The promise of God was about to be fulfilled as the Israelites were waiting to capture their Promised Land. They were sitting on the sidelines and Joshua was preparing himself to lead them forward. Then Joshua had an encounter that would change everything for him. He looked up and saw a man carrying a drawn sword. Baffled, Joshua asked the question(s) we would have asked… “Who are you?” Are you our friend or our enemy?” He replied, “Neither one, I am the commander of the LORD’s army.” What Joshua was seeing was what we call either a Theophany (an appearance of God in the Old Testament) or a Christophany (an appearance of Jesus in the Old Testament).
Basically, this man said to Joshua: “I didn’t come to take a side. I came to take over.” He was reminding Joshua that He was able to fight this battle and He would win. But they must let Him go before them. With sword drawn, He was saying… “I am ready.” This is a story for each of us as well. The commander of the Lord’s army is ready to fight your battles as well. All we need to do is get behind Him. And the thing we need to always remember is that when we let Him fight for us… He WILL win. We are promised victory in 1 Corinthians 15:57: “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Hence, victory only comes through Christ.
On this earth we are always in a battle… a battle that has many enemies. Let’s examine the four most pronounced enemies we fight on a daily basis…
Satan! Not everything we are up against comes from Satan. We must remember that we live in a fallen and cursed world. But we must never underestimate the power of Satan. He is “prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). He’s patient and he’s waiting for you to let your guard down. He’s not after unbelievers or lukewarm Christians. No! He hunts for devoted Christians. He is our GREATEST enemy.
The world! Everything the world promotes, the Bible condemns. But the world has a strong pull and it’s pulled many Christians away from the Bible. They have compromised. It seems they have one foot in the Kingdom of God and another foot in the world. But Jesus says to us… pick a side. We must not let the world win. Jesus said, “Here on earth, you have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
Sin! Satan watches us and he knows our weaknesses. And he uses it to his advantage. He then dangles temptation before our eyes… and when we bite, he has succeeded in luring us into his web. Here’s the thing… we can overcome sin. And when we do, Satan loses.
Our flesh! We often forget that our flesh is an enemy because our flesh stands in opposition to God’s law. And it’s very strong. Our flesh can easily win if we are not careful. The strongest of Christians deal with this great enemy. In the seventh chapter of Romans, Paul tells us that he too struggles with his flesh… He says “What I do I do not want to do and what I don’t want to do, I do” (Romans 7:15). Our flesh is a huge enemy that we fight every day.
With these enemies always trying to take us down, we must let God fight for us. He’s ready with sword drawn. We must stand behind Him and claim the victory through Him. Hope this encourages you today.