Knowing the True God 

God can fight the Battle!

by

Keith Hunt

In the 14th year of King Hezekiah of Judah, the king of Assyria (Sennacherib) came up against the walled cities of Judah and it is written "he took them" (2 Kings 18:13). Only Jerusalem, the capital of Judah remained to be taken by the mighty Assyrian Empire. A messenger by the name of Rabshakeh was sent from assyria to Hezekiah saying, "What kind of mad confidence do you have trust in, that you should have faith in whoever you have faith in, and should rebel against me the mighty king of Assyria?" Rabshakeh was not yet done with words. He proclaimed in a loud and vain voice, "Hear the word of the great king of assyria. Let not Hezekiah deceive you: for he shall not be able to deliver you out of the hand of my king. Let not Lord will surely deliver us, and this city shall not be delivered into the hands of the king of Assyria.' Harken not unto the crazy words of Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says, 'Make a covenant with me, send me gifts, come out to me, in humility, to surrender. Then you can go back and enjoy the fruit of your land, until I come to take many of you to my land which is also a land of milk and honey; so you then will not die. Don't listen to Hezekiah when he tells you the Lord will deliver you. Has there been ANY gods of the others nations that have delivered them out of my hand?'" (verses 28-33). When Hezekiah heard these words he rent his clothes, he was sick at heart, downcast, and in grief went unto the house of the Lord. He sent Eliakim and Sheba the scribe and the elders of the priests to Isaiah the prophet. And they said to him, "This day is a day of trouble, of rebuke, and of blasphemy, for the day of reckoning has come, and there is not enough strength to bring forth victory. Will it be Isaiah that the Lord your God will hear all the words of the vain king of Assyria, who has reproached the living God; will your God reprove these words from Sennacherib?" Isaiah listened to the messengers from Hezekiah, and replied, "This is what you will tell your master. Thus says the Lord, Be not afraid of the words which you have heard, which the servants of the king of Assyria have said in blaspheming Me. Behold, I will send a BLAST upon them, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to FALL by the sword in his own land" (chap.19:1-7). The king of Assyria was not done yet. He sent other letters to Hezekiah saying that he should not trust in his God to deliver Jerusalem out of his hand. No other gods had delivered the other nations whom he had conquered (verses 8-13). Hezekiah, after receiving the letter from the king of Assyria, went into the house of the Lord, and prayed before the God of Israel, saying: "O Lord God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubims: You are THE God, even only You, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth. Lord, please be king and listen, open your ears, and see with your eyes, and hear the words of this pompous king of Assyria; he has reproached You most Holy One. It is true indeed that the king of Assyria has destroyed all these other nations, and has cast their gods into the fire; for they were no gods anyway, but only the work of men's hands in wood and stone. O Lord God SAVE US, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that YOU are the ONLY true Lord God" (verses 14-19). Isaiah, the prophet of God, once more sent to Hezekaih saying, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel, I have heard your words which you prayed to me.....Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria. He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor cast a bank against it. By the very raod that he came, by the same road he shall return, and shall not come into this city. For I will DEFEND this city, to SAVE it, for mine own sake, and for my servant David's sake" (verses 32-34). And it came to pass that night, that the ANGEL of the Lord went out, and SMOTE in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, THEY WERE ALL DEAD CORPSES!! So Sennacherib king of Assyria DEPARTED, and went and returned, and dwelt at Nineveh" (verses 35-37). This vain blasphemous king of Assyria was killed by his own sons (verses 37). THE LORD GOD IS MIGHTY IN BATTLE! HE IS THE ONE WHO RULES THE UNIVERSE! ALL WHO WILL PUT THEIR TRUST IN HIM TO WAGE WAR ON THEIR ENEMIES WILL FIND HE IS ABLE TO WIN THE WAR, TO DESTROY THEIR ENEMIES. IT IS HE WHO HAS THE POWER OVER LIFE AND DEATH. THE NATION THAT TRUSTS IN HIM HAVE NO NEED TO BUILD ARMIES, TO SPEND BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN ARMS DEFENCE. IF THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL IS THEIR GOD AND CHAMPION, HE WILL FIGHT FOR THEM, AND DESTROY THEIR ENEMIES! THIS IS ALSO A PART OF KNOWING THE CHARACTER OF THE TRUE GOD! ...... JEHOSHAPHAT KNEW THE TRUE GOD "And it came to pass, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them mothers also, came against Jehoshaphat to BATTLE!" (2 Chron.20:1). Jehoshaphat knew that Judah was indeed in trouble, there was no way his people could fight such a mighty force of all this army from different nations, that were coming up against Judah. He was feared. He set himself to seek the Lord. He called for a FAST throughout Judah. All Judah came to seek the Eternal God. Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah in Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, and said: "O Lord God of our Fathers, You are in heaven, You rule over all kingdoms, in Your hand is POWER and MIGHT, so no one is able to stand before You. You are our God, the One who delivered this land into our hinds, as you promised Abraham, your friend! We have built You a sanctuary. You have said that if when EVIL comes upon us, like the SWORD, judgment, pestilence, famine, and we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for your name is in this house) and CRY unto You in our affliction, then You have said You WILL HEAR AND HELP. So, Lord, now behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and Seir .... they would come to CAST US OUT of the land you gave us to inherit. O our God, will you not judge them? We have NO MIGHT to stand before them, so great an army, nor do we know what we can do. We have only You we can call upon" (verses 3-12). And so all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children (verse 13). Then upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, came the spirit of the Lord, and he said, "Harken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you king Jehoshaphat, for thus says the Lord, 'Be NOT AFRAID nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the BATTLE IS NOT YOURS, BUT GOD'S. When you go down to face the enemy, you will not need to fight in this battle, STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION of the Lord. O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you!" (verses 14-17). And it was that all Judah and Jerusalem and the king Jehoshaphat bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord God Almighty (verse 18). It is written: "And they rose early in the morning, and went forth ... and Jehoshaphat stood and said, 'Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, BELIEVE in the Lord thy God, so shall you be established; BELIEVE His prophets, so shall ye prosper.' And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, 'Praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever.' And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten. For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy one another. And when Judah came towards the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, THEY WERE DEAD BODIES FALLEN TO THE EARTH, AND NONE ESCAPED!" (verses 20-24). THE ETERNAL GOD HAS MAY WAYS TO DESTROY THE ENEMIES OF HIS PEOPLE. THOSE WHO WILL TRUST IN HIM, OBEY HIM, SERVE HIM, HE WILL FIGHT FOR THEM. THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S AND HE WILL DESTROY THE ENEMY!! "Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them, to go again to Jerusalem with JOY; for the LORD HAD MADE THEM REJOICE OVER THEIR ENEMIES. And they came to Jerusalem with psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord. And the FEAR of God was on all the kingdoms of the countries, when they had heard that the LORD FOUGHT against the enemies of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about" (verses 27-30). ...... THERE IT IS FRIENDS! YOU HAVE READ IT WITH YOUR OWN EYES! IT IS WRITTEN THAT IF A NATION WILL TRUST IN THE LORD GOD, HE WILL FIGHT THE BATTLE, HE WILL GIVE VICTORY, HE WILL DEFEAT THE ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD! WE HAVE HAD TWO THOUSAND YEARS AND MORE OF THE NATIONS OF THE LORD, THE NATIONS OF ISRAEL, PUTTING THEIR TRUST IN THEIR OWN ARM, THEIR OWN WAR MACHINES, AND SO IT IS NOW UNTHINKABLE FOR THOSE NATIONS TO PUT AWAY THEIR ARMIES, TO STOP SPENDING TRILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON PHYSICAL WEAPONS, AND TO TRUST THEIR GOD. IT MAY BE WRITTEN ON YOUR MONEY THAT "IN GOD WE TRUST" BUT IN REALITY IT IS FAR FROM THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER. THERE WILL BE ONE MORE ROUND; WE SHALL HAVE TO BE DEFEATED AND TAKEN AS SLAVES TO THE LAND OF OUR ENEMIES, BE IN A HOPELESS CONDITION, TO FINALLY ONCE MORE COME BACK TO PUTTING OUR ONLY TRUST IN THE DELIVERING ARM OF OUR GOD, TO SAVE US, TO BRING US BACK TO THE HOLY LAND, WHERE WE SHALL HAVE NO MORE BARS AND WALLS, NO MORE SWORDS AND SPEARS; WHERE WE SHALL HAVE ONLY OUR LORD GOD TO FIGHT FOR US. THEN WE SHALL SURELY KNOW THE MEANING OF "STAND STILL, FOR THE BATTLE IS THE LORD'S!" THIS TRUTH IS ALSO KNOWING THE TRUE GOD! ..................... Keith Hunt