We're going to look at Judges again.
We're back into Judges for three weeks over the holiday period.
Judges is both incredibly depressing and also incredibly encouraging.
So it's depressing in the sense that we just see over and over again the rebellion of God's people.
And the thing about it is it's pathetically unoriginal.
But it inevitably brings God's people to their knees as a nation.
On the other hand it's encouraging because we observe the Lord's dealings with his people.
And as our sin is pathetically unoriginal, then God's dealings with his people is endlessly resourceful.
It's unexpected and displays repeatedly God's faithfulness and grace, which is the dominant thing we see through this book of Judges.
The story of Deborah and Barak is the fourth cycle in the story.
It happens two generations later if we take, and there's good reason to do so, if we take 40 years as a generation rather than literally 40 years.
Regardless of that, the story of Deborah and Barak is an intriguing drama.
And what we have in chapter 4 and 5 is the same story told in two very, very different ways.
So chapter 4 is a very measured matter-of-fact historical narrative, almost devoid of emotion.
And then chapter 5, it's hard to think of how it could be even more different than it is.
We've got extravagant picture language, extravagant descriptions.
We've got brutal pictures in chapter 5 that aren't there in chapter 4.
And chapter 5, as it were, puts the flesh on the factual skeleton of chapter 4.
And then among all that, then there are twists and turns and subplots.
And what those things do is they suck us into the world of illusion.
A world of illusion that had trapped God's people in Deborah's day.
And it makes us think about what's really real.
The characters, likewise.
We meet characters and they invite us to form conclusions.
But then no sooner do we start to form a conclusion than we get told that our conclusion probably is wrong.
And that conclusion is actually an illusion.
And again, making us as God's people today question what's really real for us.
And I'm going to use a line this morning repeatedly I picked up a couple of weeks ago at the conference.
When it comes to this sort of stuff, nothing is as it seems.
Nothing is as it seems for God's people in God's world.
So let's dive into the text and ask the question, who is the enemy in this story?
Who is the enemy or the villain?
And the obvious option would be King Jebin and his military commander Sisera.
Now what we know about Jebin is he was a Syrian king, reigned at Hazor, the largest city in the region.
And so most probably Jebin was the king of a military coalition of Canaanites.
Sisera was the commander, a very powerful coalition army.
And as an army with the latest, the very, very latest technology, iron chariots.
In other words, the story is telling us this is such a formidable military force that it's beyond conception that it could be defeated by anything the Israelites could throw up against it.
Huge tactical imbalance.
Huge military superiority to the Canaanites.
And added to that, there was deep hatred towards these northern tribes of Israel because just over 100 years earlier, when Joshua occupied the land, Hazor was the only city that Joshua and his people burned to the ground.
It was totally decimated as a sort of public humiliation of the Canaanites.
Eventually it was rebuilt and became really powerful and influential again.
There's a lot of scores to settle here and perhaps that explains why this particular period of time was so brutal under Sisera.
Perhaps they're the enemy because they're just ravaging through the country seeking revenge for something that happened 100 years ago.
And it was a severe revenge.
But things aren't as they seem.
Because the reality is that God's people are their own worst enemy.
The cruelty of Sisera caused them to beg God for deliverance.
But as you read the story there, something sort of just slips through.
It took them 20 years to beg for deliverance.
To get to the point of desperation and turning back to God.
That's a long time.
A long time to decide, well, okay, look, all the other options have gone.
Now we've got, in a sense, nothing left but to go back to God.
Once again, you see, the real enemy was their bad hearts.
Look at verse 1 again.
We've got this repeated cycle.
And the people of Israel again, again, did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
If we look over to chapter 5, verse 8, and we get the detail of that statement.
Remember I said chapter 5 comes with all the emotion and the depth and the flesh.
Well, chapter 5, verse 8 puts it like this.
When new gods were chosen.
Then war was in the gates.
So, what's described in a sort of formal way in chapter 4, verse 1, we get the reality of it.
Chapter 5, verse 8.
This people of God had abandoned their covenant God.
The God who had brought them to himself, who had loved them, who had made them a special people, who had brought them into his special promised land.
They had just turned around and abandoned him.
Even while they were in the place that God meant for them, they abandoned him.
And decided to choose to pursue the good life through worshipping local Canaanite gods.
And that was a particularly vile expression of worship that involved child sacrifice and engaging with temple prostitutes, male and female.
And the idea was that if you had regular sex with them, then your ground would grow good crops and you would be secure and your family would flourish.
I mean, it wasn't just as if it was a little bit to the left of center.
It was a huge choice they made to turn their back on the Lord.
And the direct consequence, look at verse 2.
Again, we see something very, very strong in verse 2.
And the Lord sold them into the hand of King Jebon of Canaan.
The word there is a word for God signing a contract.
God actually signed a contract with this Canaanite king for the punishment of his people.
It's a very formal statement.
And you can't help thinking that.
Once that contract has been signed, then in a sense what happens in history is just coincidental.
Because we see the unseen hand of God at work in that word.
And that fits with Judges chapter 3.
Flip back to chapter 3 verse 1.
And something that I think we often get overlooked in Judges.
Because it says in chapter 3 verse 1.
Now these are the nations that the Lord left.
Okay, the unseen hand of God.
The Lord left.
Why?
To test Israel by them.
And jump down to verse 4.
They were, at least among them the Canaanites.
Verse 4.
They were for the testing of Israel to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord,
which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
In the very next verse.
So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites.
Verse 6.
Their daughters they took to themselves for wives,
and their own daughters they gave to their sons and served their gods.
The Canaanites were told, again,
the unseen hand of God was that were there to test the faithfulness of his people.
And guess what?
They failed spectacularly.
Instead of being a distinctive reflection of Yahweh, their covenant God,
to the Canaanites out there,
they became a distinctive reflection of the Canaanites to Yahweh up there.
They had become enslaved within the Promised Land.
In God's own place, they had become enslaved.
If you look again at chapter 5, verse 6 and 7,
and we see something of what that enslavement looked like,
it's hard to know exactly what these verses mean,
but it seems to be that ordinary life, as it was known,
had ceased to be.
The whole system had collapsed
and become immobile.
Rather than the Canaanites producing the good life,
it had just led them in to death and destruction as a nation.
How sad is that?
And here's another illusion.
Their bad hearts
deceived them into a situation
where there was nothing more
than an illusion of intimacy with God.
Yes, we're God's people.
We're in God's special place, the Promised Land.
But it was just an illusion
of intimacy with God.
Trapped by their own hearts.
It's not Cicera
they most need deliverance from,
but their bad hearts.
Again, you see,
things are not as they seem.
Okay, let's meet the other characters
in the drama
and ask then, as Marty asked,
who's the saviour?
Who's the hero?
And we get three contenders.
The most obvious one, I think, is Deborah,
given that she holds the title to this.
And Deborah, we see in chapter 4,
well, she just pops up.
Now, you might expect
if she's the soon-to-be heroine,
then we might get some sort of special introduction.
But no, Deborah just appears.
But then again,
as soon as we start to think about Deborah,
then she just appears,
but then she's really, really unique
in her culture.
She's a prophetess and judge.
In other words,
Deborah was an important social
and religious leader
in the nation.
And I think it's interesting
that, again,
her cultural uniqueness,
her formidable character,
is highlighted by this contrast.
Her husband's mentioned,
but just stays in the background.
She's presented as a formidable,
godly woman,
called into a very, very unusual role
by the Lord.
And I think, by contrast, cleverly,
the writer's saying,
well, okay,
if we look at Deborah,
we're actually being told something
about the men
who are behind Deborah.
She exposes, in a sense,
the ineptitude,
the failure of the men
to fulfill their role
as godly leaders.
So Deborah is presented
as both a unique,
formidable servant of the Lord,
but it's also saying much more
to us than just about Deborah.
Anyway, verse 4 and 5,
a deputation comes to Deborah
to get her advice
on what to do
in response to their suffering.
Again, you see,
an action that would normally be,
brings shame to the men.
To be advised by a woman
in the culture of the day
was shameful in the extreme.
But they're so desperate,
they don't seem to even realize that.
They come to Deborah
seeking her advice.
And Deborah
doesn't take a backward step.
She tasks Barak
quite probably
an existing local
resistance unit,
militia commander
or something like that.
Anyway,
he's tasked with raising
a force of 10,000 fighters
to take on Sisera.
And they were to deploy
to the foothills
of Mount Tabor,
a 140-meter hill
at the north end
of the Esdralen Valley.
So they're to sit up there
and await the order
to attack.
Now,
militarily,
we just need to feel for Barak.
Because I think militarily,
this would have felt
like a suicide mission.
At best,
if you look at chapter 5,
verse 8,
again,
we get another little clue.
The end of verse 8,
was shield or spear
to be seen among
the 40,000 in Israel?
I think what that's telling us
is that because the Canaanites
had such a ruthless
subjection of the land
that Barak's 10,000 men,
at best,
were only very,
very lightly armed.
They couldn't hide
heavy weapons
from the Canaanites.
So at best,
they probably just had swords,
maybe a few daggers,
but most likely,
crude farm implements
that were sort of
commandeered for weapons.
And this up against
the most mechanized army
in the world at the time.
900 chariots,
a rapid deployment
mobile strike force.
They had no heavy weapons
to engage the chariots.
And most likely,
very little training
and probably
no combat experience.
Militarily, as I say,
this would have felt
like a suicide mission.
Yet Deborah
assures Barak
of complete victory.
Not just a possible victory
or a shade of victory,
but a complete victory.
Confident in God's promise.
And look at verse 9
of chapter 4
and see again
how things are never
as they seem.
Chapter 9, verse 4,
she said,
I will surely go with you.
I'll come back to this
in a minute.
Nevertheless,
the road on which
you are going
will not lead to your glory
for the Lord will
sell Sisera
into the hand of a woman.
The Lord's got his pen
out again
and he's about to
reverse the contract
that he had written
with Sisera and Jeban.
And now the Lord's
going to put a different
contract in place.
A contract that will
just as surely
be the undoing
of Sisera.
the unseen
hand of God.
Again,
nothing is
as it seems.
So it appears
that Deborah
is going to
be the hero
and get the glory.
But again,
things are not
as they first seemed.
Glory,
verse 9,
glory will go
to a woman.
It doesn't actually say
glory will come to me,
Deborah.
It just says glory
will go to a woman.
And so we're left
hanging at that point
in the story.
Then is Barak.
He's obviously
got to be a contender
as well for the
Saviour Award.
But then we run
into some trouble
because his response
to Deborah
initially
usually means
that he's labeled
as a faithless coward.
Poor old Barak
comes up for a bit
of a hiding
when people
will consider him.
And so the argument
is that
when Barak says,
off you go
and take on
the Canaanites,
and Barak says,
well actually
I'm not going to go
if you won't go with me.
That argument
is usually that,
well,
Barak knows
jolly well
that there's going
to be inevitable defeat.
And so he wants
Deborah there
as a fall guy.
He wants Deborah
there to sort of
blame in the event
that things go
pear-shaped.
And then
Deborah's response
to him
is seen to be
punishment
and public
humiliation.
Well,
because you're
faithless,
then I'm telling you
now that you won't
get any glory
for this.
That's not actually
what the Hebrew
says really.
There's a better
alternative.
And that alternative
also explains
why Barak
is actually
included
in the gallery
of faithful
servants
in Hebrews 11.
And here's
the alternative.
I think Barak's
response
is meant to
echo
the response
of Moses.
Remember when
Moses was set
aside by the
Lord to go
up and rescue
his people
from Egypt.
Moses also
expressed an
incredible sense
of inability
and caution
and fear.
And Moses
said to the
Lord,
unless you
go up with
me,
I won't go.
I won't do it.
And the Lord
said to Moses
actually,
yes,
I'll go with
you.
There's a
parallel here.
So I actually
think Barak's
statement here
is actually a
statement of
faith,
not a statement
of cowardice.
So Barak
is actually
expressing
supreme
confidence
in the
success
of his
task
in spite
of his
own
inability
if the
Lord's
representative,
which in
this case
is Deborah,
goes with
him as a
sign that
God is
going with
him.
And then
Deborah's
response in
the Hebrew
is just a
statement of
God's plan,
not censure.
Okay,
so I'm
going to go
up with
you,
but you
should know
this ahead
of time,
Barak,
you should
know that
this mission
you're setting
out on
will not
bring glory
to you.
If you read
in brackets
in between,
in fact,
you will
experience
shame
because a
woman will
get the
credit for
this particular
mission that
you're going
to lead.
Now at
that point,
I think we
see why
Barak's
included in
the gallery
of faith
in Hebrews
11,
because he
could have
then backtracked
and said,
well actually,
okay,
second thoughts
Deborah,
you just
stay here
because I
actually do
really want
the glory
for this,
so you
stay here,
I'll go
and do,
we'll reverse
back,
we'll re-have
this conversation
and you
stay here
and I'll
go and do
it,
yep,
and I'll
get the
credit.
No,
Barak
doesn't do
that,
he just
accepts
the situation.
And I
think thereby
displaying the
sort of
faith in
God's
promises and
the type of
leadership
that God
wanted to see
among his
people,
a leadership
that was
about concern
for God's
glory,
not his
own
reputation.
And then
moving on,
verse 12
through 16,
the story
just continues,
the complete
destruction of
the Canaanite
army and
in fact,
complete destruction
of Canaanite
domination for
the next
couple of
hundred years,
such was the
size of the
defeat.
But again,
tucked in
there is that
notion of
things aren't
as they seem.
Barak actually
led the
army on
the
battlefield,
actually saw
the victory,
but didn't
get the
normal benefits
of such a
great victory.
And so we
come to
Jael,
the third
contender for
heroine.
Now,
Jael
isn't actually
presented initially
as a major
character at all.
but she
becomes a key
player in the
story because
she's the one
who actually
kills Sisera and
actually fulfills
God's promise.
But again,
we see another
parallel through
the judges,
and that is
Jael is very
much likened to
Ehud.
She's a very
unsavory
character.
Her weapons
were seduction,
and that's
how we should
read how she
got Sisera into
her tent.
She was a
seductress,
smooth words,
lolling him into
a sense of
false security.
Deceit,
lies,
breaking every
rule in the
book in terms
of cultural
hospitality and
integrity.
And she
lures Sisera to
a horribly
violent death.
Every bit
is jarring
on us as
what do you
call them,
run the king
through.
Yep.
But again,
you see,
things are not
as they seem.
Jael gets the
credit for
killing Sisera,
but if you
look at
chapter 5,
verse 24
through 27,
she gets the
credit for
killing Sisera,
but she
doesn't get the
credit for
delivering God's
people.
Look at
chapter 5,
verse 24
to 27,
and it's
graphic and
it's gruesome.
Most blessed
of women be
jailed.
Now how can
somebody like
that be called
most blessed
of women?
The wife of
Heber,
the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling
women,
most blessed.
He asked
water and she
gave him milk.
Deception.
She brought
him curds
and a
nobles'
bowl.
Seduction.
She sent
her hand
to the
tent peg
and her
right hand
to the
workman's
mallet.
This is
just gruesome.
She struck
Sisera.
She crushed
his head.
This has
been spun
out for us.
We're meant
to feel
every gory
detail.
It's like
the old-fashioned
slow-mo.
She shattered
and pierced
his temple.
Between her
feet he sank.
He fell.
He lay
still.
Between her
feet he sank.
He fell.
He says it
for a third
time.
Where he sank,
there he fell.
Dead.
Pretty blood
Thursday account,
isn't it?
jail.
Jail,
however,
is only
significant
in that,
like Ehud,
she delivers
the decisive
blow by
which God
completes the
deliverance
of his
people.
And it
has to be
like that
because the
real
deliverer
is God.
God,
the real
deliverer is
God.
It's totally
clear when we
now move into
Deborah's song,
it's totally
clear that
Deborah doesn't
think for a
moment that
she's front and
center in this
great deliverance.
Deborah is
singing God's
praises because
she knows that
God was the
great deliverer.
Chapter 5,
verse 2,
she recognizes
there that
God's people
play their
part,
that the
leaders took
the lead in
Israel,
the people
offered
themselves
willingly.
Bless the
Lord.
So the
Lord used
his sinful
people in
this great
outcome.
The people
were sort
of rallying
to restore
the honor
of God
among his
own people.
But even
then there's
illusion and
things are
not as
we seem
because if
you look at
chapter 5,
verse 16,
through to 18,
and verse 23,
not all
God's people
were prepared
to fight
for God's
honor.
So not all
of God's
people were
so desperate
to rise up
against the
Canaanites
and restore
God's honor.
Some of them
actually stayed
at home.
Some of them
chose safety
and comfort
over God's
honor.
So again,
any illusion,
any thought
that there's
unity across
God's people
is just that,
an illusion.
Some chose
their own
comfort over
God's honor.
But look at
verse 4 and
5 of
chapter 5.
It was the
Lord who
orchestrated
the Canaanite
defeat using
an unseasonal
thunderstorm,
it would appear.
A thunderstorm
which turned
the normally
hard,
dry,
flat plains,
highly suitable
for a highly
mobile strike
force of
chariots,
turning that
into a
sort of
buggy
quagmire.
Imagine 900
iron chariots
and probably
at least two
if not four
horses per
chariot.
I mean,
it would
just have
turned into
a mud pie.
But importantly
you see,
the unseen
hand of
God in
this
unseasonal
thunderstorm
completely
reverses the
strategic
imbalance.
The
assets of
a 900
strong
rapid
deployment
force now
becomes a
liability.
And the
liability of
only 10,000
lightly armed
troops hiding
behind the
trees on
the hillside
now becomes
strategic
advantage.
And so
there's total
victory.
And Deborah
will settle
for nothing
less than
celebrating the
covenant
faithfulness of
God.
His unseen
hand was
sovereignly seen
and felt in
every movement
of their
experience,
including their
suffering of
20 years.
But friends,
there's an
even bigger
picture to
end being
enjoyed here
in chapter
5,
verse 5.
And that's
the beauty
of poetry.
We soar to
lofty heights
and make
connections that
you can't
just make in
a factual
historical
narrative.
Chapter
5,
verse 5,
4 and 5.
Lord,
when you
went out
from
Seir,
when you
marched
from the
region of
Edom,
the earth
trembled,
the heavens
dropped,
yes,
the clouds
dropped water,
the mountains
quacked before
the Lord,
even Sinai
before the
Lord,
the God
of Israel.
Sinai
pops up
in there.
And I
think what
we're being
told here is
that we're
to read the
story of
Deborah and
deliverance from
the Canaanites
like another
Exodus event.
Remember,
through Moses,
God delivered
his people
from bondage
to sin,
from slavery
in Egypt,
and brought
them back to
himself for
new holiness
and obedience.
And do you
remember how
he did it?
He brought
them through
the Red
Sea.
And it was
the water
that destroyed
the Egyptian
army in
totality.
The Lord
swept them
away as
well.
As a
demonstration
of his
sovereignty
and his
power and
his faithfulness
to his
people.
And you
remember,
after that
event,
Miriam got
alongside
Moses and
she wrote
a beautiful
song,
Exodus
chapter 15,
to celebrate
God's
sovereignty and
God's
faithfulness to
him.
This is a
very, very
close parallel.
And we're
meant to
see it like
that.
A parallel
song to
the faithfulness
of God.
Because once
again, you
see, their
faithful God
has pursued
his people
even into
the darkness
of their
sin and
brought them
back to
himself.
Determined
that they
would enjoy
the good
life that
only he
can deliver
to them,
that he
intends to
deliver to
them, in
spite of
their
determination
to turn
away from
it.
What a
picture of
God's
faithfulness.
What a
picture of
God's
faithfulness.
And it
dwarfs us
in comparison
to the
majesty and
the splendor
of God.
And before
him, here
we are,
sinful people,
even as we're
in God's
place,
constantly
wanting to
turn away
and find
something better,
even as we're
enjoying the
best that
the Lord has
to offer us.
What a
picture.
Depressing
and encouraging.
Nothing will
do for
Deborah and
Barak but
to sing to
the Lord.
Verse 3,
Hear, O
kings, give
ear, O
princess, to
the Lord I
will sing.
I will make
melody to the
Lord, the
God of
Israel.
And you
see, Deborah
in this
song is
putting
things back
how they
should be.
People all
around, the
nations all
around should
look at
God's
people and
when they
see God's
people, then
they should
see God.
That's not
what it's been
like for 20
years, but it
is now once
again with
Deborah's
song.
And Deborah
and Barak
land this
lesson with
disturbing
force in
the last
stanza of
the song.
It's a
very, very
left field
picture.
Chapter 5,
verse 27 to
31.
I pondered
this and
pondered this
for a long
time over
the last
couple of
weeks, and
I think
maybe I've
got it
right.
You'll
have to
be the
decider of
it.
I've got
nobody else
to blame.
Maybe
Bo.
Yeah,
Bo.
Bo will
do.
Yep.
Okay, so
what happens
in verse
27 is
that we
get this
gory,
repeated,
slow-mo
description
of
Sisera
dying.
And we're
meant to
just feel
the impact
of that.
And then
verse 28,
we transition
magically, as
only you can
do in
poetry, to
where?
To the
lounge room
where Sisera's
mother is
waiting for
him to
return from
campaign.
So follow
through with
me.
out of
the window
she peered.
Just a
sudden
transition.
Who's this
peering?
The mother
of Sisera
wailed
through the
lattice.
Why is
his chariot
so long
and coming?
Why tarry
the hoofbeats
of his
chariots?
Her
wisest
princesses
answer,
indeed she
answers herself,
have they
not found
and divided
the spoil?
A womb
or two
for every
man,
spoiled
of dyed
materials
for Sisera.
Spoiled
of dyed
materials
embroidered,
two pieces
of dyed
work
embroidered
for the
neck
as
spoil.
So what's
happening
here?
We're being
transported from
the grisly
reality of
Sisera's
death to
the palace
where his
mother and
family are
waiting for
his return.
She's wondering,
why is he
late?
Dinner's going
to get
cold.
And we're
again given
some insight
into illusion
and how
things are
not as
they seem.
She also
is living
under an
illusion.
Her
assumption
is that
this
powerful,
ruthless,
cruel son
of hers,
who has
always been
victorious and
who charged
out at the
head of the
most mechanized
army the
world had
seen at that
time,
that he'll
just come
home as
victor.
And so she
thinks,
well, if he's
not home
already,
then, well,
okay, let's
be honest,
boys will be
boys.
And so they
got a woman
to who that
is.
I take it
what they're
saying is that
Sisera and
his men are
busy raping
their newly
captive woman.
The result
of victory.
It doesn't
occur to her
that her
successful
son might
be dead.
She also
is living
under illusion.
Things are
not as they
seem.
And verse
31 then
sums up
the whole
song.
So may
all your
enemies perish,
O Lord,
but your
friends be
like the
sun as
he rises
in his
might.
Amen.
The enemies
of God,
those who
reject him
and believe
they can find
a good life
apart from
serving and
worshipping him
will ultimately
perish.
The unseen
hand of God
will make
that happen.
Even though
they may
appear
invincible
now.
It will be
the friends
of God,
verse 31,
who will
ultimately be
seen to have
both light
and life
and a
future.
So my
friends,
I think
the main
message of
this is
don't live
under
an illusion.
Choose
to live
in God's
reality
of true
life
and true
satisfaction.
Don't be
easily
conned
by that
which offered
you all
around you
in this
world.
it might
give you
a false
security.
It might
give you
an illusion
of
intimacy
with God
because after
all my
life's going
well and
because my
life's going
well then
God must
be favorably
disposed
towards me.
Things are
not as they
seem.
Don't live
in illusion.
Live in
reality.
God's
the real
deliverer and
his
self-effacing
judges and
saviors whisper
beautifully of
Jesus.
It's
interesting in
chapter 5
verse 7
Deborah is
called the
mother of
Israel.
It's a
lovely term.
Again it
took me a
while I
think to
unpack this
on my
mind.
So Deborah
is the
mother of
Israel.
Why?
Because
she's the
one who
demonstrated a
mother's
grief for
the waywardness
of her
children, her
people, her
nation.
She's the
one who's
demonstrated a
mother's care,
a mother's
concern, a
mother's
concern to
protect, a
mother's
commitment to
her children in
spite of their
failings and
their waywardness.
And does
anything whisper
more of Jesus
than something
like that?
Remember in
Matthew chapter
23 verse 37
through to
39 Jesus
comes and
he looks down
in Jerusalem
and he says
ah Jerusalem
Jerusalem,
would that I
could sweep
you up and
bring you into
safety under
my wings.
Jesus was
expressing a
mother's concern
for his
people.
Such fierce
jealousy for
them in their
sin that he
would literally
die to
protect them
and deliver
them.
a truer
and better
Deborah.
Barak is
prepared to
forgo his
reputation,
forgo any
glory that
might be
rightly claimed
by him,
even to the
point of being
shamed before
his people.
Why?
Because his
one focus was
God's glory
and the
deliverance of
God's people.
God's
people.
All he
wanted in
life was
not reputation
but to be
part of God's
salvation program
for his
people.
That would be
glory enough
for Barak.
And again,
what a beautiful
whisper of Jesus.
Philippians chapter
2 verses 5 to
11 talks about
how Jesus gave
up his glory,
gave up his
reputation,
accepted shame,
even to the
point of death.
Why?
Simply that he
might deliver
his people and
bring glory to
his father.
And you're
probably wondering
how is he going
to twist the
GL thing?
How is he going
to spin that
one?
Well, in
chapter 5 verse
24, GL is
described as the
most blessed of
women.
I think it
works like this.
She accepted
that extreme
violence,
extreme violence,
was required to
deliver God's
people from
their tormentor.
And so, we
have a picture of
GL prepared to
ruthlessly kill
off God's
enemy by nailing
him to the
ground.
And that made
me think of
Colossians chapter
2 verses 13
to 15 where
we're told that
Jesus acted with
a similar
ruthlessness to
destroy what
held us in
bondage and
tormented us.
That is in
Colossians is
told our record
of debt and
the ongoing
demands of the
law saying
guilty, guilty,
guilty, guilty.
And like
jail, Jesus
nailed our
deepest problem.
But again, you
see, things are
not as they
seem.
He did nail
our problem.
He did
deliver us.
Not by
inflicting
violence, but
by being the
victim of
extreme
violence.
The extreme
violence, the
violent death
needed to kill
off our
greatest enemy
by nailing the
law and its
demands to the
cross.
Again, a
beautiful picture,
a beautiful
whisper of the
Lord Jesus.
So friends,
don't mistake,
if you're not a
Christian here this
morning, don't
mistake the
self-effacing
Jesus for a
weak and
insignificant
Jesus.
Nothing is as
it seems.
Let's pray.
Lord, help us to
hear your word.
Help us to
appreciate the
complexity of
the way in which
it's been written
and the
beautiful pictures
it brings before
us.
Pictures, Lord,
that nail us in
our pathetic,
unoriginal
rebellion against
you.
and yet,
Lord, pictures
that show your
unexpected and
creative ways in
which you deliver
us, your
people.
Thank you, Lord,
that the most
unexpected, the
most creative way
is captured in
the person and
work of the
Lord Jesus.
Who would have
thought, Lord,
that you would
nail our deepest
problem at the
cost of the life
of your own
son.
We thank you,
Lord, that in
that you've
taken us from
illusion into
reality.
And we pray,
Lord, that we
might live
confidently every
single day
knowing that your
unseen hand
guides our every
move and our
every thought.
And I pray in
Jesus' name.
Amen.