Our Victory Cometh: God Is Faithful To The Very End

During this Advent I'm purposing to spend extra time reflecting on the many times God provided rescue and cleaned up our mess.  Gary and Jeff recently brought 2 Chronicles back to mind and I know you will be blessed as well.

Sometimes God's response is immediate, sometimes delayed, and always tied to a larger plan.

From the Garden to the Cross, and through the troubles of this present age, God is present. With COVID, the election, boiling polarization, imminent economic disaster, rumors of war, signs in the heavens, dividing the land, and sin ever-rampant.  He alone is steady, unchanging, faithful, and actively working to redeem.

Sometimes it seems to be Fourth and Long when God shows up. (For those not acclimated to this American Football term, it simply means at the last possible moment, when things look most bleak.)

In this post, please indulge me as we reflect on a few stories to help our minds remind our hearts of what is true.

When I was a kid in the mid to late '70s, we would often drive from our home in Abilene, TX, three hours east to the home of my maternal grandparents in Irving, TX (Dallas/Ft Worth), where turkey, dressing, Thanksgiving, Tom Landry, Roger Staubach and Dallas Cowboys football took over much of the day.

I recall the men in our family didn't do much but sit on the couch and in other chairs and recliners around the living room, while mom, my aunts, and my grandmother did most of the work.

During this season the Dallas Cowboys frequently moved ahead during the first half, but were sluggish in the third quarter and often fell behind.  And for this particular day my grandfather had purchased a new Lazy Boy recliner and my dad somehow managed to commandeer it.  Simultaneously a new Magnavox console color TV was now squarely front and center in the living room.  I was intrigued, as this Magnavox hosted the first remote control I had ever seen.  Up to this point in life, the only remote control that existed in my realm was me and my sister.  

Dad was fond of limited communication and efficient relaxation in front of the tube, often directing remote television command and control through a series of sheepdog-like whistles and clicks directed at my sibling and me.  This Magnavox remote was something indeed quite new.

I recall a team up safely at the half, now behind in the fourth quarter.  Staubach was using the Shotgun and the No-Huddle.  In a 4th and Goal late in the game, and in a must score position, Staubach handed the ball to the late Robert Newhouse, who with his 40” powerhouse thighs could blow a hole in many defensive lines.  

Just as Newhouse hit the line, my dad and everyone else leaned in to see the action.  As this occurred this new Lazy Boy made a quiet, but high-pitched squeak.  As it did, the mechanical audio-based remote began to change channels.  CLUNK-CLUNK-CLUNK.

Suddenly a dozen men and boys who hadn't moved an inch all afternoon, were in panicked motion, in a desperate attempt to restore the channel.  Fortunately there was the newly implemented - instant replay.  Newhouse had scored and all was restored.

I found that remote some years ago when we cleaned out my grandparents' home.  A treasure for sure.

I'm reminded of another couple of intertwined 4th and Long stories.

We know the story of the Lord's rescue of Lot and his family at the last possible moment before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

And Lot goes up out of Zoar, and dwells in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, for he has been afraid of dwelling in Zoar, and he dwells in a cave, he and his two daughters.  And the firstborn says to the younger, “Our father [is] old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in to us, as [is] the way of all the earth; come, we cause our father to drink wine, and lie with him, and preserve a seed from our father.”  And they cause their father to drink wine on that night; and the firstborn goes in and lies with her father, and he has not known in her lying down or in her rising up.  And it comes to pass, on the next day, that the firstborn says to the younger, “Behold, I have lain with my father last night: we also cause him to drink wine tonight, then go in, lie with him, and we preserve a seed from our father.”  And they cause their father to drink wine on that night also, and the younger rises and lies with him, and he has not known in her lying down or in her rising up.  And the two daughters of Lot conceive from their father, and the firstborn bears a son and calls his name Moab: he [is] father of Moab to this day.  As for the younger, she has also born a son and calls his name Ben-Ammi: he [is] father of the sons of Ammon to this day. (Gen. 19:30–38, LSV)

Barely out of one mess and right into another, with Lot's wife dead in the middle.  Just as Ishmael was not the plan and created trouble that keeps on giving, so too did Lot and family bring trouble to God's plan, but trouble as it was, nothing would thwart the plan.

God has given Canaan to Abraham and His descendants through Isaac.  From generation to generation God reminds Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua of His redemptive and restorative plan.

It's interesting that in the seventh chapter of Deuteronomy God lists only seven nations, but doesn't mention others.  One might assume it was time for all of the nations occupying the land of promise to be evicted, but that was not the case.  We continue to wait for God's covenant people to receive all of their promised inheritance.

“When your God YHWH brings you into the land to where you are going in to possess it, and He has cast out many nations from your presence, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations more numerous and mighty than you, and your God YHWH has given them before you, then you have struck them—you utterly devote them—you do not make a covenant with them, nor do you favor them. And you do not join in marriage with them; you do not give your daughter to his son, and you do not take his daughter to your son, for he turns aside your son from after Me, and they have served other gods; and the anger of YHWH has burned against you and has destroyed you quickly. But thus you do to them: you break down their altars, and you shatter their standing pillars, and you cut down their Asherim, and you burn their carved images with fire. For you [are] a holy people to your God YHWH; your God YHWH has fixed on you, to be to Him for a peculiar people, out of all the peoples who [are] on the face of the ground. YHWH has delighted in you and fixes on you, not because of your being more numerous than any of the peoples, for you [are] the least of all the peoples, but because of YHWH’s loving you, and because of His keeping the oath which He has sworn to your fathers; YHWH has brought you out by a strong hand, and ransoms you from a house of servants, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And you have known that He, your God YHWH, [is] God, the faithful God keeping the covenant and the kindness with those loving Him and with those keeping His commands, for one thousand generations, and repaying to those hating Him to their face, to destroy them; He does not delay to him who is hating Him, He repays [it] to him to his face. And you have kept the command, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I am commanding you today to do them. And it has been, because you hear these judgments, and have kept and done them, that your God YHWH has kept the covenant and the kindness with you which He has sworn to your fathers, and has loved you, and blessed you, and multiplied you, and has blessed the fruit of your womb, and the fruit of your ground, your grain, and your new wine, and your oil, the increase of your oxen, and the wealth of your flock, on the ground which He has sworn to your fathers to give to you. Blessed are you above all the peoples; there is not a barren man or a barren woman in you—nor among your livestock; and YHWH has turned aside every sickness from you, and none of the evil diseases of Egypt (which you have known) does He put on you, and He has put them on all hating you. And you have consumed all the peoples whom your God YHWH is giving to you; your eye has no pity on them, and you do not serve their gods, for it [is] a snare to you. When you say in your heart, These nations [are] more numerous than I, how am I able to dispossess them? You are not afraid of them; you surely remember that which your God YHWH has done to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt, the great trials which your eyes have seen, and the signs, and the wonders, and the strong hand, and the outstretched arm, with which your God YHWH has brought you out; so does your God YHWH do to all the peoples of whose presence you are afraid. And your God YHWH also sends the locust among them, until the destruction of those who are left, even those who are hidden from your presence; you are not terrified by their presence, for your God YHWH [is] in your midst, a God great and fearful. And your God YHWH has cast out these nations from your presence little [by] little (you are not able to consume them quickly, lest the beast of the field multiplies against you), and your God YHWH has given them before you, and confused them [with] a great destruction until their being destroyed; and He has given their kings into your hand, and you have destroyed their name from under the heavens; no man stations himself in your presence until you have destroyed them. You burn the carved images of their gods with fire; you do not desire the silver and gold on them, nor have you taken [it] for yourself, lest you are snared by it, for it [is] an abomination [to] your God YHWH; and you do not bring in an abomination to your house, or you have been devoted like it—you utterly detest it and you utterly abhor it; for it [is] devoted.”

It's interesting that when the nation of promise approached the land of promise and the land apportioned to Lot's family, access to and possession of Lot's portion is not granted. God cared for these enemies of Israel, too.

And it comes to pass, when all the men of battle have finished dying from the midst of the people, that YHWH speaks to me, saying, Today you are passing over the border of Moab, even Ar, and [when] you have come near the sons of Ammon, you do not distress them, nor stir yourself up against them, for I do not give [any] of the land of the sons of Ammon to you [for] a possession; for I have given it to the sons of Lot [for] a possession. It is reckoned [as] a land of Rephaim, even it; Rephaim formerly dwelt in it, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a people great, and numerous, and tall as the Anakim, and YHWH destroys them before them, and they dispossess them, and dwell in their stead, as He has done for the sons of Esau who are dwelling in Seir, when He destroyed the Horim from before them, and they dispossess them, and dwell in their stead to this day. (Deut. 2:16–22, LSV)

Much later, these descendants of Lot whom God was merciful to, born out of the incest of Lot with his daughters, came up against Israel.  Multiple nations come together.  Israel is completely overwhelmed, outnumbered, and at a complete loss.

And it comes to pass after this, the sons of Moab have come in, and the sons of Ammon, and with them of the peoples, to battle against Jehoshaphat. And [some] come in and declare [it] to Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude has come against you from beyond the sea, from Aram, and behold, they [are] in Hazezon-Tamar—it [is] En-Gedi.” And Jehoshaphat fears, and sets his face to seek for YHWH, and proclaims a fast over all Judah; and Judah is gathered to inquire of YHWH; also, from all the cities of Judah they have come to seek YHWH. And Jehoshaphat stands in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of YHWH, at the front of the new court, and says, “O YHWH, God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? Indeed, You are ruling over all kingdoms of the nations, and power and might [are] in Your hand, and there is none with You to station himself. Are You not our God? You have dispossessed the inhabitants of this land from before Your people Israel, and give it to the seed of Your friend Abraham for all time, and they dwell in it, and build a sanctuary in it for You, for Your Name, saying, If evil comes on us—sword, judgment, and pestilence, and famine—we stand before this house, and before You, for Your Name [is] in this house, and cry to You out of our distress, and You hear and save. And now, behold, sons of Ammon, and Moab, and Mount Seir, whom You did not grant to Israel to go in against in their coming out of the land of Egypt, for they turned aside from off them and did not destroy them, and behold, they are repaying to us—to come to drive us out of Your possession that You have caused us to possess. O our God, do You not execute judgment on them? For there is no power in us before this great multitude that has come against us, and we do not know what we do, but our eyes [are] on You.” And all Judah is standing before YHWH, also their infants, their wives, and their sons. And the Spirit of YHWH has been on Jahaziel, son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, the Levite, of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly, and he says, “Attend, all Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and O King Jehoshaphat, Thus said YHWH to you: You do not fear, nor be afraid of the face of this great multitude, for the battle [is] not for you, but for God. Tomorrow, go down against them, behold, they are coming up by the ascent of Ziz, and you have found them in the end of the valley, the front of the wilderness of Jeruel. [It is] not for you to fight in this; station yourselves, stand, and see the salvation of YHWH with you, O Judah and Jerusalem—do not be afraid nor fear—tomorrow go out before them, and YHWH [is] with you.” And Jehoshaphat bows—face to the earth—and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem have fallen before YHWH, to bow themselves to YHWH. And the Levites, of the sons of the Kohathites, and of the sons of the Korahites, rise to give praise to YHWH, God of Israel, with a loud voice on high. And they rise early in the morning, and go out to the wilderness of Tekoa, and in their going out Jehoshaphat has stood and says, “Hear me, O Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, remain steadfast in your God YHWH, and be steadfast; remain steadfast in His prophets and prosper.” And he takes counsel with the people, and appoints singers for YHWH, and those giving praise for the honor of holiness, in the going out before the armed [men], and saying,

“Give thanks to YHWH, for His kindness [is] for all time.” 

And at the time they have begun with singing and praise, YHWH has put ambushes against the sons of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who are coming in to Judah, and they are struck, and the sons of Ammon stand up, and Moab, against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, to devote and to destroy, and at their finishing with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped, a man against his neighbor, to destroy. And Judah has come to the watchtower in the wilderness, and they look toward the multitude, and behold, they [are] carcasses fallen to the earth, and none [had] an escape, and Jehoshaphat comes in, and his people, to seize their spoil, and they find among them, in abundance, both goods and carcasses, and desirable vessels, and they take spoil for themselves without prohibition, and they are seizing the spoil [for] three days, for it [is] abundant. And on the fourth day they have been assembled at the Valley of Blessing, for there they blessed YHWH: therefore they have called the name of that place, “Valley of Blessing,” to this day. And they return, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, and Jehoshaphat at their head, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for YHWH has made them rejoice over their enemies. And they come to Jerusalem with psalteries, and with harps, and with trumpets, to the house of YHWH. And there is a fear of God on all kingdoms of the lands in their hearing that YHWH has fought with the enemies of Israel, and the kingdom of Jehoshaphat is quiet, and his God gives rest to him all around. (2 Chron. 20:1–30, LSV)

...the LORD is not slow in regard to the promise, as some count slowness, but is long-suffering to us, not intending any to be lost, but all to come to conversion... (2 Pt. 3:9, LSV)

God was exceedingly patient with Israel's enemies, until, at last, repentance would not come, and there was yet another satanic plan to defeat the Lord's plan of redemption.

Well discussed through the years regarding 2 Chronicles 20, was verse 21 and the band/choir being out front, and verse 25 with the three days of spoil and blessing.

God uses trouble to put the accuser to shame as he shows off the faith of His children and credits it to their account as righteousness.  The story of Job comes to mind as well.

Today we wonder if the jobs will come back, while the rich get richer and the stock market continues to boom.  While those likely to be left behind are too numerous to count, many are more concerned with whether there will be more riots in the street, if there will be war with Iran, if the political and moral division will tear this country apart, if the country can survive the leaders we have, if the economic bubble and the debt/leverage will really pop, if the virus will kill us, if the vaccine will kill us, if the vaccine will set us up for the mark of the beast, and if a future vaccine will change our DNA.

And it comes to pass that mankind has begun to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters have been born to them, and the sons of God see that they, the daughters of men, [are] beautiful, and they take women for themselves of all whom they have chosen. And YHWH says, “My Spirit does not strive in man for all time, for indeed, he [is] flesh, but his days have been one hundred and twenty years.” The giants were in the earth in those days, and even afterward, when sons of God come in to the daughters of men, and they have borne to them those who [were] the mighty from of old, the men of renown. . . . These [are] the generations of Noah: Noah [is] a righteous man; he has been perfect among his generations; Noah has habitually walked with God. (Gen. 6:1–4, 9, LSV)

Some speculation: might Satan and his fallen legions think that if they intermarried again with mankind, perhaps they would be redeemed as if humans?  Since no one is perfect and all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, even among the “righteous” (Gen. 6:5; 9:21), we can further speculate that Genesis 6:9 speaks of Noah and his family as the last ones who, being perfect in their generations, were merely the last human beings with completely Adamic DNA.  If so, this is another example of God's great patience.  Noah and his family weren't “good enough” or “righteous enough,” but were qualified through 1. being human, and 2. possessing faith.

Many are concerned about the implications of the approval and rollout of the first-ever mRNA vaccine and the possible impacts to DNA/RNA.  Whatever the answer, God will be faithful to the last moment. We need not worry or be afraid, but stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.

As children of the promise we should be reminded of our inheritance that is far grander than the three days of spoil.  We are going to our home—a city with an immovable foundation.  We are soon to receive our inheritance with belonging, purpose, glory, peace, joy, love, grace, kindness, and protection.

Though the enemies surround us, we will not be moved.  Though it seems 4th and Long, we do not quake.  To the church in Philippi, Paul beautifully wrote that he was ready for any challenge, knowing of his imminent death.  Because of his unwavering faith, even all the armies of hell couldn't intimidate him.

...according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will be ashamed in nothing, and in all freedom, as always, also Christ will now be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death, for to me to live [is] Christ, and to die [is] gain.  And if to live in the flesh [is] to me a fruit of work, then what will I choose?  I do not know; for I am pressed by the two, having the desire to depart, and to be with Christ, for it is far better... (Phil. 1:20–23, LSV)

Our ancestors went through so much.  Psalm 22 and the great cloud of witnesses described in Hebrews 12 are great encouragements.  If they could do it, we can too.

And You [are] holy, || Sitting—the Praise of Israel.  In You our fathers trusted; They trusted, and You deliver them.  To You they cried, and were delivered, || In You they trusted, and were not disappointed. (Ps. 22:3–5, LSV)

There is a favorite passage of mine in The Hobbit, where Bilbo Baggins, who left the Shire as a small, fearful, self-absorbed little man, returns after great trial to find a bridge troll standing in his way.  What once had been a massive source of fear and intimidation was now relatively small and unimposing.  “Stand down; I am Bilbo and I carry the sword Sting.”  As believers now aware of our immovable position in Christ and the great victory He is imminently to wrought, nothing will stand in our way.  For Christ has already accomplished our salvation and the battle belongs to the LORD.  We are about to be standing in the Throne Room.

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One last thought on the praise from 2 Chronicles 20: our God does not need anything. 

God, who made the world, and all things in it, this One, being Lord of Heaven and of earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands, neither is He served by the hands of men—needing anything, He giving life to all, and breath, and all things... (Acts 17:25, LSV)

He did not create us out of some emptiness.  He is not lonely.  He does not need attention, worship, or food for narcissism.

In John 18:37, Christ tells us His mission was to declare truth.  The right response to the truth of God's decision to create (Gen. 1:27) and redeem (Eph. 2:8–9), is to praise.  It is the right sound.  It is the sound of faith.  I have a couple of cars, a lawnmower, and a chainsaw.  When I start them up I can tell if they are working as designed by the sound they make.  If the oil is low I can hear it.

I'm not in love with motor oil, but I own about 13 quarts and they are doing exactly what I expect them to do, and they help my equipment make the proper sound.

God doesn't need our praise, but when it is absent, He can tell instantly that something is wrong—that we cannot see truth clearly.  His goal is to reveal Himself.  When we see Him as He is, and see our sin, depravity, and hopelessness, praise just naturally flows.  You can't stop it.  It comes out of every thought and action—hearts and nations change.

Maranatha!

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