Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

392 / CORNERSTONE CURRICULUM STUDENT WORKBOOK

• Some of the major points of God as divine warrior include the image of God defeating evil symbolized as a river and the sea, as well as God as man-of-war defeating Pharaoh and his armies, and leading his people into victory over the nations of land as the great Lord of armies. Unfortunately, the Lord also had to fight against his own people because of their disobedience and rebellion. Also, Israel’s prophets pictured God as a divine warrior who through his Messiah would finally destroy all evil once and for all time. • Through his promise of the Messiah as the son of David, God revealed his intent to provide a king who would restore the reign to his people, rule the nations with justice and righteousness, and bring a knowledge of God to the entire earth as Lord and King. This Messianic rule has been inaugurated in the person of Jesus, the heir from the Davidic line who is restoring God’s reign. • In the various aspects of Jesus’ birth, teaching, miracles, exorcisms, deeds, death, and resurrection, the Kingdom of God is now here, already present in the life of the Church. The Kingdom has already come, and yet is not yet consummated; although the Kingdom has come in the fulfillment of the Messianic promise in the person of Jesus, it will only be consummated at his Second Coming, when the full and final manifestation will occur. • Today in this world and 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. • The main implications of the Mission as the War of the Spheres motif is that God is presently reasserting his rule over his universe in Jesus Christ, and through his agent, the Church. God is the warrior who through his anointed One has defeated the power of the devil and the effects of the curse. • Mission is the display and proclamation of the rule of God here and now, and making disciples among the nations advances the reign of God by testifying to its coming in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.

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