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Stand in the Breach

Like the pillar of cloud and fire separating the Egyptians from the Israelites at the Red Sea, God has always stood in the breach for us.  He had to as we could not, because of sin and selfishness, stand in the breach for ourselves.

I.  Ezekiel 22:24-30.  At the time of captivity, the nation of Judah had so fallen into sin that God says He searched for one to stand in the breach for them but found no one.  That’s mankind’s struggle as no one is righteous and all have fallen short because of sin (Romans 3:9-23).  God has always stood in the breach for us (Exodus 14:19-25) through power, but He declares that He will now do so through weakness (Ezekiel 34:11-16) and states that He Himself will be a good shepherd to us.

II.  John 10:11-15.  Jesus, God in the flesh, is our Good Shepherd, who lays His life down for us.  To stand in the breach against the forces of the enemy is a position of sacrifice for all those who He protects within the defensive fortification.  Jesus fufills the “Here am I, send me” of Isaiah 6:8 by willingly laying down His life on the cross (Hebrews 10:5-10) and stands in the breach caused by our sin.

III.  Ephesians 6:10-18.  Through His sacrifice, we are able to love like He has loved us and lay our lives down for others (John 12:23-26; John 13:34-38) and stand in the breach for a lost world (John 15:11-17).  Armed with His love as our ultimate weapon, we do not wage war as the world does (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  So, it is time to suit up!

God still stands in the breach for us with His mighty power.  It’s just now that through the weakness of the cross (1 Corinthians 1:18-25), Jesus has made it possible for His followers to stand in the breach in His mighty power with the same weapons of weakness–and overcome!

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She Gave Him Milk

To ‘fight like a man’ is to overtly confront a problem with brute strength.  Somehow to ‘fight like a woman’ has come to mean that the fighting is weaker–but only if compared to how men physically fight.  Women fight in subtler ways–we often call them ‘wiles’–that are just as strong or perhaps stronger than a man’s way–and they learn young!

My wife likes to tell the story of how our youngest at two years of age came to me with her blond pigtails and big, pleading eyes upset because her favorite pink nightgown was in the dirty clothes hamper.  I reassured her that when it was washed she could have it back.  She replied with a cute smile, “That would make me happy!”  A minute later I had to explain to my wife why I was doing laundry in the middle of the week.

I. Judges 4:17-22.  Sisera failed to understand this.  After Barak did not have the courage to ‘fight like a man’ and do what God had told him to do in defeating Sisera, Israel’s judge, Deborah, told him that a woman would claim credit for the victory over the Canaanites.  Although the Kenites were part of Israel, Sisera had no doubt found hospitality in Heber and Jael’s tent before.  Running from Barak, Sisera begs Jael for water, but she gave him milk and a place to sleep.  Then she put a tent peg through his head!  That was not what he expected, but Jael was praised for fighting like this (Judges 5:24-30).

II. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11. Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44) fights through deception.  Failing to ensnare God-in-the-flesh in the normal way he trapped men (Luke 4:1-13) and losing Jesus’ followers to the gospel, he really tries to outwit us with his schemes.  A lion seeking to devour at any opening (1 Peter 5:8), Christians must truly take up the armor of God against Satan’s ‘wiles’ (Ephesians 6:10-11).

III. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.  Jesus, however, fights like God–through obedience, truth, and sacrifice found in the gospel.  Through these ways and because He was made like us in every way, He has defeated the devil and death (Hebrews 2:12-14).  Now we, in Him and through Him, are able to fight like Him–if we can clearly see through Satan’s deceptions that would keep us blind to how powerful we truly are when restored to the image of God that we were created in through the gospel.

How do you fight:  Like a man?  Like a woman?  Or like God?