Our Mighty Warrior

A Mighty Warrior is Our G-d 

 

One of G-d's many names is El Gibbor, Mighty G-d.  In this case, the term mighty refers to G-d's warrior nature.  Zephaniah 3:17 says that He is in our midst, mighty to save, and that he will rejoice over us with singing!  Can you just imagine G-d singing over YOU?  What a glorious picture!

The idea of G-d as a "warrior" might be a bit daunting, but actually what it translates to is that there is nothing too difficult for G-d.  He fights our battles for us, he defeats our enemies, he protects us from harm and from attack, and he strengthens us with HIS strength when the time comes for us to do battle for ourselves.

The story of the Exodus is such a great story, filled with so many lessons for us today.  In Exodus 14, the children of Israel have left Egypt and are traversing the wilderness.  Meanwhile, Pharaoh is reconsidering the wisdom of his decision to let them go.  He begins to rethink life in Egypt without slaves and doesn't see a pretty picture for himself and his self-centered people.  Everyone who has done their chores for them is now gone.  And he's feeling pretty worked up about it.

Pharaoh gathered the best of his chariots and every other chariot in the land that had a captain, and headed out after the Israelites.  By now, the Israelites had begun to get a little whiney and disgruntled about having to walk all the time, not having enough food and water, not having enough rest, having to carry all their stuff… you get the picture.  They are tired and behaving badly.  Then, when they look back, they see in the distance a great cloud of dust being kicked up by around 600 horse drawn battle chariots barreling up behind them.   They are convinced that Moses has brought them out here to die.

But Moses was not afraid.  He knew El Gibbor would save them.  In Exodus 14:13, he says to them "Do not be afraid.  Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord (Adonai), which He will accomplish for you today.  For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again, forever."  I like that.  It is so bold.  Of course, it is also challenging sometimes to "stand still" and let G-d handle things.  However, sometimes that is exactly what we need to do.  G-d gives us tasks and battles to fight to give us strength, endurance, patience, courage, etc. but that doesn't mean that he needs us to fight those battles.  He allows us to fight for our own edification.  G-d knows that standing up for righteousness is character building.  But every now and again, the battle belongs to the Lord.  Actually, it always does, but sometimes He chooses to fight the battle for us, to remind us that He is G-d and He is in control.

In this particular story, G-d chose to be the warrior himself "So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.  The then Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen." (Exodus 14:17-18). 

I love the description beginning in verse 24 of this chapter.  Basically, it says "He troubled the army of the Egyptians".  I can almost picture it.  G-d allowed the Egyptians to chase the Israelites right into the Red Sea that He had just opened up for them, then he started knocking the wheels off their chariots!  That made it impossible for them to drive them!  The Egyptians began to see that it was not going to be a "fair fight" and they decided to flee.  They could see what was up.  Unfortunately for them, G-d had a point to make and He was determined to make it.  As soon as the Israelites were out of the sea bed and the Egyptians were in it, G-d brought the waters crashing back down on them.  Verse 28 tell us that "not so much as one of them remained."

Strong's says the Hebrew word "Gibbor" appears in scripture 159 times and it is almost always translated as strong or mighty.  It is one of the names given to the Messiah in Isaiah 9:6, "and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty G-d..."  The word gibborim is used in scripture to refer to lions (Prov 30:30), hunters (Gen 10:9), soldiers (Joshua 10:7), and leaders (Daniel 11:3).  When not applied directly to G-d as a name, it is often used to identify the most powerful or the mightiest.  Of course, when it IS applied directly to G-d as a name, it is plain to see that he is truly the mightiest, the Lord of Hosts (Jehovah Sabaoth).  Included in the "host" here is us.  We are the army of G-d along with his angels, and the "hosts of heaven".  When He returns, he will lead the brigade with his Army (Rev 19:14).

Our day to day life is also full of battles, large and small.  In short, the fight is always against whatever calls us away from G-d.  When you think about your day-to-day activities, it may not always seem like a spiritual battle, but in truth, when you put your trust and your faith in the Lord, Satan wants you to fail.  And he is cunning and conniving in his methods.   For the true believer, a bold outright spiritual battle would be recognized for what it is and the strong would immediately turn to prayer to combat the evil.  But the most successful attacks of the spirit come in very small ways sometimes.  A thousand tiny distractions may hinder you from your prayer time; or you may be just "too busy" to sit down and read a passage of scripture and meditate on its meaning.  The car runs low on gas so you have to make an extra stop; the kids' practice gets cancelled after you get there, rather than knowing in advance so you could use the time in another way; dinner burns; the washing machine stops; all of these are little distractions that keep you focused on the things of this world rather than the things of G-d.

Nearly every believer knows in his heart that he can count on G-d to be there for the major crises in life, but many of us forget that G-d is there for us always, not just in the things we think are "too big" for us to handle alone.  I John 5:4 tells us that "...everyone born of G-d overcomes the world."  Reading this reminds us that we are already victorious.  G-d understands not only the wars that rage around us, but the daily battles and little struggles that we all encounter every day.  It is true that He gives us strength to fight our battles (Psalm 18:39), but He never requires that we do it alone (Psalm 28:7).

In today's society, peace and pacifism are often the path society insists we take to resolve problems.  Society rejects G-d as Warrior.  In the 1970's, when the NIV translation of the Bible was underway, scholars of the day were troubled by the Hebrew phrase "Lord of Hosts" (Jehovah Sabaoth).  The word "hosts" in the original context means armies, as in Lord of Armies, Armies of Heaven, etc.  Typically, today the word "host" has a much more benign meaning with hospitality overtones.  But G-d does not declare Himself the Lord of parties.  He is, among many other things, Lord of Armies, Lord of War.    Because of this unpopular bent toward violence in a post-Vietnam era, the translators of the NIV chose to translate Jehovah Sabaoth as Lord Almighty or Almighty Lord.  While this IS true, He is Lord Almighty, what G-d means by this is that He is mighty in battle. His continuous battle to protect our souls is a serious matter.

Bumper stickers claiming that "War is never the answer" apparently don't understand the question.  Outright spiritual WAR is exactly the answer to much of the problem today with people straying away from G-d and His Word.  This spiritual pacifism reveals itself through "tolerance" and acceptance of sin.  The fact of the matter is, ancient Israelites didn't escape their bondage by politely asking to leave Egypt.  They weren't freed because of boycotts or hunger strikes, petitions and speeches.  They were freed when G-d forcefully and violently destroyed their enemy.  And we will also win our freedom from sin through utter destruction of our enemy, Satan.

So when  Ephesians 6 tells us to “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of G-d, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil,” G-d is preparing us to fight along side Him... not for Him, not instead of Him, but beside Him. He stands as Lord of Hosts (Jehovah Sabaoth), our Mighty Warrior (El Gibbor) and our banner (Jehovah Nissi). 

The passage in Ephesians 6 goes on to outline each piece of armor that we are given to protect us in battle.  Paul tells us in Corinthians 2:11 that we must be wary of Satan’s attacks and devices.  G-d assures that we are well equipped for victory.  Verse 12 in Ephesians 6 reminds us that we are not battling flesh and blood (our fellow inhabitants of the planet) but that we are fighting against the ruler of darkness, and against spiritual hosts of wickedness.

War has been the answer in the past, and, as we read the final pages of scripture, we are told of an epic battle that will take place at the end of the age.  That final battle includes angels and demons,  dragons and saints.  The “great dragon” (Satan) who deceives the whole world, will be cast out and there will be no place for him in heaven or on earth any more. (Revelation 12:7-9)

In summary, G-d is still love, and we are to love one another, regardless of our sinful nature.  But when it comes to the salvation of our very souls,  G-d is a Mighty Warrior and he will fight for us against anything that separates us from Him, be it large or small.  He will reign Supreme, and we who stand strong will prevail with Him.