The Art of War (Part 3)

“The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name”(Ex.15:1-3).  After the people of Israel experienced great victory, they sang, “I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea! The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.”
 
Continue reading and you will notice that the whole fifteenth chapter is known as “The Song of Moses.” What were they singing about? They were singing a war song!  As they obeyed the Lord, God fought the battle for them. Jesus said that His kingdom is not of this world, that’s why he did not fight it the way the world does (Jn.18:36).
 
The world did not understand that when Jesus was surrendering Himself to the cross, He was fighting the battle — yes, that was the battle strategy. Well, but He got killed! That was the strategy, because He ultimately rose from the dead. That’s why 1 Cor. 2:8 says, “Which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
 
Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto Myself”(Jn.12:32). So they got to put Him on the cross. The world looked at it as a picture of defeat but the cross was not the end; it was just the beginning.
 
Please understand that when the Bible talks about heaven, it doesn’t talk about heaven in the singular – but heavens, plural. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph.6:12). Satan has been removed from heaven where God dwells, paradise, God’s throne — the place of God’s dwelling. But Satan has not been removed from the heavenly places.
 
So when the writer of Hebrews says it is necessary that the heavens be cleansed by better sacrifices, there is only ONE sacrifice. “But this Man [Jesus], after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb.10:12). We don’t need to cleanse heaven where God is – because God took care of that a long time ago. What is being cleansed now are the heavens themselves – this is where the war is taking place.
 
What to do now? Don’t be discouraged and do not panic. Do your part –  and God will do His part. Spend time in prayer and in worship; study the Word and obey them. Jesus never leaves us nor forsakes us (Heb.13:5). For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Mt.18:20). “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Mt.18:18).
 
How about if you try to do the earthly things before you deal with the heavenly things? Can you imagine an upside down tree with the root in the heavens while the leaves and its fruits are on earth?
 
A lot of people want to deal with the fruit, the symptoms and the results before dealing with the root and the cause. If you know someone who still hits his wife, are doing drugs or drinking alcohol, looses his temper, or still has bad thoughts — what is the root? The fruit or the end result can only be as healthy as its roots but, unfortunately, the opposite also applies. So now you can ask yourselves this question: What condition are your roots in?