Transcript

A pastor was traveling on a bus down a bumpy road. A college student was seated next to the preacher, and he noticed that the pastor was reading his Bible.

Out of the blue, the preacher asked the young man: “Are you spiritually ready for the temptations that you will face in college?”

He answered: “I don’t have a problem with temptation. I have strong willpower.” The preacher then took a pencil out of his pocket and said: “I can make this pencil stand up on the cover of this Bible even though the bus ride is bumpy.”

The young man said, “I’ll believe that when I see it. There’s no way.” “Look, I am doing it,” the pastor replied. The student said, “Yeah, but you didn’t tell me you would hold the pencil up with your hand.” The pastor said. “Have you ever seen a pencil stand up on its own without someone holding it on a bumpy road?”

Then the preacher let go of the pencil. Of course, it instantly fell over and the preacher said: “The only reason you can stand is because God is holding you up with His hand. We can never stand in our own strength. We must look to the Lord.”

Gideon found this to be the case. He found that deliverance and victory in life comes as we rely on the Lord and trust Him.

Judges 7:1-3: “Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that were with him, rose up early, and pitched beside the well of Harod: so that the host of the Midianites were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley.

“And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.

“Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.”

Israel had once again been given over to the worship of the false god, Baal. This happened often in Israel’s history. Because of this disobedience in worshipping false gods, in accordance with blessings and curses under the Law of Moses, the Lord had allowed a foreign nation, the Midianites, to afflict and tyrannize Israel for 7 years.

And Israel called out to the Lord for help during this time, because of their harsh oppression. Like in the days of Israel’s bondage in Egypt, the Lord raises up a deliverer, and He appears to Gideon and tells him He would use him to defeat the Midianites.

Gideon was the sixth judge of the people of Israel after the death of Joshua.

The Midianites had crossed over the Jordan River and gathered in the valley of Jezreel to make war with Israel.

In response to this, Gideon amassed an army of 32,000 to do battle with the Midianites, and they made camp beside the “well of Harod.” The Midianites were north of them “by the hill of Moreh” in the valley of Jezreel. This was in the northern part of Israel, in Galilee of the New Testament and near Nazareth.

Verse 12 says that the Midianites number, were “like grasshoppers for multitude.” Judges 8:10 says that their exact number was 135,000.

But in verse 2, the Lord told Gideon that Israel with its army of 32,000 had too many soldiers. Now normally you wouldn’t think you could have too many soldiers in a war, especially when you’re already outnumbered 4 to 1, and by over 100,000 men.

But the Lord tells Gideon that He was decreasing the size of Israel’s army. The reason for this reduction was man’s pride and God’s glory.

God didn’t want the soldiers to be lifted up with pride or boast that they had won the victory over the Midianites because of their own power. He wanted it to be clearly evident and leave no doubt that it was the Lord who had delivered them.

So the Lord’s strategy for Israel was: downsize the army and get ready for victory. First, the Lord told Gideon to send the fearful soldiers home. This was done in accordance with the Law of Moses.

Deuteronomy 20:8 says, “What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.” Fear has a way of spreading, and one timid soldier can often do more damage than a whole company of enemy soldiers. So the Lord in the Law removed the fearful from the army in Israel.

Given the size of the Israelites’ army compared to the Midianites, you can see why two out of three soldiers confessed to being fearful. The odds were against them.

But they also forgot whose side they were on: they were on the Lord’s side. Israel’s army was given an out and 22,000 men seized the opportunity to be excused from battle. Gideon was now left with 10,000 men.

Fear and faith don’t go together well in the Christian life and in the spiritual battle. Fear can overwhelm our faith.

G. Campbell Morgan once said, “The fearful and trembling man God cannot use.” It takes courage to live the Christian life in a world that is in opposition to God and His Word with the odds that are stacked against us.

But Paul reminded the Church under grace in 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Judges 7:4-8: “And the LORD said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go.

“So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.

“And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.

“And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place.

“So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets: and he sent all the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men: and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley.”

10,000 warriors was still too many. This brings us to Phase 2 of God’s army reduction plan. God next puts Gideon’s army through a test by instructing Gideon to take his men down to the water, and having them all take a drink down at the stream that flowed from the spring of Harod.

The test was this: those got down on their knees for a drink of water were removed from the army. But those who lapped up water like a dog were kept in the army. God chose that the lappers would remain, while the kneelers were sent on their way.

The lappers drank either standing up or crouching. They scooped up water in their cupped hands, and they lapped at the water as a dog, drinking it like a dog using its tongue. The kneelers bowed down to the water and drank straight out of the river.

God chose this method of reducing the army because it was simple and unassuming, and easy to identify and apply. The men didn’t even know they were being tested.

After the test, verse 6 tells us that the kneelers numbered 9,700. The lappers numbered only 300 men.

The Lord’s purpose in this was to bring their number down, way down. Through these 2 steps, the Lord whittles down their number and decreases them more than 99%, from 32,000 to 300, leaving them outnumbered roughly 450 to 1.

And the Lord tells Gideon that by the 300 men who lapped He would save Israel and deliver the Midianites into their hand.

Moses told Israel that if they would obey the Lord, one soldier would chase a thousand, and two soldiers would “put ten thousand to flight” (Deut. 32:30).

So doing the math with this, all Gideon actually needed was 27 soldiers to defeat the 135,000 man Midianite army, but God gave him 300. Because as 1 Samuel 14:6 says, “For there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.”

This account shows us how God loves doing big things through small things so He gets the glory that is rightly due to Him. Gideon’s army shows that God doesn’t need large numbers to accomplish His purposes.

God uses the smaller number, the humble, the young, the old, and in doing so, it shows that He wins the victory, and He deserves the glory. The Lord uses what the world would consider as too weak and too small, to show the greatness of His strength and glory.

By reducing Gideon’s army to 300 to go up against an army of 135,000, the Lord was showing Israel here that they needed to get back to faith in Him.

So God stacked the deck against Gideon and the Israelites here so that it would be clear to all that God, not Gideon, and not the army, and not Israel, and not their numbers, had secured the victory for them, but that God had done it all.

Judges 7:16-22: “And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put a trumpet in every man’s hand, with empty pitchers, and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them, Look on me, and do likewise: and, behold, when I come to the outside of the camp, it shall be that, as I do, so shall ye do.

“When I blow with a trumpet, I and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camp, and say, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

“So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers that were in their hands.

“And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.

“And they stood every man in his place round about the camp: and all the host ran, and cried, and fled.

“And the three hundred blew the trumpets, and the LORD set every man’s sword against his fellow, even throughout all the host: and the host fled to Bethshittah in Zererath, and to the border of Abelmeholah, unto Tabbath.”

In verses 9-15, the Lord encouraged Gideon and dealt with his fears by having him listen in on a conversation in the night between two Midianite guards. One of them had a dream that meant that the army of Gideon was going to utterly destroy them.

Hearing this from his enemies and based on what the Lord told him, now Gideon knew for sure that Israel would defeat the Midianites. Gideon’s fears and doubts were gone.

He then confidently organized, positioned, mobilized his small army and infused courage into the hearts of the 300 by what he said and did. In verse 15, he announced to the men, “Arise, get up and get ready, the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand.”

Faith sees what can’t be seen and what hasn’t happened yet because God has declared it. You see this here with Gideon believing in the victory in a battle not yet fought.

By faith we know we’re going to heaven because God has promised it to those who trust that Christ died for their sins and rose again.

A torch, a trumpet, and a jar were humble and strange weapons for fighting a huge battle. And a Bible and prayer are humble and strange weapons to the world too, but it’s how we fight in the huge spiritual battle and advance the gospel and stand for the truth.

Gideon’s plan was simple but effective. Instead of a direct assault, Gideon divides the 300 men into three companies of one hundred, one hundred and one hundred.

He had them position themselves around the enemy camp on the hill above them.

Gideon then armed each of his men with a trumpet to blow, a jar to break, and a torch to burn. The trumpets were rams’ horns or a shofar, such as Joshua used at Jericho.

The empty pitchers were earthenware jars, made of clay. Inside this pitcher they each placed a torch that was then lit. The plan was that at Gideon’s signal, the men would blow the trumpets and break the pitchers, revealing the lights, and then shout “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” God would do the rest.

You see here Gideon making himself the example to follow: watch me, follow my lead, do as I do (v. 17). Gideon’s orders were simple but absolutely important.

No one was to make a move until he did, or without his direct orders. Their success was fully dependent upon obedience to God’s commands to Gideon and following what he did and relied upon the element of surprise.

Gideon now leads his small army from the well of Harod north to the Valley of Jezreel to the edge of the camp. Gideon was leading one of the 100-man divisions. The other two divisions took their places, so that they all now were positioned around the camp.

It was now “the beginning of the middle watch; and they had but newly set the watch” verse 19 says. The middle watch was at midnight.

The sentries from the first watch had just been relieved, and the second set of watchmen were posted. And it was at this point that Gideon’s 100-man division all blew their rams’ horns, which signaled the other two divisions to do the same, so that they all blew the trumpets at the same time.

Then with the trumpets in their right hands, they all broke the clay pitchers which were in their left hands with those horns. The torches, at first concealed within clay pitchers, were suddenly displayed.

The noise of the breaking of the pitchers simulated the clash of arms. Then they all loudly shouted the battle cry: “The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon!”

The shocking impression caused by blaring noise from blasting trumpets, smashing pitchers, blazing torches, and yelling soldiers, all surrounding the sleeping army, shatters the darkness, stillness and quietness of the night.

The Midianites are disoriented, startled, and still half-asleep, and in their confusion believe that an incredible host had moved in to catch the awaking army in a death trap.

When an army engaged in battle at night, only a minority of men carried torches to light up the battlefield, while the rest would follow with their weapons drawn for battle. And only a certain number of men would blow trumpets.

300 men blowing a trumpet all at once would be a signal to the enemy that many more would be with each trumpeter and that this was signaling the attack of a large body of men. When they heard the sound of 300 trumpets blaring and saw 300 torches from every direction surrounding them, they assumed 300 companies of men were attacking them.

The Midianites woke up hearing “The Sword of the Lord and of Gideon!” The shout was a demonstration of the power of God in harmony with the obedience of man.

The shout told the enemies that the threat of the sword of God and of Gideon was real and really happening. The impression was one of doom and terror coming down upon them from the hills above from the Lord and from the army led by Gideon.

Finding themselves surrounded by sudden noise of battle, and sudden light, the Midianites panicked.

Along with this, verse 22 shows how the Lord caused a supernatural confusion which sent the army against each other and they began killing each other.

Every soldier was on their own. In the darkness, confusion and crash of sounds, the soldiers were unable to distinguish friend from enemy.

They then realized that the safest thing to do was to run. In their panic and confusion, with their swords they slashed a path of escape through their own men, and they slaughter themselves.

300 men sent 135,000 battle-hardened soldiers flying and into a panic. Only God could do this. The 300 at Sparta had nothing on these guys. What’s the big deal about the 300 at Sparta? They all died!

These 300 are standing on the hill, and don’t even engage the Midianites in battle, yet they defeated a 135,000-man army because they had the true and living God on their side, who was their strength, might, and wisdom, and He gave them this victory.

The confused Midianite army destroys itself. Some managed to escape. Verses 23-25 show how Gideon sent out messengers to the tribes of Israel to call for volunteers to attack and pursue those that were fleeing.

As a result of them killing one another, and the victorious pursuit by Israel, the Midianite army was completely routed and destroyed.

This battle foreshadows the Second Coming of Christ at the Battle of Armageddon.

Like the Midianites in this battle, the Anti-Christ’s army will be huge and will also be “grasshoppers for multitude” in Israel, and will literally cover the same land where this battle took place.

But suddenly, from above, with trumpet sound, and a bright light, with a roaring shout and the sword of the Lord, Christ comes, resulting in shock and panic, a supernatural confusion causes the army to kill themselves, and Israel pursues, attacks and fights, and the army of the Anti-Christ will be completely routed and destroyed.

The Rapture of the Body of Christ is very different from this, when the Lord catches His Church up in the air to take us to heaven before the Tribulation begins.

This great victory by Gideon became a landmark event in the history of Israel. And it was God’s sword, God’s battle and God’s victory. God deserved all the glory for this miraculous victory.

It’s the same with the salvation of our souls. Salvation is God’s battle and God’s victory. We can’t save ourselves. We are called to trust Him and His victory at the Cross, placing our faith in what Christ has done for us by His death and resurrection.

And He delivers us from our sins and from hell, and He deserves all the glory.

Faith in the Lord gives the victory. He gives us the victory over sin and the grave, and also in life and in our service as we trust Him.

Gideon was like many in God’s Word and in the history of the church: an ordinary person who dared to believe God, who acted upon God’s promises by faith, who did what seemed impossible through Him, who won the victory through God’s power and for His glory. The same can be true in our lives.

2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”

Now let’s talk about Gideon’s broken pitchers and the part they played in the victory. The pitchers were earthenware jars. Hidden in them were flaming torches of light. The pitchers are a picture of you and me. We are “earthen vessels” of clay Paul says.

The “treasure” that Paul refers to that is in us, the earthen vessels, is what he spoke of a few verses earlier in 2 Corinthians 4:4: “the LIGHT of the glorious gospel of Christ.” Believers are earthen vessels who have the LIGHT of the gospel of Christ in us.

Fire is one of the many symbols in Scripture of the Holy Spirit. And the fire of the Holy Spirit also resides within each believer.

But we must allow the light of the gospel and fire of the Spirit to shine through us. In the battle with Gideon, the torches were there, but there was no light or victory until the pitchers were broken.

Broken things are used by the Lord. God uses brokenness to bring victory. If you have been broken by disappointment, loss, pain, sickness, sorrow, or bad choices, remember that God can use that to be a light for Him and the gospel. Light may be in the pitcher, but often it is when the pitcher is broken that God brings victory and power through us.

God also uses His Word to break us, to break down our pride and selfishness to help us to see the weak, fragile vessels of clay we are and to see our need of the Lord.

When we are broken and we yield to and rely on the Lord, the gospel can shine through us in all its magnificence and God can win the victories through our faith and service.

Like Gideon’s pitchers, God uses broken vessels of clay so that it is very clear “that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.” In the Lord’s work, the victory is the Lord’s in every way and He deserves all the praise and the glory.