is the church who fights the spiritual warfare.
According to the experience and growth in the spiritual life, the matter of spiritual warfare is very much advanced – in the fourth stage of the experience of life, following the dealing with the self, the flesh, the natural constitution, the spirit, accepting the discipline of the Spirit, being filled in spirit, knowing the Body, knowing ascension, reigning in life, and then spiritual warfare.
Many of us have not yet reached this level of maturity of experience, but we are not discouraged – we are growing, arriving, and progressing!
On the other side, one of the basic principles for the growth in life is that, if we are in a proper and genuine local expression of the Body of Christ, we are part of the corporate warrior, so we all participate in the spiritual warfare according to our measure.
Some among us are more experienced warriors, and as they function in a blended way, the Lord will train every one of us to be warriors.
We need to see this and realise that we need the Lord even as He needs us; we need Him as the Victor, we are fighting from victory, and he needs us as the one new man, His counterpart, to execute, testify, carry out, and maintain His victory on the earth.
We need to present ourselves to the Lord to be those among many who are willing and determined to participate in the spiritual warfare for the fulfillment of God’s purpose.
Lord Jesus, we call on Your name – the highest name in the universe, the name which is above every name! You have won the victory over Satan, the devil, and all his demons and evil spirits. We praise You for Your victory! You as a Man cast out demons, defeated Satan, destroyed the devil on the cross, resurrected with resurrection power, ascended, and now You as a Man are the Lord in this universe! You are the Victor, and we are seated with You in the heavens! Amen, Lord, we agree with You that it is time to cause Satan to suffer a fatal loss on earth so that the way may be clear for You to return! Amen, Lord, bring forth the church as the one new man to be Your corporate warrior to fight the spiritual warfare!
God Wants a Corporate Man to Express Him and Represent Him by having Dominion over All Things
God’s intention in His creation of man was to have a corporate man to express Him and represent Him; for this, He created man in His image and according to His likeness, and He gave man His dominion over all things (see Gen. 1:26, 28).
God’s creation of man in Gen. 1 is a picture of the one new man in God’s creation (see Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10-11).
He created man in His image to express God, and He gave man the commission to be fruitful, multiply, and subdue the earth, to rule over the creeping things (typifying the enemy with his demons), and recover the earth.
At present Satan, the enemy, is usurping territory, people, and situations over which he has no legal right for; we are here as the one new man to evict him in the name of the conquering Jesus!
The first man, Adam, fell, but the church as the new man is the corporate man in God’s intention, and this new man will fulfill the twofold purpose of expressing God and representing Him.
Not all the believers all over the earth, and not even all the saints in the local churches, will be part of the fulfillment of this function, but the Lord will produce His victors, His overcomers, and they will be the manchild.
Satan the devil fears this man, and he hates him; he’s been fighting for thousands of years against the people of God, and he wants to devour the manchild, for this one will thoroughly and absolutely fulfill Gen. 1:26.
When the Lord gains the one new man, He will also have the prepared bride, who is a warrior, meeting all his requirements for a counterpart; when she is ready, the Lord will rapture her.
We all should be energised by the living hope that our Lord, the Bridegroom, will come back in our lifetime.
For the bride to be ready, however, the Body must be built up, the new man must mature and function to fulfill Gen. 1:26, and the Lord, according to His discernment, will end this age and prepare the way for the kingdom to come. God created a corporate man to represent Him by having dominion over all things.
God’s intention in giving man dominion is for him to subdue God’s enemy, Satan, who rebelled against God, to recover the earth, and to exercise God’s authority over the earth in order that the kingdom of God may come to the earth, the will of God may be done on earth, and the glory of God may be manifested on earth (vv. 26, 28; Matt. 6:10, 13b).
God’s intention that man would have dominion over all things will be fulfilled by the church as the new man; it is fully fulfilled in the overcoming believers, who live Christ for His corporate expression (Phil. 1:19-26) and will have authority over the nations and reign as co-kings with Christ in the millennium (Rev. 2:26-27; 20:4, 6).
It will ultimately be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, which will express God’s image, having His glory and bearing His appearance (Rev. 4:3a; 21:11, 18a), and also exercise God’s divine authority to maintain God’s dominion over the entire universe for eternity (Rev. 21:24; 22:5). Amen!
Lord Jesus, gain the corporate one new man that will express You with Your image and represent You with Your dominion to end this age, bring in the kingdom of God, and recover the earth for God! Amen, Lord, may we be the means by which the victory of Christ is testified and applied again and again, so that the enemy will lose ground, be put to shame, and our Lord is glorified! Lord, we are one with You to evict Satan in the name of the conquering Jesus, for he has no right in usurping people, places, and situations!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message given by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 2302-2303 (by Witness Lee), 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 1, The Church as the New Man Engaging in Spiritual Warfare to Defeat God’s Enemy and to Bring In the Kingdom of God.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The church is Christ— / His expression on the earth today; / The church is Christ— / His expression on the earth today. / This corporate man / Fulfills God’s plan, / That this man may have dominion over all the earth. (Hymns #1293)
# Lo, the conflict of the ages / Is upon us today, / And the forces of rebellion / Are in total array. / The humanity of Jesus / Now the saints must possess, / His true image and dominion / On the earth to express. (Hymns #1172)
# Fight, saints, for Jesus our Lord! / Take in His life, stand in one accord! / Never fear God’s enemy; / Tread on his head triumphantly! / Pray that the daily church life be strong, / That all the saints in spirit press on, / Fighting as the one new man, / Fulfilling our Lord’s great plan! (Hymns #1283)
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