Let us turn to God's Word in
the chapter that we were considering this morning in Exodus chapter
17. Exodus chapter 17 and I'll read the last three verses. From verse 14, the Lord said
unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in
the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the
remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar,
and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi. For he said, Because the
Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek, from
generation to generation. Well this morning we were considering
the earlier part of the chapter and we sought to speak then of
the place of prayer in the fight of faith. Remarkable incident
where we find Joshua engaged in conflict with the Amalekites
as Moses is engaged in prayer. And so we were looking at that
former part of the chapter. Verse 10, Now Joshua did as Moses
had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses and Aaron and
Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when
Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed, and when he
let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy,
and they took a stone and put it unto him. And he sat thereon,
and Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on the one side
and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until
the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek
and his people with the edge of the sword. This is the incident
that we were considering. I said then how it is historic,
it's something that really happened here upon the earth in time,
but there is also that spiritual significance. And we sought to
say something then with regards to the prayer and the necessity
of us being militant, as it were, in our prayers to God. But now
we come to consider what he said at the end. How all of this is
to be written for a memorial in a book and rehearsed in the
ears of Joshua. It's to be recorded for posterity. that the matter is not forgotten. There's a lesson to be learned.
As we're told in 1 Corinthians chapter 10 how these things happened
unto the Israelites in the Old Testament. All these things happened
for ensembles or types and they're written for our admonition, Paul
says, upon whom the ends of the world are come. The ends of the
world being this day, this gospel day. and so there's some spiritual
significance. Well we come now to see what
is being said here at the end of the chapter and in particular
what we have in verse 15. Now Moses built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovah Nisai. And you might be able
to observe in the margin what the significance of that name
is. Of course it's a Hebrew name
and it literally means the Lord my banner. He called the name
of the altar the Lord my banner. Jehovah Nisai. Oh this name! This is the covenant name of
God. This is that name that was revealed
to Moses at the burning bush. Remember how previously there
at the bush in chapter 3 he receives his court, his commission. He
is to be the one who will be the deliverer of the children
of Israel out of the bondage, the cruel bondage that they'd
experienced there in Egypt. And God says to Moses, I am that
I am. And He said, Thou shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you. The first person singular of
the verb, to be. God says I am. And what do men
and women say to the I am? We say He is. And really that
is the literal meaning of that word LORD that we find so many
times in the Old Testament LORD spelt with those capital letters,
the name Jehovah. It literally means He is, He
is the unchanging God of the Covenant. Later in chapter 6
and verse 3 it says, I appeared unto Abram and unto Isaac and
unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty but by my name Jehovah
was I not known to them. The fullness of that name Jehovah
was not known to them, it's used previously. But here is God now
revealing something more of himself as that one who is truly the
great God of the Covenant. I am the Lord. "'I changed not,'
he says, "'therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.'"
And we think then of the words that we find later in the New
Testament in relation to the Lord Jesus Christ. There in Hebrews
13, 8, he's spoken of as Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and
today, and forever. Christ is that revelation of
Him who is the Lord, the Great Jehovah. Think of the language
that we find in the 8th chapter of John's Gospel, where the Lord
speaks to the Jews, and He says, Verily, verily, before Abraham
was, I am. And again He tells them, If ye
believe not that I am he, literally, if ye believe not that I am,
ye shall perish in your sins. Jehovah, this is the one that
is being worshipped in here by Moses. He built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovah Nisai the Lord, my banner. It's not the first time that
Moses has spoken of God and spoken somewhat of God's character and
God's attributes. If we go back to the song of
Moses in chapter 15, he speaks of this one, this great God,
as the Lord, His strength, the Lord, he says in verse 2, the
Lord is my strength and song and He has become my salvation,
He is my God. and I will prepare him an habitation,
my Father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is his name. Oh, the Lord is my strength.
Literally, Jehovah Azai. Jehovah Azai, the Lord, my strength. But then also in that same song
we see him towards the end speaking of the Lord as that God who grants
healing He is the Lord Rapha, the Lord that healeth. Look at the language there in
verse 26. If thou wilt diligently hearken
to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is
right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments,
and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon
thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord's. that healeth the earth. Glory
is Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that healeth his people. And here,
in the words before us tonight, we see him as Jehovah Nisai,
the Lord's, my banner. And it's these closing verses,
verses 14, 15, and 16 that I want to center your attention upon
for a while this evening. And to consider what we have
here, we have a revelation of God, first of all, then we see
something of the worship of God, and then finally to come back
really to what we were saying this morning and to finish with
that great warfare of faith. First of all, the revelation
of God, the unfurling of the banner, is, as it were, the revealing
of God. The altar is named. And what
is the name? Well, Moses called the name of
it Jehovah Nisai the Lord. My banner. Had not God now revealed
something more of himself? Is not God constantly doing this?
In the experience of this man? as He's bringing the children
of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, into the wilderness. God reveals Himself. The banner
is unfurled. And of course, ultimately, we
see the final unfurling of that great banner in the coming of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the image of the invisible
God. As Paul says to the Hebrews,
God who at hundred times and in diverse manner spake in time
past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last
days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of
all things, by whom also he made the world. And so we read on
there in the words of that remarkable opening chapter of the epistle
to the Hebrews. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who
reveals God. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. And then remember what John goes
on to say there in that opening chapter of his Gospel, and the
Word was made flesh. and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth." Oh, here is His glory. He is the
only begotten, the eternal Son of the eternal Father, the One
who comes to reveal God. And so we have it here. The Lord's
my banner. We see him as the banner. We
see him also elsewhere in Isaiah as that one who is spoken of
as a standard. Isaiah 59 and verse 19, When
the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against him. When we think, you see,
of battle, we think in terms of standards and banners. rallying
points to which the various combatants are to be drawn. And this is
what we have here, this is the imagery that's being employed.
It is the Lord himself who is the banner. Again, look at the
language that we have in Isaiah chapter 11, where we have the
word Enzyme. There in verse 10, in that day
it says, There shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for
an ensign of the people, to which shall the Gentiles seek, and
his rest shall be glorious. It is clearly there the Lord
Jesus Christ who is being spoken of by the prophet. The Lord Jesus
is that ensign to which the Gentiles seek. He comes to save sinners
of the Gentiles. This is a great stumbling block
to the Jews, you see. But he is an ensign, just as
he is a standard, just as he is seen here to be that banner. But what do we read there concerning
that ensign? It speaks of a root of jesuit. there shall be a root of Jesse
which shall stand for an ensign of the people and previously
in that 11th chapter of Isaiah the opening verse we're told
there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse and
a branch shall grow out of his roots Who is the one who is being
spoken of in these Scriptures? It is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesse, of course, the father of David, and the Lord Jesus
is that one who is of David's line. He is descended from David,
he is descended from Jesse. He is a stem out of the root
of Jesse in that sense. But he is usually associated
with Jesse's son David. In Revelation 22 16 he says,
I am the root and the offspring of David. He is the root, but
he's also the offspring. The root is before, the branch
we might say is after. And the Lord Jesus is both of
these things when he comes to David and to Jesse. there shall
come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall
grow out of his roots." He is both before and he is after David. And we see that so plainly in
the Gospel and we refer to it on numerous occasions when the
Lord speaks to those Pharisees at the end of the 22nd chapter
of Matthew. Jesus asks them, What think ye
of Christ? Whose son is he? They say unto
him, The son of David. He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord? Saying, The Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies
thy footstool. If David then call him Lord,
how is he his son? He is David's Lord, he is before
David. He is also David's son. He is
after David. And how the Lord is confounding
his adversaries. No man was able to answer him
a word. Neither does any man from that day forth ask him any
more questions. Who is the one that we're being
directed to then here? Who is this one who is the enzyme? This one who is the banner? It's
the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ we're to think in terms of those two natures. He is the eternal Son of God. And yet, we see in the fullness
of the time He comes into this world and He is the Son of David,
in that He is in David's life. Oh, are we not told that that's
really what the Gospel is? You know, those opening words
in Romans, the opening verses of Romans chapter 1. What is
the Gospel? It's concerning His Son, concerning
God's Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power
according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the
dead. And what do we need to do when
we come to God's Word? We need to observe it, we need
to consider it, we need to observe the exactness of the language
that is being used, particularly when it respects the Lord Jesus
Christ, and we see it there. What does it say? He was made
He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Is that not a reference to his
human nature? His human nature is this, that
he is the seed of the woman. And Mary, Mary is in that Davidic
line. The Holy Ghost comes upon that
woman and forms and fashions in a miraculous way a child in
the womb of a virgin. But He is the seed of the woman,
made of the seed of David according
to the flesh. But what does it say then? He
is declared. It doesn't say He's made. It
says He's declared. He's clearly defined. to be the
Son of God according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection
from the dead. In the game we have to observe
the language. He is not mine, the Son of God. He is the eternal Son of God.
He is declared. He is clearly defined as the
Son of God out. according to the Spirit of Holiness. And there the reference Spirit
of Holiness is to his Godhead. As in the first part where we
read of him made of the seed of David according to the flesh,
that's the human nature, and then we have the divine nature
declared to be the Son of God according to the Spirit of Holiness.
The Spirit of Holiness is not so much a reference to the Holy
Spirit, but to the Lord's own deity, to the truth of His Godhead. Again, we have it in Hebrews
9.14, Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself
without spot to God. What is the Eternal Spirit? Spoken
of there in Hebrews 9. It's the It's the Deity of Christ. It's the Deity, it's the altar
that in a sense sanctifies the gift that is being offered. Through
the Eternal Spirit He offered Himself without spots to God. Now we need to observe these
truths concerning the very person of our Lord Jesus Christ. without controversy great is
the mystery of godliness God was manifest in the flesh in
other words God became a man and he never ceases to be truly
God and yet he is always now really a man one and the same
two natures two natures in that one person and you know we need
to be careful we should not divide the person people who want to
do that they say oh well here we see the divine nature in Christ
here we see the human nature in Christ but in everything that
Christ does he is God-man in all his ministry he is a person
and that person is the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we
do tend to try to understand these things sometimes by speaking
of the two natures. We might say we see him as one
who is very much a man and therefore able to empathize with men. His humanity is such a a glorious
truth to us we have not a high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities he was tempted in all points
like as we are yet without sin what a wonder this is what a
wonder this is we read of him who in the days of his flesh
offering up prayer and supplication with strong crying and tears
unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard
in that he feared, though he were a son, yet learned the obedience
by the things that he suffers. He's the eternal Son of God,
and yet here we see him in all the reality of his human nature,
in all his prayers to God, offering prayer and supplication, strong
crying and tears. Oh, how the Lord prays real prayers,
sighs and groanings in His prayers. How remarkable, when we think
of this one then, He is able now to sympathize with men because
He is the God-Man. He is God, but He is also man.
And besides His human nature, the wonder of it is that He comes
into this world not simply made of a woman. Oh, is that? Thank God for that. That first
great gospel promise that we find back in Genesis 3.15. Those words spoken to the serpent,
the very instrument of Satan, concerning the seed of the woman.
It shall bruise thy head, thou shalt bruise his heel. between the seed of the woman
and Satan he's made of a woman and yet we know he's also made
under the law that's what it says Galatians 4.4 made of a
woman made under the law and he comes into that very law place
of his people whatsoever things the law said it said that they
were under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all
the world become guilty, that's us by nature under the law and
what does the law do? it shuts our mouths, we have
nothing to plead we are transgressors we've broken the Lord of God
and the law condemns us but the Lord Jesus has come and stood
in that very law place and answered all its demands oh thank God
he is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that
believeth. He has delivered his people from
that Lord of God. It doesn't mean that God's people,
when they're saved, are a lawless people. No. God's people, of
course, delight in all the holy precepts of the Gospel. There's
our rule of conduct. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. How Christ then is that one who
he comes where his people are, he identifies with them he's
a real man, he's in their law place he stands there before
God as their shorty and he will answer all the demands of the
law even to the point of dying for them he'll be their substitute,
he'll die in their room and in their stead all we think then of this man The Lord's my banner, says Moses. That revelation, the banner unfurled,
the glory revealed with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
as we see him here as truly man, so we see him also as really
God. Or what does God say in prophecy
concerning His coming? I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. Or God has laid help upon one
who is mighty. Why? He is equal to the Father. He is as mighty as the Father
is mighty. I have laid help upon one that
is mighty. I have exalted one chosen of
the people. I have found Abel my servant,
with my holy oil have I anointed him." Oh, we have those precious
words there in the 89th Psalm. It's the Lord Jesus Christ who
is that Mighty One, able to say to the uttermost all that come
to God by Him. He is the Lord. and He is the Lord my banner.
It's not just the Lord you see, that's the name of God, but this
is the revelation of God. And God is revealed as that banner,
that enzyme, that standard. Again we refer this morning to
the language of the Psalmist there in Psalm 60. All remember our Well, we just
read it, or rather sang it, I should say, in the metrical psalm. Thou hast shown thy people hard
things. Thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. Thou hast given a banner to them
that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. And what we have here, and we
were looking at this this morning, the context here is that of conflict
and warfare. Versailles then came Amalek and
fought with Israel in Rephidim. All remember who these Amalekites
were. They were really descended from
Esau, the twin brother of Jacob who became Israel, Amalek was
the grandson of Esau and the Amalekites descended from that
man. And they were the first to fight
against the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt. They were the first of the nations
to come up against them in warfare. And how they how they hated and
despised them. And we referred this morning
to those words that we find in the 25th chapter of the book
of Deuteronomy. There in Deuteronomy 25 and verse 17, Remember what Amalek
did unto thee by the way, when ye were come forth out of Egypt. Oh, he met thee by the way, and
smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee,
when thou wast faint and weary, and he feared not God. Oh, we
see this Amalek in the very grip of Satan, the great adversary
of Saul. Where does he strike the hindmost
of the even, all that were feeble? Those who were finding it hard
walking in the way. Though it's hard, is it not,
in that narrow way that leads to life? And though Satan can
come and get the advantage over us, all that were feeble behind
thee, when thou wast faint and weary. And why is he doing this? He has no fear of God. He has
no fear of God. What do God's people do when
they're in such troubles as this? This is the situation that God
so often brings his people into that they might learn the great
benefit of prayer. And this is what we were saying
this morning, this is what we saw this morning. What is to
be the answer when these Amalekites come? Verse 9, Moses says to
Joshua, choose us out men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow
I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my
hand. And what is the purpose of Moses
going to the top of the hill with the rod of God? He's going
to pray. verse 11 he came to pass when
Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed and when he let down
his hand Amalek prevailed holy men of God are to hold up
holy hands without wrath and doubting now that's what we have
here but it's not it's not Joshua who grows weary with the fighting
is it? It's Moses who grows weary in his prayers.
Verse 12, Moses' hands were heavy. They took a stone and put it
under him, and he sat thereon, and Aaron and her stayed up his
hands, the one on the one side, the other on the other side,
and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And
we remarked, now you see, when we're in holy exercise we grow
weary. Oh, it's wearisome sometimes
to pray. I find it wearisome to pray.
I want to pray and it's hard to pray. And I can't pray. Thank God. Oh, thank God for
the Holy Ghost. He helps our infirmities. And
he makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be
uttered. But what do we see here? We see And in all this danger,
you see, there's real communication with God, there's real prayer
to God, there's true communion with God here. When we're in
trouble, we have to learn our utter dependence upon Him. And
we must pray. And this is what happens here.
There is only success when there are wrestlings in prayer with
God. And so there's fellowship with
God. God reveals himself as that one who is strong. All friends,
it is God who is mighty. He is mighty to save. He is able
to save to the uttermost. And when he does that for us,
what does he do? He brings us into his banqueting house and
his banner over us is love. All the wonder of that love of
God, that banner of the love of God. Moses built an altar
and called the name of it Jehovah Nisai. All the significance of
the banner then, it's the revealing of God, it's God making himself
known to his people. God making himself real in the
souls of his people. And what does Moses do here?
He's worshipping God. The altar surely is associated
with the worship of God. Do we not read about how Father
Abraham built an altar and worshipped God? Going back in Genesis, Genesis
12, verse 7, we're told, The Lord appeared unto Abraham and
said, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there builded
he an altar unto the Lord. who appeared unto him. And he
moved from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched
his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Haioi on the east.
And there he built an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the
name of the Lord. And then again in chapter 13
verse 4 we read of the place of the altar. which he had made
there at the first, and there Abram called on the name of the
Lord." What is the point, the purpose of the altar? It's the
calling upon God. And what is calling upon God?
It's prayer, it's praises, it's the worship of God. And of course the altar really
prefigures the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it prefigures that. Even
Christ. Christ is the altar. Or we might
think, and I've already mentioned this, of Christ's deity as the
altar sanctifying the offering. Remember those words that we
referred to in Hebrews 9? Christ, who through the eternal
Spirit offered himself without spot to God? the eternal spirit
being a reference to his deity, his Godhead. And whether he's
greater, says the Lord Jesus, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies
the gift. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the person of Christ, the God-man Christ, he is the sacrifice,
he's also the altar. He's the high priest, he's everything.
everything, all that's associated with the altar, the altar, the
place of sacrifice. And Christ is the fulfillment
of all of these things. This is the wonder of that work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And how we see it so clearly
in the experience of Isaiah. Remember when he receives his
call to be a prophet. There in the sixth chapter of
the book, he sees that vision in the temple,
he sees the glory of God, the throne of God, and he's utterly
overcome. What does he say? Woe is me,
for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then through one of
the seraphims, Antimony, having a live coal in his hand which
he had taken with tongues from off the altar. You see, in the
temple there is the brazen altar. There are the coals. This is
where they make the burnt offerings. And one of the seraphim that
he sees about the throne of God takes the tongues, brings a living
coal And he laid it upon my mouth and said, Lo, this hath touched
thy lips. Thine iniquity is taken away. Thy sin is purged. Oh,
what a wonderful representation of the efficacy of Christ's sacrifice. Christ is the altar. Here is
the burning coal. Here is that the purge is all
sin. It's Christ. It's Christ. And now this Man is fitted to
be the mouthpiece of God. Whom shall I send, who will go
for me, is the question that God puts. Here am I, says the
prophet, send me. Go and tell this people. It's
a wonderful chapter that we have there over the man is prepared
to be God's servant, God's mouthpiece. Over the importance of that altar
it's a place, you see. It's the place where the sacrifice
is made, it's Christ. And here Christ is the altar,
Christ is the banner. Moses built an altar, called
the name of it Jehovah-Nissi, the Lord's my banner. It is only in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ that we can rightly worship God. I believe that comes out in that
opening hymn that we sang just now. Worship God then in His
Son. There His love and there alone. Think not that He will or may
pardon any other way. There's only that one way. That
was the case in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament.
These men in the Old Testament, they're looking forward to Christ. Christ is here. in type, in figure,
in shadows. We know that. One God, one mediator
between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. Or what does Christ
say? I am the way, the truth and the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. God is to be worshipped. How
is God worshipped? He can only be worshipped in
and through His Son, the Mediator. We read those words in Revelation
19, when John would worship the angel, that He's showing him
these things. And remember what the angel says to him. John says,
I fell at His feet to worship Him, and He said unto me, See
thou do it not? Worship God, for the testimony
of Jesus is the fulfillment of prophecy.
Oh it's the Lord Jesus that we come to God and worship God in
and by. And how do we come? We come by
Christ, we enjoy all that blessing of boldness. Oh there's boldness for those
who come by the faith of Christ. Boldness accessed with confidence.
by the faith of Him, says the Apostle. But there's
also awe. Oh, there's also awe, reverence. How we see it in the experience
of Isaiah, we've referred to that sixth chapter. Woe is me,
I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Mine eyes have
seen the King, the Lord of hosts. I'm undone. John's experience when we come
to the last book, when we come to the book of the Revelation,
I fell at his feet as dead, he says. He sees the glorified Christ. He sees the same vision really
that Isaiah saw. God reveals himself in his son.
I fell at his feet as dead, says John. He laid his right hand
upon me, saying, Fear not. I am the first and I am the last.
I am he that liveth and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore,
and have the keys of hell and of death. But how we were to
come, friends, and always to come with that reverence. Moses
built an altar. and call the name of it Jehovah
Nisai. When we come to worship God,
how are we to come with to keep our feet? Keep thy foot. When
thou goest to the house of God, be more ready to hear than to
give the sacrifice of fools. For they consider not what they
do. Be not rash with thy mouth. Be not hasty to utter anything
before the Lord. For God is in heaven, thou upon
earth. Therefore let thy words be few. There's so little in these days
of that real sense of the otherness of God. Yes, God in his great
mercy has revealed himself in the person of Christ. We thank
God for that. But God is altogether different
to us. He's the High God. He's the Holy
God. He's the Eternal God. Who and
what are we in comparison with this God? Oh, but when God comes
to us and reveals himself to us in Christ, the Lord my banner,
all his banner over us is love. In the Lord Jesus Christ, we
see all the loveliness of God, all the mercy of God, all the
grace of God. Oh, we see God also, of course,
as that one who is a holy God, a just God, a righteous God.
But how all the attributes wondrously harmonize. Mercy and truth met
together, righteousness and peace kissing each other. And the sinner
reconciled to God. And does it cause us to want
to worship Him and to praise His name forever and ever. And then finally, and briefly,
to come to my third point, as it were, to go back to what we
were thinking of this morning, the warfare of faith. We're to
be those who would fight that fight. Fight the good fight of
faith, says the Apostle. Lay hold on eternal life. And this is the note on which
the chapter ends. Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord
will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Down
the generations there's warfare, there's conflict. We are engaged in that warfare,
are we not? If we're men and women of faith. There is an armour. We refer
to it this morning there at the end of Ephesians chapter 6. God has made provision, the gospel
armour and we are to be those then who would withstand in the
evil day and having done all to stand or we wrestle not with
flesh and blood but principalities and powers and the rulers of
the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high
places but think of him of whom we read in that great 19th chapter
there in the book of the Revelation. That one who sits on the white
horse, the Lord Jesus Christ. John says, I saw heaven open
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 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,
clean and white. 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 of the wrath of Almighty God. And
he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King
of Kings and Lord of Lords." So this is that one, he is the
captain of our salvation. He is that one who is our Joshua. Remember what What Moses says
to Joshua, Choose us out, men, and go out, fight with Amalek.
And Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and he fought with Amalek.
And Moses' heron and her went up to the top of the hill. And
as Moses pries, so Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the
edge of the sword. O God grant that we might be
those who know what it is to engage
in that great conflict, the good fight of faith, to be followers
of our Joshua, even the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Moses built
an altar and called the name of it Jehovah-Nissi, which means
the Lord, my banner. God be pleased to bless these
things to us. Well, let us conclude our worship
today as we sing the hymn 271. The tune is Pentecost 390. My
captain sounds the alarm of war. Awake, the powers of hell are
near. To arms, to arms, I hear him
cry. It is yours to conquer or to
die. In him, I hope, In Him I trust,
His bleeding cross is all my boast. Through troops of foes
He'll lead me on to victory and the victor's crown. 271.