Our country needs urgent prayer for the Lord to intervene as new leadership will be discussed and decided tomorrow and the days ahead.
Derek in his series on Spiritual Conflict
CD No. I-1001 Page 5/and 6
“Here is a divine person coming to Joshua, and notice, he has a sword drawn in his hand, and he gives his title, “I’m the captain of the army of the LORD.” I have no question in my own mind, but this is the One that was manifested in human history as Jesus of Nazareth, the Eternal Son of God. Not the Father, but the Son, one of, I suppose, scores of places in the Old Testament Scriptures where He was manifested actually to human beings such as Abraham, Jacob, Joshua and Moses, and others. But the point that I’m bringing out at the moment here is the Lord Himself, manifested as a military commander with a sword drawn in His hand. This part of the total picture of God.
We turn on to the book of Psalms, and in the 24th Psalm and the 8th verse, we have another similar presentation of the Lord. Psalm 24, verse 8. Psalm 24:8:
“Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.” (KJV)
Those words are vivid for me because when I served with the 8th army in the North African desert, the British 8th Army, we suffered a series of reverses. In fact, I took place in the longest retreat recorded in the history of the British Army, which is about 1500 miles of continuous retreating. We got to the very gates of Cairo, to a place called El Alamein, and then the British government under Winston Churchill gave us a new commander, whose name was Montgomery. And we certainly needed a new commander, because the discipline, the morale, and the efficiency of the British forces were in a shocking condition.
And I had, as a new Christian, been praying this prayer—“Lord, give us a leader such that it will be for Your glory to give us victory through him!”
And then the Battle of El Alamein was fought and won—the first real Allied victory in the war, and a major turning point. And I was in the desert with a truck about two days after the battle, and I had a small portable radio on the tailboard of the truck and I was listening to the news commentator describe the preparations for the Battle of El Alamein at the British headquarters, and he described how General Montgomery, who was then an unknown figure, had called his officers and men together before the battle was joined, and said in public, “Let us ask the Lord, mighty in battle, to give us the victory.” And it was as though God spoke to me, and said, “That’s the answer to your prayer!”
But those words are taken here from Psalm 24 verse 8: Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.
And there is another example in contemporary history where the Lord’s might was manifested actually in a military battle. We have to face this fact—the Lord is a man of war! In agreement with this, you’ll find well over a hundred times in the Scriptures that the Lord (or Jehovah) is called in the King James Version the “Lord of Hosts,” or the “God of Hosts.” And you have to remember that the word “hosts” is the old Elizabethan English word for an army. He’s the God of armies, the Lord of armies. The Hebrew word tsaba is the modern Hebrew word for the army of Israel. The same word is still used today. Perhaps this picture could be summed up in a verse from Isaiah 13:4. Isaiah 13:4. Where it is a prophecy of judgment on the city of Babylon, and the judgment was in the literal, judgment. Babylon was captured by armies and destroyed. Isaiah saw this vision of God’s judgment on Babylon before it took place. And in the 4th verse we have a very vivid picture of a great company of nations gathering together against Babylon. It says:
“The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustereth the host of the battle.” (KJV)
Tape No. I-1001 Page 7
The Lord of Armies is drawing up the army for the battle. That’s modern English, see, it’s entirely military. He’s the Lord of armies; He’s drawing up the army for the battle. So I believe these Scriptures that we’ve looked at, all quite briefly, show us that in the Christian life conflict, warfare, the life and discipline of a soldier, are an important part, a normal part. Every Christian will find this part of his total experience. And looking beyond this we see that God Himself is involved in some kind of a warfare. He’s presented as a captain with a drawn sword. He’s the God of armies, the Lord of armies.
So this is something that runs through Scripture and it runs out into the Christian life. The Christian life is not all sweetness and singing hymns or playing harps. There’s a lot of other aspects of the Christian life. And this is the one we are dealing with. Now, as I said at the beginning, for a good many years I have pondered in my mind: What is the background to this situation? What is the root cause of this conflict that we see on every hand? And, secondly, who are the opposing forces involved in this conflict? God is a military commander; we are an army under His command. Against whom is He fighting?
Let me seek to answer the first question first. What is the background—what is the root cause—and I’ve come to this conclusion, that the root cause of all unrest, conflict, war, can be summed up in one single word—and that word is rebellion. Rebellion against the righteous, moral government of God. And the world today is full of rebels. And a rebel never can know peace.
