The vision and experience of christ in his resurrection and ascension
Scripture Reading: S. S. 4:7-15; 6:4, 10; Eph. 2:6; 6:10-12; Rev. 12:10; 11:15
I. As those who love the Lord and seek Him, we are eventually called by our Beloved to live with Him in His ascension as a new creation in resurrection—S. S. 4:7-15:
A. Christ expresses His appreciation of His lover to prepare her to receive His call to live with Him in His ascension as a new creation in resurrection—v. 7:
1. The new creation is only that which is in ascension and resurrection.
2. Anyone who is in Christ and in His resurrection is a new creation—2 Cor. 5:17.
3. The matters of resurrection and the new creation are closely related to Christ's ascension:
a. Actually, Christ's resurrection and ascension are one—Eph. 2:5-6.
b. If we are in His resurrection, we are also in His ascension.
B. Christ asks His lover as His bride to look with Him from His ascension (Lebanon), the highest place of the truth (Amana) and of Christ's victory in His fighting (Senir and Hermon), and from the heavenly places of His enemies (the lions' dens and the leopards' mountains)—S. S. 4:8.
C. As one living in ascension as a new creation in resurrection, the lover of Christ becomes a garden to satisfy Christ—vv. 12-15:
1. The garden is enclosed, and there is a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, for Christ's private enjoyment—v. 12:
a. This indicates that, in experiencing Christ, we, the seeking believers, must have something private, hidden, shut up, and sealed that is for Christ alone.
b. The spring is the Spirit of life and is seen in Revelation 22:1 as the river of water of life; the fountain is the source of the spring, which is God's throne.
2. The lover of Christ grows all kinds of plants in different colors as different expressions of the inner life and in a variety of fragrances as the rich expression of the mature life, producing fruits to nourish and refresh, giving forth sweet fragrances, and displaying beautiful colors for Christ's enjoyment—S.?S. 4:13-14.
3. The fountain in gardens and the well of living water of the life-giving Spirit are streams from the resurrection and ascension life (Lebanon); the fountain and the spring stream out from the overcomers, flowing out from what they are and from where they are—v. 15; John 7:38-39.
D. We live with Christ in His ascension by living in our spirit and by discerning the spirit from the soul—1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4; Heb. 4:12.
II. As we live with Christ in His ascension as a new creation in resurrection, we engage in spiritual warfare for the kingdom of God—S. S. 4:8; 6:4, 10:
A. In ascension we look with Christ "from the lions' dens, / From the leopards' mountains"—4:8b:
1. The lions' dens and the leopards' mountains signify the heavenlies, where Satan and his subordinates (the lions and the leopards) are.
2. The victory has been gained, but Satan and his evil forces are still in the heavenlies; we must have our living in ascension, far above the evil powers—Eph. 3:10; 6:12.
3. Here we fight with Satan and his power of darkness by being empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength and by putting on the whole armor of God (vv. 12-20); this is the reality of living in the ascension of Christ.
B. Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan's will is set against God's will; our fighting is to subdue the satanic will and defeat God's enemy—Matt. 6:10.
C. In order to engage in spiritual warfare, we must maintain the position of ascension—S. S. 4:8:
1. The spiritual warfare mentioned in Ephesians 6:10-12 is based upon the position of ascension in 2:6.
2. The position of ascension causes us to be victorious in battle because only in?the position of ascension can we have heavenly authority and pray with authority to deal with God's enemy.
D. Spiritual warfare is based on the victory of Christ; through death the Lord Jesus destroyed the devil, bringing him to nothing—Matt. 27:51-54; Heb. 2:14.
E. We engage in spiritual warfare to conquer the satanic chaos and triumph in the divine economy—Eph. 1:10:
1. The history of the universe is a history of God's economy and Satan's chaos—Gen. 1:1-2, 26; Rev. 20:10—21:4:
a. Satan is the source of chaos, and God Himself is the divine economy.
b. Both in the Bible and in our experience, the satanic chaos always goes along with the divine economy—2 Cor. 4:6; 1 Tim. 1:4.
2. Instead of delivering us from chaos, God wants us to be one with Him to conquer the destructive satanic chaos in the old creation and to carry out the constructive divine economy for the new creation—Eph. 3:8-10; 2 Cor. 5:17.
3. As we are suffering the chaos, we need to stand for and live out the divine economy—1 Tim. 1:4, 18; 2 Tim. 4:7.
F. We need to engage in spiritual warfare for the divine building, the church as the Body of Christ; the building up of the church is a service of warfare—Matt. 16:18; Num. 4:3; 26:2; Neh. 4:15-23; 1 Tim. 1:18; 6:12; 2 Tim. 4:7.
G. 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.
3. The work of the church is to bring in the kingdom of God, and through prayer the church must release the power of the kingdom of God upon the earth—16:18-19; 6:9-10, 13; 18:19; Rev. 11:15.