The Christian Must Die! Part 7

Throughout the Old Testament we see story after story of how God is teaching His children to rely on Him. From the story of Noah and the flood and how God sealed the door shut after Noah believed then acted upon that belief. Or when God led Moses to a geographic point where the Israelites were made to solely lean upon God and therein God parted the red sea and the Israelites were saved. Or the story of David and Goliath where David in His love, trust and zeal for God did what the whole nation of Israel thought was impossible…he slew Goliath with a sling and a stone.

Many people don’t know the story of Jehoshaphat, who was the king of Judah, at a time when all the surrounding nations were simultaneously coming to make war on Jerusalem. To put it in perspective we have the small nation of Israel today that is almost totally surrounded by Muslim nations and it would be as if many of those nations were coming to make war on Israel (see map, Israel is about 1/6th the size of Florida).

Now what could the king do? If you were the king what would you do? At this point the nation need to be saved so they call upon the Lord

2Ch 20:3 Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
2Ch 20:4 And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

So the people gathered to seek the Lord, they fasted, prayed, confessed their sins and stood upon the Lord’s promises that He made in the past. And…

2Ch 20:14 And the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah…a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.
2Ch 20:15 And he said, "Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the LORD to you, 'Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's.


It was only when they were at the end of what they could do that they stood upon the promises and the truth of God. The direction God gave them was foolishness to the natural man but to the spiritual, to the one’s that knew they could trust their great Jehovah God, it was the power of God.

2Ch 20:17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.' Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the LORD will be with you."

Here is where the story gets even better, where I think that God has a great sense of humor in dealing with His people and His creation but you’ll have to pick your Bible up to get the rest of the story.

Beloved, don’t you know that salvation belongs to the Lord (Jon 2:9), it is His battle and the war has already been won…we have the victory that He has given us! Now our response to such great news is to simply repent and believe (Mar 1:15), to turn from believing the lies of Satan and believe the truth of the Word of God. To turn from sin and self and turn to the Savior that has loves us and demonstrates that love, even why we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). And to believe the truth that we were crucified with Christ and now rest or abide in Him (John 15:10)

Rom 6:3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Rom 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Rom 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.