We are still speaking in generalizations, but let us back up a bit and think about what the army of God will look like when it is fully equipped and ready for battle. To really understand it, we must first understand how it will relate and not relate to a human army. First, let’s list just a few general similarities:
Ways that God’s army will be like a human army:
2) There will be people trained to specialize in the use of specific weapons.
3) The most effective armies are the most disciplined ones, and we can expect God’s army to have the highest degree of discipline.
4) As is the case of every army, there will be two basic parts—those who go to battle and those devoted to the support and
supply of those on the frontline.
Ways that God’s army will not be like a human army:
2) God’s army will fight to free people, not conquer them.
3) The victory for God’s army is not the destruction of the enemy, but the tearing down of his strongholds that are keeping people in bondage in order to set them free.
4) The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but spiritual, such as truth and love.
5) The enemy and the battles will be fought by spiritual people
with spiritual weapons in the spiritual realm.
The above is biblically corroborated in a number of verses, but let’s begin with II Corinthians 10:3-6:
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.
This is what we want to study in some depth so that we can start to live it, seeing an army that is able to confront specific strongholds of the enemy, see them torn down, and the captives set free. For this we must remember that we are called to be the true “freedom fighters.” Our goal is not to just win arguments, but to see those who now have arguments against God and His purposes converted and set free.
To understand this army, we must also learn the ways of the Spirit, which are very different from many of the ways we have learned in the natural. The natural realm is called “a shadow” of the spiritual realm, and it is. What we think of as “real” has far less substance than the spiritual realm, just as a shadow is but a reflection of what is real. Even so, most of the natural laws do relate to spiritual laws, but there are also many that do not. There is also a spiritual communication or “spiritual words” that are of such greater substance than any human language that human languages are like a shadow when compared to them. They are hard to even comprehend with our natural minds.
So, to be this spiritual army of God we must have our minds renewed and greatly expanded. There are whole basic ways that we will have to learn to think differently, but it is a better and more accurate or truthful way to think. When we even begin to glimpse into the spiritual realm, the whole natural realm seems incredibly puny, insignificant, and like a shackle to our souls. This is true, but we must always remember that God gave infinite value to this natural realm by coming into it, living as a man, making atonement for us, and then determining that He would dwell on the earth with man.
Therefore, our purpose is to reach into heaven and begin to live there so that we can bring heaven to the earth and His will can be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our goal is not to just become spiritual, but to be utterly practical in helping to save and prepare the earth for His coming.
