March with Jehovah Nissi (Exodus 17:8-16) 1/12/2020
Answer of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd RUTC: March with Jehovah Nissi (Exodus 17:8-16) 1/12/2020
God had a conclusion and there was something He really wanted to do after liberating the Israelites from 400 years of slavery. He was trying to lead His people to the land of Canaan. This the land that God told Abraham to go to after leaving his country, his people and his father’s household. This is called “the land of the covenant”. This is because it is the land where Christ, who completes the covenant, would come.
- The land of Canaan where the Israelites had to go, has at least three spiritual meanings.
These are three blessings of the future that we, who received salvation inside of Christ, must enjoy.
1) It is the covenant of the eternal heaven to enjoy inside of Christ. It is the eternal future that the saved people of God must go towards.
On the day we depart from this world, we too must have a new, eternal beginning with the eternal life that God gives us right then and there.
2) Realistically, there is an important reason for the Israelites to enter Canaan. It is the land where their posterity must live.
① Canaan is the covenant of our posterity. We cannot allow our posterity to lose hold of the covenant and be trampled down like slaves of this world. This is the situation right now in the world, including the churches in America. Young people are losing faith and churches are closing their doors.
② The reason why the parent generation is standing before God, holding on to the covenant and praying, is to block these days. As parents pray holding on to the correct covenant, they have no choice but to entrust their children who are not following to God and His method.
3) There are people whom they must save after entering Canaan. This is the covenant of evangelism and missions.
① These are the people whom the Israelites must save and live together with in that land.
Those who they save later become people who do important works. The representative figures are the prostitute Rahab and the Gibeonites. The prostitute Rahab later became the ancestor of Jesus. The tabernacle was built on the land of the Gibeonites (2 Chronicles 1:3) and the template was built through Solomon (1 Kings 3:4). They also become helpers of God’s works at the temple (Joshua 9:27).
② These were people who you were not supposed to interact with from a worldly perspective or from a legal perspective.
Rahab was a prostitute and the Gibeonites were one of the seven nations that was told not to save in Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:1-4). Then how did they live? Even though it was ultimately God’s absolute grace and absolute selection, they chose faith on their own.
③ If you look in the field, absolutely there are prepared people like this. Outwardly, they may appear like they are people of failure, enemies, or persecutors, but there are those who kneel before the grace of God. These are the people who we must find in the field (Acts 13:48). When you create a 300-person evangelism list and pray, there will absolutely be those who open up their heart and accept Christ.
- The problem is that there are beings who are blocking this blessing. Who would they be?
1) It is the being who deceived the first lives, Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-5). It is the being who entered into Cain and made him kill his brother (John 8:44). This being is not just making our lives fall into failure or corruption. It says that he is the king over all nonbelievers (John 14:30). It also says that he is controlling this world through the rulers and authorities (Ephesians 6:12). He will create endless disasters and wars.
2) With our past, present and future problems he will continue to make us discouraged, fall into despair, and fail.
① After coming out from 400 years of slavery, the Israelites were chased to the Red Sea. It is Satan who touches and pokes at my past scars.
However, God ended it there. It says, “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still” (Exodus 14:14).
② In today’s passage, the Amalekites blocked the way of the Israelites. It is Satan who deceives with various problems of the present reality.
We must fight holding on to the covenant of “Jehovah Jireh (the LORD is my Banner)” (Exodus 17:15). It says that Satan will surrender when we fight (Luke 10:19, James 4:7, Romans 16:20).
③ We do not know what problems he may bring to try to deceive us in the future. In the book of Revelations, it says that he will bring suffering, wars and disasters to the world until the day the Lord comes. It says that even then, the Lord will fight with us and we will have victory (Revelations 17:14). This is why God had already called the Israelites “the Lord’s divisions (army)” when they came out from Egypt (Exodus 12:41).
- What is the mystery to having complete victory over the battle against Satan?
1) It is to hold on to Christ, the absolute covenant. Christ has already crushed the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15, 1 Corinthians 15:25).
All we have to do is continuously raise this banner of victory and stand in that line. It is like marching in the line of the light and the line of victory. We are the soldiers of Christ who are standing in this line (2 Timothy 2:3-4).
2) How will we fight? This is the message from today’s passage regarding the battle against the Amalekites.
① Moses told Joshua to choose some of their men and go out to fight (verse 9).
At that time, Joshua was a young adult. He was a young adult who was always beside Moses and ran errands, and at the most decisive moment he devoted himself. Remnants must learn true prayer. Even if it is just once a day, you must make that time of meeting 1:1 with God. You must make a prayer schedule and make your life centered around prayer so that it becomes a routine. (prayer nature). It cannot work with just barely realizing the message and knowing the Gospel in your head. If you cannot enjoy the Gospel through prayer, you will ultimately be deceived. You will end up living a life without strength, unable to receive guidance, always complaining and grumbling (this is the vast majority of the Israelites in the wilderness).
② At this time, the prayer support of someone is very important.
While Joshua was fighting, people like Moses, Aaron and Hur held their hands together and prayed. “I have raised my staff” (verse 9) and “raised my hands” (verse 11) are all images of holding on to the covenant and praying. When I first pray and try to fight, the prayer support of someone becomes a tremendous strength and background. When the church members hold on to the covenant and pray, even the small prayer support of the pastor makes a great work. Priest Eli’s one word of blessing became the answer of Samuel to Hannah who was praying (1 Samuel 1:17-19).
③ The reason why the enemy must crumble is because there are people to go and save in Canaan.
Ultimately, when we continue to go on the path of the evangelist who saves others, Satan’s work will crumble before the evangelists. These are the works recorded in the book of Acts. This is what the Lord promised as He sent out His disciples all over the world (Mark 16:17-18).
Conclusion- God has prepared everything so that we can raise a banner for the 237 nations this year. Any forces that are blocking this must be broken down. I hope that this year you will have the best prayer training and become natured in prayer. We must make the intensive training starting this week be that time. I bless you so that you may become the marching believers with Jehovah Nissi, the banner of victory.