Confidence in Battle

Henry Gonzalez

Preparing to Leave the Desert • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

Deuteronomy 20

Spiritual Warfare

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Earlier this month we started our series on Preparing to Leave the Desert. I believe it is a prophetic series of messages because I believe that God is getting ready to bring us into the promised land.

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Last week we talked about keeping the purity of the Word. We broke it down to three parts.

Heeding Prophetic Words

Beware of False Prophets

Beware of False Believers

In a nutshell, God told us that while we had His complete word, the specifics of how we are to do something come from prophetic words, we must be sure that we are paying very close attention to the prophetic utterances, just because God called us to smack the rock yesterday, if He asks us to speak to it today, we’d better be mindful of the difference. God is not a slave to a specific way of doing things.

Preparing for Battle

This week we skip forward a few chapters, and that brings us to Chapter 20. God here reiterates that just because they are going into the promised land, doesn’t mean that they are getting ready to cruise easy street. There are promises there, it is after all, a land flowing with milk and honey, but in addition to all of that provision, there are already people there that need to be dispossessed.

Deuteronomy 20:17 NKJV

but you shall utterly destroy them: the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as the Lord your God has commanded you,

So God had to prepare the children of Israel for what they were about to face.

No Fear

The first step in spiritual warfare was to not fear.

Deuteronomy 20:1 TLV

“When you go out to battle against your enemies and see horse and chariot—a people more numerous than you—do not be afraid of them. For Adonai your God, the One who brought you up from the land of Egypt, is with you.

Have Faith in the God Who Delivered You

Jewish sages actually considered this a commandment not to fear. They reason that fear demonstrates a lack of faith and interferes with clear thinking. But this is not an empty command, because like so many others, it comes with built in provision. Why were they not to fear? Because Adonai their God, the one that brought them out of Egypt is with them.

Why would God qualify who He is by mentioning Egypt? Because Egypt was the world’s super-power at the time. They had one of the world’s mightiest militaries of the day. Yet they did not have to lift a finger to defeat them. God fought the battle for them. Because of this, they could go confidently, secure in the knowledge that God would fight their battles. Now I want you to notice something here. Let’s look at how the NKJV translates this.

Deuteronomy 20:1 NKJV

“When you go out to battle against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and people more numerous than you, do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.

Take God’s Perspective.

“When you see horses and chariots.” Now compare to how the TLV translates it.

Deuteronomy 20:1 TLV

This is a more correct translation because the Hebrew sages pointed out that the words here in Hebrew are singular.

“and see horse and chariot”. They point out that it seems like an unnatural use of the singular, and that’s means that we are to understand that God is trying to impart His perspective. “In my eyes, they are but a single horse and a single chariot.”

But pastor, how can you say that so confidently? Does this occur other times in scripture? Of course it does, otherwise I wouldn’t have posed that hypothetical question. Notice how it’s translated in Young’s literal translation.

Exodus 15:19 YLT

For the horse of Pharaoh hath gone in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Jehovah turneth back on them the waters of the sea, and the sons of Israel have gone on dry land in the midst of the sea.

The Lexham Hebrew-English Interlinear Bible Chapter 15

בָא֩ ס֨וּס פַּרְעֹ֜ה בְּרִכְבּ֤וֹ וּבְפָרָשָׁיו֙

ס֨וּס

That is the word for horse, not horses.

And the God explicitly states it in Judges.

Judges 6:16 TLV

But Adonai said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you will strike down Midian as if it were one man.”

Then there’s this.

Deuteronomy 20:1 TLV

a people (or force) larger than yours… the Hebrew doesn’t say larger than yours, it says larger from yours. Why? Again, the Hebrew sages explain. Forces larger from your- meaning larger from your perspective- not mine.

So then the key here is take God’s perspective!

Do Not Take Your Eyes Off of God

Deuteronomy 20:2–4 TLV

When you draw near to the battle, the kohen will come forward and speak to the people. He will say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, you are drawing near today to the battle against your enemies. Don’t be fainthearted! Don’t fear or panic or tremble because of them. For Adonai your God is the One who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies to save you.’

There was a priest who would be the anointed priest of the battle. He would come forward and speak to the people. He would remind them to keep their eyes on God, to trust in Him and remember that He is the one who goes with them, to fight against their enemies. Church when you’re going through the battle, surround yourself with anointed men and women of God who will encourage you, who will remind you that the God of heaven and earth goes before you to fight for you. Find yourself anointed men and women of God who will constantly point out that God himself is fighting for you. Stay away from the no-faith naysayers that want to point out how big the giants are. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Qualifications for War

Spiritual warfare requires our full attention. It is not smart to engage in spiritual warfare if you’re not qualified. To that end, God gives them specific instruction as to who was qualified to go to war.

Disqualifying Season

Deuteronomy 20:5–7 NKJV

“Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it. And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’

There are seasons for each of us when we should go to war, and seasons when we are specifically called into battle. Here God is saying that if you are trying to care for your household, if you are just getting established, then don’t go running into battle. Spiritual warfare is not something young Christians should be engaged in. It is also not for Christians who are starting a new venture. It’s not something that newly weds should be stepping into, nor is it something for new parents. Here the admonition from God is this, don’t go looking for battle. Now, let’s be clear, if the devil comes looking for you, then game on, but generally speaking, it is important to know your season.

Disqualifying Mindset

Spiritual warfare is for sure not for the faint of heart, and one must have the confidence of the Lord in order to face the enemy. The reason one would have fear is simple. It’s because he knows he’s weaker than his enemy or fears that the enemy is more skilled than he, and that is precisely why they are disqualified from serving. It’s because they have not grasped the necessary mindset, and that is that victory does not depend on flesh and blood, nor does it depend on training or strength of troops.

Zechariah 4:6 NKJV

So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lord of hosts.

That mindset is dangerous because it is contagious. Recall that the very people who witnessed God’s mighty hand against Egypt were way too fearful to take possession of the promised land 40 years earlier.

So God was reducing the number of troops because He wanted to ensure that there were no distractions and that there wouldn’t be any weak links.

Rules of Engagement

In every war, the government sets certain limits on its military.

For example during the most recent wars in the Middle East, our government did not allow our troops to attack any mosques because our beef wasn’t against the people at-large, it was against the certain groups that had taken power and were instigating terrorism throughout the world. Many time that put our troops at a disadvantage and needlessly cost American lives. The government made the assessment that the losses were acceptable in order to ideologically win over the people.

Here are the rules of engagement that God puts forth.

Offer Peace

Deuteronomy 20:10–11 NKJV

“When you go near a city to fight against it, then proclaim an offer of peace to it. And it shall be that if they accept your offer of peace, and open to you, then all the people who are found in it shall be placed under tribute to you, and serve you.

The first option was always to offer a city peace. If the city accepted the peace then they would become part of the nation of Israel as servants to to people of God. The reason for this is because unlike the other nations of the world, God had imposed some very strict rules upon the nation of Israel concerning forced servitude. Slaves were treated with dignity and it was expected that that some would be treated so well they would even choose to serve their masters rather than take the opportunity to be free if offered it.

Exodus 21:5–11 TLV

“But if the servant plainly states, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children, and I will not go out free,’ then his master is to bring him to God, then take him to a door or to a doorpost. His master is to pierce his ear through with an awl, and he will serve him forever. “If a man sells his daughter to be a maidservant, she is not to go free as the male servants do. If she does not please her master who has selected her for himself, then he is to allow her to be redeemed. He will have no power to sell her to a foreign people, seeing as he has dealt deceitfully toward her. If he betroths her to his son, he must give her the rights of a daughter. If he takes another wife, he is not to diminish her food, her clothing, or her marriage rights. If he does not provide these three to her, then she is to go free without payment.

So in many ways slaves were to be treated like members of the family. Was this always how it worked out? No, but whenever people are involved things can and often do go badly.

How does this relate to us?

James 3:16–18 TLV

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, not hypocritical. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in shalom by those who make shalom.

So under the new covenant, we are also to pursue peace, why?

Titus 3:1–3 TLV

Remind the people to be submitted to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed, to slander no one, without fighting, gentle, showing every courtesy to all people. For we also once were foolish, disobedient, deluded, enslaved to various desires and pleasures, spending our lives in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.

and a little later, Paul tells Titus how that will look.

Titus 3:9–11 TLV

But avoid foolish controversies and genealogies and strife and disputes about Torah, for they are unprofitable and useless. Dismiss a quarrelsome person after a first and second warning, knowing that such a person is twisted and is sinning—he is self-condemned.

So it is clear that our very first approach should be one of gentleness and peace, it should be on in which we are extending grace because we were once like those to whom we are sent, and we are not to get caught up in arguments. And then it says, if they will not hear us, then we are to consider them self-condemned. This is interesting because one of the first questions that atheists ask a believer because most believers don’t have a good answer to is, “how can a loving God send a person to hell?” This poses a bit of a problem for the believer who is not prepared to give an answer, but the truth is that God doesn’t condemn anybody to hell. Those who are bound for hell condemn themselves. God merely gives the standard to avoid hell and then extends the grace to avoid the penalty of falling short, because in His mercy He knows no one can meet that standard.

Wipe the Enemy Out Completely

And so knowing that some would not take the offer of peace, God instructs the nation of Israel what to do next.

Deuteronomy 20:12–18 TLV

If it does not make peace with you but makes war against you, then lay siege against that city. When Adonai your God hands it over to you, you are to strike all its males with the sword. Only the women, children, livestock and all that is in the city—all its spoil—may you take as plunder for yourself. So you may consume your enemies’ spoil, which Adonai your God has given you. Thus you will do to all the cities that are very distant from you, which are not among the towns of these nations nearby. However, only from the cities of these peoples, which Adonai your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must not let anything that breathes live. You must utterly destroy them—the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites—just as Adonai your God has commanded you. You are to do this so they will not teach you to do all the abominations as they have done for their gods, and so you would sin against Adonai your God.

So God makes it very clear that we are not to let the enemy live. To us, this means we are not to let the wicked systems and ideologies of wickedness to continue to exist. When we are in the promised land we are to fight against the woke ideologies that bend the natural order of God - not against the people, but against the lies the enemy has foisted upon them. The lies that have spoiled the church into “wokeness” those we are to utterly destroy.

Sieges Take Time

There is one more thing I want to point out when it comes to destroying the enemy, and that is that the only way to defeat an entrenched enemy is to lay seige to the city. This is not a blitzkrieg type of warfare, this is long and drawn out. This type of warfare takes time and persistence. It takes patience. Saints, we are not going to free our loved ones in an instant, we are going to have to lay siege to them spiritually. It will take time, but in due course, we shall see the victory.

Putting it All Together

Leaving the desert means that we must be ready to fight for the promises of God, it means we must engage in spiritual warfare.

Preparing for battle means getting our lives in straight so that we can be ready to take our inheritance back from the enemy.

The first step is to cast out fear from amongst us. We do that by having faith in the God who has delivered us from battles that we’ve already fought and won. Fear is cast out by taking God’s perspective. We see Pharoah leading 250,000 troops, God sees a single horse and a single chariot. We must keep our eye fixed on God, and not the enemy.

Next we need to be sure that we are qualified to take on the battle. We do not have to fight every battle in the promised land. Some battles we will be made to sit out. We must know our season. Also, we must take care to guard our mindset. We don’t want to be disqualified from the battle because of fear and disbelief.

Finally when we do go into battle we need to know God’s Rules of Engagement.

We are children of peace, so that is our first strategy, but in doing so, there should be no compromise. We need to be ready to destroy every system that the enemy has put into place.

Finally, we need to acknowledge that this is not going to be done overnight. These kinds of things take time, but if we continue to put our faith in God, He will bring about the promises and our land will prosper once again.