Message Seven

The Necessity of Spiritual Warfare,
the Vision of the War in Heaven,
and the Ultimate War—the War at Armageddon

Scripture Reading: Gen. 3:15; Matt. 6:9-10, 13b; 12:28; Eph. 6:10-13; Rev. 12:1-17; 19:11-21

1. Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan’s will is set against God’s will—Matt. 6:10; 7:21; Isa. 14:12-14:
   1. If we would know how the church can be God’s warrior to engage in spiritual warfare, we need to realize that in the universe there are three wills—the divine will, the satanic will, and the human will:
      1. Spiritual warfare has its source in the conflict between the divine will and the satanic will.
      2. God wants His creature man to deal with His fallen creature Satan; for this, the human will must stand with the divine will—Gen. 1:26; Matt. 26:39; 12:30; 7:21.
      3. As the church, our fighting is to subdue the satanic will and to defeat God’s enemy—Rev. 12:11.
   2. The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God—Rev. 12:10:
      1. Spiritual warfare is the warfare between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan— Matt. 12:26, 28.
      2. The kingdom of God is the exercise of the divine will and the overthrowing of the power of Satan by the power of God—6:10; 12:28:
         1. When the devil is unable to stand in a certain place, the kingdom has come to that place—12:28.
         2. Wherever 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—Rev. 12:10; 11:15.
      3. The work of the church on earth is to bring in the kingdom of God—Matt. 16:18-19.
      4. Through prayer the church must release the power of the kingdom of God upon the earth— 6:9-10, 13; 18:19.
2. Revelation 12 presents a great vision concerning the war in heaven—the warfare in the universe between God and His enemy:
   1. The vision in this chapter unveils the true situation in the universe—the view that God’s enemy is fighting against Him—vv. 1-4, 7-9, 13, 17:
      1. For us to know God’s economy, we need to see the spiritual things behind the physical things, the spiritual world behind the physical world—Dan. 10:12-13, 20-21.
      2. It is crucial for us to see that behind the physical scene a spiritual struggle, a struggle not seen with human eyes, is taking place.
      3. In our fighting we deal not with things that appear on the surface but with the power of darkness behind these things—Eph. 2:6; 6:12; S. S. 4:8.
   2. Among the many crucial matters in the second section of Revelation is the vision of the universal bright woman with her man-child fighting against the dragon—12:1-4:
      1. War is raging between the dragon and the woman, who symbolizes God’s people and represents God.
      2. We all need to be aware of the warfare between the dragon and the woman; this vision must become a governing vision to us—Prov. 29:18a.
   3. The battle is fought by the man-child, the stronger part within the woman, who bears the responsibility to fight against the enemy— Rev. 12:4-5, 11:
      1. The overcomers fight against Satan continually, even unto death, and defeat him on earth; however, heaven is still waiting for them to arrive there that war may be waged to cast Satan out of heaven—vv. 5, 7-11.
      2. The part of the church which will be the man-child to fight against the enemy in the heavens will also be the army to fight against Satan on earth—19:14; 17:14.
      3. We should begin now to be qualified, equipped, and perfected to be among those who will be raptured to execute God’s judgment upon Satan.
3. According to Revelation 19:11-21 Christ will come as a fighting General with His bride, the overcoming believers who are His army, to fight Antichrist, the kings under him, and their armies at Armageddon:
   1. Under the instigation of Antichrist, man will wage war against the King of kings and the Lord of lords—v. 16:
      1. Christ is God coming to fight against rebellious mankind, and mankind is represented by a man who is one with Satan—Antichrist— v. 19.
      2. These two parties—Christ and Antichrist— will fight; man will fight against God directly.
   2. When Christ comes with His army to fight against Antichrist and his armies, He will come as the Son of Man—Matt. 26:64; Rev. 14:14:
      1. As the Son of Man He will need a counterpart to match and complete Him; this counterpart will be His bride—John 3:29a.
      2. Before His coming back, Christ will have a wedding, uniting His overcomers to Himself as one entity—Rev. 19:7-9:
         1. Christ will marry the one who has been fighting the battle against God’s enemy for years.
         2. In Revelation 19 Christ will marry the overcomers, who have already overcome the evil one.
      3. After His wedding Christ will come with His bride to destroy Antichrist:
         1. The Warrior is the Word, and His fighting will be the speaking of the word of God— v. 13:
            1. 1) As the Lord fights, He speaks for God and expresses God.
            2. 2) The Lord’s fighting at Armageddon will be a powerful speaking.
         2. The wedding garment—Christ lived out of us as our daily righteousness—qualifies us not only to attend the wedding but also to join the army to fight with Christ against Antichrist in the ultimate war— the war at Armageddon—Matt. 22:11-12; Rev. 19:7-8, 14.