Spiritual People involved in Spiritual Warfare
Genesis 14:1-24
Introduction
John Milton, in his great works Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained speaks about the great cosmic combat that takes place in the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation. In describing that chilling chapter of Revelation Milton says that heaven and hell are the central focus and earth is the battle ground in which the cosmic combat takes place. That is a good description of the spiritual battle that takes place within our world.
With all the talk about war going on in our own society and around the world, Christians often forget that we are in a war of our own, a spiritual war; a cosmic combat. The battle is between heaven and hell and the place where the battle is often fought is here on earth.
The church often looses sight of this truth, the truth of spiritual struggle, especially the church in America. Christians in America have become so comfortable in their Christianity that the thought of spiritual warfare does not even cross their minds. But it is paramount that we understand as the church and as Christians that we are truly a part of spiritual battle, a cosmic conflict, and the Lord has called his people to fight the battle, to wage war against the forces that appose God’s righteousness and rule.
Understanding the nature of spiritual warfare begins with understanding the nature of the life of faith. You could say that the life of faith is really a “life of war.” Yet, the war that we fight is not fought with conventional weapons. The war we fight is not against flesh and blood. Unlike physical war, spiritual people fight spiritual wars, with spiritual weapons, and against spiritual enemies.
There is not greater description of this type of spiritual warfare in the New Testament than that which is found in the book of Ephesians. In the sixth chapter we see the need for spiritual people to fight the spiritual, “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might.” Paul gives Christians a command to be strong in the Lord. To be “in the Lord” is to be a spiritual person. To be “in the Lord” is to be one who has started the life of faith by following Jesus Christ. Thus, it takes spiritual people for spiritual combat.
Furthermore it takes spiritual weapons to fight a spiritual enemy. The weapons that we use are spiritual. Paul describes these weapons as the armor of God. The weapons that spiritual people use for spiritual warfare are truth, righteousness, the gospel, faith, salvation, the Holy Spirit, the word of God, and prayer.
The reason that Christians use spiritual weapons is the fact that the enemy is a spiritual enemy, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” We can conclude for the New Testament that God’s people are spiritual people using spiritual weapons to fight a spiritual war.
What is true of those who live the life of faith under the New Covenant was also true of those who lived the life of faith under the New Covenant. Our study of the life of Abraham reveals this truth. But one will notice from Genesis chapter fourteen that the spiritual battles that Abram fought often worked themselves out in physical battles, battles against the enemies of God and his people. This is true of Abram. This is true of Moses. This is true of Joshua. Though these great men of faith fought physical battles, these physical battles were spiritual battles. And because these physical battles were spiritual battles God’s people can glean great truths for their own cosmic conflict.
The life of faith is a “life of war” and there are spiritual bullets and missiles flying over our head. Those who are on the journey of faith cannot just ignore the fight, the must be aware of it, but even more they must get involved in spiritual warfare.
I. The Involvement in Spiritual Warfare (1-16)
In the first sixteen verses of Genesis chapter fourteen we see conflict, casualties and contribution. The conflict is described in the first eleven verses of the chapter.
A. The Conflict (1-11)
The conflict that is recorded in these verses is on the international level, not the international level that we know, but the international level that is known to Abram and his contemporaries. This is the first record of war and conflict in the Bible; some say it is the first record of war in conflict within the annuals of history.
The conflict that takes place is between nine kings, four on one side and five on the other. It would seem that the five kings would be more powerful than the four, but that is not the case. As the record of the conflict unfolds it is quite obvious that the four were much more powerful than the five.
Verse one introduces us to the powerful four kings, “Amraphel the king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedoorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim” The four kings are Amraphel, Arioch, Chedorlaomer, and Tidal. The location of these four kings is east of where the five kings were located. The four kings are located in a region that is today modern day Iran and Turkey.
The five kings that they made war with consisted of the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela. All of these kings were located in the same region that Abram was located.
The reason for the war was not an uncommon reason. Verse four gives an indication of why the war was taking place, “Twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but the thirteenth year they rebelled.” It was the five kings that served the four kings for twelve years, but they finally had enough. On the thirteenth year they rebelled against the four kings. To understand the reason for the war we have to understand what it means when the five kings served the four kings.
It was customary for the more powerful to subjugate those who were less powerful. In this case four kings ally together to subjugate the less power to serve them. In serving them the less powerful would pay tribute by means of money, produce, and other goods. After twelve years of paying tribute the western kings decided that enough was enough and they rebelled. By rebelling they stopped paying tribute.
It was highly probable that the reason the five kings decided to rebel against the four is that the four kings were having trouble in their own kingdom, a trouble that would keep them from responding to the rebellion. This is indicated in verse five with the phrase, “in the fourteenth year.” This phrase tells us when the four kings decided to respond to the rebellion. It was in the thirteenth year that the rebellion took place, but it was not until the fourteenth year that the rebellion would be responded to. The reason for the delay could very well be that other trouble on the home front had to be dealt with first.
When the four kings were able to respond to the rebellion they began to make their way eastward, a journey that is recorded in verses six through eight. Scholars believe that the journey took the route known as the “king’s highway.” The route that is taken by the four kings is the same route, but opposite direction, that would be taken by the Israelites when traveling from Sinai to Palestine. Many of caravans and military expeditions followed this route that ran from Syria in the north to the Dead Sea in the south.
As the four kings made their way westward down the king’s highway to deal with the rebellion of the five kings, we are told in verses five and six that the four kings would defeat many others along the way. Most likely the rumors of their coming and their power was making its way to the five kings because we are told that in verse eight that the five kings came out to meet the four kings at the valley of Siddim.
It did not take long for the five kings to see that the four kings were much more powerful. When they saw the power of the four kings, the five kings retreated. Some did not far well in the retreat because they fell into the tar pits that made up that area. Those who did not fall into the tar pits were able to retreat to the hills.
The retreat of the five kings left the town of the five kings vulnerable. The five kings in verse eleven capitalized on this vulnerability: “Then they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and their food supply, and departed.” If the five kings were not going to voluntarily pay tribute, then the four kings would take it by force, and by force they did.
Up to this point in the narrative it seems that the story has nothing to do with Abram, but that changes in verse twelve. For in verse twelve Abram will be brought into the battle, “They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his possessions and departed, for he was living in Sodom.” Abram’s nephew would become one of the casualties of the battle.
B. The Casualties (12)
It is interesting to see the digression of Lot revealed in verse twelve. According to verse twelve of chapter thirteen Lot moves his tents just outside of Sodom, but now, in verse twelve Lot is no longer outside Sodom, but instead he is living in Sodom. Chapter thirteen warned us of the bad choice that Lot made and chapter fourteen gives one of the reasons why it was a bad choice.
But Lot is not the only casualty of the battle. One must understand that injustice is taking place on the part of the four kings. Subjugating weaker people for the purpose of personal gain is a grave injustice. The people who made up the weaker cities were subjugated to the injustice and therefore are also casualties of the battle.
In physical battles the casualties can be the loss of an arm or a leg or even life, but in the spiritual battle the loss is the loss of one’s soul. The casualties of spiritual warfare are souls, and these souls do not go to a prison camp, but instead into hell forever and ever.
Furthermore, the scope of the spiritual war that is taking place surpasses any war that has ever taken place on earth. The spiritual war is a global war that is taking place in every country, every city, every church, every home, and every family. The casualties of this war are people who will spend eternity separated from the Lord. The casualties of this war are wayward Christians, who like Lot, let the world consume them.
This is where the life of faith must get involved. This is where the people of God must contribute to the war efforts for the purpose of saving souls from eternal prison separated from God. This is where spiritual people must be concerned for those who have gone astray from the family of faith. This involvement in spiritual warfare is demonstrated by Abram’s involvement in hand-to-hand combat with the ungodly kings.
C. The Contribution (13-16)
Abram has not been mentioned in this story up to this point, but we see his involvement beginning in verse thirteen, “Then a fugitive came and told Abram the Hebrew. Now he was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite.” Abram had not moved since he and Lot separated for the sake of peace. He was exactly where God wanted him to be. He was comfortable and things were peaceable because Abram was able to make allies with those around him. But his peaceable and comfortable situation was about to change.
God in his providence had someone escape so that Abram could now about the battle and the casualties of the battle, especially the fact that the four kings had taken his nephew Lot captive. The news that was brought to Abram would be a test to some degree of Abram’s faith.
Abram, after hearing the news of Lot and the other casualties, had to make a decision: was he going to get involved in world affairs or was he going to isolate himself from world affairs?
Abram could have very well rationalized his involvement in this matter. In regards to helping the five kings he could have said, “You know, that king of Sodom is an ungodly man; if fact, Sodom and Gomorrah is filled with sinners. They are only getting what they deserved.” In regards to his own nephew he could have said, “You know, Lot made his own decision, he deserved what he is getting. He did give me one thought when I gave him the choice. It serves him right.” Abram could have rationalized his involvement in the matter. He could have made a good case for isolating himself from the affairs of the world. But he did not.
He realized that the life of faith does not mean isolation from the world, nor does it mean identification with the world. Abram understood that if he was going to be the blessing bearer to the world, if he was going to declare the truth of the one true God he was going to have to be involved in the world, not isolated from the world. At the same time Abram knew he was going to have to be involved in the world, yet not identified with the world. Jesus put it this way, “be in the world, but not off the world.” That would be the balance that Abram would have to find and that he would.
After the news of the conquest of the four kings, Abram, moved by his love for nephew, and his desire to be involved with world affairs for God’s glory, went to action. We are told in verse fourteen, “When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far a Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.
Abram got involved in the battle for the sake of the casualties. In doing so he gathered three hundred and eighteen men from within his house. At first one may think that three hundred and eighteen is not to many, and it’s not if the one you are fighting has more. But the number of men that came from Abram’s house gives indication that Abram was prospering. To have three hundred and eighteen servants in one house is great.
We can only speculate on how many the four kings had, but one could speculate that they had quite a few. The number of men that Abram brought may have well been fewer than the one’s they were fighting, but the fact that they surprised them by night and the fact that God was on their side enabled them, though possibly with fewer men, to have victory of the four kings, “He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.”
Abram’s concern went beyond his nephew Lot; he was also concerned about all the people who were subjugated to the unjust rule of the four kings. Abram understood that being the blessing bearer and a witness for the one true God meant that he had to be in the world, but not of the world. He understood that he had the responsibility of declaring the righteousness and the salvation of God and to do this he had to be involved.
The life of faith today is in a battle, a spiritual battle, and one that we must be involved in. God’s people must avoid isolating themselves from the world. Yes, there are sinners out there, and yes, there are ungodly people out there, but these are not the enemy, they are the casualties of the war. They need a witness of the righteousness of God, the hope of God, and the salvation of God found in the person of Jesus Christ. This can only take place, as God’s people get involved in the spiritual battle, not by isolating themselves from the spiritual battle.
Our Lord gave us marching orders when he said, “Love the Lord with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself” and “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded.” To love our neighbor as ourselves means that we will get involved in the spiritual battle because we don’t want our neighbors to be casualties of the battle. To go and make disciples of all nations means that we get involved in the battle for the purpose of saving people from destruction.
God’s people, people of faith, the family of faith, must get involved in spiritual warfare by fighting against evil by using the weapons of truth and righteousness, by advancing the kingom of God through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and by standing up for righteousness and justice. God’s people can only do this by getting involved in the battle. The life of faith is a life of war.
Another truth that we see in this chapter concerning spiritual warfare is the truth concerning the attitude for spiritual warfare.
II. The Attitude for Spiritual Warfare (17-20)
After the defeat of the four kings, Abram would encounter two kings. The arrival of the two kings was the arrival of spiritual opposites. One king was a king over an excessively sinful city called Sodom. The other king would be a king of righteousness over the city of peace.
A. The Arrival of Spiritual Opposites
The arrival of the two spiritual opposites is stated starting in verse seventeen, “Then after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High.”
As was stated earlier these two kings were spiritual opposites. Sodom ruled an ungodly city, a city that would eventually be destroyed on the basis of God’s judgment, but Melchizedek is quite the opposite.
The very name Melchizedek means “king of righteousness” or “my righteous king.” We are told that Melchizedek was the king of Salem. Salem means “Peace.” Many people believe that Salem was Jerusalem. Melchizedek just shows up on the scene. We have no genealogy. In addition, our text tells us that he is a “priest of God Most High.” This is the first mention of a priest in the Bible.
The next time we see or hear the name of Melchizedek is some nine hundred years latter. The reference in found in Psalm one hundred and ten. In this psalm David is prophesying about the coming messiah and declares that he, the messiah, will be a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. The next time we hear about Melchizedek is some thousand years latter from the writer of Hebrews. There the writer mentions the name Melchizedek no less than nine times and declares that Jesus is the priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
All this to say is that the Melchizedek in the Old Testament is either the pre-incarnate Christ or a type of Christ; scholars differ on this. There lays within this section a great study to be done on just Melchizedek, a study that can’t be done in this section. It is in the blessing that Melchizedek gives to Abram that we see the source of the victory of Abram’s battle and also the source of the victory of the spiritual battle.
B. The Source of Spiritual Victory
It is very important that we understand what the blessing of Melchizedek means because it is central to understating the whole chapter. The blessing is set forth in verses nineteen and twenty, “He blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’” The blessings that are given are both outward and upward.
The outward blessing is directed towards Abram when he says, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High.” Abram is blessed because he belongs to God. Abram is blessed because he bears the name of the one true God.
The upward blessing is directed towards the Lord, “Blessed be God Most High who has delivered your enemies into your hands.” Melchizedek had the proper perspective concerning Abram and his defeat. He understood that the source of Abram’s victory was “God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.” The Hebrew word “El-Elyon” which we translate “God Most High” refers to the superiority of God. The phrase “possessor of heaven and earth” refers to owner not only of Abram’s plunder, but also off all creation.
What do we understand from this blessing about the whole fourteenth chapter? We learn from Melchizedek that that Abram experienced was only experienced because the “God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth” empowered Abram to win this great victory.
Abram responds to this blessing, “He gave him a tenth of all.” Abram tithed on his plunder and he did so as an act of honor towards God who empowered him to give him the victory. Abram’s tithe was a declaration of trust in the Lord as well as acknowledging that the source of his victory was the Lord.
The source of all spiritual victory is the Lord. It is important that God’s people cultivate this attitude. Cultivating this attitude will keep God’s people totally dependent on the Lord.
In Experiencing God, Henry Blackaby tells the story of how he and about two thousand other churches in Vancouver’s Baptist association were convinced that the Lord wanted them to reach the more than twenty two million people that would come to the World Expo Fair in 1986. They began making the plans two years before the fair. The budget of the association, two years before the fair, totaled nine thousand dollars. They set the budget the year of the fait over two hundred thousand. They had gained commitments that would cover thirty five percent; the remaining sixty five percent would have to come though prayer. The whole association prayed fervently for the Lord to provide what they needed. By the end of the first year the Lord had provided two hundred and sixty four thousand dollars. The outreach at the fair that year brought twenty thousand professions of faith. Blackaby said concerning this, “You cannot explain that except in terms of God’s intervention. Only God could have done that.”
This is true of all spiritual victory; only God can bring the victory. And it is paramount that the life of faith cultivates such an attitude for spiritual warfare. God’s spiritual people involved in spiritual warfare must say as with Zechariah chapter four verse six, “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
Abram was granted great victory because the Lord empowered him to defeat the powerful kings, but the battle was not over. The test of faith would come to Abram one that could bring defeat if he did not pass the test. The test of faith that Abram is about to experience reveals the temptation within spiritual warfare.
III. The Temptation within Spiritual Warfare
The most vulnerable time for spiritual people in spiritual warfare is immediately following great victories won by the Lord. This was the case with Joshua after the great victory over Jericho. God gave them great victory in chapter six of Joshua, but in chapter seven they would be defeated. They were defeated because God’s people are most vulnerable to temptation after great victories one by God.
Elijah is another example of this truth. In the eighteenth chapter of the book of first Kings Elijah has great victory on Mount Carmel, but soon after that victory he is running for his life, afraid of what Jezebel is going to do with him. The reason for such collapse of faith on the part of Elijah is the fact that God’s people are most vulnerable to temptation after great victories one by God.
The late preacher Andrew Bonar understood this truth of the life of faith being vulnerable after great victories when he said, “Let us be as watchful after the victory as before the battle.” And what is true of Joshua and Elijah is going to be true of Abram. After this his great victory that the Lord gave him, Abram is going to be vulnerable and tempted.
A. The Temptation Presented (21)
We see the temptation presented in verse twenty-one, “The king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give the people to me and take the goods for yourself.” The proposition from the king of Sodom at first glace seems proper in light of what Abram just did for the five kings. It was proper of the defeating general to get the spoils of the war and for the people to go back to the king that was rescued. But within this offer is a subtle temptation, temptation of compromise. Yet, unlike his time in Egypt, Abram would pass the test of the temptation that was presented to him.
B. The Test Passed (22-24)
Abram responds to the temptation, “Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have sworn to the Lord God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth, that I will not take a thread or a sandal thong or anything that is yours for fear you would say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten, and the share of the men who went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their share.” Abram’s response reveals that Abram was learning to trust the Lord rather than manipulate circumstance for his own gain.
Abram made an oath with the Lord and the oath was no-compromise on the part of Abram. Although he deserved the spoils from the fight, Abram recognized that the spoils were not from the Lord and to take them would compromise the Lord’s honor as well has his total trust in the Lord.
The actions of Abram in these verses are completely different than the actions of Abram in the sixteenth verse of chapter twelve. While in Egypt Abram had no problem receiving the goods given to him by another king, king Pharaoh. Why such different actions? In Egypt, Abram had compromised his faith, but Abram had learned his lesson and therefore, before he was tempted again he made an oath to the Lord, an oath of no-compromise when tempted by the things of this world. If Abram were going to be involved instead of isolated; he had to be indifferent to the ways of the world. The only way Abram could be in the world, but not of the world was by making an oath of no-compromise.
A few years ago, before Christy and I had children, some dear friends of ours took us on a trip to Colorado. While there we were able to the Continental Divide. The Continental Divide is a ridge of mountains that separate streams that flow west into the Pacific Ocean from those that flow east into the Atlantic Ocean. The snowcap was full of snow and it seemed that the snow was in unity, but it really was a great illusion. It was an illusion because it set on a great divide. When the snow melts in the spring the water on the western side makes its way to the Pacific Ocean and the water on the eastern side makes its way to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. What seemed unified at one point would end up thousand miles apart. The Continental Divide marks a dividing line.
There is a great dividing line between being in the world and the life of faith. There is a great dividing live between being in the world, yet not of the world. God’s people have to be careful to end up on the right side of the dividing line. God’s people have to be careful not to compromise godly principles, and accommodate the prevailing culture. For when we end up on the wrong side of the dividing line, we compromise, and when we compromise our involvement and effectiveness within the spiritual battle is diminished.
It was A. W. Tozer who put it well when he said, “Religion today is not transforming people; rather it is being transformed by the people. It is not raising moral level of society; it is descending to society’s own level, and congratulating itself that it has scored a victory because society is smiling accepting it’s compromise.”
There is a war taking place in every community, city, church, a war that is global, and God’s spiritual people must get involved with total dependence upon the Lord who gives the victory, and they must do so without giving in to the temptation of compromise. The casualties are too great not to get involved!
