I remember one Christmas growing up as a little boy when I went to a family Christmas party and discovered that my present was more than twice as big as any other present under the tree. I was as excited by that news as I was disappointed as I opened it hours later to discover I had been given a lamp (a really nice lamp to be fair). That Christmas taught me a lot as my parents helped me understand how to appreciate things and value them.

However, there was another lesson I learned in regards to celebrating Christmas as a child. I learned to open presents thinking they may very well be less than what I think is a glorious present. That way, I prepared myself to react well. And if, by chance, it was the glorious present I had really wanted and that for which I had hoped (though I was trying to suppress that hope), then I was elated. For the present would then be not only a cause for joyous celebration, but a cause for joyous celebration that I had not anticipated. It was a joyous surprise.

I must admit that these two chapters in Judges have been like that to me this week. Like many of you, I’ve thought to myself, “What in the world am I going to point out in these stories week after week that will build up the church when they seem to be repeated stories of sin and deliverance through killing?” Therefore, I came to this text a bit anxious this week. But it has been to me a pleasant surprise. For as I have meditated on these two chapters throughout the week I have found them to be a source of constant encouragement. And I pray that you, too, will be encouraged by them this morning as well.

The story is quite similar to that which we saw last week. After Ehud dies the people again commit great sin and are sold into the hand of an enemy ruler – Jabin, king of Canaan. And he oppressed them cruelly as the commander of his army, Sisera, had 900 iron chariots that he used to drive the people to live as slaves. Then, the people of Israel cried out after twenty years, and the Lord raised up a deliverer. Again, it is this part of the paradigmatic cycle from 3:7-11 that we find in this text – the deliverance of God’s people.

Deborah, a prophetess, was judging Israel at this time. She summons Barak to tell him that the Lord has commanded him to fight for the deliverance of Israel, for the Lord would give them into his hand (4:7). Barak agreed to fight, and yet Deborah prophesied what would happen saying, “I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera in the hand of a woman” (4:9).

Thus, Barak went up to Mount Tabor to gather 10,000 men for war and when Sisera heard of it, he went out to meet him with all his men and his 900 chariots of iron. And they went to the river Kishon. This is a key detail, for though it is not mentioned in chapter 4, we read in 5:4 and 20-21 in Deborah and Barak’s song, “Lord, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the region of Edom, the earth trembled and the heavens dropped, yes, the clouds dropped water. … From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera. The torrent Kishon swept them away, the ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. March on, my soul, with might!”

So, it seems that there came a rainstorm, and when it came the river swelled and flooded the area alongside the Kishon river. What this meant is that the chariots of Sisera would have been rendered useless. His advantage would have been gone. Thus, Deborah calls to Barak in 4:14, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?” So, Barak lead his 10,000 men down the mountain to meet with Sisera’s army and killed all of them.

Sisera, however, seeing they were doomed fled from the sight and headed toward Kedesh. There, a woman named Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, saw him and invited him into her tent to rest. He asked for water; she gave him milk, and he fell asleep. Then, while he was sleeping, she took the tent peg and a mallet and drove the tent peg through his temple so far that it stuck into the ground on the other side. Thus, when Barak showed up, having pursued Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and told him of Sisera’s death. Thus, we read in verses 23-24, “So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel. And the hand of the people of Israel pressed harder and harder against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.” Then that leads into a song of celebration by Deborah and Barak and takes up all of chapter 5.

So, one might ask, how is this story supposed to be encouraging again?

Well, first of all, we need to remind ourselves again that the warfare and deliverance in the book of Judges typifies our salvation. That is its purpose, I believe, to typify a salvation that will come later, much as the Old Testament sacrificial system did. And the early church would have clearly understood the connection for they, unlike we, saw salvation clearly in terms of warfare being needed for God to deliver his people and our final salvation being completed only when all of God’s enemies are finally completed.

So, with that said, what lessons do we learn from these chapters?

First, we are reminded that man’s true need is to be converted (4:1-3)

Is it not heart-wrenching after reading of Israel’s deliverance last week to read the opening lines of chapter 4? As soon as Ehud dies, Israel again does what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Thus, in the story they are physically made captives and in need of physical deliverance. But is it not also clear, having these stories repeated again and again that they are in need of greater deliverance? They are in need of spiritual deliverance. They are in need of having their hearts transformed. I think we’re supposed to see that in the story. I think that’s why this book combines these stories back-to-back, to show this cycle again and again and the spiraling nature of their evil actions. We are supposed to see this and yearn not simply for that which would bring physical deliverance, but spiritual deliverance as well.

As soon as Ehud, their restraining presence, dies and his influence disappears, then Israel turns right back to their sin – whoring after the gods of the Canaanites.

This is a reminder to us that what man needs, his true need, is to be converted. Man’s need is to have his heart transformed. He needs a spiritual heart transplant. This is why just because someone walked an aisle or prayed a prayer doesn’t (in and of itself) guarantee that someone is saved. For salvation is not simply going through external motions but having one’s heart changed. It is being converted. It is having your heart which hated the light transformed so that you love the light and come to the light (to borrow imagery from John 3). Thus, Ralph Davis writes in his commentary on Judges, “Genuine salvation consists not of giving glowing testimonies but in departing from evil, not in relating glorious experiences with God but in living a consistent life.”¹ Israel needed to be converted, and such is the foundational and primary need of all men everywhere and in every time.

God is the one who brings deliverance and salvation (4:4-16)

Because man’s need is to be converted, to have a circumcision made without hands (as Paul says), then we also are reminded that God himself is the one who saves men. You and I can’t do it. Thus, even Israel’s physical deliverance is pictured clearly with God and the one bringing the salvation and deliverance.

Thus, we read constantly through these chapters that the Lord is the one doing the work. In 4:14-15 we read: “And Deborah said to Barak, ‘Up! For this is the day in which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. Does not the Lord go out before you?’ So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with 10,000 men following him. And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army before Barak by the edge of the sword. And Sisera got down from his chariot and fled away on foot.” Then, again, we read in 4:23, “So on that day God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the people of Israel.” And when we read chapter 5, the song clearly pictures God as the Warrior who has to deliver his people.

So, it is true with us. God is the one who saves men, for we need a work that God alone can do. And yet God has done it. If today, you are a believer then it you can know that it was God who initiated your salvation, sending his Son to die for you when you were his enemy, it was God who called you to himself when you hated the light, and it was God who gave you a new heart.

And yet there are even more encouraging notes in our text along this line. For the text reminds us that God has not worked for your salvation at Calvary and is now doing nothing in you. No, his salvation is not limited to an action in the past, but he is bringing about your salvation even now, conforming us who he had redeemed into the image of his Son. He is doing it right now in your life wherever you are.

It seems that this is the point of the song in 5:1-11. The song pictures their deliverance in terms of God marching onto the scene. God himself comes to the battle and the clouds drop their rain because the entire world trembles at his step. And verse 5 refers to Sinai, where God first redeemed the Israelites from captivity. Then, however, it moves on to their present deliverance in the remaining verses. Is this not a song that says, “The God who brought salvation to us at Sinai is continuing to work salvation in our lives in the land of Canaan”? I think it is.

And so, you might find yourself in a place right now you did not anticipate or not where you pictured yourself being at this point in life. Maybe you even think that not much worthwhile is going on with you and that if you were only at another place then God could really work in you. Well, this story reminds us is that God is attentive to his people wherever they are and is working their salvation toward completion wherever they are.

Also, the story reminds us that even the small details are being worked for our salvation. This is seen in 4:11. In that verse we learn of this seemingly small and insignificant detail: Heber the Kenite moved north. This detail is in the middle of a very exciting story, and you may be tempted to say, “Who cares?” Why give this detail?

Well, the reason this detail is important is because he is married to a woman named Jael. We find that out in 4:17. Therefore, when Sisera gets off his chariot, flees north, and looks like he is going to escape, the Lord leads him into the house of one whom he had moved to that northern area earlier. Even that small detail had been planned by God for the salvation of his people.

So, it is with our lives. When Romans 8:28 says that God is working all things together for good for those whom he has called and who love him, it is in the context of their final salvation, being conformed to the image of Christ. Thus, we can know, as we see in this story, that even the small details of our lives are being used by God to move us toward our final hope of ultimate salvation, of being conformed to the image of Christ. You may be thinking, “Why is this detail happening in my life” or “How is this thing going to be good?” or “How will anything in my life be used on a grand scale because my life seems so insignificant in its details?” The answer is that God is working all things in your life toward making you conformed to the image of his Son – even the minute details of your life.

Finally, God’s people are the means by which he brings deliverance to his people (5:11-23)

We see this first of all in the story recorded in chapter 4. God is the one who delivers his people, but he works through Barak, Deborah, and Jael. But we also see it in 5:11-23. In these verses (specifically 14-18) we see praise for those who came to fight and scorn directed toward those who did not fight. Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Naphtali, and Issachar are praised for fighting. But then listen to what is said of the others. “Among the clans of Reuben there were great searchings of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan; and Dan, why did he stay with the ships? Asher sat still at the coast of the sea, staying by his landings.” And of Meroz, we read in verse 23, “Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord, curse its inhabitants thoroughly, because they did not come to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.”

The picture here is not at all, because God does the delivering, man can excuse his irresponsibility. No, these men were expected to fight and were held responsible for not fighting. So, it is with us in obedience to the Lord. God saves men, but that in no way excuses us from laboring for men’s souls through prayer, evangelism, encouragement, etc. And look specifically at Reuben. The text says they sought their heart. That is, they definitely considered it. They knew there was a task at hand and looked at themselves, but they decided not to go because of their flocks. Dan and Asher were also apparently tied up with some labor along the coastline. Yet they are not excused. Therefore, let us hear clearly this morning, doing fine things in the place of obedience to the Lord does not allow one to be excused because of his sin. If you are avoiding what you know you should do to do other “good” things, you are sinning, and the Lord will discipline his children when they walk in sin.

We simply must walk in obedience. And, specifically, we must labor for men’s salvation through evangelism, prayer, etc.

But this is a hard and frightening task, at times. I know it is. So how do we strengthen ourselves for obedience? Let me end with two things. First, we should remember and celebrate the Lord’s past work. This is exactly what is done in 5:24-30. As Deborah sings she celebrates and remembers what the Lord has done. She sings about Sisera’s mother watching and waiting for him to come home in verses 28-30. She pictures Sisera’s mother looking for him and worrying and being comforted by her princesses who tell her he’s probably dividing the spoil, raping some women, and gathering some clothes for you. And in verses 24-27 she recounts Jael’s killing of Sisera detail by detail. Is this not a lesson for us to remember and celebrate the Lord’s defeat of Satan, sin, and death and his deliverance of us from their clutches. Remember and celebrate the work of the Lord as an encouragement to present obedience.

Also, let us remind ourselves continually of Christ’s sure and ultimate victory over his enemies and the sure and ultimate salvation of his people. That is not only remember what Christ has done but what he will do. This is what we see at the end of the song as Deborah sings, “So may all your enemies perish, O Lord! But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might” (5:31). May that day come quickly.

Therefore, today may we remember what God has done and will do and be encouraged as we go out from this place walking in obedience to him. Amen.

¹ Dale Ralph Davis, 73.

THE CONTINUING WORK OF OUR SAVIOR

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