Message Eleven

The Corporate Warrior

Scripture Reading: Eph. 6:10-20

1. Ephesians 6:10-20 reveals that the church as the new man is a corporate warrior fighting against the enemy of God for God’s kingdom:
   1. The church as the one new man is the corporate man in God’s intention, and this new man will fulfill the twofold purpose of expressing God and dealing with God’s enemy—Gen. 1:26.
   2. The spiritual significance of the victory of Israel over Jericho by their bearing the ark is that it is a picture of a corporate God-man—God and man as one person— Josh. 6:1-16.
   3. Not only must God’s eternal purpose be fulfilled and the desire of Christ’s heart be satisfied, but God’s enemy must be defeated; for this, the church must be a warrior.
   4. Our walk is for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, our living is for the satisfaction of Christ, and our warfare is for the defeat of God’s enemy—Eph. 4:1; 5:2, 8; 6:10-11.
2. Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan’s will is in conflict with God’s will—Eph. 1:5, 9, 11; Matt. 6:10:
   1. In addition to God’s intention, God’s will, there is a second intention, a second will, for the satanic will is set against the divine will—Isa. 14:12-14.
   2. All warfare has its source in the conflict between Satan’s will and God’s will.
   3. Spiritual warfare is the warfare between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan; in order for the kingdom of the heavens to be established, there is the need of spiritual fighting—Matt. 12:26, 28; Rev. 12:11.
   4. We walk according to truth and by grace, we live in love and light, and we fight to subdue the satanic will—Eph. 4:1; 5:2, 8; 6:12.
3. To deal with God’s enemy, we need to be empowered with the greatness of the power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him in the heavenlies, far above all the evil spirits in the air—v. 10; 1:19-22:
   1. The fact that we need to be empowered in the Lord indicates that in ourselves we cannot fight the spiritual warfare against Satan and his evil kingdom; we can fight only in the Lord and in the might of His strength.
   2. The charge to be empowered implies the need to exercise our will; if we would be empowered for spiritual warfare, our will must be strong and exercised—S. S. 4:4.
4. The warfare between the church and Satan is a battle between us who love the Lord and who are in His church and the evil powers in the heavenlies— Eph. 6:12:
   1. The principalities, the authorities, and the world-rulers of darkness are the rebellious angels who followed Satan in his rebellion against God and who now rule in the heavenlies over the nations of the world—Col. 1:13; Dan. 10:20.
   2. We need to realize that our warfare is not against human beings but against the evil spirits, the evil powers, in the heavenlies.
5. Spiritual warfare is not an individual matter; it is a matter of the Body, the new man—Eph. 1:22-23; 4:24; 6:13:
   1. The church is a corporate warrior, and the believers together make up this corporate warrior; after we have been formed corporately into an army, we will be able to fight against God’s enemy.
   2. God’s strategy is to use the church as His army to fight against the enemy; Satan’s strategy is to isolate us from the church as God’s army.
   3. The whole armor of God is for the Body, not for individuals; only the corporate warrior can wear the whole armor of God.
6. To fight the spiritual warfare, we need to put on the whole armor of God—vv. 11, 13:
   1. God in Christ as the reality in our living is the girdle that strengthens our whole being for the spiritual warfare—v. 14a.
   2. The breastplate of righteousness that covers our conscience and guards us from Satan’s accusations is Christ as our righteousness—v. 14b; 1 Cor. 1:30.
   3. Christ is the peace for us to be one with God and with the saints; this peace is the firm foundation that enables us to stand against the enemy—Eph. 2:15; 6:15.
   4. Faith is a shield against the flaming darts of the enemy; Christ is the Author and Perfecter of such faith—v. 16; Heb. 12:2.
   5. The helmet of salvation that covers our mind is the saving Christ we experience in our daily life—Eph. 6:17a; John 16:33.
   6. The sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God, is our offensive weapon with which we cut the enemy to pieces—Eph. 6:17b.
   7. Prayer is the unique, crucial, and vital means by which we apply the whole armor of God, making every item of the armor available to us in a practical way—v. 18.
7. By putting on the whole armor of God, we are able to stand against the stratagems, the evil plans, of the devil—vv. 11, 13-14:
   1. To sit with Christ is to participate in all His accomplishments, to walk in His Body is to fulfill God’s eternal purpose, and to stand in His power is to fight against God’s enemy—2:6; 4:1; 5:2, 8; 6:11, 13-14.
   2. In fighting against the enemy, the most important thing is to stand; having done all, we need to stand to the end.
8. “We all need to see that in the Lord’s recovery today we are on a battlefield. We should be today’s Joshua and Caleb, fighting against Satan’s aerial forces so that we can gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, setting up and spreading the kingdom of God so that Christ can come back to inherit the earth” (Life-study of Joshua, p. 61).