I wrote this a while back. Would like to preach it one time
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A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing
A mighty fortress is our God
2 Samuel 22:2 “And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;”
Psalm 18:2 “The LORD is my rock, and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler and the horn of my salvation, [and] my high tower.”
A buckler is a shield. Protection and safety from evil
Psalm 71:3 “Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou [art] my rock and my fortress.”
A fortress is a protection for all who dwell therein
Jeremiah 16:19 “O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity and things wherein there is no profit.”
Psalm 125:2 “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever.”
God is our fortress, our defense against evil and wickedness. We are secure with God
John 10:28-29 “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which game them me, is great than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.”
This verse in John is talking about eternal security, safe and secure from hell.
A bulwark never failing
A bulwark was a special part of the defense where one could attack the enemy from. Looking down at the enemy one could fire arrows and slings. Perhaps this could be where a woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head (Judges 9:51-54)
2 Chronicles 26:15 “And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.”
Isaiah 26:1 “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.”
Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Christ is that rock on which the church would be built. The gates of hell are not to be thought of as that being on the offense, but rather on the defense. Upon Christ the rock will His Church prevail and break down the gates of hell and rescue the perishing from eternal hell. On the unfailing bulwark we will stand and break down the gates of hell.
Our helper
Psalm 30:10 “Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.”
Psalm 54:4 “Behold, God is my helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.”
Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldy say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”
Christ is our helper who is always with us
Genesis 28:15 “And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.”
Philippians 1:6 “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath began a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”
Deut 31:6 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
Joshua 1:5 “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.”
1 Chronicles 28:20 “And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed: for the LORD God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the LORD.”
Psalm 37:24-25 “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsake, nor his seed begging bread.”
Psalm 37:28 “For the LORD loveth judgement, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.”
Matthew 28:20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen”
God protects and keep us. He helps us and upholds us. How shall I be afraid with the Lord with me.
He, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing
Look at Matthew 28:19-20 again
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen”
The nations are full of idolatry and sin and hate against God. But God is with us, and He helps us to prevail in this world.
The flood in Genesis was because of sin and evil
Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Genesis 6:11-13 “The earth also was corrupt before God and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon thee earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
Genesis 6:17 “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”
Today we have the same conditions. People love evil and violence. It is just a never ending flood of evil coming from man and it will only get worse.
2 Peter 2:5 “And spare not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;”
The righteous were saved from the flood but the sinners and ungodly were not. Are you ready to enter into the ark? God is our helper from all the evil and sin of the world and of man, He is our only protection.
For still our ancient foe
Our ancient foe is Satan who was around since before Adam and Eve
Who in the garden tempted them to disobey God (Gen 3:1-6)
Who God allowed to take away everything from Job (Job 1:1-22)
doth seek to work us woe
Satan still wants to do everything he can to do harm and hurt to us
Luke 22:31 “And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:”
1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”
Revelation 12:10 “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
1 Thessalonians 2:18 “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.”
2 Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Matthew 13:19 “When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.”
2 Tim 2:26 “And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.”
2 Corinthians 12:7 “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.”
Revelation 12:9 “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.”
1 Chronicles 21:1 “And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.”
The names of Satan show us also what he does. Satan means adversary. The devil means slanderer. The deceiver (Rev 20:10). Apollyon (destroyer Rev 9:11). The tempter (1 Thess 3:5) A liar and a murderer (John 8:44)
These are just a few of the things that Satan seeks to do to believers and non believers alike.
His craft and power are great
2 Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
called the god of this world
Hebrews 2:14 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;”
also called the one with the power of death
Called the prince of this world (John 12:31) and Beelzebub (the prince of demons; Matthew 12:24).
Revelation 13:2 “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat and great authority”
Revelation 2:13 “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.”
Luke 4:5-6 “And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.”
He has a throne and kingdoms.
It is interesting to note how in the above passage Jesus does not deny that Satan has the right to give these things. O isn’t it wonderful that Jesus would not yield to Satan when any fleshly man would have? O what a Saviour. Tempted as we are, even greater than we are and still did not sin.
And armed with cruel hate
The Devil hates God and His saints and righteousness. He tried to exalt himself over God (Isaiah 14:13) and was proud (Ezekiel 28:17). He tries to accuse us because he hates us (Revelation 12:10). Tries and destroys us (John 8:44) and many of the things we have seen earlier.
Satan has fallen angels with which to use to do his work (Ephesians 6:12; 1 Timothy 4:1; Rev 9; Rev 16:12-14)
Don’t give up hope, remember what we saw in the beginning, a mighty fortress is our God.
On earth is not his equal
Going back to the temptation of Jesus Christ in Matthew 4, any human would have fallen to that temptation that the devil presented by not Christ. All humans on earth have fallen to the devil in one way or another. Jesus Christ came from God (John 8:42) and was tempted like as we are, yet was without sin. (Heb 4:15) Jesus Christ was God and from heaven, not from earth, but He came to earth to show His great love for us by dying and shedding His blood on the cross for us. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8) Now that is love. Us humans could never have shown love for anyone the way Christ showed His love for us. No one can resist the devil except the one who already has, who is sitting at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for us that believe (Romans 8:34) The one who is greater than Satan is for us, who can be against us?
Did we in our own strength confide, our striving would be loosing
Ephesians 6:10 “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.”
Job 18:7 “The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.”
John 15:5 “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Apart from Christ we ourselves can really do nothing. Our bodies are so complicated, all of it must work perfectly in order for us to be well, when even one thing doesn’t work the way it should we get sick or hurt. A lot of times we do not even really see how sensitive we are. Our body is a body of death (Romans 7:24) and is getting worse day by day. We are so fickle and weak, what makes us think that we could fight against the devil and his angels and win?
Matthew 21:44 “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.”
Christ is that stone (Acts 4:11) and we have a choice. We can either fall on the stone and be broken, broken and not trusting in ourselves but only on Him. Or the stone will fall upon us and we will be worse off than if we had been broken on Him.
Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?”
The Word of God can break up our evil hearts and turn us unto him, if only we’d let it.
Were not the right man on our side, the Man of God’s own choosing
Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Micah 5:2 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”
Deuteronomy 18:18 “I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”
Malachi 4:2 “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.”
These are only four Messianic prophecies concerning God’s chosen one who is on are side.
Not only has God chosen the right man, but that man has also chosen us
John 15:16 “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.”
John 15:19 “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.”
Christ has chosen us, just as He was chosen by His Father to be the Saviour of the world. He has chosen us to be in Him and bear fruit, even though the world hates us, Christ has given us a higher calling.
Dost ask who that may be
Matthew 21:10 “And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?”
Matthew 11:3 “And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?”
Mark 4:41 “And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
Luke 9:9 “And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.”
People asked questions about who Jesus was.
In Matthew 16:13, Jesus himself asks the disciples ” Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?”
Matthew 16:15 “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?”
That is the most important question, not what others are saying about Him, but what are you saying about Him and who He is. Is He the Christ, the Son of the living God?
John 4:29 “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?”
John 9:35-38 “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him.”
John 21:12 “Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.”
Christ Jesus it is He
Matthew 1:18-21 “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mart was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
Matthew 2:1 “Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”
Matthew 21:11 “And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.”
Matthew 16:16 “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
John 7:26 “But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?”
Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Revelation 21:23 “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
John 8:58 “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Lord Sabaoth, His Name
Romans 9:29 “And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodorma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.”
What does the title Lord of Sabaoth mean
Isaiah 1:9 “Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.”
As we can see from the text, Lord Sabaoth means LORD of hosts. The Lord of the armies of Israel. The jews right now are put to the side for the moment and Christ is Him whose leadership we are under. He leads and protects us.
1 Samuel 1:3 “And this man went up out of his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice unto the LORD of hosts in Shiloh…”
The hebrew word translated as Sabaoth, “host” or “hosts” is used numerous times in the Old Testament. You would think that most of the time it is used would be in reference to human armies, but in fact this title of God is used in the spiritual sense. The Bible talks about God being the leader of Israel and of the hosts of angels and spiritual beings in heaven, that is who we have on our side!
He is our spiritual commander, without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5) Just like the hymn has been going, this also shows that He is with us and helps us throughout our spiritual battle. It reminds me of the song that is hardly sung anymore.
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war
with the cross of Jesus, going on before.
Christ the royal Master, leads against the foe;
forward into battle see his banners go
Onward Christian soldiers, marching as to war
with the cross of Jesus going on before.
From age to age the same
Malachi 3:6 “For I am the LORD, I change not; there ye sons of Jacob are not consumed”
Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”
Christ has not changed in who He is, the Son of God.
Hebrews 7:24 “But this man, because he continueth ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.”
Thats a good thing that Christ has an unchangeable priesthood. He came to earth and was tempted in every way like us, but never sinned, and now lives and makes intercession for us to the Father. I’m glad that He doesn’t change His mind about His work and go off and do something else. I’m glad He is faithful to do what He says.
1 John 2:1 “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”
He is our Advocate, our High Priest, through Him and Him only do we have access to the Father. The only reason we can pray and know that our prayers are heard is because Christ is interceeding for us.
Jesus Christ is still the LORD of Hosts, the commander and chief of the army and He is the same as He was before. People were saved by faith before and that is how they are saved now. Christ is love and was longsuffering before, He still is love and is still longsuffering. He hated sin before and hates sin now. Sinners went to hell then, and they go to hell now. The way has always been the same, and He will not change, will you change? will you come to Him and let Him change you? Will you come to Jesus?
and He must win the battle
Have you read the end of the story? Read Revelation 19 and 20. We know who wins. We know exactly what will happen, who will be victorious. What side will you be on. Christ said that whosoever sinneth is a servant to sin, and the servant to sin is unto death? (Romans 6:16) If you are not for Jesus you are His enemy. You are of your father the devil. We are all God’s enemies, but God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Would you die for someone that you know deserved death, for one who had no sorrow for what they have done? Who do not think they have done anything wrong? Would you die to pardon someone like that? Well Jesus did, He loves you that much. Will you come to Him? Will you ask Him to forgive you of your sins and save you? He is coming again, and that day will either be a day of rejoicing, or the first day of unending sorrow. Think about it, for you, will it be a glorious appearing? or the great and terrible day of the LORD?
And though this world with devils filled
There is a lot of devils mentioned in the Bible. It is recorded many times where Jesus casts out devils
Matthew 8:16 “When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:”
Mark 1:39 “And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.”
And also His disciples cast out devils
Mark 6:13 “And they cast out many devils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them.”
Devils are very real
should threaten to undo us
Demons are very real and they do have an impact on us in our lives. One of the greatest lies told by Satan in his churches and schools is that he is not real. Well that spiritual realm is very real.
Paul in Ephesians 6:12 says “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
Ephesians 5:11 says “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
We are involved in a spiritual battle here. There are two sides. God’s, and Satan’s. Which side are you on? If you’re not born again you are on the devil’s side. This is no neutral ground here. It is an all or nothing battle. We see all the godless people here in the world, and all the works they do and wonder how people can be so wicked. Well, God does say we have a wicked heart that is on evil continually and that they are spiritually dead. Also, we know that the deceiver, satan, is blinding them to the truth. Many today are deceived. Many have voted for the most godless presidential candidate ever known, they are horribly deceived and blinded.
Paul talks about deceivers such as satan himself and his ministers in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.”
People are being deceived by all kinds of things. False preachers, antichrists, science falsely so called and professors. It’s interesting that they call themselves professors, the Bible says in Romans 1:22 “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.” Now there are still a few decent and good professors out there, but many of them are deceiving themselves and their students. In these liberal arts colleges they deny the supernatural, because if there is a supernatural world, all their theories and things are wrong and they have to start over. It is easier to go with something that is wrong, than start on the right foundation of Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 3:3-4 “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”
Notice this now
2 Peter 3:5-7 “For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men.”
That is exactly what many professors at schools are teaching. The false science of evolution. Many of them are either blinded or willingly ignorant of what the Bible says. They think that what is today, is what it was years ago, and what it will be years from now. They deny the flood and the future judgement of God. Modern geology is based on this idea that the earth has always been the way it is now.
But again, this is a spiritual battle, and there are two sides. God’s and the devil’s.
We will not fear
The devil’s side is seeming to be gaining the upper hand right now, but this is just temporary.
There are many verses in the Bible on fear, and it is quite a natural thing to do. But we don’t need to, we know what will happen in the end.
Genesis 21 tells of the story of Hagar the servant, after Sarah had born Isaac. How Hagar and Ishmael was sent away.
Genesis 21:15-20 “And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. And she went, and sat down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lift up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What alieth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. and God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.”
Now there we see God, who when Hagar was afraid of loosing her son, told her “fear not” and He delivered them.
Again, we see God’s wonderful provision all the way in Egypt. God had sent the 10 plagues upon egypt and so Pharaoh finally allowed the people of God to go out of the land. But soon he hardened his heart again and sent his chariots and army out to kill them. But God showed them favor and mercy
Exodus 14:13 “And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.”
And then it goes on to tell how the pillar of the cloud went behind them and stopped the Egyptians from attacking Israel and how Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the sea to be divided.
God will take care of us, fear ye not.
Psalm 46 is a great psalm “…God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof road and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah. There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah. Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.”
Now thats a great psalm. There are so many great verses God has on not fearing and to be comforted by Him.
Though we are in a spiritual battle it is important to know that God will fight and win.
Exodus 14:14, right after Moses said “fear ye not”. “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”
Now to us, thats not an excuse to be lazy and not do anything. In fact, we are to trust Him and that He will use us to accomplish that victory. How wonderful it is that God would use us, unworthy humans to accomplish His divine plan.
But it is a spiritual battle, and not a physical one.
2 Corinthians 10:3 ” For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but might through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
Walk in God’s ways, in His holy and wonderful ways and don’t let that old nature get the better of you. If it seems like your old self and the devil is getting the better of you, get close to God, for the LORD shall fight for you.
for God has willed His truth to triumph through us
God is going to win. It may look bad we have the picture of the end
Revelation 19:11- “And I saw heaven opened, 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, and 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, white and clean. 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 and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. and I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. and I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that say on the horse, and against his army. and the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”
And from there we read the rest of the story. We know how it will end
Psalm 92:4 “For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands.”
God chooses to work through us human vessels to accomplish His purpose.
2 Corinthians 2:14 “Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.”
Isn’t that amazing?
The Prince of Darkness grim
There are two things here. One that Satan is a prince, and the other is that he is darkness.
A prince. We see the earthly prince of Tyrus set himself up as God and for that God said He would punish him. (Ezekiel 28:1-7). In the same chapter we see also the king of Tyrus, and from the description we can see it is not an earthly king, but rather the one behind him, Satan. In Isaiah 14:12-17 we see the parallel passage of Satan and his pride. But verse 15 there says that he shall be brought down to hell. If the earthly prince of Tyrus was punished, how much more will Satan be punished. We see also his end in Revelation 20:10. The pharisees said that Jesus casted out devils through the “prince of the devils” (Matthew 9:34). Though they were wrong about that, they did understand that Satan is the prince of the devils. Satan is also called the prince of this world (John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11) and also the prince of the power of the air.
Darkness. The opposite of light. Satan is the prince of everything that is against God. Men walk in darkness and love it because their deeds are evil (John 3:19). But Jesus came as the light of the world (John 8:12) and those that follow Him shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. Whosoever believeth on Him should not abide in darkness (John 12:46). We are to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light (Romans 13:12). Darkness and light are utterly opposed to one another, it says in 2 Corinthians 6:14 not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what communion hath light with darkness? none, none whatsoever. As children of God we are to walk in the light, we use to be in darkness, but now we are light in the Lord (Ephesians 5:8). Ephesians 6:12 is a main verse showing that Satan and his demons are of darkness. We are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather reprove them. 1 Peter 2:9 says that God has called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. Satan may be the prince of darkness but contrast him with Jesus Christ who is the Prince of life (Acts 3:15), in whom there is no darkness (1 John 1:5). The Prince of peace (Isaiah 9:6) and the Prince of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5). The way the truth and the life (John 14:6). There are two different princes, which one will you follow?
grim
this one word deserves being taken into consideration all on its own. Grim, when I hear that word I get the feeling of something that is very unlikely to ever happen. A grim chance. Or perhaps one of those situations where it is just seems completely hopeless, like there is no end, no escape in sight. Sometimes in this world it seems like Satan just has us. Things just go so bad sometimes that you feel that there is no way out. You can read the stories about Christians in other parts of the world who face prison and torture and death for being a Christian. I’m sure it seems very grim to them.
we tremble not for him
But even though it may seem hopeless, the Lord will take care of us. He is still our helper. Remember what happened with Elisha? The king of Syria was wondering who was telling the king of Israel all of his plans. It was told that Elisha was the one. And so the king surrounded the area where he was at, it was at the time when they were surrounded that Elisha said “fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them” and then we are told about the chariots of fire around him. You can read about it in 2 Kings 6. But even when surrounded by enemies, he trusted in God. From an earthly perspective it looked grim, but God was able to deliver Elisha and his servant. Read about God as a protector in the Psalms. Even though it may get tough down here, we don’t have to fear Satan, for God has already defeated him on the cross, and his final destruction is coming very soon.
His rage we can endure
There have been many Christians throughout the centuries who have been persecuted, but they have also endured. Read one time about all the saints of God who even during persecution, have endured to the end, never forsaking their God and Savior. People have even been saved by watching them testify of their God before being burned alive. I’m not saying that if we were to go through persecution it would be easy, but I’m saying that by His grace, we can endure all that Satan wants to do to us.
for lo his doom is sure
Satan won’t be around forever. God has stated in His Word that he will be brought down to hell (Isaiah 14:15) and that he will be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever (Revelation 20:10) God doesn’t lie, when He says something in His word, it will come to pass. We can be sure of that. No matter how long we may be hurt, afflicted, remember that it is only for a season. Soon the end will come.
one little word shall fell him
One word, that is all it takes from God to make Satan fall! Revelation 19 tells about that final battle, and in verse 15 John said that a sharp sword came from out of his mouth. That sword is the Word of God (Revelation 1:16 Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12) And with the Word will He make all the armies on that day fall. Satan will fall by the word of God. Soon v16 in Isaiah 14 will take place. We will look at Satan and say “is that all? is this the one that caused all this trouble in the world?” That is how weak Satan is and how powerful God is. But we need to remember that Satan once was the highest angel and we already have a picture of what will become of him. What about us? If a supernatural being is that weak compared to God then how can we ever stand before Him? Us weak and frail humans? Well the truth is we can’t. Not by ourselves. We are sinners, we have sinned against a Holy God and deserve the same punishment as Satan. But God is also love, and He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for us, because we couldn’t save ourselves. So He came and shed His blood and died and was resurrected the third day. All for us. He suffered at the cross, for nothing that He had done, He was innocent of all crime, but we were guilty. He died for nothing that He did but for everything that we did. We are the ones who deserved to be on that cross, not Him. We deserve to die and to never come alive again, but in His great mercy and love, He died in our place. Our substitute. That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. If you’re not saved then you still have to pay the price. Think about the word saved, are you saved? Why do we need to be saved? Because we have sinned against God. The same God that loved us so much that while we were His enemies, He died for us. We have done everything in the world that He hates and despises and cannot stand and yet He loved us to pay the price Himself. He is so Holy that none of us can stand before Him by ourselves. We have done everything that is against Who He is. He is light and we have done works of darkness. He is truth and we have done deceitfully. He is perfectly good and perfectly holy and we are horrible guilty wicked sinners. If He were to send us to hell for ten eternities He would be justified. We cannot imagine our guilt before God. We have no idea how enormous our crimes our to Him. But in His great love for us He sent His son to die for us, so that He might have fellowship with us and so that we might make Him our God, and He would make us His people. The only way to be saved from the judgement of God that we so rightly deserve is to trust in His gift of His only Son, who lived a sinless life and died in our place. God not only loved us and wants to save us but to do so He had to endure humiliation, He had to become a human, and set aside the use of His deity. Completely man but without sin, and completely God. The wonders of His ways. He not only loved us enough to pay for our sins, but He paid for it Himself, enduring humiliation at the hands of His creations. Think about it, He came to die for His enemies, the way He died, is by those creatures that He loves so much. He knew they would crucify Him, and He did it anyway. He loved us, that even though He cannot stand the sight of sin, and though we are sin soaked humans, He loved us so much to come and die, even at our hands, and yet still some refuse. It would have been easy for Him to just send us all to hell and start over, but that wasn’t His plan. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. All you need to do, is come to Him, believe on Him, and thou shalt be saved.
That word above all earthly powers
What is that word above all earthly powers? There are a two things called the word in the Bible.
One is Jesus Christ Himself, in John 1:14 it says the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus Christ is the Word of God, He said He came from God to the earth. He proceeds from the Father, Him and the Father are one (John 10:30), Jesus does God’s will and shows us it as well. Most importantly, Jesus IS God. “The Jews didn’t pronounce the name of God, but this is the One who is the Word. Gathering everything that was said of Him in the OT, He is presented as the One in the beginning. The Word was in the beginning. the word “was” is continued action, He was already there when the beginning was.” J. Vernon mcgee. We see in John 1:2 that He was separate from God and yet is God. The Godhead from eternity past. Hence the Word above all earthly powers is God. Many will try to dethrone God, but it will never work, He is above all earthly powers, just read the first part of John 1. the Word is God and everything was created by Him.
And the word of God is the sayings and declarations of God. In earlier times, in the old testament we read the prophets to whom God spoke, and they spoke “thus saith the Lord.” In the new testament we have that as well. Jesus spoke the word of God (Luke 5:1) as did the apostles (Acts 4:31, 13:5)
His word is pure (Proverbs 30:5) and is our spiritual food (Luke 4:4). Jesus says that we are blessed if we hear it and keep it (Luke 8:21, 11:28). By it comes faith (Romans 10:17) and it is that seed which we are born again by (Luke 8:11, 1 Peter 1:23). It is the only weapon on a Christian’s armor, a sharp double edged sword (Ephesians 6:17, Hebrews 4:12). Some even suffered for it (Revelation 1:9, 20:4).
It is to abide in us (1 John 2:14) though non-christians are willingly ignorant of it (2 Peter 3:5). We can certainly see why the word of God, whether spoken by preaching, by the old prophets or a reading of it is above any kind of earthly powers. What thing on earth can make one born again? What else do we have on earth that allows us to stand against the devil and this evil world?
No thanks to them, abideth
Jesus abides still, though the people sought to kill Him and were successful, He rose from the dead! On that day all the world was against Him but He overcame hell and death and now we know that through Him we too can have the victory.
The Bible, the word of God, also still abides. Throughout all the centuries men and demons have sought to destroy the Bible. First the word of God was attacked by saying that it doesn’t mean what it says, that there is a real deeper meaning to it, a secret magical knowledge in it. Then an attempt was made to corrupt it by philosophy (Colossians 2:8). During this time people’s commentaries on the Bible influenced many and still some doctrines of demons are around today because of it (think purgatory, infant baptism etc). Then came a long period of time when people did not have the Bible, and if they did, only select portions were read by the priests still espousing the doctrines of devils. But even through then, when it seemed the word of God had disappeared from the pages of history, God kept his word preserved by other groups outside the Catholic Church. Wycliffe, Tyndale and others during the period around the reformation actually translated the Bible in english before the printing press which turned out the first printed work, the King James Bible. There was also others during that period, the Geneva being a very popular translation. But during this time, the devil stepped up his attack and used the Catholic Church to persecute the reformers and burn and destroy Bibles in the common languages. This is the period in which Luther wrote this song. But even among immense persecution, the word of God still survived and survives to this day. Though today attacked by modernists and post-modernists, the word of God has stood the test of time because God has promised He would preserve His words.
Mark 13:31 “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.”
So God’s word still survives, no thanks to the devil and his earthly powers
The Spirit and the gifts are ours
The saved receive the Holy Spirit when we believe that Jesus Christ shed His blood, died for our sins, was buried and rose again.
Romans 8:9b says “Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
If we do not have the Holy Spirit living inside of us then we are not children of God. How do we know that we have the Spirit?
1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”
Do we love our Christian brethren? When we go to church, do we like being there? Do we enjoy talking to other Christians about the things of God? Or do we always think of those at church as hypocrites? Do we have a grudge against everybody? We need to examine ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5)
Romans 7:15-25
Do we have that inner struggle? If you don’t you may not have the Spirit, you may not be saved. We as Christians when we get saved don’t automatically stop sinning, we actually never stop sinning, but when the Spirit is living inside us we have a choice whether to sin or not. Before, we were servants of sin, and do the things of the devil (John 8:44) and we had no choice. But now we have a choice. We have both the flesh and the Spirit in us, and it is a constant battle they fight. Its a daily, even hourly battle to live in the Spirit, and not in the flesh. We have to choose to either serve sin or to serve God. Someone asked a man something like this “which one wins the most in your life?” and he replied “whichever I feed more.” We need to be feeding on the word of God to live in the Spirit. But if this conflict is not going on in your life, then there is a real problem.
Jesus also, on top of giving us the Holy Spirit, also gives us gifts
Salvation is a free gift (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9). All the religions of the world say that you can work your way to a paradise or heaven or that good works are good, but God says that all our righteousness are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and that we need to be clothed in His righteousness (Revelation 7:14). We need to exchange our filthy garments for the white robe, and we can only get that by the blood of Jesus. We are washed and cleansed by His blood alone (Revelation 1:5)
The Holy Spirit is a gift. We get this gift when we are saved, but also in Luke 11:13 we read that if we ask God for the Holy Spirit, the power of God to win souls, then we’ll get it, He knows how to give good gifts.
Also in the Bible, Paul talks about Spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11, Ephesians 4:11 and the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23. God gives to His people special gifts. He gives some teachers, some evangelists etc. We see in 1 Corinthians 12:6 that the Holy Spirit works in different ways with different people but it is the same God which does it to accomplish His purposes. God gives us the ability to do what He calls us to do, and we can do nothing without Him (John 15:5). There are some things that God has not “called” us to do and so if we try and do it, we will fail because we don’t have the power of God to do it. But if we live in the Spirit, if we abide in Christ and do what we do and have the power of the Spirit, then the work is done, and it is in Christ that we do what we do. There are some things that some people are just not suppose to do or be doing and there are some things that God has given them the ability to do it. Paul was an evangelist, He was called to that work, others were not.
There are two parables that in a sense show us that God distributes gifts. Matthew 25:14 and Luke 19:11. In Matthew the servants are given an unequal amount of talents, some double it and the other hides it, this parable can show how God gives some people more than others, but it is up to the individuals to use the talents rightly. In Luke 19:11 we see that they are each given a talent, representing that all of us start on the same plane, spiritually speaking and we need to use our one talent and multiply it into more for the one who gave it to us. So one speaks of different gifts, the other speaks of the one Spirit and how we choose to be led or not led by Him.
Read Matthew 7:7-12, Jesus says that we know how to give good gifts to those who ask us, why would God do any less? He knows how to give us good gifts, and likes to give us what we ask and desire, but we often ask for bad gifts, which He can’t or doesn’t want to give us
Through Him Who with us sideth
Romans 8:31-32 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
In context Paul is here referring to salvation. God gives us salvation through Jesus Christ, a free gift, not of works lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). Those Spiritual gifts we were talking about earlier come from Him as well.
God is the giver of life, He created all things and for His pleasure (Revelation 4:11). Even to the unjust, those who are not saved He is good to by giving sun and rain (Matthew 5:45). God could just pull the rug right out from under us if He wanted, but He doesn’t, thats how good He is, even though we are so bad. Even if we are saved we still sin, and oh He must hate it, and yet He loves us. We are dust (Psalm 103:14) and He has mercy on us. Oh the wonderful grace of Jesus
Christ is on our side, He loves His church, He died for it. He protects us more than we will ever know. From dark forces, from wickedness, from pain. He gives us more than we deserve, He gives us the opposite of what we deserve, God is good.
Let goods and kindred go
Matthew 16:24 “Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
Luke 9:62 “And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
We are told to follow Jesus, we are to take up our cross daily and follow Him. Its hard to do that, taking up our cross is painful. It means we have to crucify our flesh daily. To live not for ourselves, but for God. Sometimes God calls for us to make sacrifices
In Acts 4:34-35 we read about those who just got saved, who sold what they had and gave it to the apostles to distribute to those who had need. Sometimes following Christ costs us money. Sometimes it may cost us time, or what we want to do. Someone may come up to you right before work ends and talk to you about Christ. Well you want to go home, but to be a witness to someone we need to sacrifice some of what we have.
Though in this hymn, this verse is talking about leaving or forsaking all for Jesus.
We see a few examples of this
In Luke 5:27-28 we see where Jesus called Matthew (also called Levi) and in verse 28 “he left all, rose up, and followed him.” He was a tax collector, he left off doing that to follow Jesus. He left material goods
Mark 1:19-20 is the calling of James and John, and we read “and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him.” They left their father, family.
The main idea behind all this is that there have been those who have left all for Jesus. There are people who if they get saved and turn to Christ, they are disowned by their family and loose out on an inheritance. There are others who go to the mission field to serve Christ and leave so much behind, so they might gain Christ. To some people, all they have is Jesus, for one reason or another they have no material wealth or family, we all have to choose to follow Christ, and He will take care of us. Jesus said that if you don’t hate your family you can’t be His disciple. He doesn’t mean to hate your family, but your love for Christ needs to be so much more than love for anyone, or anything else. Because if you love anything more than Christ, when persecution hits, you might be one who turns back from Christ.
There are few people that really live their lives for Christ, who truly follow Christ. It may not be in God’s program for us that we forsake everything physically, but it is His will that we at least forsake it as an idol in our heart. That is what we must do to really follow Christ. But we can’t do it in our own power, we’ll fail if we try, we have to do it in His, in the power of the Spirit.
This mortal life also
Many have died for Christ throughout the years. Read Foxe’s Book of Martyrs or just scan through it. Many have died, and many are dying today, simply because they believe on Jesus Christ. Now that belief they have is not the belief of many who would fall away during persecution, but it is the true belief in Christ unto salvation. Stephen was the first New Testament martyr for Christ. But most of the other apostles died because of the testimony of Christ. Many have died for the truth, throughout the Old Testament we read of the prophets and the righteous who were killed because they were righteous and the killer’s deeds were evil.
In Hebrews 11:37-38 Paul talks about those of whom the world was not worthy. The previous passages mention those like martyrs and those of faith. God says the world is not worthy of His people, but He is merciful, and wants to save.
Philippians 1:29 “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;”
If we believe on Christ unto salvation, we are going to suffer. Paul makes it clear here that it is given to us to suffer for Him. That doesn’t sound too good, it is something we are not use to. The most suffering for Jesus we do is when someone looks at us weird when we pray, or when they curse and don’t want to listen to the gospel. But many have died for the testimony of Christ. There are believers all over the world that have to meet in secret so that they won’t be killed by their government.
Philippians 1:21 says “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Paul could say that he was okay with dying. In fact, he said he wouldn’t mind dying, but that to stay was necessary to help others. There are stories of people being converted because they saw others who willingly gave up their life for Christ, rather than deny Him. God gives peace to His children that are put in those situations, many have experienced the peace of God right before their execution and did not die in pain, but looking forward to seeing Christ their Saviour.
The body they may kill
Again, many have died for Jesus, many have been maimed and tortured as well. The world is against Christ but He that is in you is stronger than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4). Read the last chapter of the book, we win in the end, these are just little battles.
God’s truth abideth still
God’s word will always be around. The devil wants to destroy the Bible and God’s people but God is faithful to preserve His word, and He always has His people.
Remember how Elijah thought he was the only one who was serving God, but God told him that “I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal” God has His witness always on earth. Even in the days before the flood when all men had corrupted themselves (Genesis 6:11-12), He still had Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness in the days before the flood (2 Peter 2:5) God always has a remnant. Throughout the “major” prophets we read about the destruction of Jerusalem but followed with promises of God to restore a remnant. God has never completely destroyed all His people.
God’s truth, His word abides, from the beginning, to now, and to eternity future, His word will abide.
Matthew 24:35 “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
Isaiah 51:6 says that the earth shall wax old and the heavens shall vanish away but His salvation shall be forever, as well as His righteousness.
Isaiah 40:8 “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.”‘
1 Peter 1:25 “But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.”
God’s word endures forever, the gospel endures forever. The gospel of the grace of God, the good news the Christ died and rose again for our sins. to pay our penalty. That will be forever. A lot of what we do today is only for this world, some may be necessary, but how much will it help in the life to come? Are we investing in His truth. It has been around since the creation, and though men may try and destroy faith in His word, it is still around. God’s truth abideth still, and will for eternity. No attacks can destroy it, and no one can change it.
His kingdom is forever
2 Peter 1:11 “For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”
Psalm 45:6 (also Hebrews 1:8) “Thy throne, O God is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre”
In Isaiah 9:7, Daniel 7:14, 26 we read that the coming kingdom is forever, it is everlasting.
God is going to rule and reign completely over this earth one day, and when He does, it will be a paradise
This is a great hymn about trusting God that everything will turn out good in the end. Regardless of all the persecutions and problems and struggles and sin in this world right now. Regardless of everything we go through, the battles and days of sorrow, that God is faithful. He will do what He has said. Christ will win the war, in fact, it’s already won. Read the last chapters of Revelation, we win. We just have a few little battles left to fight, but Christ has won. Never let the devil make you forget that, always remember that we have won. Times may get tough, we will get discouraged, but we’ve won. The battles are now for the hearts and minds of men. The battle is raging on, we need to pick a side, which side will you choose? It is time, more than ever to work for Jesus, will we work?