The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Army of God, #3

When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)

Will the Lord appear by Himself or will the saints appear with Him?

When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (II Thessalonians 1:10)

Will the coming Redeemer ride into battle alone or will His saints ride with Him?

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jude 1:14,15)

These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (Revelation 17:14)

And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)

The elect will be gathered together at the appearing of the Lord.

And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (Matthew 24:31)

The elect will be gathered to the Commander in Chief in order that they may ride with Him into battle. The trumpet will sound and the saints in Heaven and the saints on the earth will be caught up to the Commander in Chief in the air. Then we shall return with Him and redeem the nations and the entire material creation from the curse of sin.

What comes after Pentecost? According to the pattern of the feasts of the Lord, the Blowing of Trumpets follows the feast of Pentecost. Since the sovereign interventions of God in the Christian Church, beginning with Christ as our Passover, follow the pattern of the seven feasts of the Lord, we can look for an emphasis on Christ coming to His churches as the Lord—strong and mighty in battle.

We have not been here before. The Lord, the Judge, is standing at the door of our personality. He is asking for entrance. When He enters He dines with us on His own body and blood. As He does He declares war on His enemies that dwell in us.

Perhaps you have noticed, if you have been a Christian for a period of time, that the Holy Spirit is pointing out to you aspects of your personality that are not in accord with the image of Christ. You are to confess these as sin and ask the Lord to help you to resist the devil along this line in the future. It is a day of battle, or righteousness, of holiness, of stern obedience to God.

It is time now to begin to organize the Church of the Lord Jesus into an army, an army that will, when the Lord Jesus returns as its Head, drive every vestige of Satan and his filthy works from the earth.

The current emphasis on spiritual warfare may prove to be the greatest change in the Christian churches since the days of the Apostles. (from The Day of Redemption)