Waxed Valiant in Fight, Turned
to Flight the Armies (Camps) of the Aliens - Spiritual
Victory (Hebrews 11:34)
The Lord told Joshua, "There shall not be able any
man to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail
thee, nor forsake thee" (Joshua 1:5)
This promise is reiterated to the faithful Tribulation
remnant, "... for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Hebrews 13:5)
David through faith told the Philistine, "And
all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord's, and He
will give you into our hands" (I Samuel 17:47)
The Rephaim (the Canaanites) were already in the land
of promise when Abraham arrived there (Genesis 12:6) as prophesied (Genesis 6:4)
The sojourn in Haran due to his father Terah (Genesis 11:30-32) delayed Abraham's entrance
into the land of promise and allowed the enemy's occupation of it (Genesis 12:1,4,6)
The Lord gave these Rephaim (Giants) into the hand
of Israel when He gave them their land (His land of promise) for an inheritance (Deuteronomy 2:10-12,20-25 cf.Genesis 14:1-12)
Abraham was NOT a soldier, BUT a prophet and a man
of prayer (Genesis 20:7)
This is the first occurrence of the word, prophet,
in the Scriptures, and is fittingly associated with "the father of all them that believe" (Romans 4:11)
The events following Abraham's return from the slaughter
of the kings bear testimony that his fight to reclaim his family from the camps of the Rephaim was accomplished
through faith
Blessing of Melchizedek ("Blessed be Abram of the
Most High God, Possessor of heaven and earth ... Delivered thine enemies into thine hand" (Genesis 14:19-20)
Abraham's refusal of the Rephaim's gifts ("I will
not take anything that is thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abram rich" - Genesis 14:23)
The Lord's Blessing ("Fear not, Abram: I am thy
Shield and Exceeding Great Reward" - Genesis 15:1)
Elijah victoriousagainst the prophets
of Baal(I Kings 19:1)
Upon Israel's initial entrance into the promised land,
Balak (king of Moab) tried to have Balaam (the prophet of God) curse Israel (the people of God) - three times (Numbers 24:10)
When Balak failed to have God's prophet curse His people,
Balaam showed Balak how to have God's own people
bring His own curse upon them(Numbers 25:1-9 cf. Numbers 23:27-28)
However, Balak did not prevail against God's people
for God did avenge His people over their enemies (Numbers 31:1-2), which included the slaying of Balaam (Numbers 31:16)
Ahab provoked Israel's God to anger more than all of
Israel's kings before him, because he made idolatry (Jeroboam's sin) the national religion through his marriage
to Jezebel, princess of an idolatrous nation (I Kings 16:31-33)
Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord (I Kings 18:4,13) and stirred up Ahab to
replace the worship of the Lord with the worship of idols (I Kings 21:25-26)
Israel's faithful Tribulation remnant victoriousagainst the Beast(Revelation 15:2)
Israel's faithful Tribulation remnant will be persecuted
by the same idolatrous worship of their countrymen (Isaiah 66:1-5,) which Balaam used to stumble their ancestors (Revelation 2:14) and Jezebel used to seduce
their ancestors (Revelation 2:20)
As surely as God avenged the blood of His prophets
and servants in time past (II Kings 9:7-8), so God will avenge the blood of His prophets and servants in the time
to come (Revelation 16:5-6)