THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE OF THE CHURCH AS THE NEW MAN
Message Five
The Formation of a Corporate Joshua to Possess the Good Land by Defeating the Satanic Forces
Scripture Reading: Deut. 8:7-10; Josh. 1:2-3, 6-9, 16-18; 5:11-12; Col. 1:12
I. The good land, the land of Canaan, is a type of the all-inclusive Christ, the Christ who is all and in all and who is everything to us—Deut. 8:7-10:
A. Only the land of Canaan is a full type, the complete and ultimate type, of Christ; the type of the good land shows that Christ is the all-inclusive One.
B. In Colossians Paul employs the concept of the all-inclusive land, speaking of "the allotted portion of the saints"—1:12; Josh. 5:11-12:
1. This portion is the all-inclusive Christ for our enjoyment—Col. 3:4, 11.
2. The Greek word rendered "portion" can also be rendered "lot," referring to an allotment of the inheritance, as mentioned in Joshua 14:1.
3. The land of Canaan was everything to the children of Israel, and Christ, the reality of the type of the good land, is everything to us—Deut. 8:7-10.
II. If we would possess the good land for the fulfillment of God's purpose, we must engage in warfare to defeat the satanic forces—Josh. 5:2-6:16:
A. Satan, the enemy of God, has been doing his utmost to hinder the people of God from enjoying Christ as the all-inclusive One; he will do whatever he can to keep us from enjoying Christ as the good land—Col. 2:8, 18:
1. To this day, evil forces are veiling the all-inclusiveness of Christ from God's people—2 Cor. 4:3-4.
2. There is an exceedingly real spiritual warfare in which we must engage; we must fight the battle to gain the all-inclusive Christ for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ—Eph. 6:10-12; 4:16.
B. Christ is our good land, and God wants us to gain Christ, but there is a layer of devilish, demonic forces between us and the good land; if we would take possession of the good land for our enjoyment, we must defeat these satanic forces—Col. 1:12-13; 2:15; Eph. 3:18; 6:11-12.
C. We need to be today's Joshua and Caleb, fighting against and defeating the satanic forces so that we can gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ, for the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose—4:16.
III. Without the book of Joshua we cannot fully understand the spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6:10-20:
A. Israel's fighting against the inhabitants of the land portrays the invisible spiritual warfare that is taking place behind the visible scene on earth—Dan. 10:10-21; Eph. 6:10-20.
B. That there is a spiritual warfare in the invisible scene behind the visible scene means that in addition to war on the earth, there is a war between God and Satan in the air—v. 12.
C. Ephesians 2 indicates that in the heavenlies there are different layers:
1. Christ is in the highest layer, the third heaven, to be our everything as our good land—1:3; Deut. 8:7-10.
2. There is a lower layer of the heavenlies—the air, where Satan as the ruler of the authority of the air is frustrating the people on earth from contacting God and receiving Christ; this is typified by the Canaanites, who were frustrating Israel from entering into the good land—Eph. 2:2.
D. If we would take possession of Christ for our enjoyment, we must fight against and defeat the satanic forces in order to gain more of Christ for the building up of the Body of Christ—3:8; 4:16; 2:21-22.
IV. In order to possess the good land and defeat the satanic forces, we need to be formed into a corporate Joshua—Josh. 1:2-3, 6-9:
A. As the good land, Christ is ready to be taken and possessed by His believers; however, there is the need for those who are ready to take Him, possess Him, experience Him, and enjoy Him in His all-inclusiveness—Deut. 1:21; Num. 14:6-9, 24; Josh. 1:3:
1. Joshua 1:3 indicates that although God had given Israel the good land, Israel still needed to take the land.
2. They needed to cooperate with God by rising up to fulfill God's commission to possess the land—vv. 10-15.
B. Joshua led the children of Israel to enter the promised land and to take it, possess it, and enjoy it—v. 6:
1. The response of Israel to Joshua implied their willingness, their readiness, and their being in one accord not only with Joshua but also with Jehovah their God, as expressed by their blessing Joshua in the name of their God—vv. 16-18.
2. Israel had become a corporate Joshua, chosen, called, redeemed, saved, trained, prepared, and qualified by God, ready to go on with God as one to take the land of Canaan—3:11, 17.
3. To gain the all-inclusive Christ, we need to be a corporate Joshua, fighting the battle, taking the land, and enjoying Christ as our inheritance—1:1-3, 6, 9.
C. After being formed, constituted, disciplined, trained, and qualified, God's people had come to the plains of Moab, where they were waiting to enter into the good land, to take it, and to possess it—Num. 36:13:
1. The formation of the children of Israel into an army to fight for God typifies the New Testament believers' being built up into the organic Body of Christ to fight for the carrying out of His economy—Eph. 4:16; 6:12.
2. God's army, a corporate Joshua, was prepared and ready to take the good land under the blessing of God in His Divine Trinity and also under the blessing of Moses, the man of God—Num. 6:22-27; 2 Cor. 13:14; Deut. 30:16; 33:1.
V. "We all need to know what the recovery is, where the recovery is, and what kind of persons can take the recovery on. 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).