This morning, I awoke with Scriptures flooding my mind.  As the battle rages in Israel, this came as a message of hope for those gathered in the Promised Land.

“Thus says the LORD, which gives the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divides the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:  If those ordinances depart from before me, says the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.” (Jeremiah 31:35-36)

Hamas followers believe they can destroy Israel. They are deceived. Those who do not love the truth, are sent strong delusion, that they will believe a lie (2 Thes. 2:11). The unattainable goal, of attempting to destroy the Judah in the Land, will be as effective as shooting missiles at the sun, moon, and stars. Aiming implements of war, at the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, will be detrimental to the Palestinian Arabs.

The God of Israel is Yahweh, the LORD of Hosts. He will have His dominion over the affairs of man. The Name, YHVH Tsva’ot, implies that the God who created the sun, moon, and stars, has the power over the armies of the earth. The hosts of heaven are created to rule and have dominion. The patriarch Joseph’s prophetic dream included the sun, moon, and stars. These three celestial terms occur, in the same order, twelve times in Scripture.

For the battle today in Zion, it is good to draw encouragement from the battle plans of previous generations. We can read in 2 Chronicles 20:2-15 of the story of the victory of the army of King Jehoshaphat. May his strategy prove true in our day as well!

“…some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There comes a great multitude against thee… And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.  And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the LORD: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.  And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?  Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gave it to the seed of Abraham thy friend forever?  And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help…O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.  And all Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah… came the Spirit of the LORD in the midst of the congregation; And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus says the LORD unto you,

Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude;

for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

 “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.” (Zechariah 4:6)