As we have stated numerous times in the course of this Study, the book of Revelation is first and foremost a spiritual book. It is a book of spiritual realities communicated by means of signs and symbols. You will not read the fulfillment of its prophecies on the pages of Newsweek magazine, but you will see them manifest in the lives of men and women who walk with God and in the great accomplishments of the kingdom of God on earth. The word of the Lord in its spiritual meaning does not describe for us the carnal warfare between nations. For what have wars between nations to do with the kingdom of God? God does not conquer by carnal weapons, therefore the warfare between nations has nothing whatever to do with the kingdom purposes of God! This is where people go astray in their thinking. They suppose that God acts politically or militarily. Oh, no! The battles beheld in spirit by the eagle-eyed seer of Patmos signify spiritual combats, combats between light and darkness, between spirit and flesh, between Adam and Christ, between the carnal mind and the precious mind of Christ, between truth and error, between righteousness and evil, between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Babylon, between life and death. A man must experience this combat within himself to become a spiritual conqueror and possess the promised land. Our Lord, when in the world, carried on such spiritual warfare in an infinitely greater way than others, overcoming the compounded powers of the world, the flesh, and the devil, opening up the way to victory and triumph for all who are willing to follow Him into the lifestyle of the kingdom of God.
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"The fire, smoke, and brimstone that issue out of their mouths correspond in type to the sword that goes out of His mouth with which He smites the nations. In both cases the Lord and His armies are riding upon horses with something issuing out of their mouths! That which goes forth from the mouths of God’s army is the sharp two-edged sword of the Word of God! His name is called THE WORD OF GOD! He is the LOGOS. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made” (Ps. 33:6). This is He who was in the beginning. “In the beginning was the Word” (Jn. 1:1). This is the Word that was God. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. This is He of whom it is written, “He sent His word and healed them.” Christ does not come with, in, and through His armies to avenge blood or slay in battle as other conquerors have done. His all-powerful words smite all who hear them! As someone has said, It will smite them with conviction and bless them with conversion. The spirit which animates God’s many-membered Christ is the warrior spirit! His object is the conquest of the world, by conquering the hearts of men! He has formed the resolution, which burns in the hearts of all God’s sons today, never to cease from His campaign until the whole world, a conquered realm, bows devotedly before Him as its rightful Lord and Master, and only true King."