STRONG IN THE DAY OF BATTLE

STRONG IN THE DAY OF BATTLE
[Harry Foster]

"Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest" (Joshua 1:7-9).

"Thou therefore, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things which thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier on service entangleth himself in the affairs of this life; that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier. And if also a man contend in the games, he is not crowned, except he have contended lawfully. The husbandman that laboureth must be the first to partake of the fruits. Consider what I say; for the Lord shall give thee understanding in all things. Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the seed of David, according to my gospel" (2 Timothy 2:1-8).

THERE is a very striking similarity between the exhortations found in the second letter to Timothy and the charge given to Joshua: "Be strong and of a good courage" -- 'Thou therefore, my child, be Strong ...'. Joshua was not a child, but he was the child, the successor, of a previous generation. The words in this first chapter were not spoken actually by Moses. In Deuteronomy 31 there are very similar words in the charge which Moses himself gave to Joshua. This was a new generation, not called upon to begin a new work, but to finish a work which had been begun.

Now, passing over into the New Testament, nor is Timothy a child, and I suppose by the time this letter was written to him he was not exactly what we would call a young man, but he too represented a new generation, a succession. Paul looked to him, and to those who were like him, to carry through the work, the testimony, that had been begun. And if you read on to chapter 3 you will immediately find the scope of this charge reaching right into the last days.

So this letter is written for all saints, but it has a special emphasis and a peculiar message to those who find themselves called upon to be a new generation, to be the instrument of pursuing a purpose [28/29] already begun, and of carrying it right through unto the last days. So the whole thought bound up with these two charges, the one to Joshua and the other to Timothy, has special reference to us who find ourselves, as undoubtedly we are, in the last days.

THE DAY OF BATTLE

The first thing that we look at for a moment is to see the circumstances which surround them, the characteristics of the time. In Joshua's case, of course, there was only one issue, only one occupation at that particular time. He was the leader of a fighting nation; and Paul, writing to Timothy, lays special emphasis on this same fact, that one of the characteristics of the hour is to be conflict, and he makes no apology for taking up as a metaphor the wars which men pursue and the occupation of a soldier -- "a good soldier of Jesus Christ". There is a battle on, nay, more than a battle. You will have noticed, if you have an Authorised Version, that it says: "No man that warreth." But the Revised Version speaks of "No soldier on service" -- no soldier on active service. There are two words used in Scripture about conflict in this military sense. One speaks of a battle, one decisive engagement fought through to a finish and then it is over, but the other (and this is the word which is used here) speaks of a campaign -- if you like, a war -- with its many phases and its many aspects, and it is that which is typical of the whole age in which we live and peculiarly characteristic of the last days. Conflict, not a straightforward 'ding-dong' battle, but with all the skirmishing, the subtlety, the long drawn-out endurance of a campaign. We are in that, but the difficulty is (and I speak for myself in this case) we so often forget what we are in. Every step that we take, especially when it has something of special value to the Lord in it, every movement, is fraught with opposition, not necessarily of the straightforward brutal kind, but opposition as of the skill, the cunning, the guiles and the force of a whole army. That tremendous army is not ranged against us alone, but we are in the battle and we very often become focal points round which it rages.

Now our difficulty is just this: we think something has happened to us, and we often get offended about it, and do not recognize, or recognize only too late, that that circumstance -- it may have been some small, irritating thing -- is only a part of a great conflict. If we hug to ourselves our own particular grief or grievance, and wonder why this has happened to us, or why we are here and why others are not in our position, we come to an absolute standstill and virtually, on that particular front, there is defeat. If we rise up and realize that this sorrow, however crushing, or this problem, however acute, or this irritation, however annoying, is just a part -- but a very real part -- of a great world-wide, nay, universal, battle, it makes it so much easier. We realize that it is not that we are being hardly dealt with by the Lord, but we have been entrusted with a definite position to hold for Him. It revolutionizes your mental outlook. For lack of that many of us have failed very badly.

And so conflict is one of the great features of the time. It will come in any kind of way, most particularly in the way which we do not expect and which we do not desire. We do not expect the enemy to choose out that particular trial that we could bear best; if we do, we have mistaken his nature. I speak out of my own heart. How true it is that we are blind and forgetful and taken off our guard again and again because we regard incidents and circumstances as things in themselves, and fail to realize that the whole scene as it is now set is one of a great, complicated campaign, and we are soldiers in the ranks.

ENDURE HARDSHIP
The next note that is sounded so much in this letter is that of suffering. If you go through the second letter to Timothy there is no cloaking of the fact, no attempt on Paul's part to make light of his own experiences, or in some cheap optimism to encourage Timothy. On the contrary, it is, again and again, to bear in mind the sufferings of his great predecessor, and himself to be prepared to suffer, as it is all a part of the campaign. Some natures can enjoy a good 'ding-dong' fight, and there is an appeal even in the word 'conflict' when it is looked upon in certain aspects. Get down to pray and deal with the thing, and you may find some satisfaction in feeling you have given the enemy a bad time. Well, that may be a part of the battle, but so often our fighting is suffering, and a case of enduring the hardness of a long drawn-out, and to us, very mysterious campaign. You cannot expect the One who is Himself at the head of His forces to take us into His confidence as to the whole of the thing that He is doing, or even, perhaps, as to our little part in it.



This is the note that you hear so often in this letter. It is a sad one, for it is in the falling away, the turning aside, of men. Of course, it is all a result of the conflict. There is conflict for all, at least, conflict faces all, but you can choose the conflict, you can seek to be a good soldier, and that means [29/30] suffering, or you can turn from the conflict, and that means what you find again and again in this letter: those who turned aside, those who opposed themselves. All the time the solemn appeals that the Apostle makes to Timothy are to 'hold on', 'to stir up into a flame that gift which is in him'. Oh, how the fire dies down! How quickly, without any effort, without any consciousness on our part, the fire dies down! And surely it is not without significance that in John's letters and in the message to the overcomers, all right in the atmosphere of the last day, again and again such words as these arise: "Hold fast that which thou hast"; "See that no man take thy crown." Well, that is just the atmosphere.

Now, the command to the one who is found, as we are all found, at such a time is, in the first place, the word: "Be strong!" The first need, the greatest requirement in those who would be true to the Lord at this time is strength, and that is just the thing that is most lacking. Do you notice how, again and again, that was said to Joshua? "Only be strong!" And how the Apostle is most anxious that Timothy should grasp this great, important need to be found strong. We have got to be the Lord's instruments for pressing this battle home, and that needs strength, and it is strength that the Lord is looking for in His people, and strength that must be found in us: "Thou therefore be strong." It is no use saying: 'Oh, what a strong man Paul is! How blessed, how wonderful, to sit under Paul's ministry, to talk about Paul, to share some of the radiance of this spiritual giant, and bask in it!' It is no use looking at a man and living under his shadow and praising God that he is strong. What reason Timothy had for praising God for Paul! But Paul turns round on him and says: 'What about you, Timothy?' 'Oh, but I am very weak naturally!' Yes, that is true, for this is a strength which is not a natural strength. Timothy had no physical strength and he very often suffered infirmities. The Apostle was not saying: 'Get cured of your physical weaknesses!' but he was saying: 'Timothy, you poor man with your oft infirmities, be strong, only be strong!' So it is not physical strength or natural strength. If you read the letter, it is quite obvious that Timothy himself must have been of a very timid disposition. The Apostle exhorts him not to be afraid and not to be ashamed. Nay, you may be a very gentle, shrinking, timid disposition, and the suggestion is not that your disposition should be changed, but that, in spite of it, you will be strong. For actually, as the true rendering is, it is not so much a question of our being strong as of our being strengthened. There is grace in the Lord for you to be strong.

Oh. these things are so practical! If you read the letter, you find that Paul is not calling upon Timothy to exercise, or to imagine that he possesses, or to lay claim to, some theoretical strength which is imaginary, but he comes right down to very practical things -- doing the work of an evangelist, being strong to speak the Lord's word, and reproving among His people if necessary. Although he does not say it to Timothy; I am sure being strong in prayer is included. It is practical strength that is needed, not of a natural kind, but of a spiritual nature applied to practical things.

The Lord is calling you and me to be strong. Here is a prayer meeting, and we come into it largely inactive or neutral. If it is a good prayer meeting, then we shall be caught up. If it is rather a heavy one, well, we will sit back and we may be critical. The Lord is saying to every one of us: 'Be strong! Come in with a strong spirit and contribute strength by your spiritual attitude. In prayer and in every phase of the Church life, as well as in your individual experience, be strong!' A continual individual strength is essential if we are to go on: and for our ministry. That is the thought that Paul is bringing up. Be strengthened continually! There is strength for you. We have looked upon Joshua as a great figure, a strong man, but it is very significant that, again and again, the Lord had to say to Joshua similarly: 'Do not be afraid!' It seems as if Joshua might well have been fearful. "Be not dismayed ... be strong." However weak we may be (for many purposes the weaker we are the better), we may have a robust virile strength and a positive attitude for the Lord at every moment of every day, and there is grace in Christ Jesus to give us that strength.

REMEMBER! REMEMBER!
The second requirement in the Lord's servant is what is called here 'remembrance'. Shall I say -- it is an ever-fresh vision. You will notice how several times the Apostle says to Timothy: 'Remember!' "Remember Jesus Christ." Was Timothy ever likely to forget Him? No, but you can have an historic Christ, a Christ who was real to you in some past experience but you have lost the freshness and present value of a living vision of Christ. I think this is what corresponds in the Joshua passage to: "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth ...". Remember! First: "Remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David."

What does that mean? One in whom large purposes were bound up, for in this sense David had [30/31] not many seeds, but one seed, and all the purposes of God were staked upon this One, Jesus Christ. Remember that! And remember that the conflict and suffering of His life were all bound up with that one thing. Why did Herod try to destroy Jesus Christ? Because He was the seed of David. What was the great accusation against Jesus Christ at His crucifixion? "The King of the Jews", the seed of David, and this meant that the question of dominion being bound up in the purpose of God with this Man's life brought Him into suffering and conflict. Remember that, because you are apt to think beautiful thoughts with the idea of a heavenly calling. Jesus Christ is the One supremely of the heavenly calling. Remember what He suffered and the way He went. He was raised from the dead, but He had to die first. We sometimes feel that there are those whose sufferings are so great that there are no words of comfort one could speak to them. One feels that if somehow one could get alongside of them and read to them some of the sufferings of the blessed Son of God, that would in some senses interpret the dealings of God with them. In the conflict, in the suffering, remember Jesus Christ, the seed of David. So much depended upon the realization of God's purposes in Him, and that was the explanation of the suffering. And that was the explanation of His endurance. He did not fail God. God's purposes were realized and the afterward was a wonderful resurrection from the dead. Look at the Lord Jesus on the Throne and remember how He came there, and with that fresh in the mind there is victory.

Then: "I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee ..." (2 Timothy 1:6). Remember the purpose of God in His people, and ever have it fresh in view. You see, the soldier is on active service now, but the thought is: If he is a good soldier, there is going to be a glorious victory. The athlete is feeling some of the strain and stress of the conflict now, but there is a crown at the end. That is the purpose of God; remember that! The husbandman that laboureth is bearing the heat and burden of his toil, but there are fruits being enjoyed as the result of labour. Remember the calling, the purpose of God, and remember that it is not just personal. There is a blessed word of comfort concerning the suffering when the Apostle talks of "suffering together". If we are suffering for Christ's sake, we are suffering as a part of a people who are being brought to glory by the road of suffering and we are not suffering alone. Suffering hardship together with Him, says the Apostle, and not only with Him but with others. Our way is a way of fellowship.

THE ADEQUATE MOTIVE
And then the third great need, if we are to carry through the charge given to us. Firstly, it is our strength, and then a continual remembrance, and the third thing is love to the Lord. "... that he may please him who enrolled him as a soldier." That is rather idealistic with regard merely to earthly armies and soldiers, and yet is it not true that through the ages, from David onwards, the best soldiers have been the men who had a passionate devotion to their leader? Some remarkable things have been done in this world by a few men devoted to their leader. In some cases it was misplaced, but it was devotion. To have this as the great dominating ambition and purpose in life: to please Him who has called me to be a soldier!

Then the Apostle goes on to speak of those vessels in verse 20 of chapter 2. The Lord's house is a great house. The Lord has a great purpose and there are many vessels, but among those vessels there are some unto honour, as it were, gold and silver, and there are some unto dishonour, not noble, but common, ordinary, necessary, useful. But if any man will set his heart on full obedience and devotion to the Lord, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified. What is the great consolation and joy of his heart? "Meet for the Master's use." The Master takes special notice of him, takes special pride in him, as of some valuable or beautiful vessel in the great household. And that surely is the vision which will sustain and carry us through to the end: the joy, the privilege, not only of being in the Master's house -- praise His Name, we are there! -- but, being there, a vessel unto honour, bringing some joy and satisfaction to His heart.

So the Apostle is able to say, as far as he is concerned, that he has come through -- "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). The charge is handed on, not only to Timothy, but to us, to fight the same fight, to finish the course, to keep the faith. We need strength for that. There is strength for it. We need continual remembrance -- shall we better say -- vision for that. There is vision, and the word is the great instrument of bringing it to us. We need a deep love to Christ, for while we may be conscious that our love is not a deep one, it is our ambition to please Him. That is the way. Do you notice that the emphasis in that connection is that Paul did it, so Timothy could do it, and it was because God was faithful to Paul, and He would be faithful to Timothy. So with Joshua: it was not because Moses came through that he came through, but the word was: "As I was with Moses, so I will [31/32] be with thee." Not Moses, but Moses' God; not Paul, but Paul's Lord, and there is no reason why Timothy should not go through just as victoriously as Paul, because he has the same Lord. And there is no reason why the weakest of us should not be in the Lord's hands for overthrowing His foes, and fighting His battles, and enjoying His crown, because this God is our God for ever and ever. Amen. H. F.

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