NAME ABOVE ALL NAMES

Knowing a person’s name is the starting point of a relationship with them. When you know their name, it gives you confidence to approach a person.

Proverbs 18:10
The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

Knowing the Lord’s name gives us confidence to approach Him. The Bible uses many names for God. These names reveal God’s character, which in turns, builds our confidence and faith in Him.

Jehovah Nissi

Exodus 17:8–16
Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The LORD Is My Banner, saying, “A hand upon the throne of the LORD! The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Israel had been a slave people in Egypt over 400 years. God intervened on their behalf to save them, bringing them out of Egypt with signs and wonders. At the Red Sea, God tells Moses to lift the staff in his hand, and miraculously, the waters of the Red Sea are driven back.

Exodus 14:30
Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians…Israel saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Just a few weeks after God saved Israel, they find themselves in battle with Amalek. When we get saved, in many ways life gets better than before, but it also brings battles like never before.

Why is Amalek going to war with Israel?

The Amalekites descended from Esau - the Israelites descended from Jacob. Esau and Jacob were the two sons of Isaac. Esau hated Jacob because Jacob had the birthright and the blessing from their Father. Generations after Jacob and Esau, the Amalekites are still opposed to the Israelites, who were now in a feud that predated their arrival.

In the same way, when we are saved, we step into a feud that predates your arrival. Since the Garden of Eden, Satan has set himself in opposition to the offspring of Eve, because from Eve would come Jesus, who would crush the serpent’s head.

At salvation we are transferred from kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, the kingdom of God’s Son, Jesus. We are adopted into the family of faith, we became children of God, and we now have an inheritance laid up for us in heaven. As children of God, we have a birthright and blessings we never had before AND we also have an enemy we never had before!

If you’re following Jesus and taking strides forward in your faith, never be put off when opposition arises.

We ought not call “spiritual opposition” what is really just the consequences of our choices. We ought not use spiritual jargon to evade responsibility. But also, we ought not ignore spiritual realities altogether and act like everything has a strictly natural explanation.

C.S. Lewis
There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them.

1 Corinthians 16:9
… a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

When Amalek attacked, Moses learned a dimension of God’s nature he could learn no other way. Moses learned God is Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our Banner.

‘Nissi’ is a Hebrew word to describe a military flag hoisted upon a pole, used at a battle line to rally soldiers in the face of their enemies.

Psalm 18:29
In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.

Joshua and his men fought Amalek on the plains. Atop the mountain, Moses stood with the staff of God in hand. When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When Moses grew weary and lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. For those in the battle, the key to overcome was to just keep lifting your eyes and looking up!

1. LOOK UP AND SEE GOD’S PRESENCE AND POWER WITH YOU

When Joshua and the soldiers looked up and saw Moses’ staff lifted high, they remembered this battle was not contingent on their strength alone.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“The devil does not fill us with hatred of God, but with forgetfulness of God.”

Psalm 121:1-2
I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

2. LOOK UP AND SEE GOD’S FAITHFULNESS IN TIMES PAST

Moses’ staff had been the instrument God used to enact plagues, part the Red Sea, and bring water from the rock at Horeb. It served as a visual prompt to remind Israel of all God had already done for them.

A testimony puts strength in my soul for the battle in front of me.

3. LOOK UP AND SEE JESUS INTERCEDING ON YOUR BEHALF

When doubt filled their heart, they looked up and saw Moses interceding on their behalf. We can look up to Jesus who never wearies or rests.

Hebrews 7:25
… he always lives to intercede for them.

Luke 22:31-32
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail.

4. LOOK UP AND SEE THE PROMISES OF GOD

Moses’ staff didn’t just represent God’s faithfulness in times past – it also represented God’s promise to work with Moses.

Though the battle ebbed and flowed, at the end of the day, God brought His people into victory. At the end of the day, we know that because of what Jesus has done and will do, God will bring His people into victory.

5. LOOK UP AND SEE AN OPPORTUNITY TO GIVE GLORY TO GOD

When the battle was done, Moses builds a memorial so that all those to come would know that God is Jehovah Nissi.

If you refuse to quit, with God’s help, you’ll overcome. And if you overcome, you’ll have a testimony. And if you have a testimony, there will come a day when you can encourage the faith of others with the truth that God strengthens us to overcome.