Jehovah Nissi

So powerful to sing about the Lord who fights the battles for us and even this week he had been a faithful God and we are here this afternoon worshiping him because every battle we have faced he has gone before us and fought for us. I know that last week was probably a very difficult week for us to drive and to get around but so thankful to the Lord for his protection and Care upon all of our church families. I only know of one person who had a minor accident, other than that, so thankful that God kept all of you safe and thankful for what God has done. 

We have several of our church members who are in India who are back with us this morning. We’re so grateful that they are worshiping with us. Pastor Johnson is back after a few months, Joychan and Ammama are back, Bro. Phinni and family are back. We’re so thankful that God protected all of you, provided for you, helped you in your ministry, and did great things through you. We are so grateful for the faithful hand of God who continues to be there for all of us. 

We’re continuing with our series, in knowing the names of God, and we’ve already gone through four names of God in the past four weeks. We have looked at the fact that our God is Elohim, a God who is the almighty Creator and the sustainer of everything. We looked at the fact, in the second week, the fact that Adonai, the Lord, the God that we worship, is Lord of the universe and worthy of our complete surrender and adoration. Then we looked to the fact that God is El Shaddai, a God who is more than enough. Last week we looked at the fact that God is Jehovah Rapha, The God Who heals us. Joel already kind of stole my thunder of my message a little bit by giving you a little bit of the background of what I’ll be talking about today, that’s from the book of Exodus 17:8-15.

Before we read that passage and we look at verses 8 through 15 which I’ll read here in a minute, about two months have now gone by since the people of Israel have left the land of Egypt. Just like we saw last week as they went to Marah and there was nothing for them to drink or the water that they had was bitter, and how God changed that water, the bitter water into sweet, something that was suitable for them to drink and proclaimed that he is their healer. We find in chapter 17 they find themselves in a place called Rephidim, and as often happens in a wilderness journey, they again found themselves in a place where there was no water. Again they murmured against God, again they grumbled against God, and this time God would cause the rod that was in the hand of Moses to be struck on a rock and water would gush and would quench the thirst of the people of God. In the context of this great provision of God, in which God once again opened up streams and rivers of water enough to quench the thirst of literally almost 2 million people, that’s a large number of people. We’re not talking about a small stream, we’re talking about a giant river that almost broke up in the wilderness. We read in verse 8 the people of God facing an enemy like they have never faced before. The Egyptians were well known to them, they had ruled over them, the army was very well known to them, but now out of nowhere, in the midst of the victory the God was giving to them by providing them with water, suddenly they are faced with another battle on their hands, which is what we read in verses 8-15. 

One thing I want to remind the church at the very onset is that the Christian life is never devoid of battles. You will never come to a point in your life where you will not face adversaries or difficulties in your life. Today it might be thirst, yesterday it might be bitterness, yesterday it might be the Egyptians, but tomorrow it would be a different army. The only difference is that they might come in different names and we do not even know what kind of challenges we will face tomorrow. As a church, we do not know that, as families, we do not know that, as individuals, we do not know that. That is why you and I have to constantly remind us of the one constant that is always constant in the midst of all the troubles, whatever name they might come in, it is the faithfulness of our God and a God who fights for his people. 

And that’s where we come to verse 8 through 15. The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of your men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.” Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, one on the other, the hands remained steady until sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Verse 14, then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” Moses built an altar and called it “The Lord is my banner.” Moses built an altar and called it “The Lord is my banner.” And this is the only time in God’s word we come to the word we’ll be focusing on today, which is this: The Lord, Jehovah Nissi, The Lord who is my banner.

In this here what we read about so far is a group of people known as the Amalekites. Who are these Amalekites the Bible is talking about? They’re a nomadic group growing up in the desert. They are usually very brutal people, and they’re going up against the people of God. But where do they come from? How did Amalekites come on the face of the earth? When I share this story and give you the background of where the Amalekites come from, I hope and pray that you’ll remember that the choices that we make in life, as I told you a couple of weeks ago, will pay dividends positively also through generations, just like that it will also pay dividends negatively through generations as well. That’s exactly what we find in God’s word. In Exodus 17:8 we read that the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. In Genesis 27:41, the word of God reads like this: “Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to him.” If you were thinking, “Why, Pastor, wait a minute, why are you talking about Esau? I thought we were talking about Amalekites,” stick with me here. And this word is also very, very important here. The Bible says, “Esau held a grudge against Jacob.” The word held a grudge there is talking about continuous, perpetual grudge, hatred towards someone. It is hatred and it just continues year after year, decade after decade. And what we see in the life of Esau is that he never got over his grudge against Jacob. If you think that they kind of reconciled towards the end of their life, they kind of did, but the Bible says Esau’s life was a life of continuous grudge against Jacob.

Now why do I mention Esau? Look at what God’s word says to us in Genesis 36:4. This is talking about Ada, who is one of the concubines of Esau, she bore a son to Esau, his name is Eliphaz. In the same chapter, in verse 12, the Bible tells us Esau’s son Eliphaz also had a concubine named Timna, who bore him Amalek. These were grandsons of Esau’s wife Ada. So Eliphaz was born to his wife Ada, and his son Eliphaz, who is the son of Esau, had a concubine, her name was Timna, who bore him a son by the name of Amalek. These were the grandsons of Esau’s wife Ada. Almost an entire chapter in the Bible is devoted to the genealogy of Esau. Have you ever wondered why that is? Have you ever thought about why would God waste almost the precious pages in God’s word to tell us about the genealogy of a godless man? You know why, to kind of point to what I was mentioning to you before, just like the blessings of God go through generations, unfortunately sometimes curses of God also are passed on through generations to generation. That is why what you and I do today, again I emphasize to the church, will pay dividends positively and negatively. Here was a man who held a grudge against Jacob, to him was born a grandson by the name of Amalek. Guess what happened, when they became a large group of people, they also held a perpetual, continuous grudge against the people of God.

In fact, when you read those scriptures, God told his people, when you enter the Promised Land, completely destroy the Amalekites. The people of God did not do that, so we see later on in the Book of Judges, Gideon having to fight the Amalekites, we see David having to fight the Amalekites. Why? The people of God did not do what God had told them. But what will happen here is that we see a continuous hatred towards the people of God by the descendants of Esau. Why? The father’s hatred is passed on to the son, the son’s hatred is passed on to the grandson. Generations later, as the people of God, descendants of Jacob, are walking through the wilderness, the descendants of Esau are coming and attacking the people of God. And this is not a fair battle.

And look what they did. Deuteronomy 25:17-18 tells us how cruel Amalekites were. This is what God is saying to them, much years later, through Moses: Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind. They had no fear of God. Guess who usually lags behind in a caravan? It is usually the elderly, the children, the infants, the moms with babies that are not able to walk or go as fast as the people going ahead of them. The Amalekites are cowards. The Amalekites are guerrilla warfare. They don’t really care about attacking the enemy head-on because they’re a bunch of cowards. What do they do? They come behind the battle line and they grab a hold of the vulnerable and they destroy them. And God is saying, remember what the Amalekites did to you when you came out of Egypt.

This battle that we find in God’s word, Exodus 17, is not a fair battle. You should not forget that for almost 400 plus years, these people have been slaves in the land of Egypt. They are, by tradition, by their own background, they are shepherds, they are not fighters. Now they have been asked to fight an army of people coming against them. They have no training, they have no weapons, but you know what they have, as we see in God’s word, they have the God who is going before them and fighting the battle for them. And I’m here to remind you this morning that you are no match against Satan, that you are no match against the evil powers that are in this world. You and I are mere human beings that cannot stand against the power of Lucifer, the chief angel that God had created. But I thank God this morning that I don’t fight my battles alone. I don’t stand against the armies of the enemy all alone. I have a God who fights for me. I have a God who goes before me. I have a God who says, “The battle belongs to Me, it does not belong to you.” You may not be trained in warfare, you may not have the weaponry that they do, they might have the element of surprise and all these things working in their favor. But what you have, they do not have, who is with you, they do not have, who comes both for you, you, they do not have. There’s a God who delights to fight the battles of his people, and I praise God for that this morning.

God tells us to Joshua, Moses through God says to him, “Choose some of our men.” I love that word, some of our men. It doesn’t say how many. I don’t think it was many. I don’t know how many able-bodied fighters they had in their midst, but numbering 2 million people, they definitely had a large group of men. “They go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow, I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” Hallelujah! What does that staff represent? If you think it is the fighting that is going on in the valley that is winning the victory, it is not. It is that staff of God that is raised up, the staff that split the Red Sea up into two, the staff that produced a great epidemics and pandemic upon all of Egypt, that staff. The staff that had just struck the rock just a few verses earlier, that staff is lifted up. That staff is not magical, you know why that staff is powerful? It is not because it has some kind of black magic behind the staff. The staff represents the presence of God, the staff represents the provision of God, the staff represents God himself standing for his people. That staff is a visible sign of God himself standing on top of the hill, watching the war that is going on.

As long as the staff is lifted up, look at verses 12 and 13, God gives victory. When Moses’ hands, here’s a man standing with the staff, try standing with the staff for a while, it gets really tiresome. They took a stone and asked him to sit down, but there’s a problem again, the hands are getting tired again. So now they have two men, Aaron and Hur, standing holding his hands up, one on one side and one on the other. The hands remained steady till sunset. Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword on that day. Even though they were not more skilled, even though they were not much greater, because God was with them, they won the battle on that day. They did not forget the God who saved them. Look at verse 15, Moses built an altar and called it “The Lord is my banner.” Hallelujah. And there you see that word, Jehovah Nissi, “The Lord who is my banner.” What does it mean by the fact that the Lord is my banner? The first thing it means is this: “The Lord is my banner,” it proclaims God’s leadership over our lives. The banner, the banner is what represents who you are. It says that whoever is represented by that banner is the one who is providing leadership for us in our lives. It is the one who is going ahead for us, and it is the one that is fighting for us.

On September 13, 1814, British warships set a downpour of shells and rockets onto Fort McHenry in the Baltimore Harbor, relentlessly pounding the American fort for 25 hours. The greatest warships the world had ever seen until that time were pounding this one fort, trying to gain entry into the United States. Just a few weeks ago, they had attacked Washington D.C., burning the capital, the treasury, and the house of the president. If the War of 1812 goes the way of Britain, we’ll all be speaking with a British accent this morning. But, even though 24 hours of bombardment, throughout the night, all he could see was a red glare of rockets burning and shooting. No one knew what was going on.

A week earlier than this, there was a 35-year-old American lawyer by the name of Francis Scott Key who had boarded one of the flagship British fleet off the Chesapeake Bay in hopes of persuading the British to release a friend who had recently been arrested. So, this lawyer is on the British ship arguing for his friend, and he was able to win his release. But what happened when Francis Scott Key was on the ship was that he heard, along with his friend, about the plans of the British to attack the port at Baltimore. So the British said, “Well, you can go, your friend can go, but you cannot go now because we don’t trust you to keep this a secret.” So, Francis Scott Key, along with his friend, was stuck on the ship, and all throughout the night, they watched rockets going up towards the fort. The Americans surely thought the British had won. He knew that the firepower of the British warships were no match for this fort, and everything would come down. And night, all night, he would write, it seemed as the mother earth had opened and was vomiting shot and shell in a sheet of fire and brimstone. But when darkness arrived, Key saw onlyred erupting in the night sky. Given the scale of the attack, it was certain the British would win. The hours passed slowly, but in the clearing smoke of the dawn’s early light on September 14, he saw the American flag still rising over Fort McHenry.

He turned to his friend then he said, “Give me a pad and a pen,” and he wrote, “Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming, whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.” This picture right here that I’m showing is the original flag that flew over Fort McHenry that night, 15 stars only on it at that time. It was made just a year ago, commissioned by Major George Armistead who was the major at the fort. Guess how much he paid for it, $405.90. It’s a huge flag, you can go to the Smithsonian in Washington D.C. and see the flag even today. Over the years, the American government has spent 58 million dollars to take care of this flag that was worth $405 to preserve it in the way that you see today. We all sing the national anthem that Francis Scott Key wrote that night. See, that flag represented the fact the United States was still in control, and the British had not won.

But what I want to especially speak to the young people is that, do you know the second stanza of that song that you never sing as part of the national anthem, and it never became national anthem? But listen to the words of the second stanza, here’s what he says, “O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand between their loved homes and the war’s desolation. Blessed with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land praise the power that has made and preserved us as a nation.” This is part of your national anthem that Francis Scott Key wrote, but we never sang it, nor did it become part of the national anthem because we wanted to take any mention of God out of anything that we ever have as a national treasure. Look what he says, “Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto, ‘In God is our trust.’ Over the land of the free and the home of the brave.” God is our trust over the land of the free and the home of the brave. Heaven rescued land. Even this afternoon, you and I are in the land of the free and the home of the brave, not by accident. It is not because of this flag, it is because the Lord had a gracious hand over this nation, and His Banner has been the banner in the lives of many men and women who paid so much for this land becoming what it is. It represents leadership.

The second thing, here’s what the banner does, “The Lord is my banner,” proclaims the protection over our lives, not only leadership. Whenever you have the banner of the Lord above you, oh, it tells you that you are protected by the Lord. The other day when I was visiting one of our homes, I want to tell you who it is, you know me, pastor of faith, said a sentence, “I said, you know, the more God gives blessings into our life, like a church, the more we have to be ready to face the attack of the evil one.” And then that sister gave me great words of encouragement, she said, “Pastor, I’m not afraid of the attacks of the evil one because I see God always standing with me. I’m not afraid of the attacks of the evil one because my God is always with me, my God’s Army is always with me, oh, He is always surrounding me. Pastor, attacks of the evil one cannot come against me, it can only come until my God allows it to happen.” And I thank God for people of faith like that, that encourages pastors even in the midst of the church. See, that’s what Psalm 20:5 tells us, it tells us, “May we shout for joy over your victory and lift up our banners in the name of our God.” Why? Next words, “Now this I know,” this I know, this you know, this we know, what is that? “The Lord gives victory to his anointed. He answers him from his heavenly sanctuary with the victorious power of His right hand.” How many of you are able to confess that this afternoon, that the Lord gives victory to the anointed, that he is a faithful God who answers us from the heavenly sanctuary with a victorious power of His right hand?

Verse 7: “Some trust in chariots, some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Yes, the horses look more impressive, don’t they? The chariots look like they can do a lot for you. The God that you worship is an unseen God, but the Holy Spirit is telling you even this morning, do not trust in horses you can see, do not trust in chariots that come before you, trust in the name of the Lord Our God who is your Jehovah Nissi, the banner that is flying over your life today. Or if I could just show you, if I could see with my eyes of faith, I will see a staff that is lifted up on top of my home and your home where God says, “I am the banner of that home, I am the banner of that life, I’m the banner of that family.” And as long as He is there, He is my protector and provider. And look what happens to the people that trust in chariots and horses, verse 8: “They are brought to their knees and they fall, but we rise up and stand firm.” So the question this morning is just this: do you want to fall down and fail, or do you want to stand up and be firm? Trust in the Lord your God.

Finally, “The Lord is my banner” proclaims our identity and unity in Christ. The banner tells who you belong to, it tells us who we are. We belong to Him, none other. It tells us also that we are all united under one banner. We may have different opinions, we may have things that we see in a different way, we may have different perspectives, or maybe different opinions about different things. But don’t ever forget, as a church, that things that unite us are much stronger and greater and more eternal than the things that would ever, ever divide us. The things that bring us together are more near and dear to the heart and more important than anything that could ever tear us apart. We belong to one Heavenly Father, we are bought by one blood, we have one Spirit that is living inside of us, we read one word, we worship together, we break one bread, we drink one cup, we all had one baptism, we have one Savior, we are one destiny, we are one eternal home, we are one city that is being madefor us, we are one home that we’re going to live in, we are all going to live together forever. We have unity because we are under the banner of God. Your banner is not the Indian flag, your banner is not the American flag, ultimately your banner is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord who is over you. 

Look at Psalm 60:4, “You have raised a banner for those who fear you, a rallying point in the face of attack.” The Message Bible paraphrases it this way, “You planted a flag to rally your people, and unfold the flag to look for courage in your life.” Francis Scott Key looked at the flag and knew that America was still in control. You and I don’t look at any worldly flag. I pray that you will look at the flag of God being the banner of your life and get courage that is needed in your life today. Isaiah 41:10 tells us, God tells us, “Do not fear, I am with you; do not be dismayed, I am your God. You belong to him, I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand.” That all comes from us belonging to Him and having our identity in Him. 

Probably one of the most famous pictures ever taken is this picture. It is a picture of six Marines raising the flag of the United States in Iwo Jima, Japan, in the middle of World War II. It was only five days into battle, a battle that would claim the lives of almost 7,000 U.S. soldiers and 20,000 Japanese soldiers just on this island. See, this island was very, very important; if you wanted to go to the mainland of Japan, they needed a launching place. This island was absolutely perfect, and so they decided to go to this island even though it was a dangerous mission, and they paid a heavy price for it. But because eventually, the Americans would conquer this island, they would be able to reach Japan and eventually defeat the Japanese. The Battle of Iwo Jima is considered to be one of the most critical battles ever fought in World War II. Now, this battle went on for many months, the flag was raised only five days into the battle. You know what these Marines did? They climbed to the top, the tallest mountain is a volcanic, dormant volcanic mountain, and they raised the flag, and one photographer was there to capture this picture of the six Marines raising the flag. Now, the question is to be asked, why would you risk your life when there’s so much fighting going on, to climb the top mountain and raise a flag? You know why? Every time from that day on, when they would fight, they would look up to the top of the mountain, and they would see the American flag flying on top of it. That told them that they were still in control, they were still winning, that the Japanese had not overtaken them. God’s banner flying over you is the assurance that He is still the victorious one, as we read this morning, and He is fighting for you, and He will win the war.

I’ll end with this. I told you about the Star-Spangled Banner. You know that flag was a huge flag, it was 42 by 30 feet. It was erected on a pole that was 189 feet up in the air. The question was always asked, how would a flag that was so big, that was erected on a pole that was so high in the air, survive the wind of that night, especially from all the attacks that were coming to the fort? They did some digging, and you know what they found? Beneath the fort, the pole was hit together by two timbers that formed a cross at the base of the fort. You know what held the flag together? A cross-shaped structure at the bottom of the fort. Ultimately, what gives us confidence? It is the cross. It is the cross. It is the fact that our lives are built upon the cross, that gives us the fact that Jehovah Nissi, His Banner, is flying over you. Oh, there’s a cross that is the foundation of our life as well, and just like that flag was able to withstand the wind of that night, your life and my life is standing firm only because, if you look deep, you will see a cross, upon which our lives were also built upon a solid rock, the foundation of God, Jehovah Nissi, the Lord who is the banner of your life and the banner of my life.

Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are our leader, we thank you that you are our protector, we thank you that we find our identity in you, and our unity comes from having you as a Jehovah Nissi of our life. Oh, let that banner fly high for all to see, let that banner become a reality in our inner man, oh God, so we are confident people, knowing that you are fighting for us, that your hand is lifted up, that you are watching over us. I pray that you remove any kind of discouragement from our hearts, lack of confidence, and help us to trust in you, and you alone. Thank you, Lord, for this morning, and as we now enter into a time of remembering that cross, we pray that you bless us in the Lord Jesus, that we pray, Amen.