The Real Battleground - Part Two
by 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. (Ephesians 6:10-12)
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. (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
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.
1. God wanted a people for Himself
established in the earth. Not only did He desire to bless them-----He desired
to bless all of humanity through them. As a people, they would receive
from God and become a channel through which God could make Himself known
to all men.
2. Through the natural lineage
and bloodline of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, God intended to make legal entrance
into the earth in His Son, Jesus, the Christ.
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.
1. The accomplished purpose of
one 'Age' serves as the foundation on which the following 'Age' is to begin.
2. Nothing or no one can stop any
'Age' from accomplishing the specific thing it was intended to accomplish.
3. The sum total of all things
accomplished in every 'Age' will result in the fulfillment of the Fathers'
ultimate intention, which He had in His heart before the foundation of
the world.
4. Light and darkness, Good and
evil are at war with each other throughout the course of each Age, the
warfare intensifying near the close of the Age.
5. The intensity of spiritual warfare
spills over into the Age that is to follow in an all-out attempt to destroy
the fulfillment of that Ages' purpose.
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
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