A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy youth. The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek. The Lord at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath. He shall judge among the heathen, he shall fill the places with the dead bodies; he shall wound the heads over many countries. He shall drink of the brook in the way: therefore shall he lift up the head.
(Psalms 110:1-7)
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
(1 Corinthians 15:24-25)
One point that needs to be understood about the present reign of Christ, and of our co-reign with Him: it is something that began as soon as He was seated at the right hand of God. This of course has already happened. It happened when He ascended into His Kingdom as described in
Daniel 7. It is a PRESENT reign of Christ. And we are seated in the heavenlies WITH HIM NOW (see
Ephesians 2:6). Which of course means we are presently reigning with Him NOW, during this phase of the Kingdom.
A lot of people think the reigning means there are no obstacles, no enemies. Yet the prophecy, and the apostle's interpretation of the prophecy, clearly show that the reign continues "in the midst of" the enemies.
The reign is for the purpose of waging war against the rebels until they are submitted to Christ.
Therefore, we should expect conflict during our present co-reign with Christ. That the saints reign presently does not mean there is no opposition to the Kingdom of God. If anything, it means the contrary. The present co-reigning of the saints with Christ means we are involved with Christ in His war against His enemies, and it means we are involved with Christ in subduing His enemies.
The significance of this ought not to be missed.
It is the DOMINION MANDATE of the Church. That is, the church should go forth and advance the dominion of God, in fulfillment of the Great Commission:
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 strong holds
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; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
(2 Corinthians 10:3-6)
As individual Christians, members of the Body of Christ, it is our duty to do our part to see to it that the Church wages this spiritual warfare successfully. The Church can really do no more than its members do. Thus, each has a role to play, and a part to fulfill, a duty to perform. As individuals, we must each fight the good fight and wage a good warfare (see
1 Timothy 1:18). How do we do that? How did the apostles do it?
Understand the targets. You cannot wage war without knowing what your targets are. According to the apostle, the targets are essentially "imaginations". The "high things" that "exalt themselves against the knowledge of God". "Every thought" must be captured and brought to obedience to Christ. This of course begins with oneself.
The warrior must first defeat himself before he can defeat others, because his biggest enemy is himself.
But it also extends to others. A soldier does not fight against every single enemy on the entire battlefield, but rather he has to deal with the enemy soldiers in front of him, within reach of his weapons, in his personal "area of operations" (AO). So it is with us. We have people in our personal lives, people with whom we are in contact. This may be our wives, children, the members of our household. Our coworkers, our neighbours, our friends and extended family are also included. As is pretty much everyone with whom we come into contact and have an opportunity to interact with.
They have strong holds in their lives, in their minds, in their hearts. These strong holds, these fortified positions, are the imaginations, ideas, thought processes, concepts, the very paradigms that govern their lives, that rule over them and have dominion over them. These things must be destroyed, taken captive, so the people can be freed and brought into a state of loyal obedience to the rightful King How can this be done?
It requires the Holy Ghost anointed application of the Word of God.
Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words:
(Psalms 64:2-3)
Spiritual warfare involves weapons. The enemies of God and His Church have swords, which according to the word are their
tongues.
This means their words, their speech, is a weapon that is designed to bring death and destruction. Much like Goliath who cursed David "by his gods". This is the truth about "curses" and the "evil eye". Curses are real, but not what people think. The television, Hollyweird, and the media, politicians, all of them use WORDS TO BRING SPIRITUAL DEATH. Their words are the swords they use to wound the unsuspecting, the innocent, the foolish, and even the righteous who wander in this life unawares of how this spiritual warfare actually works.
But we also have a sword, a Divine weapon that we better learn how to wield.
Ephesians 6 speaks of the armour we have available to us from God, and it includes "the sword of the Spirit". It identifies the sword as the "rhema of God". Rhema is a term that means a logos (word) that has been actually vocalised and spoken. People think the Bible is the "sword" but that's not true. Plenty of people have Bibles, read them, and even study them, and yet they fall in battle continuously and are routinely defeated. No, it's not just the written Word, it is the SPOKEN Word that serves as the offensive weapon of the Spirit.
The Word must be
proclaimed by the individual Christian, and by the whole church. This isn't just about "pulpiteering", the sword needs to be utilised whenever a Christian finds himself in conflict with the world. Jesus when tempted by the devil did not simply read the Bible, or think on it, He SPOKE it with authority. The apostles proclaimed the Word with authority, unashamedly, everywhere they went, to everyone they met. And they turned the world order upside down.
One blatant and recent example: A lot of Christians opposed the whole "gay marriage legalisation" movement, but for the most part they were utterly useless and weak and ineffective. Largely due to the fact they did not wield the Sword God had given them. They wasted their time arguing that "the constitution doesn't grant the authority" or that the "courts ought not to legislate" or that "it is bad for society". They argued the constitution, state and federal law, they argued the Bill of Rights, they argued political considerations, social considerations... everything and anything BUT THE WORD OF GOD. God has already legislated the subject - sodomy is illegal, a capital crime, no less than murder, adultery, fornication, or idolatry. So Christians for the most part failed to pick up the sword and use it, and predictably had a net zero result.
We cannot expect God to fight our battles and give us victory if we refuse to use the tools He has given us.