Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

LESSON 1 | FOUNDATIONS FOR CHRISTIAN MISSION: VISION AND BIBLICAL FOUNDATION / 373

influence our understanding of ministry to see it through the lens of feeling a divine jealousy for those whom we serve, of betrothing the people of God to one husband, to present them as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11.2)? How might it impact our perspective and practice if we saw mission and ministry as the attempt to prepare God’s people for the upcoming union with Christ? Is it too abstract, too symbolic, or is it dramatically empowering and clarifying?

The Vision and Biblical Foundation for Christian Mission Mission as the War of the Spheres

Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis

CONTENT

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The motif of Mission as the War of the Spheres is perhaps the most dynamic image of mission in Scripture, and begins with the sovereign rule of Yahweh God as creator and sustainer of all. God’s reign was resisted in the rebellion of the mystery of iniquity (i.e., the satanic rebellion in the heavenlies), which resulted in the temptation and fall of humankind, and the curse of creation. God placed hostility between the Seed of the woman and the serpent, and sovereignly and graciously promised to end the rebellion through the Seed of the woman. As a result of the Fall, the universe is at war and God has declared himself at war with the serpent and those who side with him. God displayed himself as divine warrior in his conflict with evil symbolized as a river and the sea, his defeat of Pharaoh and his armies, and the nations of Canaan. Unfortunately, God also had to fight against his own people because of their disobedience and rebellion. In addition, Israel’s prophets pictured God as a divine warrior who through his Messiah would finally destroy all evil once and for all time. This Messianic rule has been inaugurated in the person of Jesus, who in his birth, teaching, miracles, exorcisms, deeds, death, and resurrection has brought the Kingdom of God into being. The Kingdom is both “already” and “not yet;” it has already come in Jesus’ fulfillment of the Messianic promise but will be consummated at his Second Coming. Today in this world and in our age, the Church of Jesus Christ is both the sign and foretaste of the Kingdom present, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the pledge of the full inheritance. The Church is now authorized to proclaim and demonstrate the victory of Christ over Satan and the curse as his agent and deputy. Mission proclaims that God is presently reasserting his rule today over his universe in Jesus Christ, and through his agent, the Church. Our objective for this lesson, Mission as the War of the Spheres , is to enable you to see that:

Summary

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