War to End All Wars
Introduction
The inhabited world is in the midst of a titanic struggle, not over a temporary slice of Europe, but over who has the true authority over “all things” created (Eph 3:9; Col 3:16). Does everything belong to the devil, as he told Jesus (Luke 4:5-7), or does it belong to Christ who is taking possession of it now through the Church (Eph 1:20-22; 4:8-11)? The correct answer is obvious to us, but the functional disunity of the Church broadcasts to the “rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” something different Eph 3:10). This scandal of the highest proportions demands unceasing urgent action in united prayer (Luke 18:1; Eph 6:18). If Israel could respond to their natural enemies by gathering across the tribes for battle “as one man” (Judges 6:16; 20:1, 8, 11; cf. 1 Sam. 11:7; cf. Ezra 3:1), the Body of Christ has a similar call in relation to spiritual enemies. The first Church knew how to respond in united prayer (Acts 1:14; 4:24; 15:22) because they discerned in the Spirit their warfare was against “the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). To live as a community of united prayer we need much deeper insight into what the Great Commission, “go and make disciples of all people groups” (Matt 28:19) meant for Jesus, and for us. (Since there were few nation- states in New Testament times, “people group” is the best translation of the Greek ethnoi, from which we get “ethnic”) When we have a revelation of what his mission from God meant for Jesus, we will be grasped by what it means for us.
Contested Space
In the order of creation, God “fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.” (Deut 32:8). These “sons of God” are angelic powers (Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; [Gen 6:2?]). With their joining in the rebellion of Satan they have forfeited all legitimate territorial rights (Isa 54:5; Zech 14:9), but the Lord of all (Acts 10:36) permits them to maintain their authority over sinful people groups (Dan 10:20). Until that is, these peoples come under the authority of the gospel (Acts 26:18). The hold of evil heavenly powers works through the crazed incurable addcition of humanity to idols (Hos 4:17), not only to the created world (Deut 4:19), but even more stubbornly to ethnic, racial and national identities. In old covenant terms, as the people of Moab were one with their god Chemosh, Yahweh is one with Israel (Judges 11:24 etc.). The new covenant expands the true Lord’s claim beyond Israel to all peoples. Jesus was not sent to reclaim the limited territorial boundaries of Israel, nor to be the God of the Roman/British/American/Russian/Chinese Empires etc., but as God’s rightful heir to reclaim all the people groups he and the Father created (Ps 2:8; Isa 9:7; John 1:3; Eph 3:14; Col 1:1; Heb 1:3).
When Christ the true Heir appears in power the demonic rulers lapse into total panic, “What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?” (Matt 8:29; Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34). These criminal tenants (Mark 12:7) sense all their usurped possessions are about to be stripped away (Mark 3:27; Col 2:15). As spirit beings, the demons fear of final torment is total. Which means, that as humans under demonic power tenaciously hold on to their idols for “grim death” (Isa 2:18-20), so unclean spirits will not let go of their enslaving hold on humanity (Heb 2:14-15) unless totally overpowered by the Spirt and Word of God (1 Thess 2:13). The gospel battle waged from Pentecost on is over “every people group under heaven” (Acts 2:5) as Christ repossess them all for the glory of his Father (Phil 2:10-11). Only a heavenly perspective can sustain us in this war to reclaim all the spaces of creation for the true God.
War from Heaven
Jesus testified, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18), as does John, “Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, 8 but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven.” (Rev 12:7-8). John sees the devil pursuing the Church to “make war” on her “with great wrath” (Rev 12:17). Total spiritual warfare was completely real to Jesus and the apostles as members of God’s governing “heavenly council” (http://cross-connect.net.au/ascending-into-the-divine-council/) , but our inept lack of insight into the Battle exposes us as spiritual pygmies! Paul could tell the Philippians, “it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.” (Phil 1:29-30), since his readers knew they were together in the same spiritual war as they had experienced the same sufferings in/for Christ (Phil 3:10; Col 1:24). The conclusion is embarrassingly inescapable: no common suffering>no shared sense of conflict> no divine council experience>no “as one man” reality. This sounds bleak, but the Lord has a master plan.
Many Peoples Praying as One
When Jesus spoke of his Father’s “house of prayer for all nations” (Mark 11:17 cf. Isa 56:7; Jer 7:11) he envisaged an interceding collective of peoples spanning heaven and earth (Dan 7:14; Rev 5:9; 7:9). The whole Church is essentially a praying Church (Rev 5:8; 8:3). The gathering of all the nations to Jesus (Gen 49:10) is far more dynamic than an overcoming of historical injustices and cultural/racial dominances, it is the way in which the salvation of the world in Christ is expressed (Gal 3:28). The Lord recently highlighted to me this verse, “ a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”” (Acts 16:9). Jesus is the all-inclusive Intercessor, who today is symbolically the “man from Congo/ Myanmar/ Ukraine/ Afghanistan…”, praying through his Church in the divine council with “the seven eyes which are the seven spirits of God of God sent out into all the earth” (Rev 5:6 cf. 2 Chron 7:16). The powerful secret of the “wisdom of God now made known through the Church” dethroning the heavenly principalities (Eph 3:10) is the many-coloured sufferings of all the people groups of the world, refugees especially, submitted through prayer to Jesus for his glory amongst the nations. In this lies the plan of how the kingdom of God will grow the future Church across the world.
Conclusion
Jesus promised that he and his Father would dwell in us (John 14:23 cf. 17:22). He was supremely confident of his coming victory over “the ruler of this world” because Satan had “nothing in me” (John 14:30). When the Lord frees us in our people groups from the idolatry of elevating our own ethnic, racial and national identities, when we in “the meekness and gentleness of Christ” (2 Cor 10:1-6) worship and pray together as genuinely co-dependent equals, then “as one man” we will enforce in the present age the signs of the final Victory of Christ over every alien power (Rev 19:11). This will bring an explosion in missions. How can such an elevated vision happen in the Church as we know it? No idea, I am merely a prophet, not a strategist! Ask the Lord about your role and please let me know what he tells you.