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The Battle Belongs to the Lord

If we are not engaging our whole selves while we sing, then the impact of a song’s words can often escape us.  In “The Battle Belongs to the Lord,” we sing that God will fight for us in our battle, but how much we believe those words and truly trust Him to do so may not be known until we are in the midst of a difficult struggle and choose to rely on Him or on our own limited resources for help.

I.  Psalm 18:1-5.  After witnessing God’s power in the 10 plagues that allowed them to leave Egypt, the Israelites left freed from slavery “equipped for battle” (Exodus 13:18), idealistically ready to walk straight up to the Promised Land.  As they got to the Red Sea, however, they saw Pharaoh’s army marching after them, and “they feared greatly” and “cried to the Lord” Exodus 14:10.  How like them we can be as Christians until we face adversity.  The first verse of the song says it like this:

In heavenly armor we’ll enter the land, The battle belongs to the Lord.  No weapon that’s fashioned against us will stand, The battle belongs to the Lord.

Though we call the Lord our strength, rock, fortress, deliverer, shield, horn of my salvation, and stronghold, it is easier to say the words than to apply them.  The psalmist does have to apply them as he was encompassed, assailed, entangled, and confronted by struggles to the point of death.  Would he choose to have faith or to rely on himself?

II. Psalm 18:6-19.  After God had rescued them with such a mighty hand already, how could the Israelites not trust in God’s power to save?  But they complain and believe that they will die (Exodus 14:11-13), the very opposite of trust.  God would fight their battle, Moses told them, but their responsibility was different than the Lord’s; they had to “fear not,” “stand firm,” and “see” God’s salvation.  In other words faith is a lot of work, harder work than fighting an impossible battle for ourselves and the choice not often made.  Why? Probably because God can’t be made to do anything.  We must submit to His will, not He to ours.  The second verse says:

When the power of darkness comes in like a flood, The battle belongs to the Lord.  He’s raised up a standard, the pow’r of His blood, The battle belongs to the Lord.

We have the cross and often don’t believe in Jesus’ power to save us.  So, does God act on our behalf out of obligation or love?  In the Psalm, the Lord literally overturns heaven and earth because He was angry at the people or circumstances distressing His child.  Then we read that it is because He delights in him. Could He have the same love for us?

III.  Psalm 18:20-30.  How the Israelites took Moses’ words to “fear not,” “stand firm,” “see” God’s salvation, and to “be silent” is not clear (Exodus 14:13-14), but how do we wait in faith for the Lord to act in our lives when we are in distress?  Repeating that God is our refuge and that we should not fear, Psalm 46:10 tells us to “be still and know that I am God.”  While our backs are against the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army bears down on us in life, choosing faith and letting God fight our battle is the harder but better decision.  As the third stanza says:

When your enemy presses in hard, do not fear, The battle belongs to the Lord.  Take courage, my friend, your redemption is near, The battle belongs to the Lord.

According to the psalm, it is those who choose to have faith and trust in Him, being still in obedience that the Lord rescues.  The one who is “haughty” by trying to fix it himself by his own resources finds God “tortuous.”  It’s about the relationship the child has with his or her heavenly Father.

If God is truly your refuge, then you can truly sing the chorus when we are rescued:

And we sing glory, honor, Power and strength to the Lord.  We sing glory, honor, Power and strength to the Lord.

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They’ll Know We are Christians …

Loud is the world in its various forms and cluttered is our landscape with signs and advertising. It’s so hard to escape the bombardment–and still we fill our quiet time with TV in our homes and the radio in our cars.  Yet God tells us, “In returning and rest (or repentance) you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength …” Isaiah 30:15.  Must we compete with the world to reach out with the gospel?  And how do we be IN the world without being OF the world?  They hymn, “They’ll Know We are Christians” helps us to know:

I.  Ephesians 4:1-6.  They’ll know we are Christians by our warfare.  As the first stanza goes:

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, And we pray that our unity may one day be restored

Unity in Christ is a big factor in being to wage war not as the world does but with divine power to demolish strongholds and take thoughts captive for Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).  When Elijah was struggling after Jezebel threatened his life, God restored him with hot food and quiet rest, told him he was not alone, and reminded him that He was found not in the ways the world defined power but in “thin silence” (1 Kings 19:9-13).

II.  1 John 1:5–2:6.  They’ll know we are Christians by our walk.  The second stanza continues:

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand, And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land

First, we must walk with God in the light because His very nature is light.  Then, we find Jesus’ blood washing us clean as we walk in fellowship with others who are also walking in the light.  This means walking in obedience to truly know God and walking as Jesus did as an imitation of Him.  Only then are we in a position to teach the gospel as it comes from the same compassion for the lost that Jesus had (Matthew 9:35-38).

III.  Luke 18:35-43.  They’ll know we are Christians by our worship.  The final stanza declares:

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come, And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son, And all praise to the Spirit who makes us one

After a blind beggar, who had faith to be made well, was healed by Jesus, he “followed him, glorifying God.”  The passage concludes with the people who saw this giving praise to God as well.  We must give praise continually to God (Psalm 99:1-9).  When we live our lives as a living sacrifice, others see our spiritual act of worship (Romans 12:1-2) and give God praise and glory too.  This subtle advertising is the best billboard for the gospel.

The song concludes by telling us that it is by our love–even for those hardest to love–that the world will know that we are followers of Christ … just as Jesus told us (John 13:34-35, Matthew 5:43-48, 1 John 3:11-24):

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, Yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Do they know that you’re a Christian?

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The Old Rugged Cross

We are to let the Word dwell in us richly, Colossians 3:16 tells us, and one of those ways to teach and admonish with thankfulness in our hearts is by singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to one another.  “The Old Rugged Cross” is a beloved hymn that proclaims Jesus’ death for our sins and then gives us a glimpse of our glorious future if we not only obey but live out the gospel.

I. Romans 3:21-25.  After describing the place of Jesus’ vicarious sacrifice (John 19:17-19), the song tells us that the cross is an “emblem of suffering and shame” (Galatians 3:11-13).  And yet we “love that old cross.”  How?  Because, we discover, that the “dearest and best for a world of lost sinners was slain.”  As we realize that Jesus died for us, we want to live for Him (Galatians 2:19-21) … and the horrific cross takes on new meaning.

II. John 15:18-19.  The world doesn’t get it, and in the best of its wisdom despises the cross … and so us who have obeyed the gospel and are living it out in our lives (1 Corinthians 1:18-25).  But to us, the cross is the power of God and the wisdom of God.  That the “dear Lamb of God” would leave His “glory above” to “pardon and sanctify me” (John 1:29; John 17:4-5) is the “wondrous beauty I see.”

III. 1 Peter 4:12-13.  Then promising that living out the principles of the gospel will be hard, we’re encouraged in the song to persevere to one day share in Jesus’ glory.  If we “cling to the old, rugged cross,” we will one day secure a crown (James 1:12).

Since Jesus gave all for you, won’t you give all for Him?

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Your songs

Your songs, O Lord, speak to me
And lift my soul higher.

They call me to that spiritual plane
Where inner peace prevails.

They invite us as your chosen people
To celebrate your presence.

We sing of joy and victory’s chant,
And our arrival in heaven.