Lessons about Spiritual Battle Exodus 17:8-16 Rev. Min J. Chung (Sunday Lord s Day Worship, November 1, 2015) Introduction At times, we don t know what s going on. We don t know our enemies or our allies even the church of Jesus Christ. We fight with one another, talk bad about others, gossip about others. Sometimes we don t know our battle. Sometimes we don t know our enemies. Sometimes we are mindless. Sometimes we are spiritual morons not knowing what s really going on in our lives. We will look into this passage and have a deeper understanding of what s going on in our spiritual battle. There s invisibility in our spiritual battle. That s why, at times, we don t know what s going on. Several years ago, I talked about the comparison between demons and cockroaches; I ll read a portion of it: Demons and cockroaches they are invisible, but probably there. There are many, and if you see one, then there are probably a lot more around. They don t like to be seen, and we don t like to see them. They operate in darkness and do not like the light. They get fed when their surroundings are not clean. Thus, the best way to avoid them is cleanliness. There s nothing good about them; they re harmful. They re rare beings we re allowed to hate. That s why, according to James 4:7-8, you must Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. There s spiritual battle going on, and Satan and demons are working through our flesh, through our sinful desires that s where the spiritual battle takes place. Satan and demons are tempting us, but it s really our sinful desire and spiritual desire battling. Do we want to live for God, or do we want to live for ourselves? Do we want to love the people we don t like, or do we want to hate the people we don t like? Are we able to love? Are we able to deny ourselves and love the Lord? There s a spiritual battle going on, and Satan and demons orchestrate the world that make us want to live for ourselves with the writings and the songs and the philosophy of the culture that makes us want to live for ourselves so spiritual battle is going on all over the place: through our flesh, in our hearts, through the system of the world. Satan and demons are working in this world. Battle takes place every moment of our lives, in every sphere of our lives, so we must learn how to do spiritual battle so that, each moment, we can deny ourselves, carry the cross, and follow Christ. I. Lessons about spiritual battle [8] v. 8 - Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
Amalekites are traditional enemies of Israelites throughout the history of Israel, and they are constantly hindering God s plan which he has for the Israelites. This case is not an exception; Amalekites are again used as the enemies of God. That s how Satan works in this world, battling and through his people, and Amalekites are almost symbolic of that. Of course anybody who repents of their sins looking at the Israelites, God is even among the Amalekites would be saved of course, but here, the Amalekites are hindering God s plan, and throughout history they will be used as symbolic of enemies of God. The New Testament agrees with this. Ephesians 6:12 tells us we are in a spiritual battle. Ephesians 6:12-13 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. So this is of course a picture of the physical battle for the Israelites in their history, and also picture of spiritual battle in the redemptive history, A. Life is war our life During Revival, Pastor DL came and gave us a wonderful message using A.W. Tozer s quote Is the world a playground or a battle ground? He gave a wonderful sermon on how we are engaged in the spiritual battle all of our lives. As we think about this world as a war, physical battle, even physical war is not enough to picture the magnitude of spiritual war that is going on in our lives. For example, spiritual war is much more dangerous than physical war. In physical war, our enemies are only human beings. But our spiritual enemies are Satan and demons in the world. We know that sometimes one angelic being can kill thousands of people, as we see in the Old Testament. So spiritual war is much wider in terms of location and places. Physical war takes place in certain location. War in Syria cannot be felt here unless we watch the news to know what s going on, but spiritual war takes place in every corner of the universe. Spiritual battle is much deeper because physical war takes place in the physical realm, bullets can only kill us physically but spiritual battle takes place in the core of our being in our hearts. And the deepest part of our lives is of our hearts of our beings. Spiritual war is also much longer than physical war. In the physical world, a long war in history lasts 100 yrs., but spiritual war started ever since the beginning of mankind, after the fall of Adam and Eve, and will last until Christ returns. Spiritual battle will continue and arise; it so much longer. So much more is at stake in spiritual war because in physical war you could just lose your life, but in spiritual war, what s at stake is not just a life, but our eternal life. B. We are soldiers our identity That gives us our identity. We are soldiers. Of course in Exodus, we are on a journey of salvation to the Promised Land, from Egypt to the land of Canaan. So we re traveling soldiers. As we re traveling, we re constantly fighting in our lives, which means we are individual soldiers, and as a corporate body we are church of Jesus Christ. As Christians, we constantly ask, what is the
church? Some people think church is a hospital. Wounded people come and are healed, and we expect to just come and be comforted. It s at the least that, but also more. As we come to the church of Jesus Christ we don t just become healed and comforted, but we learn and we grow. Church becomes a training ground for people as we learn and grow. But this passage says this, also more than that. We heal, but we learn and grow and become the army that God is using to conquer the world with the love of Jesus Christ. We are not just saving the wounded and helping people to grow, but we are getting people ready so that the gospel of Jesus Christ can spread all over the world, and one heart at a time conquer them with the love of the cross and the love of Jesus Christ, so that he will be maximally glorified, and honored in eternity. C. The world is our battlefield our lives In every sphere of our lives there is spiritual battle. There s a spiritual battle in our work places. Do we want to work and just get money, or work hard and just serve God through our work and love people that we don t like in our workplaces, or our schools, and our classrooms? There s a battle going on in our marriages battleground between husband and wife, between parents and children in terms of their selfishness, and whether they can they deny themselves and picture the love of Christ with one another in their home, in their families. Even in the church of Jesus Christ, in small group, when somebody doesn t like you and you don t like them, can you still love that person in your family? Can we still love one another even in the church of Jesus Christ? There are so many fights and divisions in the church. Can we still glorify God, and love one another, and fight the battle in our hearts, so that we can love one another? If you don t fight in your hearts, you will fight other people. But if you can conquer your hearts, you can love other people. So there s a battle going on in every realm of our lives and every moment of our lives. Don t be deceived because this takes place in Rephidim. Rephidim is the place we talked about last week where water came out of the rock It was a place where they were fed and it was a place they rested. God gave them rushing water so that people can sit down and rest. But the same place where they rested became the place of battle in this passage. The exact same place that was a place of rest can turn into a battle ground because spiritual war will always exists until He returns, and that means there will be oppositions and enemies, even in Rephidim. Whatever your refuge is, whatever your place of peace and rest is, it can still turn into a battle place. Rephidim was a place where the rock represented Christ, and water came out of the rock. Just because God is present in your life because at this moment you love Christ more than any other time in your life doesn t mean there is no enemy around you, doesn t mean the battle is stopping in this life. The battle will always go on in this life, in every moment, in every place you go to in your life. Battle has to take place after we are fed, so that we can fight the war. Rephidim was a place that they were fed, with water and food. Because they were fed, they were able to fight. We need to be fed so we can fight.
Rephidim was a place that they grew as they doubted and grumbled, but the grumblers turned into people who were grateful for the grace of God. They grew in that process; we need to constantly grow too, so that we can conquer and fight the battle in our lives. There was an internal battle in Rephidim. There was an internal battle in their hearts are they going to grumble, or are they going to be grateful to the Lord? It was a place of internal battle, but in this very place, in Rephidim, there s going to be external enemies coming to them in their lives, through the means of the Amalekites. That always takes place. Sometimes there is battle in our hearts, but in the same place there could be external battles circumstances, hardship, difficulties, difficult people so that it will stimulate our internal battles within our lives. One thing is for sure: with the battle, Jesus is with us like last week, that rock was Christ and water will come out of the rock. Just like that, Jesus is always present in our battle field, and he will give us the water of grace every moment in our lives so that we can continue to fight. How can we receive this grace? How can we fight this battle? It s through the means of prayer, as we ll talk about through the rest of the passage. II. Lessons about spiritual partnership [9-11] A. We need different types of warriors feet and hand [9] 1. We need praying warriors v. 9 - Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand, meaning, he lifted his hands in prayer. 2. We need fighting warriors But there is also Joshua who goes out with his feet to fight. So we need prayer warriors and we also need fighting warriors. 3. We need to become warriors Also when you look at verse 9, they re not just two different categories of people, but we actually as individual persons need to become both, because sometimes we need to pray, and sometimes we need to fight. Sometimes we need to pray for others as they fight; sometimes they need to pray for us as we fight in our lives so it s teamwork. And, we need to be versatile. We need to be ready; each person needs to learn how to pray, but we also need to learn how to fight. These are not their identities but their skills. Each of us needs skills so we can fight this spiritual battle. We need different types of warriors and different types of skills. And in that togetherness there is holy comradery different skills used to help people in need. Sometimes we need to pray for others, sometimes we need to encourage them with the word of God, sometimes we instruct them through counseling as we pray and as we instruct them with our words. We need all these skills to fight together.
B. We must raise warriors who know how to fight prayer warriors and Word warriors [10-11] This is the first time Joshua appears. We can see that Joshua is going to be the disciple of Moses. When Moses leaves, he will be the leader that takes over Moses s position. So we can learn some principles on how we are to instruct our spiritual disciples, or even our children, or younger brothers, younger sisters, help you to train others, to be prayer warriors and Word warriors, according to this passage. 1. Instruct them with the Word [10] It says in this passage, Joshua did as Moses told him. So Moses tells Joshua what to do. Moses is the mouth-warrior that disciples and tells, and Joshua is the earwarrior he listens and obeys and is discipled by Moses. 2. Show them the importance of prayer [10] In this passage, Joshua did as Moses told him fought with Amalekites. Then v.10 says Moses went to the top of a hill. Moses could have of course prayed down in the valley, or in his tent, but he goes to the top of the hill. Why? So that Israel can see. As he prays, Israel is winning, and Israel can see the importance of prayer. So that Joshua can see, so that throughout his life he will know how important it is to pray as a leader. So that they can, by seeing, learn the importance of prayer. Moses is doing prayer ministry, meaning: not only ministering through prayer as he prays, but also showing how to pray. Spiritual battle is like germs. Germs are invisible and harmful, just like spiritual battle. But germs can be seen through a microscope. Spiritual battle is invisible; spiritual battle is harmful. We cannot see it unless with the microscopic instruction of the Bible. Just as for germs we need antibiotic to cure and prevent, we need God s Word and prayer for prevention and prescription. Moses is instructing Joshua of the importance of Word and prayer so he can prevent as well as prescribe what is needed to win the spiritual battle. 3. Watch them and pray for them information and intensity [10-11] Moses goes to the hill not only to show them how to pray, but to see. Another reason Moses goes up to pray is so that he can watch the people in the valley and pray for them for the sake of information and intensity. So when you look at verse 10, he s at the top of the hill, he s watching the Israelites. When he is watching, he can see that his prayer is effective. For the sake of information, he went out to pray. But as his hands were going down, the Israelites were losing, and
as they were going up, they were winning, so he s intensely praying. So we must be informed of the battle to give specific prayer, but we must also have our heart engaged in prayer. As we watch, information will stimulate our hearts; and as we see the correlation between prayer and power, it will give us intensity to pray. As the battle went back and forth, eventually Moses figured out what was happening. What happened down in the valley depended on what he was doing up on the hillside. So it gave him information that led to intensity of prayer. Notice that Moses is someone who is qualified to teach Joshua, because he had the Word of God as well as prayer in his bones. He had testimony to give to Joshua, so Joshua can learn. And Joshua was also humble to learn, listening to Moses and wanting to receive from him. Incredible discipleship is going on. Hopefully that takes place in our home, in our small groups, in our discipline relationships, so that the next generation of people can learn how to fight the spiritual battle. There s a time to pray, and there s a time to fight. Our prayers here can affect the soldiers there. Our prayers now can affect the soldiers later as prayer piles up for them; we need to constantly pray. Sometimes we blame the state of churches as well as the world as if they are the problem. Perhaps the larger portion of it is because we re not prevailing in prayer. We need to learn how to pray and prevail in our prayer. The power comes from the throne of God through the lifted hands. Power is released to the battle, through the fighting feet of the church of Jesus Christ. We have to learn how to pray, to receive power, and to fight the battle for the glory of God. III. Lessons about spiritual power [12-13] A. We must prevail in prayer [12] v. 12 - Moses' hands grew weary we have to remember, he s over 80 years old. After a while, he needed to sit down ( he sat on it ). After a while, his hands started to go lower because he was getting tired. So we need to persevere because we will grow weary, and we will need help not only in our spiritual battle in general, but also in our prayer. So if you think about this, sometimes people say, whoa, it s the thought that counts. I ll say no there are times it s the thought that counts like if you were bringing a birthday card or valentines card and it just burned in the fire or you lost it and your wife or your spouse, might say oh, it s the thought that counts. Prayer is not like that. Even if you want to pray, but if you don t pray, if you don t persevere and pray, it doesn t count. Even though Moses wanted to pray, he was physically tired, and his hands went down. God doesn t say, oh it s the thought that counts. No he actually needed to persevere and prevail in prayer for the Israelites to win. So thought is good, but after that you need to persevere in the intention of your heart, because heart change only takes place when there is perseverance, in prayer so that he can be glorified and honored. a. We need partners in prayer [12]
Verse12 Aaron and Hur held up his hands I thought about this and thought this is kind of encouraging. Even the greatest warriors grow weary in battle. Sometimes they need help as well. When the two hands were held up they won. Just like Jesus held up his hands on the cross. When we look at this passage, a leader is someone with steady hands, has good help around them, and one who prevails in prayer. But even the greatest leaders need helpers around them. Even as we look at the life of Jesus on Thursday in Gethsemane (the night before he was crucified on the cross) even he takes his friends Peter, James, and John to pray together. And there they were so willing to pray, but they were so tired and fell asleep, and Jesus comes and says, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. But what happens? He didn t say, oh it s the thought that counts, you wanted to pray. They didn t pray, so they fell into temptation, notice they fell asleep about three times, and they fell into temptation three consecutive times. Is it an accident or is there a correlation between not praying and falling into temptation? Though they were willing to pray, and they had thought to pray, it was not good enough in terms of praying. It s not good enough to think you got to actually do it. Many of you will be convicted, believe; and I hope, at least, convicted to pray after this Sunday. But if you don t go pray, you re still going to fall into temptation. Your children might not prevail in the spiritual battle. Why does the Bible command us to corporately pray? Matt 18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them. It s talking about the power of the church of Jesus Christ. When you re alone, the Lord is with you. But there s something about two people being together two or three it becomes the church of Jesus Christ, and there is accumulation of power. Spiritual synergy takes place as an explosion of power because God is so vast so amazing. As he s pouring out, one more person is receiving a different aspect of God, and when they all pray together, there s an incredible synergetic effect that takes place. So while there is a place for private intercession, nothing shrinks our common life of prayer than praying for and with other Christians. b. We will receive power through prayer [13] v. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. What happens when we do not pray? It s simple we start losing the battle. Even if we ve put on the full armor of God (Eph. 6), we need heavy artillery of prayer. We need the skill of our swords. And in Eph. 6, the sword is the Word of God. We need understanding of the Scripture of God for giving testimony, or counseling other people, persuading people, from sin. We need the skills of using our sword, but we also have to have power. But there is no power to use the Word without prayer. God s power was overwhelming power that led to overwhelming victory for Joshua and the Israelites. We may think, Why does it all depend on prayer? Why is prayer such an effective spiritual weapon? Why does it make the difference between victory and defeat? It s because God is the difference between victory and defeat. It s by prayer that we depend on him, and win the
battle. So the victory depends on prayer because, ultimately, the victory depends on God. And when we pray and God wins, we know it is God that is the source, and he alone is most glorified through our dependence. - Psalm 126:5, usually, seed is compared to word of God. Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy! This person is going through hard times and is crying, but still reaps, still serves God. Circumstances and hardships, what was meant to destroy this person, becomes time of refreshing. What we sow in tears, we will reap with shouts of joy. Prayer is like watering the seed of God s word and ministry. Tears becomes springs as we cry out to the Lord. It means it takes time. It takes time because there s a time that we are discouraged, that we become humble before God, so we can cry out to God in times of need, so that s why it takes time. What was meant to destroy us will save us as we persevere; we see the harvest, the fruit, and righteousness in the Lord. This is true not only for individual Christians, but also the church of Jesus Christ. If we don t ask God to defend us, our members will be divided, leaders will fall into sin, our missionaries will fail to see any fruit, and the lost will not hear the gospel. Both individually and corporately, the neglect of prayer means loss of spiritual warfare, even if you fight like Joshua, we will not win the battle unless we pray like Moses. So we need to pray and fight. IV. Lessons about spiritual remembrance [14-16] We must remember this, and we need help in remembering this, so that we can fight and with the spiritual battle. c. Remembering through the writing Keep on listening [14] v. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, Write this, What s happening? Moses wrote and it becomes the book of Exodus. Of course for us, we need to continuously read the Scripture, so that we will know how to fight the battle. But I don t say, keep on reading, but keep on listening, because it s not just about reading but meditating. As we utter and memorize and we speak to ourselves, we are listening, so in the context of meditating, we are to keep on listening, remembering, meditating, keep on seeing the reality of the spiritual battle that is going on, keep on listening to God s Word so you can overcome, so you remember to pray, remember to depend on God. It s about God s glory, not our happiness; in spite of our suffering, hardships, and difficulties, he s going to be glorified. But I would also say, practically, just as Moses wrote down his testimony of God s grace, I would suggest that you journal. Write down some of the things that happen in your life, especially things like God answering your prayers, so you can remember and give that testimony to your children, so you can remember God s faithfulness in your life. George Muller, famous person
who helped out an orphanage, wrote down his prayers, and every time, God answered. He wrote down tens of thousands of prayers that become a book of course giving his testimony to us so we can remember God s faithfulness, in his life as well as ours. d. Remembering through worshipping Keep on worshipping [15] v. 15 And Moses built an altar, he remembers through worshipping, building an altar. And called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner. Yahweh Nissi. Means the Lord is my victory. Of course worship shows his victory and declares his worth. What is a banner in the Hebrew context? Or ancient context? This is what Moses summarized what the Israelites learned from their fight with the Amalekites. In Hebrew it reads Yahweh Nissi. This is another divine name that God reveals in Exodus: Yahweh Nissi Lord is my banner. And banner is military standard a piece of cloth bearing a military sign raised on a pole. And soldiers always looked to this banner; it established their identity. It helps them to know who they are. On the battle field it was also helped them to keep their bearings and give them courage and hope. As long as the banner is still flying, they know the battle is not lost. We know our banner is the Lord Jesus Christ, on the cross, and Jesus Christ was raised as our banner, on the cross, and he won the victory on our behalf. And every time you fail and are discouraged, or don t know what the battle is about, look to the cross he s our banner. He s our victory, he s our Jehovah Nissi, who became flesh, fighting on our behalf, and we have won the victory through Jesus Christ. Isaiah 11:10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. e. Remembering through warring - Keep on praying [16] v. 16 saying, A hand upon the throne of the Lord! As our hands are lifted up to God, we pray and fight. But there s another way we can lift up our hands. Amalekites lifted up their hands rebelling against God. Or you can be lifting up your hands in dependence on the Lord. And there are both natures fighting in our hearts, so we have to constantly pray, denying ourselves and carrying the cross and follow Christ. A lot of people think prayer is just one way we speak to God. But, God also speaks to us. When we pray, we re not only bringing our problems to him, he s bringing his power to us as well. There are two types of manifestation. There s praying man going up and power of God coming down. And there s praying man and power of God meets when we lift our hands to the Lord. -Exodus 14:16 Where Moses is lifting up his hands, and the power of God comes down to divide the Red Sea. -Ezra 9:5 Shows his humility: falling on his knees, to signify praying. -Psalm 88:9
Especially when you re going through hard times, and some of you are swimming in the puddle of hard times, in those times you need to pray. It says every day; it takes time; don t just pray once and quit. In due time, when your heart is empty of your worries and fears, he will fill you with his power. -Psalm 143:6 When you re hungry, when you are thirsty, and you re not getting fed, spiritually keep on praying to the Lord, and have time to Selah time of pause. He will fill you with his strength, power, and courage. -Isaiah 1:15 You need to repent as you pray. -1 Timothy 2:8 In the context of Paul instructing Timothy about the church life. Constantly as we need to repent, we need to pray and give our requests to God. -Exodus 17:16 Again, you can lift up your hands in rebellion against God, or you can lift up your hands declaring dependence on God. And we say we need to pray in our dependence of God, repenting of our sin so he can fill you with his power and strength. If you do that you can reach the throne of God, and the power of God will come down. -Hebrews 4:16 So as you lift up your hands and your hands are touching the throne of God, he will pour out his grace upon you. He will pour his grace upon you in times of need, so you will receive the strength of Lord. Conclusion As we pray we become the funnel of the manifestation of God s power. When we lift our hands in prayer, it s a cataclysmic moment. Something incredible happens; incredible spiritual exchange takes place when we lift up our hands in prayer. Something goes up, and something comes down. What s going up: prayer of man; what s coming down: the power of God. Heaven is touching the earth, and the earth is lifted up to heaven. But also heavenly and earthly encounter is taking place when men touch the throne of God and God touches the problems of man. That is when we become earthly agents to heaven, when taking all the earthly troubles to God. We also become heavenly ambassadors to earth, delivering God s mighty saving power to the world. That s why benediction is important at the end of the service. I lift up my hands. What I m doing, on behalf of the congregation as pastor and leader, is that I m taking all of our problems to God all of our sins, all of our weaknesses and in that interaction God is pouring his power to us, and as I give good ( bene ) words ( diction ) to you, you go forth with the power of God. Empty of your sin and full of his power so we can go forth and become heavenly agents, in the
earthly realm in our lives. That s what benediction is. So don t leave until there is benediction. Don t miss the blessing of benediction before you leave. I think about this passage and Moses was great and Joshua was great, but when you think about Moses, Moses grew tired, and then what happens? When Moses grew tired, Joshua started to lose. We can see the weaknesses of both Joshua and Moses. Moses was nothing without partners of prayer, and of course power of God coming down to Moses and through Moses, and through Joshua. They were nothing apart from God. We can see that s why we need somebody who is greater than Moses, someone who is greater than Joshua in our lives. And you know that Jesus Christ, who is at the right hand of God, is continuously (according to Hebrews 7) interceding for us, praying for us at the right hand of God, and his hands will never grow tired, and he s greater than Moses. And we know Joshua is Hebrew for the Lord is victory and the Greek form of that is Jesus. We know that Jesus Christ is our victory; he s the one who has victory. He is greater than Moses, greater than Joshua because on Thursday, he prays. He intercedes on our behalf. Friday, he wins the victory on the cross. Saturday, he rests. And Sunday, he proves his victory, by resurrecting and ascending into heaven, and prays for us for the rest of eternity. And we know that Jesus Christ is greater than Moses, greater than Joshua, so we must go forth victoriously in faith, in trust, in hope that the one who is greater than Moses, greater than Joshua is in us and for us and we can go forth and finish the journey and conquer the world, with the gospel of Jesus Christ. What a blessed people we are in Jesus Christ. Let s be thankful and let s pray. We re fighting a battle we can never lose, so there s no reason for discouragement, no reason for fear, no reason for worry. He s just training us, strengthening us, in this life. If we would empty of our worry, our sin, our selfishness just bring it up to him; He will fill you with his power and strength. Though he breaks you at times, he will never forsake you. The journey is long and the journey is tough, but you are never alone. What a blessed people. Let s be thankful. Let s declare our dependence to the one who loves us, who is omnipotent and powerful, and so loving and so caring. He will strengthen you and empower you, not only until the end, but forevermore.