The Story of God: Our Invisible Battle

Have you ever been in a battle?  You know, a skirmish, a clash between two sides?  Some of you who have seen military action know what I’m talking about.  But if you haven’t there are other kinds of battles.  I remember the very first battle I was in as a kid.  In my neighborhood we had a bunch of guys around the same age: Billy Phillips, Jeff Hillflicker, James Pauley, Rodney Braun, Scott Armstrong were just a few of my friends that I hung out with.  Most of the time we all got along famously.  But one summer there was some bad blood between a couple of guys and one thing led to another and we started taking sides. I don’t even remember what the conflict was about, but it all came to a head one day with an all out dirt clod war. It was great.  Somehow we actually armed ourselves with a bunch of dirt clods and went at it.  There we were, hiding behind hedges, climbing over fences, running through trees and backyards, looking for our opportunities to attack. Then there would this flurry of action where we’d just go at it.  We got sweaty, bruised and dirty.  But I don’t remember anyone ever really getting hurt.  All I know is the dirt clod war lasted one afternoon, and then we were all back to being friends again the next day. That’s a fun memory for me. Not everyone gets to be in a dirt clod battle and live to tell about it.

But battles are a part of life, aren’t they?  People disagree.  Lines are crossed.  Words are spoken.  Tensions mount.  In fact, most battles aren’t the physical kind.  They are invisible.  Like power struggles in the work place; feuds between neighbors, or conflicts within families.  And when you find yourself in one of these battles, it is not fun.  At best they are frustrating.  At worst they are maddening.  And if you’re like me, you don’t like conflict.  You hate being at odds.  You like peace, you want harmony, but sometimes you’ve got to take action.

And that’s just where we find ourselves in the story of God today.  Moses and Aaron are in the midst of a battle with Pharaoh.  They’ve come to him with God’s command to let God’s people go, and things have gone from bad to worse.  Pharaoh orders Israel to make bricks without straw, their overseers are beaten for failure to meet their quota, and now all of Israel is livid with Moses and Aaron.  But their battle with Pharaoh is just getting started.  For as we are going to see today, their battle with Pharaoh is really a power struggle – a spiritual battle between God and Pharaoh – an invisible skirmish that mirrors our battle with evil today.  And even though this battle took place thousands of years ago, what we are going to glean from this conflict will help us in our invisible battle today.  So, if you brought your Bible with you, let me encourage you to open it to Exodus 6:28-7:7,where God begins by showing us how we fit into His invisible battle plan.

That’s where we’re going to start. (Read the text)  Now when life got harder for Israel, life got harder for Moses.  Moses lost round one.  Everyone lost confidence in Moses, including himself, so Moses falls back to old excuses.  He tells God he doesn’t think he has what it takes.  That’s usually what happens when we experience failure.  We focus on ourselves.  But God wants Moses to take his eyes off his failure and see himself the way God has positioned himself to be seen.  God says:  “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh,” Exodus7:1

Like God to Pharaoh:  This is our role in our invisible battle.This is Our Identity  We are so quick to forget who we are.  We are like God to Pharaoh.  We are like God to the enemy.   And like Moses, this is not how we normally see ourselves.  Moses saw himself as the loser of round one.  Moses reverted to his insecurities and focused on his poor speaking skills.  And as long as Moses saw himself that way, he was going to be no good in his role.  He was going to be handcuffed by his insecurities. He was going to be intimidated by Pharaoh.  He wasn’t going to have the confidence to go toe to toe in battle with Pharaoh.  So God is reminding Moses of how Pharaoh was going to see him.  God said, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh.”  God has done something for Moses here.  God has made Moses the intimidating enforcer in this battle.  So when Moses speaks, he will speak with the authority of God, with the power of God, and Pharaoh won’t be able to measure up.  What God is telling Moses here, is that Moses is God’s representative to Pharaoh. Ultimately, it is God, not Moses who is taking on Pharaoh.   Moses is just the mouthpiece.

Did you know that is the same role given to us?  We are God’s representatives.  This is what Scripture says: “If anyone is in Christ,the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”2 Corinthians 5:17-20

We need to start seeing ourselves this way.  Do you see yourself this way?  If you do, then you will be able talk to anyone about Jesus.  God wants you to change how you see yourself.   He gave you a new identity.  The old you is gone.  You are a new creation in Christ. Jesus lives in you.  And because he does, others will see God in you.  And they will know that God is pursuing them through you.  That was Moses’ role.  And that’s our role in our invisible battle.  That’s how we fit into God’s plan.

Now lets look at a second reality. Look at verse 7 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ then say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a snake.”

So Moses and Aaron went toPharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron threw his staff down in front of Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a snake.

What did Moses and Aaron do?  Pretty simple: Moses and Aaron Obeyed: Whereas embracing our identity as God’s representative is our role in our invisible battle, our obedience is our power in the midst of spiritual battle.  This is Our Power: When we obey God, we show the world that God is real.  When we obey God, we show that we are trusting His Word.  And when we trust Him, that’s when He works.

That’s what’s happening here.  When Aaron obeyed, God worked.  The staff turned into a snake.  When Aaron obeyed God’s power was released.  And I got to believe that when you obey God will do the same for you.  As you obey Him, He will work through you.  His power is released through our obedience.  Remember what Jesus said in the Great Commission:  “Go and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you.”  Sometimes we leave out the “obey” part.  We’re pretty good at the knowing part.  We acquire lots of knowledge about God’s will.  But God gave us His will so that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  So when we obey, when we love one another, when we love our enemies, when we do good, God’s power is released in our world.

1 Corinthians 4:20 says: For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.                        2 Thessalonians 1:11 says, To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of His calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by His power.

God’s power is released through our obedience!   We obey and HE DOES THE WORK.  Aaron obeyed and God did a miracle!  Our world needs some miracles.  OUR WORLD NEEDS TO EXPERIENCE HIS GRACE, HIS MERCY AND HIS LOVE.  That’s our power.  When we obey we show the world another way:  we SHOW THE WAY OF JESUS. He can fix what is wrong.  He can heal what is hurting. He can fill the empty heart. People want to see if God is real. And our obedience shows that God is real. This is our Power in the invisible war.

Now lets look at this miracle, this sign.The Sign of the Snake:  The staff became a snake. Why a snake?  Because the Egyptians were fascinated with snakes.  They feared snakes, and carried around special amulets to protect them from the serpent god Apophis, the serpent god who personified evil. And the Pharaoh’s used this fear of snakes as part of their power.  In fact, many Pharaoh’s believed that the snake-

goddess Wadjetwas instrumental in bringing them to the throne and invested them with her divine powers. And others considered her to be their protector. So when Pharaohput his security in the serpent-god, he was actually making an alliance with Satan.  When Pharaoh ascended the throne of Egypt, he would take the royal crown and make this oath:

O Great One, O Magician, O Fiery Snake

Let there be terror of me like the terror of thee.

Let there be fear of me like fear of thee.

Let there be awe of me like the awe of thee.

Let me rule, a leader of the living.

Let me be powerful, a leader of spirits.

So with these words, Pharaoh offered his soul to the devil.  But when Aaron “cast down his staff before Pharaoh,” he was taking this symbol of the king’s authority and making it crawl in the dust. And this act then, was a direct assault on Egypt’s entire belief system.  Since the snake was a symbol of Pharaoh’s authority and power, God was making a direct attack on his sovereignty. The sign of the snake then was sign of God’s authority over Pharaoh

Of course, as soon as Pharaoh saw this attack on his authority slithering across the floor, he called for backup.  His assumption was that the god with the most magic wins.  So Pharaoh then summoned wise menand sorcerers, and the Egyptian magicians also did the same things by their secret arts: Each one threw down his staff and it became a snake.  Exodus 7:11-12a

This was Pharaoh’s Magic Show:  Or as we might call it: The Enemy’s Counterfeit                              A couple of observations:  First has to do with Egyptian magicians.  This word translated “magicians” was the Egyptian title for priest.  Egyptian priests were held in high esteem because they possessed secret knowledge and were skilled in all kinds of mysterious rites.  By casting spells, they could overpower humans and hold a degree of power over the world of nature and of the gods. Their “secret arts,” were demonic spells and incantations.  They had tapped into “the spiritual forces of evil” They were no illusionists, for they performed their wonders by the power of Satan.

But the best they could do was to only imitate what God had already done.  No doubt they were pleased with their little magic show.  But then, to their complete disbelief and utter dismay, “Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.”

Talk about a power encounter.  With The Staff Swallowing the Snakes:  God overrules Satan’s counterfeit.  And He does so in presence of Pharaoh.  How stunning is this?  Well the priests, who believed that swallowing something was the way to acquire all its powers, would have been terrified.  Because by devouring of these snakes, God tells Pharaoh who’s the BOSS! “I am God Almighty and you have no power over me.” This is God’s Victory.

And yet, as stunning as this must have been, how did Pharaoh respond? Yet Pharaoh’s heart becamehard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said. Exodus 7:13  What Pharaoh should have done was get down off his throne and begin to worship the one true God.  He had heard God’s Word and had seen God’s sign, but rather than worship God, Pharaoh refused to listen to Moses and Aaron…  Why?

Because of Pharaoh’s Hard Heart: The verb used to describe his heart is in the perfect tense, which speaks of a completed action.  In other words, Pharaoh’s heart was not simply ‘getting hard’ it was already hard.  It was CLOSED to any spiritual influence no matter HOW convincing.  Pharaoh’s heart was hard all the way through.  Here was a man who was NOT sorry for his sin. He believed he was in the right enslaving God’s people.  He believed he was superior to them – that they were his property to do with as he pleased. Here was a man of STUBBORN unbelief.  He had already determined in his heart that he would not change.  Nothing was going to change his mind about Israel.  Pharoah was so caught up in his own sense of self-importance, that he was not going to give God an inch.  Not even God showing HIS SUPERIORITY over Egypt by swallowing the snakes.

This is the final reality in our invisible battle.  And it’s a sobering one.  For Pharaoh’s hard heart reminds us that we live in a world where mankind is caught up in its own sense of self-importance and where stubborn unbelief is becoming the norm.  But at the same time, this power encounter between God and Pharaoh should give us hope.

For our God is greater than the evil one.  For as we continue in this story, we will see God battle Pharaoh over and over again.  And as we do, we will see God’s power defeat the evil one. And this will be a great victory. But it is not His greatest victory.

For God’s greatest victory over Satan took place 2000 years ago through the obedience of Jesus Christ.  You see, Satan opposed Jesus from the very beginning, almost from the day he was born.  He used the power of the government, sending soldiers to kill him.  He attacked Jesus personally in the wilderness by tempting him. He used the power of religion, sending priests to accuse him.  And then, God allowed Satan to use evil men to put Jesus to death on the cross.  But what he thought was victory turned out to be his defeat.  For when Jesus died for our sins on that cross he delivered us from Satan’s power once and for all.  Then, in order to prove that he was not under Satan’s power, God raised Jesus from the dead. And now, anyone who has put faith in Jesus Christ can say these words, “Death is swallowed up in victory”

This is the good news of our invisible battle.  Jesus has won the victory. God has defeated sin and death and yes, even Satan through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And now, in a world that is caught up in an invisible battle for their souls, God calls us to bring to the hope of Jesus Christ to our friends, neighbors and to the world.  He commands us to go, and when we obey, He will do the work.