Here Come The Amalekites!

I invite you to turn in the Bible this morning to the second book of the Bible. We're returning again to our study in the book of Exodus. And this morning we come to Exodus chapter 17 and here come the Amalekites. This is a great section that will help us to understand the whole picture this morning. We're going to look at verses 8 through 16 of chapter 17. this is the word of the Lord. Verse 8, Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, Choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. And whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary. So they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. While Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it. The Lord is my banner saying a hand upon the throne of the Lord. The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. May the Lord bless the hearing of his word this morning it has been one rough go on their way to the promised land hasn't it i mean nothing has really gone very well at least if you're looking at struggle after struggle after struggle but the lord has kept them the lord has provided for israel all the way through he has been absolutely i think that's what is has been so powerful about this study of exodus is the lord is so committed here to fulfill his promise and to bring the children of israel home i mean it's just wonderful to think about but little do they know how fierce and hostile the way forward forward for them will be they can't do it alone and it has been a fight for them you've noticed in this study so far as soon as we left egypt it has been a fight for them to let go of their own wills their own desires, and their own strength to do this and to trust in the Lord. That has been a great theme in the book of Exodus. And this morning as we come to this particular passage, we see the Lord's commitment continually. It just doesn't go away. This was the promise to Abraham to help them and to deliver them and to fight for them. But he wants us to understand, now that they've been delivered, that they too are to wage the good warfare. They too are to wage the good warfare. It's a really important point. In Exodus chapter 17, we have seen, and what we have seen the whole way through, is that this wilderness journey is a representation of sanctification. the walk of the Christian, the pilgrim life, the journey as sojourners on our way home. We're brought out of Egypt from being in bondage to sin. We were in slavery to a terrible master named Pharaoh. The Heidelberg Catechism picks that up really strongly and says we've been set free from the tyranny of the devil. And through the blood of Christ, through the cross of Christ, we've passed over. We're no longer, when we die, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Death does not reign in us anymore. In other words, as Jesus said in John chapter 11, that he who believes in him, even though he dies, he'll live. Jesus has come to destroy that and ultimately will on the day of resurrection. We pass through. We were baptized into the sea. It's our story. We were buried with Christ in baptism. We were raised with Him coming triumphant out on the other side. Raised to newness of life. But then wilderness life began. Israel has still not, still not appreciated or understood the struggle of wilderness life. Now we see that struggle presented to us a little bit differently this morning. Different from how we've seen this struggle. Everything so far has been a struggle in their relationship with the Lord, hasn't it? To trust Him. The battle has really been inward. It's Romans 7. They've been taught to trust Him for bread. They've been taught to trust Him for the basic necessities of life. They've been taught to trust Him for spiritual food. Yea, though they walk through the valley of the shadow of death, He is with them. They had a hard time believing that. Remember what chapter 17 was, what incited this. Is the Lord with us or not? Well, today we look at something a little bit different. The battle now comes from without. What do I mean? Well, you know Ephesians 6 says we don't wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in heavenly places. It's just the reality for the Christian life that even though we don't anticipate or we often don't even see it coming at us, the kind of warfare to which we belong as members of God's kingdom is set right in front of us this morning. It is fierce. There is a warfare going on. We talked about it somewhat with the contrast of darkness. It should be no surprise then that Christians who do nothing by way of dependence on the Lord to fight are going to find themselves in the life, in the journey, in the walk, spiritually weak, attacked, stressed, full of complaining, no joy, which is what we've seen in them, constantly and incessantly giving in to sin and its lusts. This has been Israel's struggle. This is their struggle. And it sort of begs the question, it helps us this morning to ask, well, what do we do then in the attack? How do we handle the attack? How do we handle the life of sanctification? The passage before us this morning has the intention of driving us to learn to depend upon the Lord for every aspect of the wilderness way. Every aspect. as he is committed to bringing you home as he is committed to bringing you to the new heavens and the new earth he wants dependence you can't do it your own on your own if you try for a moment you stumble and fall that's true for sanctification so i want to show you that this morning from exodus chapter 17 and hopefully this will help you to understand when people are always asking the question, how do we fight? How do we remain strong? You get a real insight into that this morning through this glorious passage. In verse 8, we read that Amalek, you'll notice here, came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. We need to spend a minute just understanding and making sure we have the scene so that we can kind of enter it and picture it as it was happening for them they have just had the most wonderful gospel revelation in the wilderness set before their eyes remember what happened at the beginning of chapter 17 in this last section they had complained is the lord with us or not a great trial happened out in the wilderness and christ stands upon the rock remember paul said in first corinthians 10 that rock was christ there, Christ comes out on the rock and takes the rod of judgment for them. Gospel in the wilderness. And out from this rock gushes water that is enough water to provide drink for millions of people. Out of a rock. One rock. Well, it was Jesus Himself who when He walked among us said, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink he who believes in me as the scriptures have said out of his heart will flow rivers of living water i'm going to provide that water i am that water what a moment this must have been out in the wilderness they're there and they're all getting drink from this rock what a powerful image there for us to think about that they are all in the wilderness life and water is flooding them in hard dry hot wilderness life it was one of the darker moments in their wilderness journey when they complained against the lord but the lord again was merciful the lord was long-suffering the lord was compassionate and nothing could make him waver on his promise he was going to bring them home and he wasn't going to renege on that. Well, what happened is this massive rock had dumped so much water out into the wilderness, nourishing two million people, the news must have spread rather quickly. Wells were a source of life in the wilderness. You had to have them to live. In the next breath, we read, Now Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. Right then, right there, right at that moment, they came up. In other words, right to the place of their water source, the greatest moment of the Lord's forgiving mercy, he attacks. What makes this all the more interesting is that the Amalekites were the sons of Esau. Esau. Back in Genesis, which you all remember because we went through this, is Genesis 36. Now Timnah was the concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Ada, Esau's wife. In the wilderness, the sons of Jacob are at warfare with the sons of Esau. Well, there's a long history to that, isn't there? Started all the way back in the womb, didn't it? And here, the imagery here is strong. He sends them, Amalek sends all of his warriors to Rephidim. In other words, the warfare began as soon as they were refreshed with the water from the rock. It's not something we think about a lot, is it? Isn't it interesting that as soon as the water came, here came Esau invaders? You'll find this to be true in the Christian life, of course, that when you have understood salvation, just when you've made some great victory over sin, just when you've started to pray, just when you've made a profession of faith, just when the sinner has been converted, it's then that the devil's right there. We know that. This is how he operates. It's always been that case. i made profession of faith and went through one of the driest spells of my whole christianity right after why does he attack like that and what is this attack like i want you to notice here it's fascinating what moses would later say to israel about this great event he wanted them to remember this event he wanted them to understand this event it was such a crucial event and you find him explaining this event in the book of deuteronomy deuteronomy chapter 25 you're more than welcome to turn there i'd love for you to see it and then i hear people turning and it encourages me so please turn there this is deuteronomy chapter 25 and at verse 17 notice how moses explain this event for Israel in the future. Look at verse 17. Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt. How he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you and he did not fear God. Some of the other translations capture, I think, a little bit clearer when they say remember what amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of egypt how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks all the stragglers at your rear when you were tired and weary so he did not fear god so what did amalek do well not only did the amaleks come upon them suddenly unexpectedly they targeted certain people. Who did they target? Well, picture the scene. Israel's weary from the travel. They're tired. Water is flowing out. Takes a while to get back to the end of two million people, doesn't it? The text highlights the time connection here. It was right at Rephidim, and what did he do? The strategy was Amalek went and attacked all the helpless. All those who were weary. All those who were the weakest. All of those who were tired. All the widows and the orphans. All the, interesting emphasis here of the type of person that the Bible mentions. The stragglers. The stragglers at the rear. Deuteronomy says, Amalek hit there. Remember where Horeb was. If I could give you a sort of mental image of this, it's on the backside of Sinai, overlooking the desert. Moses is at the front. The elders are at the front. Christ is the rock. They're all up at the front. And all the elders and the strong and all of the warriors, all of the mighty men of Israel are at the front. But who's at the end of the hole? And this is not by any way, I'm not describing the structure of the Escondido URC, okay? I'm not doing that. There are very strong in the back, okay? Amalek comes and hits the back. Are you seeing something here? Who does the devil pray on? Who does the devil hit? The tired? The weary? The weak? Some understand how much they need drink. Some understand how much they need to come to the table. Some have deep reliance on that, on the Lord, His Gospel. But then there are those in the kingdom who are stragglers. Stragglers, interesting. It could mean unfit to march. There are those who are constantly tired and weary. They're faint. Who has Satan's, where has he put the bullseye? Let me put it this way. You know this somewhat practically. When a cultist comes to your door, they look nice. Who are they looking for? People who know nothing about their Christianity. That's their number one target. Trust me, if you know something, you get blackballed. They don't come back. I've been blackballed. They hit those widows. They hit the weak. They prey on those who can't defend their faith. I've seen this. I've had to deal with this. I've had to go over and help widows when these guys come. This is sanctification. Let me put it this way. What do the elders of the church often see? Well, you have those in whom it's quite evident that the Lord is their strength uh in the good times in the good years of life uh in whatever kind of circumstances they love the church they love to serve they they drink deeply from the waters they give their lives in service even if they get hit hard with things in life you have sort of job-like figures you have martin luther-like figures they're bulwarks you know god is their refuge in their strength and they they demonstrate that um they demonstrate there are the martin luthers are the bulwarks and the faith they call it but then there are stragglers how many stragglers are in the escondido urc how many how many are not very connected to the church how many loosely sort of tag along you have those in the life of the church maybe who aren't here very much or they follow from a distance or their hearts aren't really in it it's worship from a distance service is kind of traveling at the end of the pack who would it be is it you these are the casualties these are who satan's coming for apostle paul has told us that that people who are stragglers open themselves up to a lot of things he said that there are some who you have to in humility correct who are in opposition if perhaps God will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth, that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. Do you know that goes on? Have you thought about that? Here's what I love to tell you today. God has a lot of grace for stragglers. How many times do the Psalms describe strength for the weary? psalm 10 he lies in wait this is what we just sung out he lies in wait secretly as a lion in his den he lies in wait to catch the poor he catches the poor when he draws him into his net so he crouches he lies low that the helpless may fall by his strength he has said in his heart god has forgotten him he hides his face he will never see arise oh lord oh god lift up your hand don't forget the humble that is the picture given to you in exodus 17 what essentially israel has learned in the wilderness is that these enemies are fierce and they are coming at you when you least expect it in the most vulnerable of moments and that you are attacked from behind, from without. And we've said this in our Heidelberg for years. The three sworn enemies we face in this life are the world, the flesh, right? And the devil. And they're too strong for us. Here's the crucial point. Back in chapter 14 at the Red Sea, remember Israel was backed up against the Red Sea and they turn around. Here come the Egyptians marching at them with all of the war chariots and remember what the lord said stand still all fight for you you will see today the salvation of the lord that was the salvation event that that was salvation that spoke to your ultimate deliverance and you didn't fight for that by the way you weren't able to fight to bring that about you were not able to save yourself you could not fight that enemy the Lord took down Satan himself at the cross. The Lord disarmed him at the cross. This is what Hebrews tells us. Through death he might destroy the one who has power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Sound familiar? He was defeated at the cross. And Revelation tells us, the imagery you get in Revelation is that once the devil was cast down, once Revelation 12, the one born to the woman rose victorious, he was cast down, then the dragon became furious with the woman and went out to make war with the rest of her offspring and on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. There is a warfare. He is furious right now. He is angry right now. He has been cast down and He's coming at you with all that He has. Satan has asked Peter to sift you as wheat. But I've prayed for you. War. War. Peter says there are things that war against your souls. This is why Ephesians says, Be strong in the Lord in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, taking up the whole armor of God. Fight with the armor so that you can extinguish all these flaming darts that are coming right at you all the time. You haven't taken that very seriously. Now that's where we are this morning. What does God tell Moses to go do? Fight. First time. Didn't say to do it at the Red Sea. Said you stand still. Now he says, go fight. You're saved. Go in my strength. So this happens. In verse 9, And Moses said to Joshua, this is really, really powerful, Choose for us men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand. So Joshua did this. As Moses told him, he fought with Amalek while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. Joshua goes out and he gathers together all the warriors of Israel, all the strong men of Israel. Now, I think it's important to say that they're not really trained in warfare. These are their tough guys. Amalek, they were warriors. These were warriors. They were trained in warfare. You could imagine Israel trying to put on armor for the first time after 400 years of slavery. You imagine that? I mean, this is a David and Goliath moment. I could speculate how it went. Here comes the Israelites trying to put on armor and here comes Amalek, almost like Goliath. What are they, bringing dead dogs out to us to fight? These fools, they should know when they're beaten before it even starts. What should stand out to us this morning is that someone has been introduced you haven't been introduced to before. We just read it like he should have always, always been there. But who was just introduced to you? Joshua. Where in the world did he come from? I'm going to come back to that. He's presented here as the commander of the Lord's army fighting. In the next breath, you read, Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. Moses takes the rod, and he goes up to the top of the hill. The rod, remember, has a lot of history for us by now, at least in light of what we've studied about the rod's use in Egypt. Every time the rod was raised, watch out, Egypt, there came a plague. We read that Moses went up with the rod in his hand, and every time he held up the rod, Israel started winning. And when he let down the rod, Amalek started winning. What a scene, huh? Get the imagery of that? Moses stands up and he has hands raised maybe the rod was like this maybe the rod was like this hands are raised and we read here that with hands up raised he got tired we tried to do this at the kitchen table the other night we lasted 10 minutes by the way my kids beat me what's the imagery of this what is this first i believe it's something very practical it's the importance of prayer in fighting the battle what kind of posture is this it's a posture of absolute dependence isn't it it's a posture that the scriptures describe to us of prayer everywhere we've been programmed to think that the position of prayer is eyes closed and hands folded, right? I remember a man walked up to me years ago after preaching a morning service, and he said, Pastor, when you're praying from the pulpit, you need to fold your hands. And I said to him, dear brother, when you're praying from the pew, you need to close your eyes. That's a true story. Listen to Psalm 28. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary. Nehemiah 8, And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, Amen, amen, while lifting up their hands. Psalm 141, Let my prayer be before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Prayer, lifting up of hands. New Testament. I desire, therefore, that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands without wrath and doubting. Maybe we're not praying right. And you can't stay focused and go to sleep. There's something about the posture. It's all over the Bible. If we're going for regular principle in prayer, hands should be up. That makes us a little nervous as Reformed people, maybe. It shouldn't. But there's something more here. Israel defeated Amalek that day. But what did he want Israel to understand? The Lord spoke afterward and wanted something made very clear. Wanted something made very clear. It's just so beautiful. Look at verse 15. And Moses, then the Lord said, actually verse 14, then the Lord said to Moses, write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, the Lord is my banner, saying, a hand upon the throne of the Lord. And the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. Picture the imagery again. Israel's down in the valley. It is hot. They are fighting. And they look up on the mountain and there is a man seated on a stone with hands up. With the rod of God in his hand. Moses was a mediator in some sense. Rod of God in his hand and he's praying. I admit that mediator was weak. He couldn't keep his hands up. You struggle keeping your hands up in prayer, don't you? He needed help. When the battle was over, where the Lord tells Joshua, make it known to Joshua. Notice the emphasis. I will fight forever with Amalek. Ever. It is. They are done. This is my swearing. Moses, make an altar and then say, the Lord is my banner, saying a hand upon the throne. Remember Isaiah? And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse who shall stand as a banner to the people. For the Gentiles shall seek Him and His resting place shall be glorious. Who's the banner? Christ. The Lord has sworn all enemies are going to be put under His feet. The Lord said to my Lord, sit in my right hand until I make all your enemies your footstool. The Lord calls us to fight. But know what's happening up on the holy mountain. Know what's going on on the holy mountain. You have a mediator whose hand is upon the throne. He doesn't need someone to hold up his hands. He constantly makes intercession for you. As your strength, he gives you when you look to him. And this is the beauty of prayer. This is the power of prayer that when you look to Him, when you call out upon His name, He has heaven and earth to give you and help. And something is captured of this, that there on the battlefield was a man named for the first time in Exodus, Joshua. The Old Testament equivalent to the name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. Save them on the battlefield. Remember what Joshua realized as he was entering into the promised land? He enters into the promised land and one day as he gets by Jericho, this happened, he lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, a man was standing before him with his sword drawn in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said, are you for us or for our adversaries? He said, no, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, What does my Lord say to his servant? And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take your sandals off your feet. The place where you're standing is holy. When it's all said and done, you will realize that on the battlefield, the Lord had been with you. Conquering to conquer. That he did come down and conquer to conquer. That one day he did arrive on the scene of history and he did do battle. And he rose victorious, defeating your enemy. The greatest enemy. Conquering your sin and rising victorious over the grave so that you will, even though you die, live. And today he sits on his throne and his hands are raised. He has a hand on the throne. He wants you to have that imagery to know that he will conquer your enemies in the fight. That's what the Psalms are telling. What confidence that gives you to pray to him. Why aren't you praying? Why not? Go to him. In the midst of the greatest attack on him in the garden, in Gethsemane, what is he doing? He's praying and he's inviting his servants to pray. Enter into, what did he say? Remember what he said? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Your hands go down. But the Lord wanted you to know this morning that when the battle's fierce, you should never forget what he did to the Amalekites. It is a living, forever testimony of what he did through the raised hands of his servant. See it? He defeated them. And he wants you to depend on him. When the Amalekites come, and they will, they will come at you. They'll come at the stragglers. Don't put down your hands. Go to him. And he says, he will give you the strength. And he will ultimately fight. And he will give you what you need to conquer. This is the life of sanctification. The ultimate conquering happened at the cross. and He wants you to be encouraged today to lift up your hands to Him, to the one who has a hand on the throne. No one, said Jesus, who is His, will ever be able to snatch them from His hand. I and my Father are one. Remember, a hand is on the throne for you. Let's pray. Gracious Heavenly Father, we lift up hands in prayer asking You, O Lord, to bless us, to strengthen us, to give us what we need for the fight, to know our enemy, to glorify You, to seek Your face and to remember there are hands raised, the true mediator in heaven for us. In that strength, in His strength, we go. And therein lies all our confidence. Thank You for hearing us this morning in Jesus' name. Amen.