Battle lines

Egypt was far behind them as was forty years of desert wandering. Moses was looking forward to seeing the Promised Land but would not be allowed to enter in because of disobedience. The Jordan River was the last geographical barrier which was separating the Israelites from entering the Promised Land; a land that was flowing with milk and honey.

It was here on the plains of Moab, that God commanded Moses to take vengeance on the Midianites for seducing some of the Israelites to worship and serve other gods of wood and stone. So Moses commands twelve thousand armed men to kill all the Midianite men, male children and women who have had intimate relations with a man.

This section of scripture is very difficult for us to read and understand God’s reasons for commanding Moses to take such drastic measures. It’s also evident from the Israelites’ inability to follow through with the command that they didn’t understand nor comply completely with God’s directions. The incident on the plains of Moab was a kind of crash course in what God requires of all of us as we turn towards Him and begin to allow Him to purge the world out of our lives. Let’s look at what God spoke to the children of Israel as they prepare to cross over into Canaan.

“Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying,  ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess. And you shall divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller inheritance; there everyone's inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as I thought to do to them.’"

God’s command though difficult was designed to protect a newly born Nation from vile forms of false worship and belief in false gods. God chose the sons of Jacob to be the vehicle in which He would introduce Himself to the entire world, preparing it one day for the final sacrifice which would be the death of His very own Son, Jesus Christ.

This is a picture of what God is doing in the life of a Christian. He wants our entire life and wants every bit of the world driven from us. But what is of special interest to us is that Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, was to carry the holy articles and the signal trumpets in hand before the Israelite army.

Why send the priests out with the Ark of the Covenant before the army? The battle is a spiritual battle and the Lord is the One who must fight it! In Zechariah 4:6 we read “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit; says the Lord of Hosts.” God was teaching the Israelites that there is a spiritual battle going on all around us and He must go ahead of us to fight it or we will be defeated by our unseen adversaries.

We must put on heavenly armor and fight in the spirit for if our enemy gets us to fight in the flesh, on his terms, then he has already won the battle. I know it sounds extremely strange but there is a cosmic war going on for the ownership of men’s souls. An unseen battle to our human perception but none the less rages on all around us. 

We must hold up our shield of faith to capture the flaming arrows of the wicked one. And then use our only offensive weapon which is the Word of God! That’s what Jesus did when He was being attacked by the enemy. The Word of God is so powerful but is often the last option we turn to. It holds the truths that set men free and the key to eternal life. 

God is speaking to many of you and He is calling you to come, come and believe in Him!