The Church: A Place to BATTLE — Part II

The View From Above: Thoughts to Help With Everyday Life

August 27, 2026

Guest Contributor: Pastor Harold Warner — Part 11

Pastor Warner continues his VFA series on The Church. Yesterday he introduced the church as a place to battle. Today he takes that thought further—showing why the Christian battle was never intended to be fought alone.

The Church: A Place to BATTLE — Part II

The Shulamite’s beauty in the Song of Solomon is described 2x as “awesome as an army with banners!” She was a knockout and could more than hold her own. Their love exemplified the mega-mystery of the universe, Christ’s love for the church.

The church emerges as both the beloved bride and the militant force of Christ—a paradox that defines the church’s nature and function. Understanding this tension reveals something crucial about what the church is called to be and do. It is a place to battle.

As we have said, spiritual warfare is very real. The church going forth as an “army with banners” is not peripheral imagery—it’s central to understanding the church’s mission.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, we have the victory, beneath His banner or ensign!

The church advances not through conquest (i.e. Islam) but through witness and conversion. This is why the church cannot be merely contemplative or inward-focused.

The Holy Spirit is lifting afresh the standard of Jesus’s name across the earth, and God’s people are rallying to that standard. The church’s role is to embody this rallying point—to be visibly, corporately awesome in its unified witness, its holiness, and its advance against darkness through the power of Christ’s name.

Revelation 12 should be understood by all Christians. This is not just prophecy about strange, future events—but it is pulling back the curtain to see what really is going on in our world. As I say frequently, things are far more spiritual than we realize.

What’s unveiled here is the cosmic conflict between good and evil which began before time itself. The great fiery red dragon is identified as “the serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.” He is defeated in eternity past, cast out of heaven to the earth.

Because he can’t touch the throne of God, yet his fury rages on the earth against the nation of Israel, and “the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17).

The church is a place to battle.

We have the timeless promise, “And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.”

This is why we’re instructed with urgency in (Ephesians 6:11) “Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil” and again in verse 13, “put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.”

This is true of the individual believer standing firm but also the corporate witness of the church.

One of the most enduring myths in film that has filled theaters for decades is the “Lone Hero.” The one extraordinary individual standing victorious against overwhelming odds.

What’s incredible is this one-man-against-the-world crosses every genre from Westerns (John Wayne), military (Rambo), action heroes (MI’s Ethan Hunt), law enforcement (Dirty Harry), superhero (Batman), science fiction (Neo & The Matrix), adventure films (Indiana Jones). There are countless others.

It makes for engrossing movies, but in real life there’s a name for these: casualty.

Real victories are usually won by teams, communities, armies, units, churches, families, organizations working together. The Bible’s understanding of spiritual warfare is it’s never merely personal but a corporate endeavor.

Think about “the shield of faith to extinguish the fiery arrows of the devil.” The Roman shield was about 4’ high, designed for formation warfare. When facing an incoming volley of flaming arrows, soldiers would lock shields side-by-side creating a kind of armored shell. Front ranks formed a wall and soldiers behind raised shields overhead. They even called it the testudo (“tortoise”) formation—many shields that became one defense.

This is why it is so common for an isolated Christian to be overwhelmed by his doubts, fears, condemnation, temptation or discouragement. That same Christian surrounded by faithful brothers and sisters suddenly finds that these arrows from the enemy are extinguished.

“The shield of faith was never meant to be held alone. God’s design is not isolated heroes but a company of believers standing shoulder to shoulder. The arrows of the enemy are extinguished most effectively when the faith of one saints reinforces the faith of another.”

From now on, start thinking about your church as “awesome as an army with banners!”

Your stand makes a difference.

I apologize—but this has me so inspired—that there has to be a Part III tomorrow.