THE HOPE OF ISRAEL - The Preterist Archive

254 The Hope of Israel: What Is It?
places; which shows that Satan's servants are there.
Peter designates that same realm, "Zion" (1 P. 2 :6 ; see
also Heb. 12:22).
Again Paul writes : "For though we walk in the flesh,
we do not war after the flesh. For the weapons of our
warfare are not carnal, but (they are) mighty through
God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2 Cor. 10 :3,
4). We often read these statements, but we fail to
grasp their full meaning. The things of the flesh seem
real and substantial, while those of the spirit seem unreal,
remote and shadowy. Hence we fail to realize
that in truth it is just the other way.
Referring to some of the Scriptures quoted above,
Dr. Stafford says:
"That the Christian life is
a spiritual resurrection,
and that unsaved people are spiritually
dead are common conceptions with Paul and
John. (Cf. Col. 3:1; Rom. 6:4; John 5:21, 24;
6:54; 10:10; 17:23; 1 Jno. 5:13; Rom. 6:23;
Eph. 2:1).
"That Christians sit upon thrones as Christ
does, (or that they reign as Christ does) is a
common conception in the N. T. Christ sits upon
a spiritual throne and so do they. Christ reigns
by moral and spiritual influence, and so do they.
This is not something that is yet to be. This has
been going on since the death and the exaltation
of Christ, which was His enthronement. He
Himself originated both the thought and also
this use of the imagery, it seems (Mat. 19:28).
As Abraham, Isaac and Jacob have prominence
in the kingdom of God, so have the apostles. In
that sense they sit on thrones and reign.
And in