Andrew Fuller was a Baptist Pastor in England in the 18th century. He was one of the primary persons responsible for the beginning of the modern missionary movement when he and several other ministers sent William Carey to India as a missionary in 1792.
Fuller had a phrase he used to describe the church that has always intrigued me. He called the church, “The Armies of the Lamb”. He said that “the true churches of Jesus Christ … are the armies of the Lamb, the grand object of whose existence is to extend the Redeemer’s kingdom.” There are so many important truths contained in that simple phrase.
1st, it reminds us that we are in a spiritual warfare. Sometimes it feels that way, sometimes it doesn’t. But the reality is that there is always a warfare going on. On a personal level we all have to deal with sin, self, and the world’s influence on a daily basis. On a larger scale it is the fierce resistance to the advancement of the kingdom of God that is always there.
2nd, it reminds us that our warfare is not one that uses guns and soldiers. Our warfare is waged using the spiritual weapons that we have been given by the Lord that are described in Ephesians 6:10-18.
3rd, it reminds us that our King is actually a Lamb. It is the same picture we see in Revelation 5 where Jesus Christ is simultaneously described as the Lion of Judah and the Lamb who was slain. A humble King.
4th, I believe that with the Lamb as our King the warfare we engage in will result in the extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom. Fuller believed that as well. In 1812 (three years before his death) he wrote this in a letter to John Sutcliff, a fellow minister: “A work is begun that will not end till the world be subdued to the Saviour.”
What an encouraging word – but God has ordained it so that this will not be accomplished without the gospel centered and persevering ministry of “the Armies of the Lamb”.