“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Josh. 1:9)
These words were spoken to Joshua as they were preparing to go in and take possession of the land God had promised to Abraham. As his descendants, they were being given this land as an inheritance. (Gen. 13:14-17). They were, however, going to have to fight to take over what God had promised. Joshua, whose name means “Yahweh is Salvation”, is a type of Jesus Christ the Messiah. The promises made to Abraham were not all fulfilled. Before Moses died, he told the Israelites that God would raise up another Prophet from among them. Christ is the heir to the promises, and His brothers are joint heirs with Him. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:29).
The mystery of Christ has been revealed to the Church. One aspect of this mystery is “that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him.” (Eph. 1:10). There is more to the promised inheritance than land. The spiritual descendants of Abraham are to be a holy nation that blesses all nations. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed.” (Gen. 22:18). Not only the nations but also all of creation is to be blessed by the heirs of promise. “Because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:21). If the nation of Israel needed to take their inheritance by warfare, should it not be the same for us today? Our battle is different than theirs was, but we are nonetheless involved. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12). If we wrestle against them, it is to overcome them. “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Rev. 3:21). We must not shrink back from battle, “Now the just shall live by faith, but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” (Heb. 10:38).
There is an order for the defeat of our enemies. “For in that He put all in subjection under Him, He left nothing that is not put under Him. But now we do not yet see all things put under Him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels…” (Heb. 2:8,9). These enemies have already been placed under our feet spiritually since we are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph. 1:20-23). Regarding our souls, however, they “are being placed” under our feet as we overcome sin. Regarding our bodies, they are also “being placed” under our feet as His grace gives us strength and as He heals our bodies. The last enemy “will be placed” under our feet when we are resurrected (1Cor. 15:26). “But each one in his own order; Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.” (1Cor. 15:23-25).
Even as there is an order for our path to complete victory, these enemies are put under in stages. For example, death is put under the feet of the Church at His Second Coming, but is not thrown into to the lake of fire until the end of the Millennium (Rev. 20:14). During the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth, there will still be people who live and die naturally, but the Church will rule with Christ in eternal resurrected bodies. So death, which includes natural corruption (decay), continues until the end when all the dead are resurrected for the final judgment.
Another enemy to be removed in stages is the devil. At first, he was cast out of the Third Heaven, from before the throne of God (Ezek. 28:16). When this occurred, he fell to the second heaven, which is between Earth and Heaven. He became the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2). When Jesus rose from the dead, He took back from the devil all that man had lost in the fall. Since then, He has been assisting redeemed man to take back what was promised to Abraham’s descendants. When the number of those to be redeemed is completed, the devil will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for the thousand-year period (Rev. 20:2,3). Before this occurs, the devil must be cast down from the second heaven to the earth (Isa. 14:12; Rev. 12:7-9). This is the next phase of him being placed under our feet.
When the devil is thrown down to the earth, he will no longer have power in the heavenlies to oppose the prayers of the saint, as we read about in Daniel Chapter 10. Instead, he will try to rule the earth through the man of evil, the antichrist. False miracles will be performed by the false prophet, “but the people who know their God, shall be strong, and carry out great exploits” (Dan. 11:32b). Without interference in the heavenly places, “greater works” than the ones performed by Jesus will be done by the disciples (Jn. 14:12). It will be a time of great tribulation for the inhabitant of the earth. (Rev. 12:12). The followers of Jesus will suffer persecution, but the faithful will be victorious because “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.” (Rev. 12:11). Although the times will be difficult from a natural perspective, they will also be glorious. In the series of articles on “End-Time Vision”, I shared concerning a vision given to Tommy Hicks in 1961. This is an encouraging revelation given to the Church concerning the last days. It is not a time to be feared, but a time to rise and be overcomers. With faith and courage, we must overcome evil with good (Rom. 12:21).
“But to you who fear My name the Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings; and you shall go out and grow fat like stall-fed calves. You shall trample the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day that I do this,’ says the Lord of hosts.” (Mal. 4:2,3).
Highway in the Wilderness 