C O N T E N T S

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 -- The Armies of Heaven

CHAPTER 2. -- The Day of the Lord

CHAPTER 3. -- The Battle is the Lord’s

CHAPTER 4. -- The Secret of our Victory

CHAPTER 7. -- The Wisdom of the Cross

This writing is about SPIRITUAL WARFARE, but with particular reference to the Day of the LORD, that great Day of God Almighty, when God assembles all the hordes of evil together in open confrontation with Him who is called "Faithful and True," who leads the armies of Heaven into battle.

I do not write on a regular basis, but only as I feel definitely impressed of the Lord to do so. Therefore I have confidence that God has a people out there who are going to be helped and encouraged and challenged by this word.

These are very awesome times, and it is not mere knowledge or understanding that we really need--not even of the Bible. But we need that creative Word out from the mouth of God, if indeed we are going to be able to embrace it as a living seed that will become PREGNANT within us, and bring forth after its kind.

It was after ministering the substance of this message some weeks ago that I felt very much impressed to put it in writing. I did not know what I was to call it. It was not till I wrote the very last line (though I did add portions here and there throughout the book later) that I suddenly realized what the title was to be. It is a challenge from heavenly places as to our identity. Let us search for our identity in the heavenly Zion. If we do not find it there, whatever we are down here will not matter that much.

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

"His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

"And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.

"And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

"And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

"And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." (Rev. 19:11-16).

In this day of fear and anxiety, and distress among nations, how assuring to look into the scriptures and catch a glimpse of God’s war plans, and to know that the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of Heaven is about to break forth on the scene of human depravity and futility, riding upon a white horse of righteousness and power, and leading His armies to battle and to total victory!

How assuring to know in this hour, when men’s hearts are failing them for fear, and kings and rulers and presidents of nations are frustrated in their attempt to solve the nuclear arms crisis, and to lay a foundation for peace... to know that there is One who has conquered, and who by God’s decree sits even now at God’s right hand of power and authority, ruling and reigning "in the midst of His enemies"...but who simply awaits God’s time-schedule, and the signal from the throne of the eternal Jehovah-God, to charge forth into battle against the Enemy, and put an end to the reign of evil.

..And to know also that we, if we are accounted to be ‘faithful and true’ shall be a part of that army that will follow the Son of God as He goes forth to battle in the great Day of God Almighty. These are the people who not only profess to have FAITH and TRUTH; but faithfulness and truthfulness have been wrought into their very being, as they have learned obedience by the things they have suffered, and have followed the Lord in all His ways.

The Church of Jesus Christ was destined and equipped with the armor of God to be a warring Church. We are not denying that she has fought many a valiant war with the forces of evil throughout her long history, but in too many cases she has suffered defeat, either because she knew not the strategy of the Enemy, or because she did not confine herself to those spiritual weapons which God had given her for warfare and for eventual victory. Nevertheless, in and through it all God has not forsaken the declaration of His Son:

"I will build my church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18).

The defeats of the past (and there have been many) do not alter the purposes of God; for in the wisdom of the Cross, God will yet take all the devices of the Evil One, whose intention is to destroy the people of God, and entwine these into His own purposes so that the Enemy will be trapped in his own devices and snared in the very evil that he thought to bring upon God’s chosen ones.

The story of Samson is going to take on beautiful meaning for those of us who live in the last days. Right now we are almost ashamed to admit that we are part of the "Church" when we see ourselves like Samson: bound by the world-systems of the Philistines, grinding out the corn for the enemies of God, and so blinded in our hearts that we think we are victorious and triumphant in the midst of it all. But one day--and we believe it is beginning to happen--the hairs of Samson’s head will grow again, and his strength will be renewed. We are beginning to recognize that God wants us to be distinct and separate people in the earth, "in the world, but not of it." We are beginning to realize that our calling is heavenly, that our warfare is heavenly.

One day as Samson’s heart began to turn back to God--in his weakness and in his blindness and in his bondage--he comes to the place where he is prepared to lay down his life, if so be he can be avenged of the Philistines, and bring deliverance to the people of God. "Let me die with the Philistines," he cried, as he leaned upon the pillars in the House of Dagon, and destroyed the hordes of the Philistines in one massive blow. The result was that he slew more in his death, than he had slain throughout his whole life--spectacular and dramatic as many of his activities were in his former years.

Dear ones, we are going to see the true meaning of all this, when the Church of Jesus Christ begins to come to the realization of the greatness of her bondage...

When she realizes she has been so blinded in her understanding, that she did not even know she was a willing tool of the world-system...

When she realizes that she has been grinding out corn for the Philistines, all the while thinking she was working for God...

When her Nazarite vow of separation unto the Lord is renewed, and her hair of glory is restored...

When she suddenly realizes she is the laughing-stock of the world and not her friend...

When she realizes she has been led about by a lad of the Philistines, and not by the hand of God...

And when she is finally prepared to lay down her life, if so be she might know the power of the risen Christ working within her.

"For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2Cor. 4:11)

God is preparing an army, beloved, who will go forth in the Day of the LORD to put an end to the reign of Evil, and to deliver the people of God from their oppressor. They are not being conscripted because they have military or political skills, and know how to get involved in human programs; but because like Samson of old they have discovered the folly and the futility of all this, and are now prepared to learn God’s secrets of warfare. They are a people who are being taught the art of war, and whose only weapons are SPIRITUAL AND HEAVENLY, and "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2Cor. 10:4)

And we are going to discover, as we proceed with this message, that if we are not clothed upon with spiritual armor, and engaging in battle in the Spirit of God in heavenly places, we are not going to know anything but defeat down here in the realms of earth.

Generally the teaching concerning the coming of the Lord are associated with doctrines about the great tribulation, and controversies as to whether He comes before, during, or after the tribulation. Tribulation seems to be the whole issue. Do we miss it, or do we not? It is clear from the scriptures that the tribulation coincides with the Day of the Lord. It is a time of great trouble and darkness, yes, but it is the dawning of God’s new day--something that God’s people often overlook. Paul tells us:

"The night is far spent, the day is at hand: Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light" (Rom. 13:12)

Is it not clear from this that the Day of the LORD is more to be desired than the night in which we now live? Who would want to miss out on the light of God’s new day? Especially when He tells us clearly that He has provided for us "The armor of light"? Sure, there will be darkness in the world about us in that day. But it is not called "The night of the Lord." It is God’s DAY! This alone should cause God’s people to stop and consider in their hearts: "Really, now... why do I want to miss that DAY to which all the prophets referred, and which is mentioned frequently in the New Testament as the hope of God’s people?"

"For yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the LORD so cometh as a thief in the night." (1Thess. 5:2). But we must not stop there. "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that DAY Should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ" (vs 4-9) Is it not very clear from this passage that we have no appointment with the wrath of God, because of the armor that we put on, the breastplate of faith and love, and the helmet of salvation? Because we are fully equipped with God’s armor, and not because he snatches us out of the battle?

Note the battle dress of God’s people in the Day of the LORD: It is the "armor of light," "the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." GOD HAS PROVIDED ARMOR FOR HIS PEOPLE--NOT WINGS! And if we know these things, God help us all to put on "the whole armor of God." God wants a people who are prepared for battle, and the armor He provides is totally sufficient for us to "stand in the evil day." (See Ephesians 6:10-18)

The Day of the LORD will deal with this horrible corruption that abounds in the land, and especially with the MIXTURE that has characterized the people of God. Often are we tainted with the corruption of the world, because we dwell in the very midst of it, and are not always aware of the effect it is having on our minds and spirits. Jesus warned us that because of the abundance of iniquity about us, the love of many would "wax cold." It is easy to slip into the way of the world, not realizing the world and its systems are the enemies of God, and he that would be "a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (Jas. 4:4)

We need to pray that God will show forth such a display and weight of His glory in our midst that we will be able to reprove the world of sin, as we ought to be doing. I do not mean by much talk, and pointing the finger of accusation: I mean by so living and expressing the life of Christ in the world, that the world is confronted with the all-seeing eye of God, and knows that it is God Himself who is reproving them "of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (Jn. 16:8) Without this display of His glory, how helpless we are! And so the best we know is to try to get the legislators on our side, and try to cut off the little twigs and branches of degradation that continue to break forth on the corrupt tree of our society. But unless the tree is cut down--for every twig of corruption we try to nip in the bud, two more will grow in their place. God’s plan is to cut down the tree! And we who know our God, and know what the Day of the LORD is all about, will rejoice when the Lord creates darkness and evil for the workers of evil, and brings forth light and peace, to the lovers of truth. For He has declared:

"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. Drop down, yea heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together" (Isa. 45:7,8). This is what the Day of the LORD is all about!

God hates a mixture, and He appeals to His people to make a difference between the clean and the unclean, to know the nature of good and evil, and to draw the line between light and darkness:

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isa. 5:20).

Once again, in this Day of the LORD that comes swiftly upon us, God is going to "divide the light from the darkness." Once again the light will be called day, and the darkness will be called night.

Only the revelation of His glory can do this. Try as we may to get into the political arena with a shovel, to shovel out the darkness, the darkness will remain... and will continue to get darker. Try as we may to agitate, and march, and harass the workers of iniquity, we accomplish nothing. When light is rejected, darkness is the inevitable result. And as we shall observe later in this message, if light is persistently rejected, God Himself will send even greater and greater darkness, to the point where men do not know the difference, and evil is called good, and darkness is called light.

God tells us that the time will come when He Himself will "send strong delusion, that they should believe a lie (or, THE LIE)." (2Thess. 2:11). And the reason is clearly stated: "Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved" (vs 10). Consistent and persistent rebellion against God causes God to withdraw His restraining hand of grace, thus adding to and multiplying the darkness that is already there. In this sense only does God "create evil." It is God’s Judgment against iniquity. And whether we are believer or unbeliever, this ought to impart within us all a godly fear. A little bit of disobedience on our part can produce a measure of darkness. God be merciful unto us in that hour--that we might recognize the darkness, and hurry back into His arms, His outstretched arms of love and forgiveness. It is frightening to behold men and women, whom we thought to have known the Lord in a very real way... slipping away into areas of deception and darkness that are utterly foreign to the love of the truth. Somewhere Satan found a foothold, and gradually enlarged upon it, until it might almost appear there is no longer any hope for them.

How endless a task we would have on our hands if we were to begin naming all the different areas of deception! God’s provision and antidote for this danger is for you and me to walk in truth. Jesus said, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (Jn 8:32). But we do feel to mention this evil of divorce that is running rampant these days; and to warn God’s people especially that Satan is promoting this avalanche of divorce and unfaithfulness that is overwhelming the Church. The Christian home is a miniature "church," and the Enemy knows if he is victorious in the home, he is automatically victorious in the Church. We must guard against the deception that is overwhelming many, as husband and wife are believing the lie that they do not have their proper spiritual mate--that God never did really join them together--it was their own mistake, and they must find the one that God ordained for them. We have been told from different sources that witches and wizards are praying and fasting for the break-up of the Christian home. Let us not be found in the number of those who are blaming God for the attack of witches and wizards.

I do not stand in judgment on God’s people. I know very often an innocent party is involved, and innocent children are often the victims. Complex situations have come as a result of marriages that took place when one or both parties were not born again. All I can say is, if you are caught in tangled situations where you do not know the way out...God is still able to bring order out of chaos, and bring you into a place of REST in Him as you seek His will for your life, and come to that place of total commitment. And if you are the guilty one, there is hope for you too--and grace. But the first step out from your bondage will be your admission that God is right, and you are wrong. And then we have this conditional promise,--

"God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil" (2Tim. 2:25,26) If you insist on your innocence, and hold to the deception that "God led me to do it"--this can only lead into greater deception. Once you can say from your heart, God you are RIGHT and I am WRONG, then the Bible says, "peradventure" you will discover the grace of repentance. For remember, repentance is not something you can do just anytime you feel like it... or postpone it until you have acquired what you want in your disobedience. God must provide the grace for it, if it is to be truly redemptive and genuine in nature.

We are talking about one area of deception that has overwhelmed many of God’s people, and how prevalent it has become in the Church. And I think it is evident that this tendency to unfaithfulness in the home has come from the enticements of the world about us. Paul tells us that through the working of the Cross he was "crucified unto the world," and the "world was crucified unto him" (See Gal. 6:14). This is the real problem. Most of us in the Church have not known, or recognized, or cared enough to pursue this kind of identification with the Cross of Christ. "The offence of the Cross" has just about ceased! Modern evangelism has pretty well represented the Cross of Jesus as the easy way out for you and me. Jesus died on His cross... so it is assumed there is no cross for the rest of us to carry. The word "offence" is "skandalon" in the Greek, from which we get our English word "scandal." The scandal of the cross is scarcely there any longer--especially in our western world. We do not want to become an object of the ‘scandal’ that comes when we take up our cross and follow Him. And so we join the world, thinking the world will like us, and will no longer consider that we are really too much different from them. "You can join our church, and still have lots of fun. You can serve God, and still have a good time... God intends it that way." But James warns us:

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (Jas. 4:4). What an indictment! We say we must be friends of the world in order to win them. God says if you do that, you’re His enemy!

When the king of Moab could not persuade Balaam the sorcerer to curse the people of God (for God took control of his tongue, without changing his heart...God can do that, you know... Just the day before He had taken control of the ass’s tongue without changing his heart...)--Do you know what Balaam did? He suggested that Balak invite the people of God to one of their wild parties, and get them that way. And it worked! Thousands of them fell into the snare, as they corrupted themselves with the charms and the snares of the gods of Moab, and the people of God were defiled.

He who stands in the midst of His people with eyes as a flame of fire, is coming to purge the people of God from the doctrine of Balaam. Lord, baptize us afresh--with the baptism of the Holy Ghost and of fire!

People of God, let us continue to cry out for His glory to return to His Temple... for the shining forth of His Presence in our midst. But beloved, let us understand the implications of God’s glory coming back to dwell in the midst of His people. He can bless us from Heaven, and pour forth His gifts upon us, in our carnal condition. But when He comes in the fullness of His abiding Presence in our midst, IT IS THAT HE MIGHT BE OUR CAPTAIN AND LORD. He comes to cleanse and purge His people. He comes to take control. And therefore, desirable as all this may be, let us understand it is also a very fearful thing.

It was just after the glory of the LORD had passed through the hosts of Israel (in the mighty baptism of the cloud), that Egypt was suddenly confronted with God’s Judgments. The glory that was a light to the people of God suddenly became gross darkness to the enemy. God had divided the light from the darkness--so that the enemy came not near the people of God all night long.

It was right after the glory of the LORD had appeared to the congregation in the wilderness, and God’s fire burst forth from His presence to consume the burnt offering of His people... that Nadab and Abihu decided they would make a little fire of their own. "They took either of them his censer, and put fire therein... and offered strange fire before the LORD." Immediately they were consumed by the devouring fire of God’s glory. (See Lev. 10:1,2).

Now what was wrong with the incense they offered? Were they not doing it before the Lord? But that’s not the question. They were doing something that God had not directed them to do... something "which He commanded them not" (vs. 1). God had not authorized it!

When, beloved, are we going to come to the place where we recognize we are here only to do what God bids us to... nothing more and nothing less? Whether you or I think it would be a good thing to do matters nothing. What is God’s will in the matter? "How do I know God’s will?" someone may ask. It comes to us as we seek Him. Sometimes we know not how: the still small voice of God, something from the Word, some kind of confirmation from this source or another. But it is something that God is honor-bound to show us when we "present our bodies a living sacrifice" and are totally committed to do His will.

I really believe if God’s glory were to suddenly come into our midst in this hour, we would have multitudes falling dead in the pulpit or in the aisles of our churches, as happened to Ananias and Sapphira in the early Church. Have you ever considered how insignificant their sin would be looked upon today in our eyes? They sold some property, and gave most of it to the Church... perhaps nine-tenths of it! But they kept the smaller portion for a rainy-day, and brought the rest to the apostles. What was their sin? That they did not give it all? Not really. It was just that they gave the impression they were giving all. Peter told them that they "lied not to men, but to the Holy Ghost"! In their silence concerning what they did, they were giving the impression they were giving their all as the others were doing. They were lying to the Holy Ghost!

O if God’s people could only recognize the implications of the Day of the LORD, and of His glory coming to abide in His Temple! Gone would be the entertainment and the gimmicks that are used today to bring people to Jesus! Satan fears nothing when he sees the people of God going forth TO BATTLE with carnal weapons... musical groups doing their thing to the applause of large audiences... rock musicians skillfully using the art of Satan all nicely cloaked with words about Jesus and Heaven and the Bible... drama troupes coming forth from missionary training centers with a cast depicting God and Jesus and the Devil on the same platform, trying to trick people into hearing the gospel... puppet ministries acting out the gospel with little puppet monkeys or puppet devils, and the like... magicians showing their illusionary tricks to the applause of an audience that some "church" group hired to trap people into hearing the "gospel." I know of one instance where a young boy in a Sunday school class had to be delivered from the oppression of spirits, after he had watched the clever manipulations of a "puppet-ministry" in a Sunday school class. And all this--not in some old, dead apostate church, but in large charismatic churches where people love to praise and worship and sing in the Spirit and dance before the Lord!

O Lord, how can these--and even greater abominations than these, come into your temple, and the people of God who know and have experienced your blessings, and have spiritual gifts functioning in their midst--sit in the congregation and applaud and laugh, and think they are promoting the work of the Lord?

The Day of the LORD is at hand, the day of His glory, and "eyes like a flame of fire" are going to consume the dross from the silver pot of God’s refining flame. God says that His judgments must first begin at the house of God. We anticipate the day of His glory. But even as we do, let us humble ourselves now in His presence lest His light shine upon us suddenly, and we be found naked. For He says to you and me and God’s people everywhere who have known His workings in times past....

"Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent" (Rev. 2:5).

I speak not as a judge, but as one who grew up under the shadow of Pentecost, and had a little understanding of what happened in those early beginnings, and the glory that was there. I do not mean from personal experience, because it was before my time--but I was close to it. I was born in a second generation of Pentecost, and regretted that I had missed out on the original glory that I knew was there. This used to bother me until I came to realize many years later that God had something for His people that was beyond Pentecost. I still cherish that Hope, and I know that God will do exceeding and abundantly above all we can ask or think. It is difficult to sense the reality of the anointing and presence of God just by reading about it; but for those not familiar with the glory of those early days, let us reprint an excerpt from the writing of a man whom the Lord used in those times. (The Azusa that is mentioned was the name of a street in Los Angeles, where this particular outpouring took place).

"The spirit of song given from God in the beginning was like the Aeolian harp in its spontaneity and sweetness. In fact it was the very breath of God, playing on human heart strings, or human vocal chords. The notes were wonderful in sweetness, volume and duration. In fact they were oft-times humanly impossible. It was indeed ‘singing in the Spirit’.

"...We had no pope or hierarchy. We were brethren. We had no human program; the Lord Himself was leading. We had no priest class, nor priest craft. These things have come in later, with the apostatizing of the movement. We did not even have a platform or pulpit in the beginning. All were on a level. The ministers were servants, according to the true meaning of the word. We did not honor men for their advantage in means or education, but rather for their God-given gifts. He set the members in the Body.

"Now a ‘wonderful and horrible thing is come to pass in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means, and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?’ (Jer. 5:30,31).

"The services ran almost continuously. Seeking souls could be found under the power almost any hour of the night or day. The place was never closed nor empty. The people came to meet God... He was always there. Hence a continuous meeting. The meeting did not depend on the human leader. God’s presence became more and more wonderful. In that old building, with its low rafters and bare floors, God took strong men and women to pieces, and put them together again, for His glory. It was a tremendous overhauling process. Pride and self-assertion, self-importance and self-esteem could not survive there. The religious ego preached its own funeral sermon quickly.

"No subjects or sermons were announced ahead of time, and no special speakers for such an hour. No one knew what might be coming, what God would do. All was spontaneous, ordered of the Spirit. We wanted to hear from God, through whomever He might speak. We had no respect of persons. The rich and educated were the same as the poor and ignorant, and found a much harder death to die. We only recognized God. All were equal. No flesh might glory in His presence. He could not use the self-opinionated. Those were Holy Ghost meetings, led of the Lord. It had to start in poor surroundings, to keep out the selfish, human element. All came down in humility together at His feet. They all looked alike and had all things in common, in that sense at least. The rafters were low, the tall must come down. By the time they got to Azusa they were humbled, ready for the blessing. The fodder was thus placed for the lambs, not for giraffes. All could reach it.

"We were delivered right there from ecclesiastical hierarchism and abuse. We wanted God. When we first reached the meeting, we avoided as much as possible human contact and greeting. We wanted to meet God first. We got our head under some bench in the corner in prayer, and met men only in the Spirit, knowing them ‘after the flesh’ no more.

"All obeyed God, in meekness and humility. In honor we preferred one another. The Lord was liable to burst through anyone. We prayed for this continually. Someone would finally get up anointed for the message. It might be from the back seat for from the front. It made no difference...

"Someone might be speaking. Suddenly the Spirit would fall upon the congregation. God Himself would give the altar call. Men would fall all over the house, like the slain in battle, or rush for the altar en masse to seek God. The scene often resembled a forest of fallen trees...

"When God spoke, we all obeyed. It seemed a fearful thing to hinder or grieve the Spirit... God was in His holy temple. It was for man to keep silent." (From "Another Wave Rolls In"--by Frank Bartlemen).

I am not saying, "let’s go back to Pentecost." I am saying, "Let us GO ON!" But if we are to GO ON, we must GO BACK to that dedication and commitment that they knew in those days. Pentecost was a harvest of ‘firstfruits’. If the glory we once knew was ‘firstfruits’...then we anticipate that it was but the foretaste of the glory that we shall know at harvest time, at the Feast of Tabernacles, the Feast of Ingathering.

When we speak of "Pentecost" of course, we are referring to the scriptural Pentecost, and not to any denomination or group of people that use that name. Too often what we see today is but the empty shell... or as a former pastor used to say, "...All that was left of the dove when it had flown away,"--referring to the horrible famine in Samaria in the days of Elisha, when they were feeding upon "doves’ dung" and the "ass’s head"--and paying good silver pieces for it. (See 2kgs 6:25).

The day of darkness is the inevitable result of God’s glory coming into the midst of His people. And so of course there is tribulation, for the haters of truth will certainly rise up against the light. There was no real reproof of sin in the earth until Jesus came on the scene. But when He came as a Light into the world, the lovers of darkness grew more intensely hateful against Him whose very presence angered them. Egypt never knew such darkness in her history as in the day of redemption for God’s people. And as that day drew nigh we are told: "There was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings" (Ex. 10:22,23).

And so, whenever the Lord would rise up on behalf of His people, and went before them against the enemy, there always seemed to be a blending of His glory with desolation and judgment: "A day of darkness and gloominess..." Why? Because "the morning" is "spread upon the mountains" as God’s "great people" align themselves for battle. And "all faces gather blackness..." Why? Because "The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter His voice before His army; for His camp is very great: for He is strong that executeth His word..." (See Joel 2:2-11). It seems so unlike God; and it seems so unlike His people who walk in love and truth. But what is it all about? Here is a people so disciplined by the Cross, and walking in such love and truth that they become a torment to those who walk in darkness. Don’t think for one moment that the reason we live in ease and contentment is because our society is a democratic one. It is rather BECAUSE WE LACK THE GLORY OF GOD THAT TORMENTS THE WORKERS OF EVIL. Our feeble marches and protests are just accepted by the masses as the democratic right of the people. But in that day there will be open persecution. And God’s judgments will fall as the sharp sword of the Word goes forth from hearts that have known rejection, humiliation, weakness, and poverty of spirit.

There is no darkness or evil in God. But when light is rejected, there is darkness. When love is rejected, there is hate. When peace is rejected (the Prince of Peace), there is war.

We read in the scriptures how the sun will be turned into blackness, and moon into blood. It is because God has arisen out of His holy habitation (the Church) to judge the world for their iniquity:

"The sun and the moon shall be darkened; and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter His voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake" (Joel 3:15-16). Paul tells us that the heaven-quakes and the earth-quakes signify that God is shaking everything that can be shaken, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain, steadfast and sure. (See Heb. 12:27-28).

"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD" (Amos 8:11).

God said He would take away "the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent and the ancient, the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator" (Isa. 3:1-3).

Theological seminaries and schools of religious training will be empty. No longer will the ministry be something that our young people will aspire after. The prophets and the seers will be ashamed to be called one of God’s ministers, or a leader of the people. They will excuse themselves by saying, "I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: make me not a ruler of the people." (Isa. 3:7). He is confessing, "I’m sorry, but I can’t help you." And the reason for this kind of famine? "Because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of His glory" (vs 8).

"Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God" (Mic. 3:6,7).

What kind of prophets were these? The kind that are telling God’s people that all is well, that they will not see tribulation,--God loves them too much for that...the kind that have discovered the ministry to be a financial bonanza when they give prophecies of peace. The kind that will prophesy good things to those who put something in their mouths, but show contempt for those who refuse. "And he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him" (Mic. 3:5). Listen to this: "Now everyone in the audience who wants me to pronounce the blessing of the Lord upon your life, just stand and come forward with a thousand dollars, and God will give you the blessing of Abraham." Then the amounts are reduced, for a somewhat lesser blessing. "Who will bring five hundred dollars, for the blessing of David?" or, "Who will bring two hundred... one hundred..." Perhaps a small blessing may be available to the one who can only afford a ten dollar bill! The tragedy is that there are so many gullible people out there in the Church, who "love to have it so."

Dear ones, God has to send a famine in the land when He sees abominations like these. But in the midst of it all there will be the true prophets of the LORD, like Micah of old, who are "full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment (justice), and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin" (Mic. 3:8).

"Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are come upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit, shall be taken in the snare" (Isa. 24:17,18).

Go ahead and build your bomb-shelters, and your mountain hide-outs, and stack them well with food and water and guns. In that day you will discover that the treasure you have accumulated for the day of trouble will avail nothing. Far better if you would distribute your excess wealth now to places of need, and in so doing "lay up treasure in Heaven," and find your habitation in God:

"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast" (Isa. 26:20).

Your refuge in doctrines about the second coming that promise safety and security will be swept away when the hailstones of God begin to fall. No wonder the teachers and the prophets and those who assure the people that God will snatch them away from it all, will scramble for safety in that day, and find none:

"And the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place" (Isa. 28:17).

And yet in the midst of all the tribulation the people who have found their refuge in God shall rejoice in their God...

"Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the Mighty One of Israel..." (Isa. 30:29). When and where is all this joy? In the very time of the LORD’s wrath: "And the LORD shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of His arm, with the indignation of His anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones" (vs. 30).

"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isa. 2:11).

It is the day when God brings all men down to one common level. "Every mountain and hill shall be made low"...whether it be in the Church, or in the world. (See Isa. 40:1-5).

"The LORD of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth" (Isa. 23:9). There are some honorable men who bow at the foot of the Cross, but Paul tells us they are few in number: "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (1Cor. 1:26).

When the glory of the LORD comes to His Temple, it is to "stain the pride of all glory" in His people, in each of us... not only by bowing once at the foot of the Cross for the remission of sins, but in taking up our cross and following Him.

"And the Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant... But who may abide the day of His coming? And who shall stand when He appeareth? For He is like refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and He shall purify the sons of Levi, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness" (Mal. 3:1-3).

God’s Holy Spirit has been given to us to make us HOLY; and His people are yet to become "holiness unto the LORD." How and when is this to happen? "When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion... by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning" (Isa. 4:4).

Do we really want to manifest the light of God to a world that sits in darkness? We are not going to do it, beloved, by preaching and talking about it; but only by submitting ourselves to the SPIRIT OF JUDGMENT, and THE SPIRIT OF BURNING. Then will the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives be a flaming fire that will shine forth in this world of sin and darkness.

"And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night" (Isa. 4:5).

"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee" (Isa. 60:1).

Darkness and light, brethren, and at one and the same time. His glory shall be seen, and not merely talked about. And when men see it, one of two things will happen: they will walk in the light, or they will turn away into greater darkness than they have ever known. His glory will draw the line that separates day and night, truth and error, good and evil.

Vengeance for what? For His Temple. God has a controversy with Zion. And after the cleansing of Zion He will deal with Babylon... that system that has captivated His people and prevented them from becoming His own dwelling place in the earth. God through eternal ages has desired a dwelling place for Himself, and that is why He made man in the beginning. Any teaching, any structure, any system (name or no name, denominational or non-denominational) that promotes any kind of mediator between the individual and his God, other than the one Mediator, who is the Lord Jesus Christ... you can be sure it bears the stamp of Babylon. And God continues to cry, "Come out of her, my people..." Babylon wants to keep the people of God unified under some system, to keep them together, and to keep them under her control. Babylon wants unity. Babylon wants to make a name for herself.

God wants a people for Himself, and for Himself only. He is a jealous God, and will not share His glory with another.

Jesus said, "For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled" (Lk. 21:22).

Vengeance for what? It is the vengeance of His Temple: "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance... because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance of His temple" (See Jer. 51:6,11).

Babylon is the whole world system, religious as well as political. She has brought the people of God under her sway, so that they are no longer able to serve Him in His holy Temple, and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth, free from the rulership of kings... and giving the Lord Jesus total Lordship in their lives. The purpose of true ministry before the Lord is to bring this about, to enhance one’s individual freedom and relationship with the Lord. The spirit of Babylon would seek to extend the lordship of MAN, under the guise of Divine order.

In this great conflict that rages between the forces of good and evil we must understand the simple pattern of warfare that God has sent forth in His Word for the ultimate triumph of the people of God. And we must be assured that "the battle is the LORD’s," and not ours. Failing to see and understand some of these simple principles can only lead to prolonged frustration and perplexity, as we seek to stop the flood of iniquity that has broken forth upon the people of God.

Too long has the Church of Jesus Christ been on the defensive. In fact, victory for God’s people has generally been looked upon from a negative standpoint, even by the positive thinkers in the Church. Just know how to ward off the attack of the Enemy... just hold your own... find how to get healed from some physical ailment, or recover from some spiritual setback. Well and good. But the hour is at hand when God would mobilize His army for a final and decisive onslaught against the gates of Hell, so that His Church may come forth from the battle in total victory and triumph. We should say... that the forthcoming battle is the conclusive one, for the decisive battle has already been fought and won. When Jesus died on the Cross, He there and then "spoiled principalities and powers, and made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Col. 2:15). It was there on the Cross that Christ "through death" destroyed him "that had the power of death, that is, the Devil" (Heb. 2:14). But the battle we speak of is the conclusive battle... the day and hour in which God will EXECUTE THE SENTENCE that was passed at the Cross, and crush the hosts of evil under our feet:

"And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly" (Rom. 16:20).

The scriptures speak of two complete sets of armor: that of God’s people, and that of the Enemy. The Greek word is "panoplia," from which we get our seldom used English word "panoply." The word is used only twice in the New Testament: its first occurrence referring to Satan’s panoply, and its second occurrence referring to ours.

"When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace: But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armor (panoplia) wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils" (Lk. 11:22).

"Put on the whole armor (panoplia) of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil... Wherefore take unto you the whole armor (panoplia) of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand" (Eph. 6:11,13).

Notice that there are two strong men, and the stronger man does three things:

(1) Overcomes the strong man.

(2) Takes away the panoply of the strong man.

(3) Divides the spoils of the strong man.

This kind of victory goes far, far beyond the ordinary concept of victory--somehow just surviving, just holding our own, making a successful excursion against the Enemy and then scurrying back to the fox-hole for safety. Our Lord is not coming for a defeated Church, but for one that is glorious and triumphant. Now I know that Christ triumphed at the Cross, but His Church still grovels in defeat--much as she may enjoy her victory marches, and sing about her victories.

Now Christ fully triumphed at the Cross. There Satan was robbed not only of his power (dunamis),--his ability to perform his works of evil; but also of his authority (exousia),--his right to dominate the Adamic race, and the kingdoms of this world. And so Jesus said to His disciples, "Behold, I give unto you power (exousia) to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power (dunamis) of the enemy" (Lk. 10:19). And before He went away He promised that they would be "endued with power (dunamis) from on high" (Lk. 24:49). Satan’s panoply has been taken from him; for Christ "spoiled" principalities and powers, when He died on the Cross (Col. 2:15). The word "spoiled" means He "unclothed" them--He took away their battle dress... He denuded them.

How then can he continue to harass and torment the world, and the people of God? He has done so by magnifying the darkness that is in him, and in this way devastating the world and the people of God with all those attributes of darkness: fear, torment, unbelief, strife, contention, malice, hate, division... and we could go on and on in this; and it is all a kind of DECEPTION of one form or another. Of course this has been very effective from his standpoint; and the whole world lies in the grip of "the god of this world" (his religious title), and "the prince of the power of the air" (his political title). His real panoply of POWER and AUTHORITY has been taken away; so now he continues to strengthen, even since the Cross, his panoply of DARKNESS; but it is all a lie, and it is only in the area of darkness and deception that he can do this. He succeeds, because "men love darkness rather than light." He succeeds, because even we as believers find ourselves entertaining ideas which the enemy plants their in our carnal minds. Our warfare, therefore, consists of putting on "the whole armor of God." and thereby denying the Enemy any foothold within us. And with this divine panoply from God, this total battle dress, this complete armor... God has assured His people of total victory. The whole world lies in the lap of "wickedness," or more emphatically, "the evil one" (1Jn. 5:19); and "the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not" (2Cor. 4:4). Only the ministration of the gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit can remove this blindness from the hearts of men, enabling them to believe. And may God help us to understand (and we will be enlarging upon it later)... that the ministration of the gospel goes far, far beyond declaring a message, or writing and talking about it. It involves a people penetrating the world of darkness by coming into association with the powers of the heavenly realm, and becoming acquainted and known of God in the citadel of Zion. Only then are we able to loosen the shackles from the hearts and minds of men. You cannot talk men out of their blindness... and certainly you are not going to do it by entertaining them with frivolity. There has to come about a healing... scales have to be removed from their eyes.

This is what Jesus did at the Cross. But in his defeat, Satan continues to cloak himself with the armor of darkness and deception; and these have become very formidable weapons in his hands. Not understanding that these are Satan’s only weapons, the people of God have gone all-out in their efforts to acquire great and formidable (?) weapons to oppose him, and his kingdom remains as strong as ever. With all our efforts, coupled with all the resources of our modern technology (over which the Enemy continues to hold dominion), we have failed to make any real impact upon the forces of evil that rule the world. The reason is quite evident: we have not realized that his only weapons are those which operate in areas of deception and darkness: fear, hate, torment, contention, strife, and so forth. And yet we go our way preaching the "gospel," with these attributes of darkness still in our hearts. And thinking He has great power, we go about seeking to match weapon with weapon, numbers with numbers, resources with resources, tactics with tactics, strategy with strategy. He calls the shots, and God’s people get excited and begin to snipe back. If he comes against us with what appears to be a powerful weapon, we will try to outmatch him. If he comes against us with some new technique, we are right there to meet his challenge, hopefully with something comparable or better. If he rises up against us with a great host, we will do what we can to rally a greater host to come against him. If he marches... we will organize a greater march, hoping to out-maneuver him. In other words, we try to come against him with his own kind of weapons, and he is not at all impressed. What does he care about your little shows, and entertainment, and your cute dramatic presentations of the gospel? He is only slightly amused, and sits in the congregation applauding with the rest of them.

We have yet to discover the way of the Cross. We have yet to know that one man can chase a thousand, and that two can put ten thousand to flight, if we are walking in the ways of the Lord. We have yet to learn that a people of God, clothed upon with the "armor of light" is God’s only antidote for evil.

This is the third aspect of the victory of the Cross. We are to take the "spoils" out of the hands of the Enemy. The spoils are nothing less than the bodies and souls and spirits of men. Satan’s goods "are in peace" as long as God’s people are in turmoil... as long as he is able to hold dominion over the hearts of men. He knows his kingdom is sure as long as the people of God mix religion with entertainment and gimmicks and politics and keep very much involved with the ways of the world.

But our Lord has triumphed, and patiently does He rule and reign upon the throne of His glory "in the midst of His enemies"--even as God has decreed. He waits expectantly for the day when "all His enemies are subdued under His feet"...the day when His people shall be "willing"--the day of His power.

The people of God are not only to enter their Canaan heritage, and then stand on the border of it and boast about what they have got. They must drive out the Enemy, and POSSESS that territory, and PARTAKE of the fruit of their spiritual heritage. Caleb exhorted the people in so many words..."don’t be afraid of the Enemy... if God delight in us He will bring us in... they shall be our bread and butter." How little have we known of the fruits of victory in Christ Jesus!

How quickly would God bring us into our inheritance if we would but humble ourselves in His presence, and walk in obedience: in love, in truth, in meekness, and in the unity of the Spirit. Of course, we all acknowledge that these virtues would be nice to have. We will keep these things in mend and hopefully some day get more of them. But in the meantime we are in a war against the Devil, and we are not going to get too involved about those things right now--we are too busy fighting the Devil. And all the while we have this attitude we are failing to realize that these attributes of light, and love, and truth, and obedience--these are the only weapons that are going to defeat the Devil. He fears nothing when we seek to tear down his kingdom with our own human zeal, our eloquent sermons, our Church activities and programs--entertainments, nice musical presentations, dramatic renditions--all these carnally devised schemes and gimmicks that are formulated today for the propagation of the gospel.

But he fears greatly when he sees a people learning to walk in the way of the Cross!

There is a divine order in the scriptures for coming into the full stature of Christ; and the apostle admonishes us to "keep the unity of the Spirit" as God progressively leads us on to the fullness of the truth. (See Eph. 4:1-15). In all of our seeking for more and more of the fullness of Christ in His people, we are assured of God’s help and direction if we will walk in the Spirit, and learn how to foster and maintain "the unity of the Spirit" in our midst. First and foremost it means that we must acknowledge the Lordship of the Spirit in our lives and do nothing that will grieve Him.

But let us remember: it is not just "unity" that God is after. Babylon wants that too. God wants "the unity of the Spirit." He requires that we walk in union with the Spirit of Christ. This means we are to be speaking what He is speaking, doing what He is doing, protesting against the evil in His people when He is protesting against the evil in His people; it means we are to weep over the erring ones, when He is weeping over the erring ones. God wants us to be ONE in the Spirit; and like the dove which represents Him, he wants us to fly away from it all when His people refuse to walk with Him. When the Spirit of God has been crowded out of His temple, we have no choice but to follow... yet as true priests of the Lord we long for the day when once again we will behold the beauty of the Lord in His house.

Israel was a natural nation, a natural people, and they indulged frequently in natural warfare, even at the command of the LORD. They were simply executing the judgments of God upon the idolatrous practices of the heathen nations round about them. In our day we might be inclined to view ancient Israel’s wars as genocidal, and it is hard for a lot of people to believe that the Christian’s Jehovah-God was the Jehovah-God of war in the Old Testament. The fact is that God had a plan for the earth for many centuries to come, and had He not intervened in that day to wipe out the almost unthinkable and unprintable practices of heathen nations surrounding Israel, any semblance of an orderly society might have ceased to exist long ago. The same can be said of the day in which we live. If God does not intervene shortly to put an end to the abominations perpetrated today (not in heathen, Muslim, or Communist regimes, but in our so called Christian democracies) our society could very quickly be swallowed up in total anarchy and corruption. It is only His grace that forestalls the inevitable doom awaiting this generation, as He prepares a people to show forth His glory and His power in the midst of this crooked and perverse generation.

As Christians of the New Covenant era we must be assured that "the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (2Cor. 10:4). Yet even as we look into the Old Testament we can discover the art of spiritual warfare, and the secret of victory that God has for us in this hour. We will learn that the Captain of our salvation goes before us, and that the plans and strategies of our warfare are His, and His only. We will learn that God’s ways are vastly different from ours; and that, foolish as they may seem to be, it is only as we walk in His ways that we are going to emerge triumphant in the day of battle. So let us observe the strategy of our warfare and the secret of our victory, as typified in some of Israel’s natural struggles in the Old Testament:

When God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, and bore them "on eagle’s wings" from the clutches of the enemy, He led them to a dead-end in the wilderness--right up against the Red Sea. He did so on purpose; and His purpose was twofold. First, He would entice the enemy to their doom, for they would boast, "We have them now! There’s no place for them to go...!" But secondly, He would test the obedience and faith of the people of God. All they could see was the Red Sea, and the menacing hordes of the Egyptians behind them. God wanted them to see and behold His faithfulness and His wisdom, and to know that the way of the sea would also become the way of victory.

Now "the secret of the LORD is with them that fear Him,"--and as we consider God’s pattern of victory here, may the Lord cause us to know that every dead-end in the pathway of obedience will lead us to a new way of life in the purposes of God. He wants us to discover the secret of standing still, and seeing the salvation of the LORD. But He also wants us to know that our encampment at the Red Sea in the will of God, where there is no place to go, no way to turn, is intended in the plan and purpose of God to bring about a defeat of our enemies, which we would not have known without this wilderness experience. He could have led them a different way; and you and I would perhaps not have chosen the way we have walked if we had been in control of our lives, and could have seen the end from the beginning. But somehow He led us this way, and the purpose is that He might be glorified. There may have been failure and disobedience on our part. And Let us be quick to acknowledge that. But He would teach us also that out of every failure and disobedience He will yet be glorified, if we will now learn to walk in obedience... if we will "stand still and see the salvation of the LORD."

And consequently they were able to sing the Song of Moses:

"I will sing unto the LORD,

For He hath triumphed gloriously:

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea" (Ex. 15:1).

Where were they overthrown? In the Red Sea! In the place of their dead-end walk with God. In the place of their extremity. In the place of their perplexity. In the place of their utter hopelessness.

When Israel crossed the Red Sea, they were in fact being "baptized unto Moses, in the cloud, and in the sea" (1Cor. 10:2). In type, therefore, it speaks of our baptism into Christ: in water, and in the Spirit. But when this generation failed to enter into the land of their inheritance through disobedience, God raised up a new generation that would succeed. They were now under new leadership, Joshua; and before they could possess their inheritance some very detailed instructions were given them concerning the crossing of the Jordan, in preparation for the conquest of Canaan. The priests bearing the ark of the Covenant were to dip their feet in the waters of Jordan, and as they did the waters would be swept back so the people could go over on dry land. The priests would then stand in the bottom of the Jordan while the people passed by. Twelve stones were to be erected on the bottom of the Jordan as a pillar, and twelve stones likewise were to be taken up from the bottom of the river and erected as a pillar on the western bank. In type we have a picture of the nation being identified with Christ in His death and resurrection. But there was more to this "baptism" than that. For when they had set up camp on the western bank there had to be a new circumcision. This new generation had not been circumcised in the wilderness, and they still carried "the reproach of Egypt" with them. The stain, the reproach, the burden, and the very memory of the old life in Egypt must be "rolled away" at Gilgal, for that is the meaning of the word "Gilgal." Circumcision, then, becomes another aspect of Christian baptism. Water baptism (especially here in the Western world) is presented as a beautiful ceremony, and the crowds are especially invited to come and witness it. It can only be because the true meaning of baptism is not known or realized, or fulfilled in the lives of God’s people. We can accept Christian baptism, and get along very happily with the world about us. Not so in the early Church, and in some of the nations of the world today. In that day it meant a "cutting off." It meant in actual fact and experience, identification with the Cross of Christ. "Circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: buried with Him in baptism..." (Col. 2:11,12).

It meant from that day forward you were an enemy of the world, because the world was the enemy of God. It was in fact a marriage ceremony in which you said, "I take you, Lord Jesus, to be my lawfully wedded Husband, to have and to hold, to love and to obey... and forsaking all others..." How often have we committed adultery with the world in this relationship!

"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God" (Jas. 4:4).

The soldiers in God’s army have got to experience the full implications of baptism. Coming out of Egypt meant for Israel a baptism "in the cloud and in the sea." Perhaps it was sufficient for them in their wilderness journeys. But to conquer the seven strong nations of Canaan we, like Israel of old, must know and experience the dreadful implications of our baptism: identification with Christ in the cutting off of the old Adamic life, that we might rise to walk with Him "in newness of life." We thrill at the thought that the baptism of the Holy Spirit means endowment with power. It is all of that. But most of us who have received that experience have been disappointed to find that the strength of the old Adamic nature remained strong within us, and that many times we were impotent in the face of the foe. It can only be because we have not walked in the pathway of the Cross, and have therefore not experienced the cutting off of the old nature within. We have desired the power of this baptism, without the weakening of the flesh; and I think God has been merciful to us, and has not permitted us to know too much of the power until we have known the circumcision of Gilgal. Too many of God’s ministers have grasped for the power of God, without knowing the weakening of their self-nature, and it has been to their own sorrow. God give us of your power--but first of all to minister unto us " life and godliness" (2Pet. 1:3); and weaken our strength, that we might know only the strength and the power of the Lord.

If we have received a baptism of the Spirit, but have not received a baptism of the weakness of our flesh, we will know very little of the baptism of power. In the fullness of this baptism God would weaken us, that we might know His strength. If the Spirit of God has His Lordship in our lives, He will lead us into the way of the Cross; and if we refuse that way, we will never learn to walk in the Spirit. It is not really an experience in which we become stronger and wiser and mightier in our flesh, but an experience in which we become weaker and more foolish and less competent...in order that God might become our strength and our wisdom and our might.

When Paul said, "The Spirit helpeth our infirmities" (Rom. 8:26), I understand it means literally: "The Spirit joins His help to our weakness." He does not join Himself to the strong, high-places of our nature... He joins His help to our weakness. It is this that makes us strong--"Strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might."

Why must we continually emphasize these things? Because we are hard of hearing; and because God has determined to bring to NOUGHT this whole world system in the Day of the LORD. And in order to do so He must find a people who have come to NOUGHT because of the working of the Cross in their lives. God is not out to bring us down a notch or two, but to bring us down to ZERO. Because it is only in ZERO strength that we will be able to bring the forces of evil to ZERO:

"But God hath chosen the FOOLISH things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the WEAK things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and BASE things of the world, and things which are DESPISED, hath God chosen, yea, and things which ARE NOT (Zero things), to bring to NOUGHT (to Zero) things that are" (1Cor. 1:28). And what wisdom or what purpose can come out of that?

"THAT NO FLESH SHOULD GLORY IN HIS PRESENCE" (vs. 29). That’s what the Day of the LORD is all about, and that day is upon us! The day in which God said He would "stain the pride of all glory"!

So what does God do with this uncircumcised nation whom He is preparing for battle? Circumcise them on the eastern bank of the Jordan, so they will have time to recover in readiness for the great battle? On the eastern bank where they would have the added protection of high waters... for we are told that the Jordan was flooding her banks at that time of the year? No! He takes them across the river first, and totally cripples the whole army of warriors right under the noses of the mighty men of Jericho. He would weaken them completely right in the presence of their enemies. No doubt the hearts of the people of God melted as they saw perhaps 600,000 of their stalwart young men incapacitated for battle in one sudden stroke, at the command of God. But do you know? At this very moment the hearts of the inhabitants of Jericho also "melted" and "there was no spirit in them" when they saw this crippled army outside their fortified walls! What happened? It was the terror of God upon them. Did you hear what Paul said? He uses the FOOLISH things to display His glory and to confound the wise. It was simply their walk of obedience, their identification with the way of the Cross, that brought the fear of God upon the inhabitants of the land and terrified the mighty warriors of Canaan.

Now let us consider God’s battle strategy relative to some of the judges of Israel. Time and time again did Israel turn away from the LORD after the death of Joshua; and as they sought the LORD He was always faithful to raise up a deliverer, who became known as one of the judges. In every case we see the same principle involved, and the same pattern of warfare and victory.

Ehud was a left-handed Benjamite whom God raised up to save Israel out of the hands of Eglon the king of Moab (Judg. 3:15). Literally it reads, "He was bound as to the right hand." His right hand was a problem with him. Being left-handed, so I am told, can be rather frustrating at times. The left-handed man doesn’t quite fit in our society. He has to learn to do things the hard way. Society is geared for the right-handed person.

Benjamin, however, as named by his father Jacob means "Son of my right hand." I used to wonder about this when I discovered how God would use the left-handed Benjamites. But I discovered the secret one day when I realized that when I place my weak left hand in God’s strong right hand, suddenly I am linked up with the strength and might and power of God Himself. Now if I try to put my right hand in God’s right hand, I am in trouble. I will have to turn in the opposite direction to do that, and of course that means self-will, disobedience, going my own way. Can we not be content to take our insufficiencies, our lack, our weaknesses (our LEFT HAND), and walk side by side with Him in the same direction, and in the POWER OF HIS RIGHT HAND?

Of course this may well mean that at times we will be walking with a Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And often the Church will think of us as a sad lot. But then I recall how Rachel looked upon her son also, so I do not want to condemn people for the impressions they might get. Rachel would have called this child, "The son of my sorrow." But Jacob said, "No, not Benoni, but BENJAMIN... He is going to be the SON OF MY RIGHT HAND!" There is no real joy that is not born of sorrow. There is no real joy that is not birthed at the Cross.

"Weeping may endure for a night,

But joy cometh in the morning" (Ps. 30:5).

But Ehud had a dagger with two edges. Sharpen your sword, you left-handed Benjamites! Get ready for the battle of the LORD! That’s all we need: a living Word that is "sharper than any two-edged sword." You may not be able to use the right hand of proficiency, of eloquence, of intellectual excellence. But you will discover, if you continue to let Him hold you in His strong right hand, what Isaiah discovered in His weakness:

"And He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me; and made me a polished shaft, in His quiver hath He hid me" (Isa. 49:2).

Let Him keep you there! Young people, zealous to work for God, let Him keep you there! You do not need to fret about preaching, or teaching, or evangelizing, or trying to do something ecclesiastical or ministerial in nature. Just keep your left hand in His right hand; and as you stand face to face with the enemies of God, you will find you can reach forth your hand and draw forth that sharp sword hidden away like Ehud’s dagger... under a garment of weakness, and humility, and meekness. And because of these very virtues you have been able to pass through the guards undetected. Who is he? He’s got nothing! He can’t do any harm!

But Ehud had a secret message for the king, the fat Eglon who sat there in his parlor in peace and contentment. His goods were in peace, because the people of God were under his dominion. The secret message that Ehud bore to the king was this: "God has brought an end to your oppression, you fat old monster. God has brought deliverance to His people." And one fell swoop of the dagger by the left-handed weakling brought deliverance to the whole nation!

God’s warriors-in-training are not out there in seminaries and places of learning trying to sharpen their weapons at the grindstones of the Philistines. They are ordinary people, trying to make a living for themselves and their families in some routine, ordinary occupation. They are to be found in all walks of life: fishermen, and farmers, and plumbers, and carpenters, and loggers, and factory hands. White collar workers, and blue collar workers. Perhaps a few professionals and intellectuals, but not too many of these, as the apostle Paul tells us.

Shamgar apparently was just a farmer. What did he know about the art of war? The army of the LORD that He is mustering in this hour will not be loaded with professional ministers. I know there are many precious ones out there whom God is going to use. But they will have to take their place with the rest of us, and learn the ways of God, in order to qualify for this army.

Shamgar had an ox-goad. He was no shirker. He wanted to put in a good day’s work on the job, and he used an ox-goad to make sure his oxen kept pace with him. God’s warriors-in-training are not lazy men--out there looking for a soft job. They are diligent, honest, reliable, trustworthy, hard-working. At the right moment Shamgar grabbed his ox-goad and slew six hundred Philistines with a startling blow, and delivered the people of God.

God has His Shamgars out there on the job. Many of them are wondering what they were born for, and why they are still alive. One day God will conscript them for active duty in the army of the LORD. Right now they need no other weapons than the ones they are using: faithful on the job, honest, diligent, hard-working, reliable... and following the Lord in all His ways. With these weapons they will be able to face any enemy that comes against the people of God.

Deborah was a prophetess. God had given her a sure word, for this is the ultimate test of true prophecy. The people of God came to her for the word of the LORD in their hour of distress and need. The gift she had from God did not cause her to be exalted. What tremendous grace God must work in the lives of His chosen ones in order that they might speak that pure word, with power and authority, and with prophetic insight... and still that vessel remain humble and meek in His presence and before men. Many of our women feel they have to vindicate their ministry because it seems they live in a man’s world. They want to prove that they have a gift and a calling from God. Deborah didn’t even have to travel around in ministry--she "dwelt under a palm tree," symbol of peace and rest and victory in God. But the people recognized the word of the Lord that was in her mouth, and they came to her home to hear what God had to say to them. She was just a house-wife, like any other woman in Israel.

When God told Deborah to call Barak out of Kedesh-Naphtali, and command him to raise an army of 10,000 men from Naphtali and Zebulun to deliver God’s people out of the hands of Sisera, her only desire seemed to be just to stay right there at home. She simply considered herself to be a "mother in Israel." Mothers are always content just to stay at home, and look after the family. It was Barak’s insistence that she go with him that caused her to change her mind. And rather than glorying in the fact that she was needed out there at the front of the battle, she chided Barak a little for the fear that he seemed to have. In her reply to Barak there was a prophecy that would seem to imply something like this, If the man is unfaithful, God just might use a woman to do a man’s job. This is what she said:

"I will surely go with thee; notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honor; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman" (Judg. 4:9).

Mothers in Israel! You have a very high calling. Do not glory in the fact you have gifts, or can prophesy sure words from the Lord, or perform miracles. But glory in the fact that God has made you a "weaker vessel" that you might know. like Deborah of old, the strength and the wisdom of the mighty God of Israel. Rejoice in the ministry that God has given you in your own home and family, and under your own palm tree. And as you instruct your little ones in the ways of the Lord, may they rise up to call you BLESSED!

Do you want to get involved in God’s Star Wars? In the war that is now getting underway in Heaven? "No," you say, "I’m too busy fighting the Devil down here." Sounds good. But if you will follow through with what we have to say, you may come to understand why you are getting nowhere here in your battle against the Devil down here. It is because you are not known UP THERE in the heavenly ranks of Zion.

In the first Star Wars, nothing was left to human organization and strategy. O how long will the people of God go about wasting their time sniping at the Enemy from tree-tops and church-steeples? God has a master plan, and He wants you and me to come into His secret counsels, that we might come to know His way, and the secret of victory.

God considered the hearts of His people and found 10,000 men whom He knew would offer themselves "willingly" when called to battle. They were from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. Naphtali means "wrestling" and Zebulun means "dwelling." God’s warriors must learn how to "wrestle against principalities and powers," and they have to know that they can only do this under the power and canopy of the Spirit of God. They are going to have to discover that it is the way of the Cross, of reproach, of suffering, of misunderstanding, of weakness, of foolishness. Zebulun means "dwelling." It is not enough to be zealous for battle, and wrestlers. They have got to know God’s REST. They must learn to "abide" in the True Vine. They must make the Lord Himself to be their habitation. And therefore they can have no high towers, or fortresses, or kingdoms of their own.

When Barak called them to the battle of the Lord they "willingly offered themselves" (Judg. 5:2). Not just their money. Not just their tithes, or their double-tithes. Not just their services. But EVERYTHING! "They jeoparded their lives unto the death in the high places of the field" (Judg. 5:18), as they fought "by the waters of Megiddo" (vs. 19). Dr. Young the Hebrew scholar says that Megiddo means "Place of God." It was God’s war; and Megiddo was the place of God’s appointment. God had prepared an army that was known and recognized in heavenly places. He had prepared their hearts, and He it was who had KNOWN them and called them to the battle. Therefore the heavens themselves were aflame with the mighty warriors of the heavenly realms who rose up on behalf of the people of God:

"They fought from Heaven;

The stars in their courses

Fought against Sisera" (Judg. 5:20).

Barak’s battle was the first Battle of Armageddon. The last one is just on ahead. Barak’s battle was the first of the Star Wars. The last Star Wars are about to take place. Once again God is mustering a people for battle. They are "wrestlers" (Naphtali means "wrestling"). "But we wrestle not against flesh and blood." We are learning to abide in Christ (Zebulun means "dwelling"). And because we know the rest and confidence of the Lord, as we abide in Him we will know how to wrestle against the powers of the heavenly realm.

Again they are a people who are offering themselves willingly: not just their talents, a little of their silver and gold, a portion of their resources--but THEMSELVES.

"And they overcame him (the Dragon) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. And they loved not their lives unto the death" (Rev. 12:11).

Where will this last and final battle of the Lord take place? In the earth, and in the heavens...but it will start in Heaven.

"And she (the woman clothed with the sun) brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up to God, and to His throne... AND THERE WAS WAR IN HEAVEN" (Rev. 12:5,7).

Notice this, beloved! When this corporate SON comes forth, it is a declaration of WAR IN HEAVEN! But it also embraces the whole earth. For when Michael the archangel (who is in charge of the angelic forces) wars against the Dragon, the Dragon (Satan) is cast out of his heavenly stronghold... that place of dominion in the heavens from which he would harass, and captivate, and torment the people of God and the inhabitants of the earth. And now that he relinquishes those high places of dominance to the victorious sons of God, he comes down to earth, "having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Rev. 12:12). The inhabitants of the world will not understand. There is disaster and calamity everywhere. The woman "in the wilderness" will not understand... because there is tribulation, and anguish, and persecution. But there is a celestial shout of triumph: "Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell therein!" The people of God are walking in heavenly places, and warring in heavenly places, even while their feet are on the earth where the Dragon is. Now they are able to crush him under their feet, as Paul said they would. (See Rom. 16:20). But what about the earth, now that Satan has been defeated in battle, and cast down from his lofty heights?

"Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the sea! For the Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Rev. 12:12). And it is all because the victory has been fought and won! It is the Day of the LORD! It is the great Day of God Almighty!

Barak’s armies fought in the "high places of the field," and "by the waters of Megiddo" (Judg. 5:19). Megiddo has therefore taken on a symbolic name for the last great battle of God that will be fought in Heaven, with spiritual weapons, but will cause wars and dreadful repercussions all over the world. I am told Har-Megiddo (Or, Armageddon) means Place of God. It is the place of God’s appointment for all the forces of evil that have arrayed themselves against the people of God, and which God will destroy in the Day of the LORD. God tells us that these unclean spirits that come forth from the mouth of the Dragon, "are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of the great Day of God Almighty" (Rev. 16:14). Then there is this very solemn warning to God’s people, who are in the earth, and who must be alerted and prepared for this hour. Far from giving God’s people the consolation of being snatched away from these dreadful times, the Lord sounds a clear call to holiness and watchfulness:

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame" (vs. 15). God saw fit to insert this special warning to His people in the time when the forces of Armageddon are being assembled, WARNING AND ENCOURAGING US TO BE ALERT, PREPARED, AND WALKING IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS CHRIST. Then after this parenthesis, John continues writing,--

"And He gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue ARMAGEDDON" (vs. 16).

Let us not be confused with the fact that different facets of truth are presented in the Book of Revelation over and over again, in different settings, and by different symbols. The Book will have more meaning to us when we understand that John saw things as related by the Angel, not always from a chronological standpoint, but from a panoramic standpoint: not as one standing before a high board fence, and peeking through a knot-hole watching a race as the horses ran by; but watching from a watchtower above the fence, and seeing clearly that portion of events that God was showing him from His own perspective, in some particular phase of God’s mighty workings in the earth and in the Church. Nevertheless all events were progressively moving forward to the glorious climax of a New Heavens and a New Earth. Let us see ourselves with John, not walking in a straight line chronologically toward the ultimate goal; but observing the unfolding of truth much like you would see the circles progressively stirring the waters in one circle after another, after casting a stone into the pool. A circle, then another circle, and another... until it progressively reaches its glorious climax. And that is why all through the book we will behold trouble, tribulation, victory, and the kingdom... repeated over and over again. And that is why the Book has had real meaning for God’s people in every era of the Church, according to their particular circle in the time-frame of God’s purposes.

And now we come to the day of harvest, and this wonderful book will have special meaning for those who walk in His ways in this hour. But we must not look at the harvest scene and think that everything before that is a thing of the past. Or see ourselves at the time of the "seven thunders" and feel that everything before that is mere history for us, and everything mentioned later is still future. John was told to "Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" (Rev. 1:19). But we must understand that the things John saw in his day, are also things which we are witnessing here and now. The things pertaining to the seven churches are certainly historical, but they are also very present here and now; and they will continue to be meaningful to the Church even to the time of the end. And the "things which shall be hereafter" may very well be, from our viewpoint, things that have already happened on a certain level of God’s workings... even though they are yet to be revealed in another phase of His workings. As God progressively moves in the earth throughout this era of the Church, it is not just a past-present-future situation from God’s standpoint. Many of the things which John saw, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter... have been enacted and re-enacted many times in the earth, as one circle after another has issued forth in the outworking of God’s purposes, from the beginning until now. In and throughout every era of the Church there has been the conflict of Good and Evil, of Light and Darkness... until in the consummation of it all we see the Lamb standing on Mount Zion with the overcomers who have followed Him, and all enemies are subdued under His feet.

The Book of Revelation begins with the statement that God made it known by signs. The angel "sign-ified" unto His servant John... made it known to him in "sign" language. If we are not real familiar with the Old Testament, we can read the Book of Revelation and fail to realize that the "sign-language" that is used is largely from the types and shadows of the Old Testament--not only from the books that relate to the sacrifices and ceremonies of Israel, but to the words of the prophets as well. There are approximately 400 direct quotations or other references to the Old Testament in the Book of Revelation, as the Holy Spirit saw fit to clothe the "Revelation" in terminology that would be something very "hidden" from those who continued to walk in disobedience and rebellion against God. The "mysteries" of God are secrets, revealed to God’s chosen ones, but "secrets" that the world about us cannot know or perceive, except as the heart is laid bare before Him. For He tells us clearly that "the secret of the Lord is to them that fear Him" (Ps. 25:14).

Armageddon, then, derives its significance from the Old Testament Megiddo, where on two particular occasions God assembled the hordes of evil together to bring about their destruction by His own mighty intervention. Both the wars of Barak and of Gideon were fought in the area of Megiddo; and so God in the Book of Revelation tells us that it will be at Armageddon where God will draw the evil forces of this world system together, and bring about their destruction. (See Rev. 16:14-16). It is that great Day of God Almighty, where God sits in judgment upon the whole world. Joel therefore calls it a battle in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. This is not the same valley as Megiddo, but the meaning is clear. Jehoshaphat means "God is Judge." It is that day when God sits in judgment upon the whole world. Joel is the Old Testament alarmist. When God’s servants start talking the way Joel talked, they are despised as "alarmists." So were God’s prophets of old. May God raise up a few more Heaven-sent, anointed "watchmen" to sound the alarm--in this day when the Church is being taught to settle down, be at peace... Because God will not let us see those dreadful days of tribulation and darkness that the alarmists are talking about. And so Joel was the alarmist of his day, who cried out:

"PREPARE WAR, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about...." (Joel 3:9-11).

God declares war against all nations for their rebellion against Him. "Get together," He says, "I am ready for battle... Prepare for War! I have an appointment for all men at Armageddon, the Place of God... in the Valley of Judgment. Have your international conferences, and your summit meetings! Have your World Church councils and your Ecumenical gatherings! And UNITE!" God says He is releasing the unclean spirits of devils to hasten on the task that men in high places have in mind, of uniting the peoples of the earth together in alliances of PEACE, and all the while rejecting the Prince of Peace. Let the World Church come together and exalt the leadership of Man. God is preparing a Body in the earth that is exalting the Lordship of Christ. Let the super-powers strive for peace based on human power and strength... based on the false premise that a major holocaust will be averted as long as each block of nations understands that a first-strike would mean mutual destruction! In the midst of it all God is preparing a people, and arming them with weapons of truth, and poverty of spirit, and meekness, and righteousness, and love--and they shall overcome all the hordes of Evil, "by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony"!

"Israel was greatly impoverished" because of the Midianites, and cried unto God for a deliverer. In answer to their cry God raised up a man by the name of Gideon. Gideon was threshing grain by (or ‘in’) the winepress in order to hide it from the Midianites, when the angel of the LORD greeted him with strange words:

"The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valor" (Judg. 6:12). God knew Gideon’s problem. He knew that Gideon was filled with fear because of the enemy. He knew he was but a weak man in one of the poorest families of Manasseh. He knew that Gideon was the least, and not the greatest, in his father’s house. Just the qualities that God was looking for! And so the angel said,

"Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel" (vs. 14). His strength was not to be in his own resources, but in his weakness. And the fact that God SENT him would be the only authority and power he needed.

We all know the story... how God had to whittle down the original army of 32,000 men to a handful of 300. Beloved, why can we not learn from the multitude of witnesses, in both the Old Testament and the New... that strength is not in numbers, that riches consist not of silver and gold, that wisdom proceeds from the way of the Cross, and not from the halls of learning?

Gideon demobilized his army at the command of the LORD, by ordering all the fearful ones to go home. He was left with only 10,000 men. These were all anxious for battle; but God said, "The people are yet too many". God took the matter in His own hands and sent another 9,700 home... discharged them from the army of the Lord! And for what reason? Perhaps many of them wondered why, when they were so anxious to fight for the LORD. Whatever the reason was for the discharge of these 9,700 soldiers, I think God would have us know that in the very ordinary things of life, in and about our daily tasks and occupations, we are being tested and tried of the Lord every day, and we are not always aware of it. They were just down at the water quenching their thirst; but God was watching from Heaven, and trying their hearts, and they did not know it! There is something else very significant. God said if He used the whole multitude, then Israel would take some of the glory. So we know that when God hand-picked these 300 men, He knew they would not take any glory for the victory He would give them. God knew He would get all the glory!

God who searcheth the hearts of men is marking His own for involvement in the battle of the Lord, according to His own requirements of faithfulness, obedience, and submission to His will. His standard of judgment is this: "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in that which is much". Do not expect to be commissioned to a post of duty in the army of the Lord if there is indifference or slothfulness or unfaithfulness or dishonesty in your menial day by day tasks at home or at work... unfaithfulness to your employer, or to your employee, cheating, lying, robbing your fellow-citizens by falsifying tax returns. And we could go on and on in this. Paul observed that there was one requirement of a steward... he must be found faithful. And Jesus said if a man could not be trusted in his dealings with mammon, the fading wealth of this life, God could not trust him with the true riches.

God chose the 300, not to show how mighty they were; but to demonstrate that in the weakness of man He Himself would be glorified. With a lamp, and a pitcher, and a trumpet, they went forth to battle. That was all they needed, because the battle was the LORD’s. And so Paul says,

"We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2Cor. 4:7).

A lamp within the pitcher. But the pitcher had to be broken that the light might shine forth. And then the trumpet sound of God’s Word went forth: "The Sword of the LORD and of Gideon..."

The enemy was routed in utter confusion, and actually destroyed themselves. God’s battle strategy against the enemy is to throw them into confusion. "Every man’s sword was against his fellow, even throughout all the host" (Judg. 7:22). Satan has effectively used this strategy by bringing division and confusion into the midst of God’s people; but all this will be reversed in the Day of the LORD.

The hosts of Satan tremble, and are thrown into a confused state of self-destruction when they are confronted with a people walking in the obedience of Christ, in the way of the Cross!

A great multitude of the children of Ammon, and of Moab, and of Mount Seir had assembled together to strike at Jerusalem. Immediately this humble king assembled the people and the priests together and earnestly sought the Lord for help and guidance. Jehoshaphat stood before all the people and cried out to the Lord for help, ending his fervent prayer with a very NEGATIVE (?) confession:

"For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: BUT OUR EYES ARE UPON THEE" (2Chron. 20:12). Once again, the people of God were totally helpless. They did not know what to do!

Dear ones, God wants us to know in the day of sudden calamity, in the day of sudden fear, when we know we have no might against the enemy, when we know not what to do, the secret of our victory is this: "Our eyes are upon Thee..." God does not hesitate to expose His chosen ones in their utter weakness before the hordes of the enemy, because He is their Deliverer. And He rises up on their behalf when they cry: "Lord, our eyes are upon Thee..."

Suddenly the spirit of prophecy came upon a certain Levite of the sons of Asaph, and he stood and revealed the exact location of the enemy. Then he gave the people of God explicit instructions as to what they were to do. It was not just a case of every man in Israel doing what he could. Confess it! Break all the rules of the success books, and confess it! "Lord, I don’t know what to do!" Then if we can settle our hearts and wait upon Him, He will show us what to do. Here again the battle was to be the Lord’s.

"Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD" (2Chron. 20:17). And the whole congregation fell before the LORD, and worshipped.

How we long for those days when the Spirit of God will come upon His priesthood in the earth, and they shall stand and give forth a clear word from the Lord! Words from the Lord that will penetrate the hearts of His people, convicting the erring ones, breaking the stubborn will, revealing the strategy of the Enemy, and causing the unbelievers to fall down on their face and cry out to God for mercy! (See 1Cor. 14:24,25).

Beloved, we are going to see those days... when God’s people get involved with his ways, and begin walking in the pathway of obedience, and hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches. The Lord has been faithful to enrich His people with spiritual gifts and enablements. These enablements are like the faculties of the human body: eyes to see what God is revealing, ears to hear what God is saying, hands to do and perform what God is doing. Too often has there been a very mechanical operation of the gifts, because people are taught "how to do it". But as God’s people are nurtured with truth, the gift they have from God will issue forth in the beauty of His Life. We really do not have to teach our children how to see, and how to hear, and how to breathe--though they will require certain guidance as these faculties unfold in their lives. When you hear a prophesy it is generally not too difficult to discern whether God has spoken, or if the one speaking has been taught HOW to prophesy. Amos said he could not help but prophesy, because he heard from God--and as one is filled with fear when the lion roars, so he says, "I have to prophesy, because the Lord GOD hath spoken" (See Amos 3:8).

What happened in Jehoshaphat’s battle? The battle was the LORD’s, so they sent singers before the army, singing "Praise the LORD; for His mercy endureth for ever!" And once again the enemies of God destroyed themselves. All Israel had to do was go out and gather the spoils! Then enemies of the Lord fight and destroy one another when God’s people walk in His ways!

You cannot imitate victory marches like that. Here was a people faced with utter destruction. They assembled together and sought God. They openly confessed they did not know what to do. But when they sought God with all their hearts, He gave them a clear word of direction, and they had nothing to do but to praise God for His intervention and gather the spoils of victory!

Hezekiah was a good king; and upon coming to the throne of Judah his first concern was to restore the worship and the glory of God’s temple... and God gave them a great revival.

The first thing he did was to "open the doors of the house of the LORD and repair them" (2Chron. 29:3). Priests and Levites were assembled together at Jerusalem to begin the task of cleansing the temple of God. There was a battle coming, and God knew that. Why did He not get them involved in military training camps? Because God’s armor is the "armor of light", and therefore His first concern was for His temple. The temple had to be cleansed, or there would be defeat in battle. It is time God’s people understood this.

God wants truth in the inward parts. This is the day of the cleansing of God’s house. Not a mere outward, legalistic sort of thing... but a deep, penetrating work of the Spirit of God in hearts and lives. When God cleanses and changes the hearts of men, then the outside will be clean too.

The burnt offering had to be restored. The hearts of men had to be laid on the altar, and totally exposed to the fires of God.

"And when the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began also..." (vs. 27). There are lots of nice songs in the Church today, and a lot of good professional music. But "the song of the LORD" is entirely different: songs of the Spirit are songs that penetrate the heart and produce a brokenness, and a sense of awesomeness because of the presence of God. You don’t really hear the SONG OF THE LORD until there is a burnt offering, a complete yielding to God, a sacrifice of a broken and contrite spirit.

Next comes Divine order. "So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order" (vs. 35). Generally this is first on our agenda: Get it well organized with a building, a well structured leadership, and have it all ready for God to move in. And so we have man’s order, which soon ends in another Babel--disorder, division, and strife. God’s order is based upon a people drawn together by the Holy Spirit, coming to fullness of commitment and sacrifice, and offering themselves willingly unto the Lord.

Soon the revival spread to other parts of the land. Messengers went forth from Jerusalem to the various towns and villages, inviting the people to come to Jerusalem to keep the passover, and to turn again to the Lord. Some mocked and laughed the messengers to scorn. Others humbled themselves, and came and sought the Lord. Healings began to take place (though we are not told the names of any who ministered the healing!). The hearts of the people were open for the Word, and teachers were raised up to lead the people of God in His ways. The final outcome of it all was JOY. There was "great joy in Jerusalem". This was far different from the trumped up joy that men are trying to manufacture in our churches today. There is nothing like the joy of the Holy Spirit... the joy that proceeds from a people who are brought low at His feet because of the burnt offering, and who wait before Him in humility and contrition of heart, and begin to learn of Him and walk in His ways.

Next came the breaking down of the images and high places of idolatry that abounded in the land. I wonder just how many idols we are going to discover when God begins to judge His house, and search out His people with the seven flaming eyes of the Spirit of God! May God continue this great work that He has begun in the earth, that His Temple (the Church) might be restored, and the people of God cleansed and purified and enriched with all the glorious provisions of His grace! And let us not be deterred from this vision by ignorant teachers who scoff: "These people are sitting around trying to get perfect, instead of getting out there and working for God".

The Day of the LORD is at hand, and that’s what this great preparation is all about. The Enemy has devised a wicked plot to destroy the people of God in one massive blow, and if God’s Temple is not cleansed and His people consecrated on the altar of burnt offering, we are not going to survive the burnings of that great day. And so we read,

"After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself" (2Chron. 32:1).

But Jerusalem was ready for them. They did not feel they were ready, and it brought great fear into the hearts of all. But in their commitment to the Lord they had penetrated the very heavens. How we seek to emphasize that it is only as the people of God become KNOWN IN THE HEAVENS AND RECOGNIZED BEFORE THE THRONE, that they are going to know victory over the onslaughts of the Evil One down here.

What did Hezekiah do in the hour of such great distress and peril? He sent a message to Isaiah the prophet in which he confessed (and once again it seemed like a very negative confession): "This is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth" (2kgs 19:3). It seemed to Hezekiah that all the good things God had done for them, and the revival they had known, were about to end in disaster. "No strength to bring forth!" Now Hezekiah means "Jah is Strength", but Hezekiah had none of his own, and there was none in Israel. But the secret of their victory would rest in this very fact... that they were helpless, and they knew it... and that God was their sufficiency. Hezekiah received a long, threatening letter from Sennacherib’s general, which amounted to this simple ultimatum: "Surrender or else!" Hezekiah had no answer to send back. So he took the letter to the temple, and "spread it out before the Lord". He said, "Lord, you read this... I don’t know what to do about it". Hezekiah had touched the throne. I know we are exhorted: "We must pray more... we must intercede more...!" Very true. But all this will amount to nothing if the hearts of the people have not turned back to God, if the Temple is not being cleansed, if the burnt offering of total commitment to God is not ascending before the Lord from broken and contrite hearts. The people of God had penetrated the Heavens, and were recognized by the armies of Heaven, and God would soon reveal what He was going to do. The battle was the LORD’s!

Isaiah sent back to Hezekiah the assurance that God had heard their cries, and gave Rabshakeh the answer that Hezekiah was unable to give. It was a scathing denunciation of Sennacherib and all his armies, and he concluded the letter by saying,

"I (the LORD) will defend this city, to save it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake. And it came to pass that night, that the Angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand" (2kgs 19:34,35). In school days we had a poem in our reader by the famous English poet Lord Byron, where he dramatically describes this great confrontation, and I would like to include it here:

THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

That host with their banners at sunset were seen;

Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,

That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,

And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed;

And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly and chill,

And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride;

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,

The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal!

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

Here we have one of the clearest examples of how God enables His people to take away the panoply from the Enemy. We find it in the Book of Esther, where God’s Name is nowhere expressly mentioned, but everywhere revealed.

Haman the exalted Prince of Persia had an unsatiated hatred for Mordecai the Jew, who used to sit at the king’s gate. Haman had already succeeded in getting the King’s signature on an edict to wipe the Jews from the face of the earth, and the day was set. But he just couldn’t wait all those months to get rid of Mordecai, the one Jew that tormented him just by his very presence. Mordecai, however, had been a good man in his captivity, not the least rebellious because of his fate, and he had even saved the king’s life on one occasion. For this he had received no recognition, not even from the king. But as God’s people began to get concerned about their fate, and set their faces to seek God with prayer and fasting, God began to move on their behalf. God has never had any problem dealing with kings and dictators. One angel from Heaven could liquidate any of them at a moment’s notice. God’s problem has always been with His people, because they are His children, and He desires to nurture them in His ways. From them He requires obedience, submission to His will, and that they learn His ways. And so the LORD troubled the king on his bed at night, and he could find no rest. Finally he called for the royal diary, and had one of his servants read it to him by the light of a lamp. He seemed to have the feeling that something might have happened in his kingdom that he had neglected to look into, and perhaps this was making him restless. Sure enough! "Would you repeat that last sentence please...!" There was the reason he could not sleep! The man Mordecai had saved his life, and he (the king) had forgotten all about it. Immediately he went to sleep.

But not for long. By now it was early morning. Haman in the meantime had been very busy erecting a gallows in his back-yard, upon which he was going to hang Mordecai, and all he needed now was the king’s signature. Just a minor detail, of course, but it was necessary. But as he came into the king’s court with that little piece of paper in his hand, the king got in the first word, because he knew he must not delay this matter any longer. He must do something noble to Mordecai the Jew.

"There is a certain man in my kingdom that I must honor," said the king to Haman. "What would you suggest?" Haman felt sure he was the man the king had in mend, because he had received so many royal honors of late, so it wasn’t hard to think up a real good one.

"Why not clothe the man with your own royal garments," he said to the king, "and put your crown on his head, and set him on your royal horse; then have one of your favorite nobles lead the horse through the city, and proclaim before all the people standing by... Thus shall it be done to the man whom the king delighteth to honor." (See Esth. 6:9). "A very good suggestion," said the king; "Now you are my favorite noblemen. Go and do to Mordecai the Jew everything that you have suggested. Be sure you don’t leave out anything that you have mentioned... right down to the last little detail".

That little piece of paper that he had in his hand for the king to sign... well, he just crumpled it up and slipped it in his pocket. And Haman went out and did exactly what the king had ordered. Then he put the horse away, and went home and cried on his wife’s shoulder. With that intuition that women often have, immediately she cautioned him that perhaps the tables were turning... perhaps his days were numbered! Haman was beginning to lose his armor. If the hearts of God’s people have been prepared, when they come into open confrontation with the enemy they are going to discover that he begins to weaken even before the battle begins. When His people begin to walk with Him, God simply takes the wise in their own craftiness, and the pit that they have dug for the child of God... they fall into it themselves.

Still, it was a very dark hour for the people of God. The unalterable edict of Haman hang heavily over the heads of every Jew in the 127 provinces of Persia. But God had chosen Esther to be another key in this whole situation, though she did not realize it when she was appointed to be the queen. She was Mordecai’s cousin and Mordecai had raised her like his own daughter. Esther had been chosen by the king from among many contestants, to replace the former queen who had been dismissed from royalty for insubordination. Mordecai reminded her that perhaps she had come into a place of royal favour just for this very critical occasion.

Mordecai, concerned about the fate of his people, sat mourning at the king’s gate clothed in sackcloth. All Jewry was in a state of mourning, and prayer, and fasting. There seemed to be no way out. But God ordained it this way, so He could make a way where there was no way, and thereby bring greater glory to Himself. God ordains the dead-ends in our walk with God, and brings us to places of great crisis, that when we get there we might find God. God wants us to understand this, because we may be assured that the "god of this world" is determined to wipe God’s people off the face of the earth. And the time may well come, in the not-too-distant future, when this will appear to be a very imminent possibility. God wants us to know in that hour that He is still the God of Israel, the God of Esther, and the God of Mordecai.

Esther was persuaded by her cousin to take the bold, yet very timid step into the king’s presence to intercede for her people. Neither the king nor Haman knew that she was a Jewess, for Mordecai had warned her to keep this a secret. Esther knew that if the king did not extend the royal sceptre to her when she walked into his presence, it meant sudden execution for her. This law applied to everyone who was not specifically called to come in, whether it was the queen, or the caretaker. But God had heard the cries of His people; and as she stepped into the presence of the king, immediately he held forth the golden sceptre of acceptance. She then requested the king’s presence at a banquet that she would prepare. During this first banquet, she requested that both the king and Haman would accept an invitation to another banquet on the next day. Of course Haman was delighted to have been so highly honored by the queen, and told his wife when he got home how well everything was going.

But it was a different story when the banquet got underway. Esther openly condemned Haman as the wicked prince who had devised the whole plot to destroy her people. The king was furious. Haman was petrified. And as the king paced back and forth in a rage, wondering what to do with Haman... one of his servants reminded him that Haman’s gallows were still standing in Haman’s back-yard, still unused, still operational. The king commanded, "Hang Haman on his own gallows."

Little did Haman realize, when he built the gallows, that one day he himself would hang from the top of it. Little did Satan realize, when he finally got Jesus on the Cross, that he (Satan himself) would hang from that Cross in total destruction, along with all his principalities and powers; and that it was there that the Son of God had triumphed over him. (See Col. 2:14,15; Heb. 2: 14,15). God wants us to know that any device of Satan to harm that one who is walking in the obedience of the Cross, God will turn it into his own destruction.