Star Wars: The Original Version

SECOND, THE COURSE OF FAITH

The course of Barak’s faith brought him into battle with Sisera, the commander of Jaben’s army. Now Sisera had 900 iron chariots. That’s like having 900 stealth bombers today. It would be like having 900 battleships filled with cruise missiles. On the outside he looked invincible with his mighty army. I can almost hear Sisera’s thoughts questioning this unknown Barak, and what he thinks he can accomplish in battle. Someone should have passed a note to Sisera, with Psalm 20:7, “Some trust in chariots, and some trust in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.” That’s a good verse for America today. Some trust in their financial resources, or their Internet connections, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

God is both our greatest hope and our greatest threat. If He doesn’t save us, we’re finished. It is time to get on God’s side and say, “God, help us to win the battle of Star Wars for the glory of God Almighty.” Once God puts faith in our heart, we’ve got to get up and do something about it. God told Barak that he was about to get into the battle of his life. I’m not so concerned about the enemies around us as I am with the God above us. We can have the greatest of all weapons arsenals, but if God is against us the battle is already over.

Many Christians never show up for the battle. They spend their lives fighting with one another, or in the wrong battle. One cannot destroy an idea with a nuclear weapon, or shoot down an idea with a cruise missile. We are in the battle of ideas: Hinduism, Buddhism, and New Age-ism are ideas. The only way to conquer these ideas is to replace them with a better idea. The best idea is found wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ. So many of God’s people are fighting on their own battlefront, fighting among themselves, or fighting a physical battle when it is a spiritual battle. We are in a spiritual battle, and spiritual battles can only be won with spiritual weapons.

Barak’s went into battle against Sisera with only ten thousand troops. When they engaged in battle, the Bible says that the heavens dropped and the rains fell. (Judges 5:4-5) It wasn’t a thundershower—it was a downpour. By accident? Oh, no. When Barak stepped onto the battlefield by faith, God began to move in a supernatural way and the rains began to fall. Josephus, the historian of 2,000 years ago, wrote about this exact battle. He said it rained on the backside of the Israelites and it rained in the faces of the Canaanites. The Canaanites could not see the Israelites coming. And the Israelites jumped on the Canaanites like a spider after its next meal and eliminated every one of them.

All 900 iron chariots got stuck in the mud. The horses began to flounder and fall. The nation of Israel won a supernatural battle that day. When Sisera saw which way the battle was going, being the courageous man he was, he got off his horse and ran for his life. While running, he came upon the tent of a woman named Jael. Little did he realize that the name Jael rhymed with nail. She invited him inside to rest. Soon he was fast asleep on the floor. While Sisera slept, Jael drove a large spike through his temple and he died.