Praise God for His Glorious Triumph over His Enemy and His Salvation of His People!

In the book of Exodus we clearly see that the goal of God’s salvation, provision, and revelation is the building of His dwelling place. Also, the central thought and the direction of the book of Exodus is the dwelling place of God. Once God has His building, He has a way to bring in His kingdom.

But the enemy disagrees with God’s goal, and he opposes it; Satan will do whatever he can to interfere with the journey of God’s people toward this goal. The enemy’s interference involves war: he attacks powerfully, ruthlessly, and incessantly. This makes warfare inevitable and even necessary.

Before the people of Israel could enter into war with the enemy in Exodus 17 they first experienced Jehovah as a man of war fighting for them and destroying the enemy in Exodus 15. The war with Amalek (Exo. 17) is an ongoing matter, but we cannot engage in this aspect of war without seeing the vision of the glorious triumph of Jehovah as a man of war and, by seeing this vision, know the key to victory in warfare.

May the enemy’s stratagem be publicly exposed, and may our mind be covered by the helmet of salvation so that we would be sober and focused in our mind and exercised in our spirit as we approach the matter of the spiritual warfare.

When Moses and Aaron had their first confrontation with Pharaoh, the command was given, Let My people go that they may hold a feast unto Me in the wilderness. God wanted His people to hold a feast unto Him not in Egypt but in the wilderness.

The passover supplied the people with the energy to leave Egypt, but the factor of their salvation and deliverance from Egypt was the mighty power of the Savior God. It was necessary for Pharaoh, typifying Satan, to be subdued. We cannot subdue the enemy with a lamb, with manna, or with living water; the enemy can be subdued by the power and authority of the Lord of heaven and of earth.

Jehovah subdued Pharaoh, the Egyptians, and the environment long enough for them to drive the people of Israel out. After delivering them from Pharaoh and his usurping hand, the Lord didn’t lead Israel straight to Canaan lest they faith when they see war; He led them by the way of the Red Sea.

At the Red Sea, the people of Israel were apparently trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s armies; this arrangement was made so that the Lord would gain a tremendous victory over the enemy and simultaneously save His people and separate them from Egypt! This was the glorious triumph of Jehovah as a man of war!

Praise God for His Glorious Triumph over His Enemy and His Salvation of His People!

After Jehovah delivered His people with a mighty hand from Egypt and after He destroyed Pharaoh and his armies in the Red Sea, the people of Israel sang a song on the seashore, full of rejoicing and praises (Exo. 15:1-18).

This song was most likely composed by Moses (as it is later called, the song of Moses in Revelation), and it is a song of praise concerning the glorious triumph of Jehovah as a man of war for His salvation and His victory leading to God’s habitation and His kingdom.

In the first twelve verses the children of Israel praise God for His salvation and victory. God saved His people, and He gained the victory over His enemy Satan. At the same time God defeated the enemy, He also saved His people (see Heb. 2:14-15).

Toward His people, God is a saving God, delivering them from the enemy and bringing them to a good land where they can worship Him and build up His habitation. Toward the enemy, God is a victorious One who defeats the enemy; He took His people through the Red Sea as on dry land, and when the enemy pursued to annihilate them, He defeated them.

Hallelujah, the enemy has been defeated and terminated by Christ, the Son of Man! As the church, our responsibility is to maintain the victory of Christ over Satan, testify of this victory, and apply this victory today. Although God has already pronounced judgement over the enemy, this judgement needs to be executed, and this happens in stages; today we participate in the spiritual warfare to maintain, declare, testify, and apply the Lord’s victory.

In Rev. 15:2-4 we see that the overcomers standing on the glassy sea mixed with fire sing the song of Moses; they praise God for saving them and defeating the enemy. Hallelujah, God saved us and He defeated the enemy: He is the Man of War, the Victorious Savior!

In Exodus 15:1-12 we have a poetic expression of praise concerning God’s salvation of His people and His victory over the enemy. As believers in Christ we need to know the Lord as the Man of War, knowing that a certain victory has been won by our Lord Jesus alone.

He is the God-man; in His incarnation, human living, all-inclusive death, powerful life-releasing-and-imparting resurrection, and ascension, He, Jesus the Nazarene, destroyed the devil! Christ judged the world and cast the ruler of this world out! He and He alone won this tremendous victory and obtained this glorious triumph!

We need to see Christ’s victory over Satan and praise Him! If we see this, we will be motivated and trained how to fight, and we will stand in His victory over the enemy!

Lord, we praise You for Your victory over Satan. Jesus Christ as the God-man lived a perfect human life on earth, died an all-inclusive death on the cross, resurrected in a powerful and life-giving way, and ascended to the heavens, thus defeating Satan! Hallelujah, Jesus Christ as the Son of Man judged the world and cast the ruler of the world out! What a tremendous victory and a glorious triumph! Lord, praise You for Your victory over Satan and for saving us from under his usurpation and slavery! Praise God, Jesus is our Victorious Savior!

The Song of Moses Prophesies that Israel will Defeat God’s Enemies and Take Possession of the Land

After praising God for His victory over the enemy and for saving His people, in v. 13 we see a mention of God’s habitation – even though the temple as God’s dwelling place was not built until centuries later (Exo. 15:13).

Moses prophesied in his song concerning the dwelling place of God; God’s habitation was first the tabernacle (which was erected approx. 1 year after the exodus from Egypt) and later the temple (which was built when the people of Israel were established in the good land).

The mention of God’s habitation in Exodus 15:13 indicates that baptism (the crossing of the Red Sea) leads to the church life (see Acts 2:38-47). In Exo. 15:14-15 we see the prophecy concerning the children of Israel defeating God’s enemies and taking possession of the good land.

In order for us as believers in Christ to eat the passover Lamb, the manna, the sweet water, or the water from the cleft rock we don’t need to fight; but for us to gain the all-inclusive Christ experientially this entails war.

The good land of Canaan was occupied by various tribes, “the heathen”, which the children of Israel were to destroy and take over the land little by little. First, the Philistines, who lived between Egypt and the good land, signify the people of the religious world (v. 14; 1 Sam. 6:1-18).

Then, the Edomites, the descendants of Esau, signify those who are natural, those who are not chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed (Exo. 15:15a; Rom. 9:10-13). The Moabites, the descendants of Lot, signify the fleshly ones, for their source was an act of incest (Exo. 15:15b; Gen. 19:30-38). Finally, the Canaanites are related to the evil powers in the heavenlies (Exo. 15:15c; Eph. 6:12).

Concerning the Canaanites there are three verses that show who they are and what’s their application in our spiritual experience. In Exo. 23:23 we see that Jehovah will drive out the pagan tribes from before Israel; the emphasis here is that the Canaanites typify the various aspects of our natural life. Behind these pagan tribes were the demons that were behind the idols, indicating that the enemy will use and manipulate the various aspects of our natural life to defeat us.

The Lord is in the process of delivering us from our natural life, and He does it little by little – not all at once, otherwise we will be empty and vacant, and the latter situation will be worse than the first.

In Num. 14:45 the Canaanites are the tribes that were driven out from before the people of Israel; they represent fallen human beings who associate themselves with evil spirits, opening themselves to be energized and empowered by them.

Finally, in Num. 21:1 the Canaanites signify the evil spirits in Satan’s kingdom of darkness. The land of Canaan has a twofold significance: positively it signifies the all-inclusive Christ with His unsearchable riches, and negatively it is Satan’s aerial kingdom with his subordinates who followed him in his rebellion.

In Exo. 15 we see a prophecy in poetry of how all these enemies will be driven out, based upon the glorious triumph of God over His enemies. All of our warfare in any form is based upon the once-for-all glorious triumph of our Lord through His death, resurrection, and ascension!

The enemy’s intention is to keep us as God’s people from reaching God’s goal, the building of His dwelling place for the fulfillment of His purpose. However, in God’s eyes His goal has already been achieved: this is why Moses uses the perfect tense when he speaks of God’s habitation (Exo. 15:13, 17), and the Apostle John says “I saw the New Jerusalem” (Rev. 22:1).

In God’s view, based on Christ’s triumph over Satan, the dwelling place of God has been already built up! Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, praise You for Your victory over Satan at the cross, in Your resurrection, and in Your ascension. Thank You for delivering us little-by-little from the various aspects of our natural life so that we may enter into the enjoyment of the all-inclusive Christ. Lord, we declare Your victory, we stand in Your victory, and we apply Your victory as the church today. Build up Your church, Your dwelling place. Gain Your house on earth today among men. Lord Jesus, we praise You!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Ron Kangas’ sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 29, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (1), week 9 / msg 8, The Glorious Triumph of Jehovah as a Man of War and the Continual War with Amalek (you can buy this morning revival book here via LSM and here via Amazon).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Praise Him! praise Him! Christ is Victor! / He has won the victory! / Sin is judged, old Adam finished, / Full redemption now we see! / Vanquished all the evil powers / Thru the Cross triumphantly! (Hymns #124)
  # Hallelujah! Christ is Victor, / Tell with every breath, / That the Savior still is conqu’ror / Over sin and death. (Hymns #890)
  # Little by little, / The Lord is cutting off all our natural life; / As we grow in Him, / He replaces us with more of His life divine. (Song on Being Dealt with in our Natural Life)