The Growth and Maturity Required for the Formation of the Army to Protect God’s Testimony and Fight for His Move on Earth
After Moses received from God the laws and ordinances and instructions on the construction of the tabernacle, the Israelites stayed at the foothill of Mount Sinai, and was building the tabernacle and practiced and obeyed the laws for two years. When the tabernacle was built and finished, they erected it and ready to leave from there. Immediately they will march through the wilderness towards the land of Canaan. They will face the challenges of the Amorites, the Bashans, and Midianites. Therefore, Moses conducted a census and all matured Israelites over 20 years old were numbered and formed as an army. The total number of soldiers are 600 thousand, which is roughly 30% of the total 2 million people. This army is meant to protect God’s testimony which is the tabernacle and to fight for God’s purpose and His move to become a kingdom of God to represent God and exercise God’s authority. This is the first time in history God obtained an Army to fight for God’s interest against His adversary Satan. Before He only called out individuals to stand as His testimony and to shine Him forth to the world. Now He desires to have a strong army to represent Him and fight for His interest.
This is a vivid picture in the Old Testament to typify today’s situation among God’s children in the church. God needs an army to represent Him and fight for His interest and achieve His goal, that is, the Kingdom of God.
To be qualified as a soldier in God’s army, this individual has to be male and older than 20 years old and able to take the weapons to fight. The women and children younger than 20 are weak and immature with no strength. Today the spiritual soldiers must be spiritually mature and full grown in life. Also, another important condition as described in Number is that they must be confirmed by Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the 12 tribes. Moses signifies Christ as the Head of the Body who executes His authority, Aaron signifies Christ as the High Priest who exercises His priesthood, and the leaders of the twelve tribes signify the elders and leading ones in the church. The significance of this confirmation is that we must be in oneness with Christ in honoring Him as head and serving with Him as High priest as well as one with the elders and leading ones in all matters in the church life.
Roman numeral III says, “In the Lord’s recovery today, there is an urgent need for the growth and maturity required for the formation of God’s army; we need to grow in life unto maturity”
As we all desire to become the army of God, we need to grow in life to be a full- grown man and perfected in life and to be transformed to His image. As Ephesians 4:13: Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, and Romans 8:29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers;
The secret of growth in life is to conform to the death of Jesus as depicted in 2 Cor 4:10 “Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.” That is to put our soul: our mind, emotion and will to death by dying on the cross with the Lord. It is not only “taking our cross” but dying on the cross. As outwardly we die, inwardly the resurrection life within our regenerated spirit will cause our soul to resurrect. That is, to put our flesh, our natural ability, our education, our knowledge, our previous experiences to death, a resurrected soul with the divine element will rise. In particular, our will shall become a resurrected will to be fully submissive to God, as Galatian 2:20 says
“I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
When we are no more confident in our flesh and natural ability and are fully subdued to the Lord, our will becomes like the tower of David that holds all kinds of weapons for warfare. By then we will know the Body and be united and coordinated with the saints as a palanquin, even a city. Only the Body of Christ can take up the spiritual armament to fight against God’s enemy Satan.
Praise the Lord we need to grow in life, to put our flesh and our soul life to death, to conform to the death of Jesus, then our resurrected will shall be fully subdued to Him and then we can be matured to be qualified as a warrior in the army (Body) to protect the Lord’s testimony and fight for His move.