Terrible as an army with banners

Every true Christian from every nation across the earth has been joined together to form the spiritual body of Christ. That is the true universal church of God’s Kingdom – people sold out for God who live in sincere obedience to Him form this powerful entity called the Church. They may come from various denominations and have various forms of worship, but God’s eyes see each one shine like beams of light in the darkness. He knows His true Church and He strengthens them by His Spirit.

C.S. Lewis’s, head demon character in “The Screwtape Letters,” describes how fearful the true Church is to the kingdom of hell: 

“Do not misunderstand me. I do not mean the Church as we see her spread out through all time and space and rooted in eternity, terrible as an army with banners. That, I confess, is a spectacle which makes our boldest tempters uneasy. But fortunately it is quite invisible to these humans.”

There’s no doubt about it, none of us realize how terrifyingly powerful the body of Christ is – the body that we all form. What we see when we look at ourselves is a bunch of ordinary people trying to live for God, but still struggling with doubts and fears, still slipping into the routine of an average church-goer, and oblivious to the authority we have over the spiritual powers of hell.  Why is that?  

Maybe one reason is that we don’t see the clear distinctions between evil and good. We aren’t alert to the subtle whisperings of the devil in false believers, or the presence of evil disguised as good. And so we embrace friendships and relationships that water down our faith and neutralize our authority over the devil. We can foolishly think that because our old high school friend was so nice, and our dear cousin is so fun to be with, we value our bond with them more than we do the body of Christ. But there is no bond of higher value on this earth than with those who are bonded to Jesus in spirit and in truth. We may all act and speak and live differently from each other, but we all need each other as we drink from the same Spirit.

Every individual Christian has the power to face down the devil and his demons, but if we all took up our armor and fought as one body with the authority that Jesus granted us, this world would be a different place.  “…and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18)

For as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ.  For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.  (1 Corinthians 12:12-13 HCSB)