 The Real Battleground - Part Twoby Darryl Robbins
Finally, my brethren, be strong
in the Lord, and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness
in high places. For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal,
but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds), Casting down
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; Let's begin with a general overview of the Age of Law, the Age of the Old Covenant under the law. We will be as specific as possible in attempting to identify two key purposes or intentions that God had in mind for this particular Age. In actuality, God reveals His intention and purpose long before the law was given to Moses when He spoke to a man named Abram. Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy Father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3) And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own loins shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness. (Gen. 15: 3-6) From all indications, it was God who chose Abram. Abram did not choose God. Abram was a heathen idol worshiper. He knew nothing of God until God revealed Himself. The short-term purpose of God in choosing Abram was to give him an area of land, there to establish and make of him a great nation. There he would be blessed by God and in the long-term, all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. It goes without saying that Abram did understand or comprehend the full implication of all the promises he was receiving from God. When he was told that his seed would be as the number of the stars, there is little doubt that Abram understood that to mean his natural seed, and rightfully so. But in the mind, heart and purpose of God it meant much, much more. God reaffirmed His original promise to Abram and extended the promise even farther when He renamed him Abraham, calling him the father of not one nation only, but the father of many nations and that kings would come out of him. (Gen.17: 1-6) While Abraham was thinking of seed and kings in natural terms, God's thinking was in terms of a single Seed and a single King. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. (Galatians 3: 13-16) If you have been reading the scriptures
given, it will be easy to see at least two common threads of God's thought
pattern coming into view. If you are an honest observer of Old Testament history, you will see a lot of things happening in the lives of the people that God was dealing with. He desired to bless them and accomplish His purposes through them. Time and space will not permit us to go into great detail here, but we do know that time after time, God's people experienced lack, hunger and famine, war with surrounding nations, numerous seasons of long captivity in other nations, and at times the gross sin and immorality within their own ranks would all but tempt God to just wipe them out and start over with another people. We would either have to say that these were some of the most stupid and unlucky people that had ever walked on the face of the planet, or, that there was a consistent and persistent attempt by someone or some thing to destroy them or at least to hinder and nullify God's intent and purpose through them It is generally accepted on a scholarly level that the Book of Job was the first book of the Old Testament to be written. If we could only read the story of what happened to Job in the natural, we might conclude that he would qualify singlely as the most unfortunate wretch that ever lived. However, we are given a behind the scenes look at what was going on in another realm----the realm of spirits. We know that Satan himself planned and pulled the strings of calamity and destruction that befell Job and his family. I want to be very clear at this point. Satan, throughout human history from its very beginning has been active in the hindering and destruction of people, especially those who were chosen by God for a special purpose. Remember that after the fall of Adam in the Garden, God told Satan that it would be the seed of woman that would be his destruction. Knowing this, Satan did everything he could to corrupt and destroy Israel throughout her history so that the Seed of his demise could not come into the world. Let's look again at the absolute
principles that apply to the various periods or 'Ages' that we presented
earlier. It's easy to see that principle four applies all the way through Israel's history. All of the Old Covenant is overshadowed by this principle. The Real Battleground - Part Three RETURN TO SPIRIT OF LIFE MINISTRIES HOMEPAGE Click Here to E Mail Us |