Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: War in the Gates

War in the Gates

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Civil Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2014-08-17

Synopsis: John Weaver expounds Judges 5:8, 'They chose new gods; then was war in the gates,' to show that spiritual apostasy leads to conflict over authority and law. He explains that 'gates' in Scripture often represent jurisdiction, judgment, and rule. When a people reject God and His law, they invite war—not only physical invasion but a battle of jurisdictions where man's law opposes God's law. The sermon traces this theme through Israel's history, from the judges to the monarchy, and applies it to modern culture, calling believers to recognize the ongoing war over lordship and to stand for Christ's authority.

[John Weaver] All right, I want you to open your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Judges, Chapter 5. It was a wonderful conference, and the truth of the matter is, I think I really not only enjoyed it, but I was telling Brother Yarbrough, just on my own personal Bible study while I was here, I got three new messages. So maybe this is just kind of a prolific place around here. But look in Judges chapter 5, and I want to just read one verse, a very simple verse, so I'll read it twice. Judges 5, verse 8. The Bible says they chose new gods, then was war in the gates, was their shield a spear seen among 40,000 in Israel. So this is the song of Deborah and Barak, but notice verse 8 again. They chose new gods, then was war, in the gates. So the title of the message is War in the Gates. I don't know if you remember, but a few years back, there was a movie that came out that was entitled Enemy at the Gates.

[John Weaver] It was about a battle in World War Two, the Battle of Stalingrad, where you had two snipers, a Russian and a German, trying to outmaneuver each other and basically kill each other. It was a very exciting movie in one sense of the word because all you saw as the snipers were basically trying to outmaneuver each other were bombed out buildings and burned buildings and just trash. And as you looked at that movie you got a real understanding of what it meant to have war in the gates because it did indeed depict very literally how war can come to the gates of the city. Our text in Judges chapter 5 and verse 8 demonstrates how war affects individuals and nations on a personal and close-up level.

[John Weaver] I've often said it's one thing to fight from a distance when you really cannot see your enemy and your enemy cannot see you. But it's a totally different thing to fight up close. And when you remember some of those ancient battles, I remember they certainly had bows and they had spears, and the bow, of course, was the long-distance weapon, but it was the short swords and spears and knives that were up close. And all of those battles were up close and personal, literally war in the gates. There's an interesting tidbit from the War of Northern Aggression, which some people call the Civil War, which was not civil at all. But I don't know if you know about the fact that the war actually began in the front yard of a man by the name of Wilbur McLean. Wilbur McLean was born on May the 3rd, 1814.

[John Weaver] He died on June the 5th, 1882. Wilbur McLean was a wholesale grocer and a sugar broker in Virginia. He also supplied the Confederate armies. Consequently, he would have been a target for the Union. Moreover, he had a desire to protect his family. And so since actually The first battle of Manassas literally began in his front yard. He moved his family 120 miles farther south to get away from all of the fighting. Now, you say, well, 120 miles further south is not very far. Well, it is if you're riding a horse or driving a buggy or driving a wagon with your furniture on it. So he moved his family 120 miles further south to a little place known as Appomattox County, Virginia, an Appomattox courthouse. And the interesting thing is the war that began in his front yard ended in his front parlor because that's where Lee and Grant met and the surrender took place. So you could say Wilmer McLean experienced on the one hand, Warren the Gates firsthand. But when you look at our text in Judges 5 and verse 8, Warren the Gates literally describes the hostile attacks of the Canaanites upon the Israelites.

[John Weaver] And Warren the Gates just simply does not happen by accident. It does not just occur. We're told in the book of Proverbs chapter 26 in verse 2 that the curse causeless shall not come. And we read in Judges 5 in verse 8 exactly why there was war in the gates. And the Bible says it's because they chose new gods. They chose new gods. They not only submitted to idolatry that was forced upon them through tyranny, the fact is, they also freely chose new gods, new to them and unbeknown to their fathers, new in comparison to the one true and everlasting God, the ancient, eternal God, the immutable, omniscient One, the great I Am. They chose new gods to replace the one true and living God. And it was then, the Bible says, there was war in the gates.

[John Weaver] They were hemmed up literally in every way, in every place. They were besieged in all of their fortified cities. The strongest cities could not withstand the onslaught of the enemy. God had not only given them up, He had given them over into the hands of their enemies. One thing that we tend to forget is this, that God is a jealous God. In fact, the Scripture tells us that His name is Jealous. The Word of God declares in Exodus 34 and verse 14, For thou shalt worship no other god, the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. In Deuteronomy 4 and verse 24, the Bible says, For the Lord our God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. And so the Bible teaches us that God is so jealously holy that He is not about to share His honor or His glory with a false God. He said in Isaiah 42 and verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory I will not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

[John Weaver] Now let me just tell you this, mark this down in your mind. When a nation forsakes the one true and the living God that has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, they are inviting war in the gates. If you study this passage, and especially even in the book of Judges. You'll find especially here in Judges chapter 5 in verse 8, when war occurred and war came to the gates, so to speak, the Israelites were also defenseless. They were defenseless in the time of trouble.

[John Weaver] They did not have the means to resist their adversaries. For among them, the scripture says in verse 8, Was there shield or spear seen among 40,000 in Israel? So this statement then is an open and honest assessment of their martial strength. You have to remember that the numbers of the Israelitish men who were of warrior age was literally in the hundreds of thousands. In fact, 600,000 of them came out of Egypt. And now it is said here, was there a shield or spear seen among the 40,000 in Israel. Wow.

[John Weaver] So what the Bible is teaching us here is basically this. There was not sufficient spears and shields to equip 40,000 men or at least not only maybe one out of 40,000 was literally equipped to fight. Well, why did they not have their weapons? Why did they not have any weapons? Well, it could be that they were negligent and slothful in a time of peace and certainly did not prepare for war. Let me tell you, I don't know if this ever occurred to you or not, but it's almost impossible to prepare for war when war is upon you. You better be preparing before war actually breaks out. So it could be that they just simply in a time of peace were slothful and neglectful and did not have anything. and did not even think that they would need anything. But it could also be that the ones who had ruled over them were tyrants and had deprived them of their weapons.

[John Weaver] In fact, Jabin, king of Canaan, had actually disarmed them previously. Let me show you something. Look in Judges chapter 3 and verse 31. Here's a judge in Israel, and I find it very interesting what the Scripture says. Judges 3 verse 31, And after him was Shamgar the son of Anab, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox-goad, and he also delivered Israel. You know what an ox-goad is?

[John Weaver] It's a long pointed stick or a long stick with a sharpener. That was it. He did not have a sphere. He did not have a sword. He just simply had an ox goad. I want you to look in your Bibles. The first Samuel chapter 13 whole judges five, if you would. But look in first Samuel chapter 13. Do you understand as we turn to this passage that it is indeed a common practice for tyrants to deprive their people of the means of self-defense? And the reason they do not want their people to have a means of self-defense is because they do not want those weapons used against them. They do not want their tyrannical rule and despotic rule overthrown.

[John Weaver] Therefore, even Shamgar, a judge, was reduced to an ox goat. But look what the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 13, beginning there with verse 19. 1 Samuel 13 and verse 19. The Bible says, now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel. For the Philistines said, lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears. But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines to sharpen every man his share, and his colter, and his axe, and his mattock. Yet they had a fowl for the mattocks, and for the colters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goats.

[John Weaver] So it came to pass, now watch, so it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any one of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan, but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found." Notice if you would, here's a time of battle and Saul, the king, his son, Jonathan, are the only two that have weapons. The rest had sticks. So obviously, tyrants do not want individuals to have weapons.

[John Weaver] as it was in Judges 5, so it was in 1 Samuel 13. There were no weapons or warriors who were able to defend their homes or their land against their foes. Here's another truth that you need to mark down. A weaponless people and a people that lack a warrior spirit are already a subjugated and defeated people. We almost, we always have to be willing to fight for our lives, our homes, our family, our liberty, our land.

[John Weaver] In fact, you know what the Bible says in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 3? I want you to listen. The Lord is a man of war. The Lord is His name. And when you read Exodus chapter 15, you know what the Lord, the man of war, had just done? He had just destroyed Pharaoh and all of his army in the sea. And here the Israelites are shouting and praising God in their saying, the Lord is indeed a man of war. Now, here's what I want to bring from Judges chapter 5 and verse 8. The Bible says in Judges 5 and verse 8, if they chose new gods, then was war in the gates. You know, when I read that passage a while back, I got to thinking. What in the world does it mean when the Bible says there's war in the gates? Well, before I share with you the truth that I want to proclaim today from this text, I want to take just a moment and show you how the word gates is used in the Bible.

[John Weaver] Do you realize the same word gates is used in different ways in the Bible? One of the problems we have in reading the Bible, we'll see a word and we assume that that word means exactly what we think it means. Or we try to interpret something that happened a thousand or two thousand years ago in light of our understanding. But the word gates is used several different ways in the Bible. First and most obvious, the word gates speaks of real, literal gates. No one can deny that. And Deuteronomy chapter 3 and verse 5 of the Bible says this, and all these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars. There were cities and there were suburbs in the Bible that did not have fences, did not have walls, and did not have gates, but there were indeed fortified cities that had gates. And so oftentimes when you read a verse like this, you automatically think there was war in the gates. And that is true. That would be when the enemy came and they were forcing their way into that fortified city.

[John Weaver] So there'd be literally war at the gates. So sometimes, and first and most obviously, it does refer to real literal gates. But secondly, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 24 because, secondly, I want you to understand that sometimes the word gates speaks not of real, literal gates per se, but of a triumphal entry. In Psalm 24, beginning there with verse 7, look what David says. Psalm 24, verse 7. He's approaching the city and he says, Lift up your heads, O ye gates. And be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?

[John Weaver] The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.

[John Weaver] Now, everyone knows that it was David that took the city from the Jebusites. But it is not David here that is being spoken of as having the triumphal entry into the city. Here, David has gotten the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-Eden. And now the Levites are probably carrying that Ark. And as David comes to the city of Jerusalem, he says this, Lift up your head, O ye gates, be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. So the picture here is Obed.

[John Weaver] general who's defeated his enemies, coming back now in triumph, going through the city, maybe even showing his enemies off. But now David says, look, this is not me. Here is the king of kings. Here is the God of Israel. Here is the prince of peace. Here is the mighty presence of God. Lift up your gates. Open the doors and this King of Glory shall come in." In other words, you better recognize that He is the triumphal King. He is the King who has obtained victory. He's God of gods and King of kings and Lord of lords. And David said you people better recognize this, lest what is intended for your good become your ruin. Because here we have the very presence of God. So sometimes the word gates then Not only speaks of a real literal gate, but sometimes of a triumphal entry. Thirdly, sometimes the word gates is to be understood in the Bible as an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship.

[John Weaver] If you would turn in your Bibles to Psalm 100, you know this passage, but look at verses 3 and 4. Psalm 100 at verses 3 and 4. Sometimes the word gates is used in the Bible to speak of an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship. So you have it in Psalm 100, verse 3. Know ye that the Lord, he is God, and it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.

[John Weaver] We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. So here you're entering into the gates for fellowship and worship. And it's not a real literal gate per se, but it's an entrance into the presence of God. If you would turn right over to Psalm 118, and look if you would please at verse 19, Psalm 118 verse 19, and David says it again, He says in verse 19, open to me the gates of righteousness and I will go into them and I will praise the Lord. So sometimes the word gates then refers just simply as an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship. But fourthly, sometimes the word gates also represents the blessings and the protection of God upon his people. If you would look at Psalm 147, Psalm 147 verses 13 and 14. Psalm 147 and verse 13. Psalm 147.

[John Weaver] Verse 13, look what he says, For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates, he hath blessed thy children within thee, he maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of wheat. So here when he says, For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates, all he's saying is God has blessed you. God has given you protection. God has given you all kinds of blessings.

[John Weaver] So I think by now, as I've gone through all these verses, you understand, or at least you should understand, that when you come upon a word like gates, it has to be the context that determines the usage of that word. Do you realize we have the same thing in English? I can give you words and you may not even know what I'm talking about unless you hear them or are able to read them in the context. For instance, if you take our little English word row, R-O-W. If I just say row, many of you automatically think of it as a verb. It's what you do when you put a paddle in the water and you row the boat. But do you realize that same word row can also be a noun in a row of tomatoes or a row of peas? And again, the same word R-O-W can be a verb When it's pronounced row, which refers to a fight or an argument. And so if you see the word ROW, you don't know if it's a verb or noun until you see it in its context.

[John Weaver] And so when you see certain words in the Bible, you have to understand them in their context. Now, I want to show you predominantly how the word gates is used in the Bible. OK, not used many different ways. But here's the way Gates is used predominantly in the Bible. I want you to go in your Bibles, first of all, to the book of Genesis chapter 22 and look at verse 17. I'm going to tell you in advance what the word Gates stands for.

[John Weaver] Some of you probably already guessed it, but here it is. In all of these passages, I'm going to show you. The word gates is used to refer to a place of authority, a place of judgment and justice, a place of jurisdiction. OK, so look, if you would please, in Genesis 22 and verse 17. And here's what God says to Abraham. Genesis 22, verse 17. He says that in blessing, I will bless thee and in multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as thy sandwiches upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. Now, let me just tell you something about the gate. You're going to see this as we look through all of these verses. It was the kings and the princes and the judges that sat in the gates.

[John Weaver] The Israelitish court system was an open court system. Judgment was at the gates. Whoever controlled the gates got to make the law. Whoever controlled the gates had jurisdiction. Now watch. God says in verse 17, And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemy. If you look in Genesis 24 and verse 60, when Rebecca is being sent away to become the wife of Isaac, she gets the blessings from her family. And here's what the Bible says in Genesis 24, verse 60, Now if your seed is in control of the gate, that means you have the power, you have the authority, you have the jurisdiction. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 16, And verse 18, Deuteronomy 16 and verse 18.

[John Weaver] Follow me, because it's important that you understand this point. Look what God says, Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 18. God says, Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the Lord thy God giveth thee throughout thy tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment. Where were the judges? In the gates. Where was judgment and justice? In the gates. Look in Deuteronomy 17, beginning there with verse 1. Watch carefully. Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the Lord thy God any bullock or sheep wherein is blemish, or any evil favoredness, for that is an abomination unto the Lord thy God. If there be found among you within any of thy gates which the Lord thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in his sight of the Lord thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun or the moon, or any of the hosts of heaven, which I have not commanded, and it be told thee, And thou hast heard of it, and inquired diligently, and behold it be true, and the thing is certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel, thou shalt bring forth that man or that woman which have committed that wicked

[John Weaver] things unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and thou shalt stone them with stones till they die." At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is worthy of death to be put to death, but at the mouth of one witness thou shalt not put him to death." Now the question is, where were men judged at the gates? Where were they executed at the gates?

[John Weaver] I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. I'm just trying to show you that usually when you read the word gates in the Bible, it is speaking of authority and jurisdiction and judgment and justice. Notice, if you would, Psalm 127, beginning there with verse three. Many of you know this passage as well, but the Bible says low children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are children of thy youth, or so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them.

[John Weaver] They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Now, interestingly enough, God says our children are as arrows in the hand of a mighty man. You know what you do with arrows? You shoot them into your enemy. What are these mighty arrows doing? They're speaking with the enemies in the gate. What does that mean? They're conquering their enemies. They're about to dominate their enemies.

[John Weaver] I want you to turn to Isaiah 13. I'm just trying to show you how this is used. It doesn't matter where you look in the Bible, you'll normally find that the word gates normally refers to jurisdiction and authority. Notice Isaiah 13 and verse 2. Isaiah 13 and verse 2, and the Bible says this, Lift you up a banner upon the high mountain, Exalt the voice of them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles." So all the nobles, the princes, the kings, sat in the gates. That's where they were. Now, I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 1. I want you to watch this very carefully. Because Jeremiah is talking about the judgment and the justice of God against Judah and Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] They're going to be destroyed. And I want you to see what God specifically says concerning them. Look in the book of Jeremiah, chapter one and verse 14. Let's begin reading there. Then the Lord spake unto me out of the north and evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. Look what God says. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kings of the north, saith the LORD, and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering in of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah." Now, what is God saying? God says, I'm calling all of these pagan kings, and they're going to come and set their throne in the gates of Jerusalem. What's that mean? It means Judah and Jerusalem are going to be in captivity. It means they're going to be dominated. It means they're going to be destroyed because now these pagans are in the gates. They're in control. They're in dominion.

[John Weaver] I could multiply verses like this, but I think you're beginning to see that all through the Scripture, when you hear the word gates, it usually speaks of authority. Yes, it could mean all of these other things as well. But gates does refer to jurisdiction. It does refer to authority. It does refer to judgment and justice. Now, I said all that just to get you to think about this.

[John Weaver] The Bible says they chose new gods. Then there was war. in the gates. I want you to consider a concept concerning war in the gates. Please understand that God does not necessarily need to bring an invading army into our cities for there to be war in the gates. He can do that and He has done that. But obviously, the word gates does refer to dominion and authority and jurisdiction. There's a concept concerning war in the gates that most of us have either been ignorant of, or we have forgotten it, or we've simply ignored it, overlooked it, but yet it is real and it is genuine. In order for you to further grasp this concept, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 8. And I want to take the rest of the time this morning just to try to share with you this concept of what I believe God is telling us about war in the gates. So look in your Bibles, 1 Samuel chapter 8, if you would, please. And I want us to read verses 4 through 20.

[John Weaver] I want you to think on this passage, let me make a statement. before I read it and you try to look at it. You cannot understand 1 Samuel 8 without understanding it as a transition from one law structure to another. You cannot understand 1 Samuel 8 without seeing a change of jurisdiction, without seeing a change of authority. What? 1 Samuel 8, beginning there with verse 4, Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways.

[John Weaver] Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. Now, let's stop there just for a moment. What do they tell Samuel? You're an old man. You're not going to be with us much longer. And your sons, they're not like you. They're wicked. Now you make us a king to rule over us like all the other nations. It's interesting. They did not first seek God, nor secondly, did they want another prophet like Samuel or a judge. They were not necessarily interested in what God wanted for them or what was right. They wanted a king. First of all, he said that we may be like all the other nations. Now watch verse six. But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee. For they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

[John Weaver] According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee." By the way, when a people forsakes the one true and the living God, They also forsake all those who represent the one true and the living God. So God said, first and foremost, they rejected me.

[John Weaver] That's why they're rejecting you. Now, skip down to verse nine. God says now, therefore, hearken unto their voice. Howbeit, yet protest solemnly unto them and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the Lord of the people that ask him a king. Now watch. I'm going to emphasize one word as I read this, just one word, and I want you to see what this change in jurisdiction and this change of authority and this change in law is going to produce in Israel and for anybody else. Notice he said in verse 10, And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto his people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you.

[John Weaver] He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, or his chariots, to be his horsemen, and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties, and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive yards, even the best of them, and give them to His servants. And He will take the tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to His officers and to His servants. And He will take your men's servants and your maid's servants and your goodly young men and your asses and put them to His work. And He will take the tenth of your sheep, and you shall be His servants.

[John Weaver] And you shall cry out in that day because of your King which you shall have chosen you. And the Lord will not hear you in that day, Nevertheless, the people refuse to obey the voice of Samuel, and they say, Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles."

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles first and look at verse 7. Look what God said when Samuel prayed to the Lord and said, here's what these people want. The Lord said to Samuel, hearken to the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee, for they have not rejected thee, watch carefully, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Now listen carefully.

[John Weaver] A king rules by his law. I don't care if we're talking about the divine king or a pagan king. A king rules by his law. You cannot have a king without having the king's law. And so God says, they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Therefore, he says, they have rejected you.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to note, if you have followed in the Bible the life of the Israelites, all God had ever done for them was give, give, give, give. And now they're swapping God for a king, and that king is going to take, take, take, take. I've got a message. I'm not going to do it today, but I have a message entitled Trading God for a Man, and I show you the consequences in 1 Samuel chapter 8 of trading God for a man. I show you the consequences of trading God's law for man's law. But this passage makes it exceedingly clear that once you reject God, you also are rejecting his law. And once you reject God and his law, then automatically you're choosing man and his law. If that's not clear enough for you in 1 Samuel 8, look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 10, beginning there in verse 17. 1 Samuel 10, verse 17, and Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpah.

[John Weaver] and said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all the kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you. And you have this day rejected your God, who saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations. And you have said unto Him, Nay, but set a king over us.

[John Weaver] Now therefore present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes and by your vows. Note what he said. You have rejected your God who saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations. And what you said, in essence, was this. No, we don't want God. We want a man.

[John Weaver] Now, if that's not clear enough, look in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. Because Samuel says it again, 1 Samuel 12 and verse 12. He said, And when you saw that Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, came against you, you said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us, when the Lord your God was your king." What were they saying? We don't want God to be our king. We don't want His law. We don't want His rule.

[John Weaver] It was just like those Pharisees and the chief priests. When Pilate asked them, shall I crucify your king? They said, we have no king but Caesar. We don't want Christ. We refuse him. We'll take a man. We don't want God to be our king.

[John Weaver] Now, you have to understand. We're talking about jurisdiction. We're talking about authority. We're talking about law. Any time. You swap gods. You swap laws. Anytime you change the one true and the living God for a false God, you're changing jurisdiction, you're changing authority, you're changing law. When you trade God for a man, you're changing jurisdiction, you're changing authority, you're changing law. Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17. Second Kings chapter 17, and I want us to begin reading there about verse 7. Second Kings chapter 17 and verse 7. I would encourage you when you get home today to read all of this chapter. It is really, really an important chapter. Notice in Second Kings chapter 17, and let's begin reading there with verse 7.

[John Weaver] The Bible says, For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods. Now let's stop right there just for a moment. It's obvious in this verse that the children of Israel sinned against the Lord. How did they sin against the Lord? They feared other gods.

[John Weaver] So they became guilty of idolatry. Well now, let me ask you. How can you tell which God a man fears? I've heard people say, well, I fear the one true, the living God, or I fear the Lord Jesus Christ. People could say, I fear Allah. Or I fear Buddha. How can you tell who fears what God? Here it is. Watch verse 7 again. He said, First, so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and had feared other gods. Here's how you know which god you fear. Watch. Verse 8, And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel which they had made. Now go back. And had walked in the statutes, that is, in the laws of the heathen. They feared other gods. What did they do? They left God, they left God's law, and they began to obey the law of these false gods.

[John Weaver] Moreover, he says very plainly, now watch verse 8 again, and walked in the statutes of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel and of the kings of Israel which they had made. May I remind you that no king of Israel was a good or godly king. Jeroboam I was the man who was the first king in Israel, and he's the man that made the two golden calves.

[John Weaver] But one in Dan, one in Bethel. Jehu was a pretty decent man. God gave him ten generations. But the Bible said he turned not from the worship of the calves. So what are Judah and Jerusalem doing? What are the children of Israel doing? Here's what they're doing. They're rejecting God. They're refusing God's law. And they're obeying the laws of these false gods and obeying the laws of these wicked rulers who are ruling absolutely contrary to God. Now, watch this.

[John Weaver] Let's go a little further. This is amazing. Verse 9, And the children of Israel did secretly, that is to begin with, the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the Lord their God. And they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchman to the fenced city. And they set up images and groves in every high hill and under every green tree. And there they burned incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the Lord carried away from before them, and wrought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger. For they served idols, whereof the Lord had said unto them, You shall not do this thing. Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways.

[John Weaver] Now watch, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my service to the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God, and they rejected the statutes in His covenant that He made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He testified against them. And they followed vanity that is idolatry, and became vain. And they went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do this. And they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served Baal." How do we know they did not fear God? Because they didn't obey God. They changed His law for the law of their false God or for the law of a wicked humanistic ruler. You know, here's the sad thing.

[John Weaver] God sent Israel, the ten northern tribes, into captivity first for their sin and their rebellion. And Judah and Jerusalem just did not learn. If you would skip down to verse 18, the Bible says this, Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only. Watch. Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they had made. So even after God had sent Israel into captivity, Judah and Jerusalem were so ignorant and so depraved that they obeyed the laws of these wicked kings and false gods rather than God's law until God destroyed them as well. Isn't that amazing? Are you beginning to see that there is something to jurisdiction, there is something to authority, there is something to law?

[John Weaver] I want you to look in your Bibles to the little book of Micah. Micah, one of the minor prophets. The little book of Micah. And I want you to look at chapter 6, if you would please. Micah chapter 6. Right before the book of Nahum, and right after the book of Jonah, you'll find Micah. Micah chapter 6. And I want you to watch, if you would please, what God says in this passage. Micah chapter 6.

[John Weaver] And let's begin reading there with verse 13. God says, therefore, also will I make thee sick in smiting thee. God's going to smite them. And in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

[John Weaver] Now, here's part of the curse. Watch thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied. And thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee, and thou shalt take hold, but thou shalt not deliver. And that which thou deliverest I will give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap. Thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil, and sweet wine, but thou shalt not drink wine. Why is the curse of God coming upon these people? Why? Here's why, verse 16, for the statutes of Amri are kept. Now, wait a minute. Amri was the father of Ahab. He was a murderer.

[John Weaver] He was a wicked, ungodly man. Now, God says, here's why I'm judging you. For the statutes or the laws of Amri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and you walk in their councils, that I should make thee a desolation, and inhabitants thereof a hissing. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people." Do you know why God sent the children of Israel into captivity?

[John Weaver] Because they refused Him and His law, His rule, His reign. You know why He sent the children of Judah and Jerusalem into captivity? Because they refused Him, His law and His reign. You know why God cursed them? Because instead of obeying Him, they obeyed the wicked, reprobate laws of wicked men and false gods.

[John Weaver] Now, the Bible says they chose them new gods. Then there was war in the gates. Have you ever stopped to think That war takes upon itself many and varied forms. One of our problems is every time we think of war, we think of blood and guts. We think of shooting and killing. You don't have to have shooting and killing to have a war. Let me show you.

[John Weaver] Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Joshua, chapter 24, Joshua 24. Joshua 24, you have to remember that when God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, He refused for them to go into the land of Edom, or Moab, because He said, I'm not giving you the land that I gave to Esau, nor the land, you can't go in that land. And so they didn't. Now watch carefully. Look what happens. Joshua chapter 24, beginning there with verse 8. God says, And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side of Jordan, and they fought with you. And I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, but I would not hearken unto Balaam, therefore he blessed you still, so I delivered you out of his hand."

[John Weaver] Now, I find it interesting that the Bible says in verse 9, then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel. I would challenge you to show me in the Bible for Balak and his people physically attacked Israel. He didn't. But he did hire Balaam to curse. And you know, God turned the curse into a blessing. And Balak said to Balaam, I brought you over here to curse mine, and it means you've altogether blessed them. Balaam said, Come with me, and I will advise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days. But he also advised him how to get Israel to sin. And all you have to do is read Numbers 25, and you will find the children of Israel went to the Moabites. They joined themselves, the Bible says, to Baal Peor. They committed fornication. They worshipped false idols. And what was it? God killed 23,000 of them. How did Balak war against the Israelites? He warred against them, number one, in trying to get Balaam to curse them, which that didn't happen.

[John Weaver] But he warred against them in seducing them and enticing them and trying to get them to violate God's law and sin against God because he knew then God would turn against them and judge them. Do you realize we are at war? Do you understand that? This world is no friend of God. The world system is against God. Man's laws are against God. Humanism is against God. Idolatry is against God. You don't have to have a physical battle to have a war. Now, wait a minute. War also, as I've already said, takes upon itself many and varied forms. Do you realize that war can also take upon itself ridicule?

[John Weaver] satire and ostracism, whereupon the new ruler denounces the former ruler. Kind of like Obama blaming everything on Bush. You know, everything's Bush's fault. You know, they're two puppets on the same hands, but I mean, you know, he's blaming Bush. Everything's Bush's fault. Stop and think. Let me ask you this question. Why is Christ so hated and despised today? Why is Christianity so ridiculed and denounced on every side, especially by those in authority and in power?

[John Weaver] Think. Practically every law that comes out of Washington, D.C. is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible, anti-Christianity. And the same is true in our state capitals. Have you ever wondered why? Why is there a war against everything that is righteous and holy and godly? Here's why. We've chosen a new God, and there's war in the gates. What am I talking about? The war that you and I are talking about is a war over authority. It's over jurisdiction. It's over law. Man's law is fighting against God's law. God's law is fighting against man's law.

[John Weaver] Let me show you about ridicule. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 69. I never will forget. When this struck me many, many years ago, and I've never gotten over this. When you look at Psalm 69, Psalm 69 is a Messianic Psalm. I said that one time. And I was talking about Psalm 110. I said, this is a Messianic Psalm. And one of the brothers looked at me and said, well, aren't they all?

[John Weaver] And the truth is, yes, they all are. But some are more specifically Messianic Psalms. But if you look at Psalm 69, just to show you how this is a Messianic Psalm, I want you to look in verse four. Psalm 69, verse four, they that hate me without cause are more than the hairs of mine head. And they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty.

[John Weaver] Then I restored that which I took not away. Well, the first part of that verse is directly applied to Jesus Christ in John 15, verse 25, where our Lord said they hated me without a cause. And of course, we know it's our Lord who restored that which he took not away. Whatever we lost in Adam, we got far more in Jesus Christ. So that reversed to Christ. If you would just look, if you would please, at verse Skip down to verse 9.

[John Weaver] For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them that reproach thee are fallen upon me. That's said of Christ any number of times in the New Testament as well. Look in verse 21. They gave me also gold for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. You know that's applied to Christ as He was suffering on the cross. Ah, but let me show you verse 12.

[John Weaver] They that sit in the gate speak against me, I was a song of drunkards. They that sit in the gate, they that have the authority and the jurisdiction and the power and giving their law, they're the ones that are speaking against me. And God said they speak against me so much, I was a song of drunkards. mocked, blasphemed, ridiculed. You know, our Lord taught us something in John 15, verses 18 through 20.

[John Weaver] He said it like this. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but because I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hated you. Remember the word that I said unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you.

[John Weaver] If they've kept my saying, they'll keep your saying. What is our Lord saying? They're going to treat you exactly the way they treat me. What did our God tell Samuel? They rejected me. Therefore, they're rejecting you. I want you to understand there is a war going on. There's not only a war going on in your mind. There's a war going on in your life. There's a war going on in this church. There's a war going on in our communities. There's a war going on in our states. There's a war going on in our nation. And that war. is a war in the gates and it is God fighting against wickedness and humanism and anti-Godism.

[John Weaver] It is His law versus man's law. Moreover, the war that I'm talking about is an age-old war and an age-old struggle. It will be an absolutely endless war as long as we are on this earth. Those of us who proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord, believe it or not, when we say Jesus Christ is Lord, we say He's boss, owner, master, sovereign. When we declare the Lordship of Christ, we are declaring war against those who say that Caesar is Lord. Do you understand that? Those who say that Caesar is Lord are proclaiming war against Jesus Christ. There's a war in the gates.

[John Weaver] You know, I love Acts 4 and verse 12. Where Peter said, there's none of the name given among men among men under heaven whereby we must be saved the name of Jesus Christ. You know where Peter got that? You say, well, the Lord inspired him to write it. Yes, I understand that. But did you realize In it was thirty two or thirty three B.C. There was a star that was shown brightly in the heavens and Caesar Augustus, who happened to be on the throne then, took advantage of that to proclaim himself God. And he said throughout all the Roman Empire, there is none of the name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved than the name of Caesar Augustus. And then Peter penned those words in Acts 4 in verse 12. Or Luke actually penned them. Peter said them. But when he said those words, you know what he was doing? He was declaring war against Caesar and the Roman Empire. He is saying Caesar is not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord.

[John Weaver] Caesar does not have the right to issue law. God has the right to issue law. That's why the Bible says in Isaiah 33 and verse 32, the Lord is our judge. The Lord is our lawgiver. The Lord is our King. He will save us. We cannot escape this battle. And you will either fight for the Lordship of Jesus Christ Or by your lack of fighting and standing for God and His law, you will be fighting for the enemy.

[John Weaver] There's a war in the gates. There's a war over jurisdiction and authority and law. Who has the right to rule? Who has the right to reign? By the way, I hope you know that in The Roman Empire. Christians were not put to death simply because they were Christians. In the Roman Empire, you could believe whatever you wanted to believe. If you wanted to worship Zeus, have at it. If you want to worship Aphrodite, go for it. If you wanted to worship Jesus, they could care less.

[John Weaver] Just so long as once a year. You swore by the genius of Caesar and you said Caesar is Lord. Which meant then that Caesar gave you the right and the freedom to believe how you wanted to believe. The Christians refused to do that. They would not say Caesar is Lord. Therefore, they were put to death not just because they were Christians. but because they were considered traitors and treacherous individuals to the emperor cult. They would only say, Jesus Christ is Lord, and your pastor can tell you the earliest baptismal confession was three words. Jesus is Lord. And when you say Lord, you're saying boss, owner, master, sovereign, the one who has all authority, jurisdiction and power and the right to tell me how to live. and what to do, and where to go, and what to believe.

[John Weaver] There's a war in the gates. Who is God? Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Help us, Lord, to see where the battle actually lies. And help us to stay true to Thee, In Thy word and Thy law, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

War in the Gates

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	824141559349
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: War in the Gates
Genre	Sermon
Date	2014-08-17
Dictation Name
Book	Book 009: Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	80

Formatted Transcript

Introduction: The Reality of War in the Gates

Weaver introduces Judges 5:8 and illustrates the concept of war coming close to home, using the movie 'Enemy at the Gates' and the story of Wilbur McLean, whose front yard saw the start and end of the Civil War.

All right, I want you to open your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Judges, chapter 5. It was a wonderful conference, and the truth of the matter is, I think I really not only enjoyed it, but I was telling Brother Yarbrough, just on my own personal Bible study while I was here, I got three new messages. So maybe this is just kind of a prolific place around here. But look in Judges chapter 5, and I want to just read one verse, a very simple verse, so I'll read it twice. Judges 5, verse 8. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Judges 5:8

"They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?"

So this is the song of Deborah and Barak, but notice verse 8 again:

Scripture Reading — Judges 5:8

"They chose new gods; then was war in the gates."

So the title of the message is "War in the Gates." I don't know if you remember, but a few years back, there was a movie that came out that was entitled "Enemy at the Gates."

It was about a battle in World War Two, the Battle of Stalingrad, where you had two snipers, a Russian and a German, trying to outmaneuver each other and basically kill each other. It was a very exciting movie in one sense of the word because all you saw as the snipers were basically trying to outmaneuver each other were bombed out buildings and burned buildings and just trash. And as you looked at that movie you got a real understanding of what it meant to have war in the gates because it did indeed depict very literally how war can come to the gates of the city. Our text in Judges chapter 5 and verse 8 demonstrates how war affects individuals and nations on a personal and close-up level. I've often said it's one thing to fight from a distance when you really cannot see your enemy and your enemy cannot see you. But it's a totally different thing to fight up close. And when you remember some of those ancient battles, I remember they certainly had bows and they had spears, and the bow, of course, was the long-distance weapon, but it was the short swords and spears and knives that were up close. And all of those battles were up close and personal, literally war in the gates. There's an interesting tidbit from the War of Northern Aggression, which some people call the Civil War, which was not civil at all. But I don't know if you know about the fact that the war actually began in the front yard of a man by the name of Wilbur McLean. Wilbur McLean was born on May the 3rd, 1814.

He died on June the 5th, 1882. Wilbur McLean was a wholesale grocer and a sugar broker in Virginia. He also supplied the Confederate armies. Consequently, he would have been a target for the Union. Moreover, he had a desire to protect his family. And so since actually the first battle of Manassas literally began in his front yard, he moved his family 120 miles farther south to get away from all of the fighting. Now, you say, well, 120 miles further south is not very far. Well, it is if you're riding a horse or driving a buggy or driving a wagon with your furniture on it. So he moved his family 120 miles further south to a little place known as Appomattox County, Virginia, and Appomattox Courthouse. And the interesting thing is the war that began in his front yard ended in his front parlor because that's where Lee and Grant met and the surrender took place. So you could say Wilmer McLean experienced, on the one hand, war in the gates firsthand. But when you look at our text in Judges 5 and verse 8, war in the gates literally describes the hostile attacks of the Canaanites upon the Israelites.

The Cause: Choosing New Gods

The sermon explains that war in the gates is not accidental; it results from choosing new gods, which provokes God's jealousy and leads to defenselessness, as seen in Israel's lack of weapons.

And war in the gates just simply does not happen by accident. It does not just occur. We're told in the book of Proverbs chapter 26 in verse 2 that

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 26:2

"the curse causeless shall not come."

And we read in Judges 5 in verse 8 exactly why there was war in the gates. And the Bible says it's because they chose new gods. They chose new gods. They not only submitted to idolatry that was forced upon them through tyranny, the fact is, they also freely chose new gods, new to them and unbeknown to their fathers, new in comparison to the one true and everlasting God, the ancient, eternal God, the immutable, omniscient One, the great I Am. They chose new gods to replace the one true and living God. And it was then, the Bible says, there was war in the gates.

They were hemmed up literally in every way, in every place. They were besieged in all of their fortified cities. The strongest cities could not withstand the onslaught of the enemy. God had not only given them up, He had given them over into the hands of their enemies. One thing that we tend to forget is this, that God is a jealous God. In fact, the Scripture tells us that His name is Jealous. The Word of God declares in Exodus 34 and verse 14,

Scripture Reading — Exodus 34:14

"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."

In Deuteronomy 4 and verse 24, the Bible says, "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." And so the Bible teaches us that God is so jealously holy that He is not about to share His honor or His glory with a false god. He said in Isaiah 42 and verse 8, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."

Now let me just tell you this, mark this down in your mind. When a nation forsakes the one true and the living God that has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, they are inviting war in the gates. If you study this passage, and especially even in the book of Judges, you'll find especially here in Judges chapter 5 in verse 8, when war occurred and war came to the gates, so to speak, the Israelites were also defenseless. They were defenseless in the time of trouble. They did not have the means to resist their adversaries. For among them, the scripture says in verse 8, "Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?" So this statement then is an open and honest assessment of their martial strength. You have to remember that the numbers of the Israelitish men who were of warrior age was literally in the hundreds of thousands. In fact, 600,000 of them came out of Egypt. And now it is said here, "Was there a shield or spear seen among the forty thousand in Israel?" Wow.

So what the Bible is teaching us here is basically this. There were not sufficient spears and shields to equip 40,000 men, or at least not only maybe one out of 40,000 was literally equipped to fight. Well, why did they not have their weapons? Why did they not have any weapons? Well, it could be that they were negligent and slothful in a time of peace and certainly did not prepare for war. Let me tell you, I don't know if this ever occurred to you or not, but it's almost impossible to prepare for war when war is upon you. You better be preparing before war actually breaks out. So it could be that they just simply in a time of peace were slothful and neglectful and did not have anything, and did not even think that they would need anything. But it could also be that the ones who had ruled over them were tyrants and had deprived them of their weapons.

Biblical Usage of 'Gates'

Weaver surveys how 'gates' is used in Scripture: literal gates, triumphal entry, entrance to God's presence, and blessings/protection. He emphasizes that context determines meaning.

Do you realize the same word "gates" is used in different ways in the Bible? One of the problems we have in reading the Bible, we'll see a word and we assume that that word means exactly what we think it means. Or we try to interpret something that happened a thousand or two thousand years ago in light of our understanding. But the word "gates" is used several different ways in the Bible. First and most obvious, the word "gates" speaks of real, literal gates. No one can deny that. And Deuteronomy chapter 3 and verse 5 of the Bible says this,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 3:5

"All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars."

There were cities and there were suburbs in the Bible that did not have fences, did not have walls, and did not have gates, but there were indeed fortified cities that had gates. And so oftentimes when you read a verse like this, you automatically think there was war in the gates. And that is true. That would be when the enemy came and they were forcing their way into that fortified city.

So there'd be literally war at the gates. So sometimes, and first and most obviously, it does refer to real literal gates. But secondly, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 24 because, secondly, I want you to understand that sometimes the word "gates" speaks not of real, literal gates per se, but of a triumphal entry. In Psalm 24, beginning there with verse 7, look what David says. Psalm 24, verse 7. He's approaching the city and he says,

Scripture Reading — Psalm 24:7-10

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?"

"The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." Now, everyone knows that it was David that took the city from the Jebusites. But it is not David here that is being spoken of as having the triumphal entry into the city. Here, David has gotten the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-Edom. And now the Levites are probably carrying that Ark. And as David comes to the city of Jerusalem, he says this, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." So the picture here is obviously a general who's defeated his enemies, coming back now in triumph, going through the city, maybe even showing his enemies off. But now David says, look, this is not me. Here is the King of kings. Here is the God of Israel. Here is the Prince of peace. Here is the mighty presence of God. "Lift up your gates. Open the doors and this King of Glory shall come in." In other words, you better recognize that He is the triumphal King. He is the King who has obtained victory. He's God of gods and King of kings and Lord of lords. And David said you people better recognize this, lest what is intended for your good become your ruin. Because here we have the very presence of God. So sometimes the word "gates" then not only speaks of a real literal gate, but sometimes of a triumphal entry. Thirdly, sometimes the word "gates" is to be understood in the Bible as an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship.

If you would turn in your Bibles to Psalm 100, you know this passage, but look at verses 3 and 4. Psalm 100 at verses 3 and 4. Sometimes the word "gates" is used in the Bible to speak of an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship. So you have it in Psalm 100, verse 3. "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 100:3-4

"We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."

So here you're entering into the gates for fellowship and worship. And it's not a real literal gate per se, but it's an entrance into the presence of God. If you would turn right over to Psalm 118, and look if you would please at verse 19, Psalm 118 verse 19, and David says it again, He says in verse 19, "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD." So sometimes the word "gates" then refers just simply as an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship. But fourthly, sometimes the word "gates" also represents the blessings and the protection of God upon his people. If you would look at Psalm 147, Psalm 147 verses 13 and 14. Psalm 147 and verse 13. Psalm 147.

Verse 13, look what he says, "For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat." So here when he says, "For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates," all he's saying is God has blessed you. God has given you protection. God has given you all kinds of blessings.

So I think by now, as I've gone through all these verses, you understand, or at least you should understand, that when you come upon a word like "gates," it has to be the context that determines the usage of that word. Do you realize we have the same thing in English? I can give you words and you may not even know what I'm talking about unless you hear them or are able to read them in the context. For instance, if you take our little English word "row," R-O-W. If I just say "row," many of you automatically think of it as a verb. It's what you do when you put a paddle in the water and you row the boat. But do you realize that same word "row" can also be a noun in a row of tomatoes or a row of peas? And again, the same word R-O-W can be a verb when it's pronounced "row," which refers to a fight or an argument. And so if you see the word R-O-W, you don't know if it's a verb or noun until you see it in its context.

Gates as Authority and Jurisdiction

The predominant biblical use of 'gates' refers to places of authority, judgment, and jurisdiction. Weaver cites Genesis 22:17, Deuteronomy 16:18, Psalm 127:5, and others to show that controlling the gates means controlling law and rule.

Some of you probably already guessed it, but here it is. In all of these passages, I'm going to show you. The word "gates" is used to refer to a place of authority, a place of judgment and justice, a place of jurisdiction. OK, so look, if you would please, in Genesis 22 and verse 17. And here's what God says to Abraham. Genesis 22, verse 17. He says,

Scripture Reading — Genesis 22:17

"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies."

Now, let me just tell you something about the gate. You're going to see this as we look through all of these verses. It was the kings and the princes and the judges that sat in the gates. The Israelitish court system was an open court system. Judgment was at the gates. Whoever controlled the gates got to make the law. Whoever controlled the gates had jurisdiction. Now watch. God says in verse 17, "And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." If you look in Genesis 24 and verse 60, when Rebecca is being sent away to become the wife of Isaac, she gets the blessings from her family. And here's what the Bible says in Genesis 24, verse 60, "And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them." Now if your seed is in control of the gate, that means you have the power, you have the authority, you have the jurisdiction. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 16, and verse 18, Deuteronomy 16 and verse 18.

Follow me, because it's important that you understand this point. Look what God says, Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 18. God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 16:18

"Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment."

Where were the judges? In the gates. Where was judgment and justice? In the gates. Look in Deuteronomy 17, beginning there with verse 1. Watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 16:18

"Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die."

"At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death." Now the question is, where were men judged? At the gates. Where were they executed? At the gates.

I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. I'm just trying to show you that usually when you read the word "gates" in the Bible, it is speaking of authority and jurisdiction and judgment and justice. Notice, if you would, Psalm 127, beginning there with verse three. Many of you know this passage as well, but the Bible says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."

"They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Now, interestingly enough, God says our children are as arrows in the hand of a mighty man. You know what you do with arrows? You shoot them into your enemy. What are these mighty arrows doing? They're speaking with the enemies in the gate. What does that mean? They're conquering their enemies. They're about to dominate their enemies.

I want you to turn to Isaiah 13. I'm just trying to show you how this is used. It doesn't matter where you look in the Bible, you'll normally find that the word "gates" normally refers to jurisdiction and authority. Notice Isaiah 13 and verse 2. Isaiah 13 and verse 2, and the Bible says this,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 13:2

"Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles."

So all the nobles, the princes, the kings, sat in the gates. That's where they were. Now, I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 1. I want you to watch this very carefully. Because Jeremiah is talking about the judgment and the justice of God against Judah and Jerusalem.

They're going to be destroyed. And I want you to see what God specifically says concerning them. Look in the book of Jeremiah, chapter one and verse 14. Let's begin reading there.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 1:14-15

"Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah."

Now, what is God saying? God says, I'm calling all of these pagan kings, and they're going to come and set their throne in the gates of Jerusalem. What's that mean? It means Judah and Jerusalem are going to be in captivity. It means they're going to be dominated. It means they're going to be destroyed because now these pagans are in the gates. They're in control. They're in dominion.

I could multiply verses like this, but I think you're beginning to see that all through the Scripture, when you hear the word "gates," it usually speaks of authority. Yes, it could mean all of these other things as well. But "gates" does refer to jurisdiction. It does refer to authority. It does refer to judgment and justice. Now, I said all that just to get you to think about this.

Israel's Rejection of God's Rule (1 Samuel 8)

The demand for a king in 1 Samuel 8 is a rejection of God's reign and law. Choosing a human king means swapping God's law for man's law, leading to tyranny and loss of liberty.

I want you to think on this passage, let me make a statement before I read it and you try to look at it. You cannot understand 1 Samuel 8 without understanding it as a transition from one law structure to another. You cannot understand 1 Samuel 8 without seeing a change of jurisdiction, without seeing a change of authority. What? 1 Samuel 8, beginning there with verse 4, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways."

"Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." Now, let's stop there just for a moment. What do they tell Samuel? You're an old man. You're not going to be with us much longer. And your sons, they're not like you. They're wicked. Now you make us a king to rule over us like all the other nations. It's interesting. They did not first seek God, nor secondly, did they want another prophet like Samuel or a judge. They were not necessarily interested in what God wanted for them or what was right. They wanted a king. First of all, he said that we may be like all the other nations. Now watch verse six. "But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."

"According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee." By the way, when a people forsakes the one true and the living God, they also forsake all those who represent the one true and the living God. So God said, first and foremost, they rejected me. That's why they're rejecting you. Now, skip down to verse nine. God says, "Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. Now watch. I'm going to emphasize one word as I read this, just one word, and I want you to see what this change in jurisdiction and this change of authority and this change in law is going to produce in Israel and for anybody else. Notice he said in verse 10, "And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you."

"He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants."

"And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles first and look at verse 7. Look what God said when Samuel prayed to the LORD and said, here's what these people want. The LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee," watch carefully, "but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Now listen carefully.

A king rules by his law. I don't care if we're talking about the divine king or a pagan king. A king rules by his law. You cannot have a king without having the king's law. And so God says, "They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Therefore, he says, they have rejected you.

Now, I want you to note, if you have followed in the Bible the life of the Israelites, all God had ever done for them was give, give, give, give. And now they're swapping God for a king, and that king is going to take, take, take, take. I've got a message. I'm not going to do it today, but I have a message entitled "Trading God for a Man," and I show you the consequences in 1 Samuel chapter 8 of trading God for a man. I show you the consequences of trading God's law for man's law. But this passage makes it exceedingly clear that once you reject God, you also are rejecting his law. And once you reject God and his law, then automatically you're choosing man and his law. If that's not clear enough for you in 1 Samuel 8, look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 10, beginning there in verse 17. 1 Samuel 10, verse 17, "And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh."

"And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you: And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us." "Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands." Note what he said. You have rejected your God who saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations. And what you said, in essence, was this. No, we don't want God. We want a man.

Now, if that's not clear enough, look in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. Because Samuel says it again, 1 Samuel 12 and verse 12. He said, "And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God was your king." What were they saying? We don't want God to be our king. We don't want His law. We don't want His rule. It was just like those Pharisees and the chief priests. When Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" They said, "We have no king but Caesar." We don't want Christ. We refuse him. We'll take a man. We don't want God to be our king.

The Consequences of Changing Laws (2 Kings 17; Micah 6)

Israel and Judah's idolatry is evidenced by their walking in the statutes of the heathen and of wicked kings. God's judgment comes because they kept the statutes of Omri and the works of Ahab instead of God's commandments.

The Bible says, "For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now let's stop right there just for a moment. It's obvious in this verse that the children of Israel sinned against the Lord. How did they sin against the Lord? They feared other gods.

So they became guilty of idolatry. Well now, let me ask you. How can you tell which God a man fears? I've heard people say, well, I fear the one true, the living God, or I fear the Lord Jesus Christ. People could say, I fear Allah. Or I fear Buddha. How can you tell who fears what God? Here it is. Watch verse 7 again. He said, "For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Here's how you know which god you fear. Watch. Verse 8, "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." Now go back. "And had walked in the statutes," that is, in the laws of the heathen. They feared other gods. What did they do? They left God, they left God's law, and they began to obey the law of these false gods.

Moreover, he says very plainly, now watch verse 8 again, "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." May I remind you that no king of Israel was a good or godly king. Jeroboam I was the man who was the first king in Israel, and he's the man that made the two golden calves. But one in Dan, one in Bethel. Jehu was a pretty decent man. God gave him ten generations. But the Bible said he turned not from the worship of the calves. So what are Judah and Jerusalem doing? What are the children of Israel doing? Here's what they're doing. They're rejecting God. They're refusing God's law. And they're obeying the laws of these false gods and obeying the laws of these wicked rulers who are ruling absolutely contrary to God. Now, watch this.

Let's go a little further. This is amazing. Verse 9, "And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways."

Now watch, "And keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal." How do we know they did not fear God? Because they didn't obey God. They changed His law for the law of their false god or for the law of a wicked humanistic ruler. You know, here's the sad thing.

God sent Israel, the ten northern tribes, into captivity first for their sin and their rebellion. And Judah and Jerusalem just did not learn. If you would skip down to verse 18, the Bible says this, "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only." Watch. "Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made." So even after God had sent Israel into captivity, Judah and Jerusalem were so ignorant and so depraved that they obeyed the laws of these wicked kings and false gods rather than God's law until God destroyed them as well. Isn't that amazing? Are you beginning to see that there is something to jurisdiction, there is something to authority, there is something to law?

I want you to look in your Bibles to the little book of Micah. Micah, one of the minor prophets. The little book of Micah. And I want you to look at chapter 6, if you would please. Micah chapter 6. Right before the book of Nahum, and right after the book of Jonah, you'll find Micah. Micah chapter 6. And I want you to watch, if you would please, what God says in this passage. Micah chapter 6.

And let's begin reading there with verse 13. God says, "Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins." Now, here's part of the curse. Watch. "Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine." Why is the curse of God coming upon these people? Why? Here's why, verse 16, "For the statutes of Omri are kept." Now, wait a minute. Omri was the father of Ahab. He was a murderer.

He was a wicked, ungodly man. Now, God says, here's why I'm judging you. "For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people." Do you know why God sent the children of Israel into captivity? Because they refused Him and His law, His rule, His reign. You know why He sent the children of Judah and Jerusalem into captivity? Because they refused Him, His law and His reign. You know why God cursed them? Because instead of obeying Him, they obeyed the wicked, reprobate laws of wicked men and false gods.

Now, the Bible says they chose them new gods. Then there was war in the gates. Have you ever stopped to think that war takes upon itself many and varied forms? One of our problems is every time we think of war, we think of blood and guts. We think of shooting and killing. You don't have to have shooting and killing to have a war. Let me show you.

The Nature of the War: Jurisdictional Conflict

War takes many forms beyond physical battle, including spiritual seduction (Balak and Balaam), ridicule, and legal opposition. The war in the gates is fundamentally a war over authority—God's law versus man's law.

Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Joshua, chapter 24, Joshua 24. Joshua 24, you have to remember that when God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, He refused for them to go into the land of Edom, or Moab, because He said, I'm not giving you the land that I gave to Esau, nor the land, you can't go in that land. And so they didn't. Now watch carefully. Look what happens. Joshua chapter 24, beginning there with verse 8. God says, "And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand."

Now, I find it interesting that the Bible says in verse 9, "Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel." I would challenge you to show me in the Bible where Balak and his people physically attacked Israel. He didn't. But he did hire Balaam to curse. And you know, God turned the curse into a blessing. And Balak said to Balaam, "I brought you over here to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them." Balaam said, "Come with me, and I will advise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days." But he also advised him how to get Israel to sin. And all you have to do is read Numbers 25, and you will find the children of Israel went to the Moabites. They joined themselves, the Bible says, to Baal Peor. They committed fornication. They worshipped false idols. And what was it? God killed 23,000 of them. How did Balak war against the Israelites? He warred against them, number one, in trying to get Balaam to curse them, which that didn't happen.

But he warred against them in seducing them and enticing them and trying to get them to violate God's law and sin against God because he knew then God would turn against them and judge them. Do you realize we are at war? Do you understand that? This world is no friend of God. The world system is against God. Man's laws are against God. Humanism is against God. Idolatry is against God. You don't have to have a physical battle to have a war. Now, wait a minute. War also, as I've already said, takes upon itself many and varied forms. Do you realize that war can also take upon itself ridicule?

Satire and ostracism, whereupon the new ruler denounces the former ruler. Kind of like Obama blaming everything on Bush. You know, everything's Bush's fault. You know, they're two puppets on the same hands, but I mean, you know, he's blaming Bush. Everything's Bush's fault. Stop and think. Let me ask you this question. Why is Christ so hated and despised today? Why is Christianity so ridiculed and denounced on every side, especially by those in authority and in power?

Think. Practically every law that comes out of Washington, D.C. is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible, anti-Christianity. And the same is true in our state capitals. Have you ever wondered why? Why is there a war against everything that is righteous and holy and godly? Here's why. We've chosen a new God, and there's war in the gates. What am I talking about? The war that you and I are talking about is a war over authority. It's over jurisdiction. It's over law. Man's law is fighting against God's law. God's law is fighting against man's law.

The Christian's Stand in the War

Believers are in an age-old struggle. Declaring 'Jesus is Lord' is a declaration of war against all rival claims to authority. Christians must fight for Christ's lordship by standing for God's law, even when ridiculed or persecuted.

It is His law versus man's law. Moreover, the war that I'm talking about is an age-old war and an age-old struggle. It will be an absolutely endless war as long as we are on this earth. Those of us who proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord, believe it or not, when we say Jesus Christ is Lord, we say He's boss, owner, master, sovereign. When we declare the Lordship of Christ, we are declaring war against those who say that Caesar is Lord. Do you understand that? Those who say that Caesar is Lord are proclaiming war against Jesus Christ. There's a war in the gates.

You know, I love Acts 4 and verse 12. Where Peter said, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," the name of Jesus Christ. You know where Peter got that? You say, well, the Lord inspired him to write it. Yes, I understand that. But did you realize in 32 or 33 B.C. there was a star that shone brightly in the heavens and Caesar Augustus, who happened to be on the throne then, took advantage of that to proclaim himself God. And he said throughout all the Roman Empire, there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved than the name of Caesar Augustus. And then Peter penned those words in Acts 4 in verse 12. Or Luke actually penned them. Peter said them. But when he said those words, you know what he was doing? He was declaring war against Caesar and the Roman Empire. He is saying Caesar is not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord.

Caesar does not have the right to issue law. God has the right to issue law. That's why the Bible says in Isaiah 33 and verse 22, "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us." We cannot escape this battle. And you will either fight for the Lordship of Jesus Christ or by your lack of fighting and standing for God and His law, you will be fighting for the enemy. There's a war in the gates. There's a war over jurisdiction and authority and law. Who has the right to rule? Who has the right to reign? By the way, I hope you know that in the Roman Empire, Christians were not put to death simply because they were Christians. In the Roman Empire, you could believe whatever you wanted to believe. If you wanted to worship Zeus, have at it. If you want to worship Aphrodite, go for it. If you wanted to worship Jesus, they could care less.

Just so long as once a year you swore by the genius of Caesar and you said Caesar is Lord. Which meant then that Caesar gave you the right and the freedom to believe how you wanted to believe. The Christians refused to do that. They would not say Caesar is Lord. Therefore, they were put to death not just because they were Christians, but because they were considered traitors and treacherous individuals to the emperor cult. They would only say, Jesus Christ is Lord, and your pastor can tell you the earliest baptismal confession was three words. Jesus is Lord. And when you say Lord, you're saying boss, owner, master, sovereign, the one who has all authority, jurisdiction and power and the right to tell me how to live, and what to do, and where to go, and what to believe.

There's a war in the gates. Who is God? Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Help us, Lord, to see where the battle actually lies. And help us to stay true to Thee, in Thy word and Thy law, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

Apostasy and Its Consequences

Summary: Choosing new gods—whether idols or humanistic systems—inevitably brings conflict and judgment, as God's jealousy is provoked and His protection is removed.

Evidence: Judges 5:8: 'They chose new gods; then was war in the gates.'

The Jealousy of God

Summary: God's name is Jealous; He will not share His glory with false gods. When a nation forsakes Him, He gives them over to their enemies.

Evidence: Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 42:8.

Gates as Symbols of Authority

Summary: In Scripture, 'gates' predominantly represent places of judgment, jurisdiction, and rule. Controlling the gates means controlling the law.

Evidence: Genesis 22:17; Deuteronomy 16:18; Psalm 69:12; Jeremiah 1:15.

Rejection of God's Law

Summary: To reject God is to reject His law. Israel's demand for a king was a rejection of God's reign, leading to the imposition of man's law and tyranny.

Evidence: 1 Samuel 8:7: 'They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.'

War as Jurisdictional Conflict

Summary: The war in the gates is not merely physical but a battle over who has the right to rule—God or man. It manifests in legal, cultural, and spiritual opposition.

Evidence: The contrast between God's law and the statutes of Omri (Micah 6:16); the war of Balak through seduction (Numbers 25).

The Lordship of Christ

Summary: Confessing 'Jesus is Lord' is a political and spiritual declaration that challenges all other claims to authority. Christians must stand for Christ's exclusive lordship.

Evidence: Acts 4:12; the early Christian refusal to say 'Caesar is Lord.'

Key Arguments

War in the gates is caused by spiritual apostasy.

Summary: The text explicitly states that choosing new gods led to war in the gates. This principle applies to individuals and nations.

Evidence: Judges 5:8: 'They chose new gods; then was war in the gates.'

God's jealousy ensures judgment on idolatry.

Summary: Because God is a jealous God, He will not tolerate the worship of false gods and will bring war and defenselessness as judgment.

Evidence: Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 42:8.

Biblical 'gates' refer to authority and jurisdiction.

Summary: A survey of Scripture shows that 'gates' is predominantly used for places of judgment and rule, not just physical entrances.

Evidence: Genesis 22:17; Deuteronomy 16:18; Psalm 127:5; Jeremiah 1:15.

Rejecting God means rejecting His law.

Summary: When Israel asked for a king, they rejected God's reign and thus His law, opting instead for human rule and human statutes.

Evidence: 1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 10:19; 1 Samuel 12:12.

Idolatry is evidenced by walking in man's statutes.

Summary: Fearing other gods is demonstrated by obeying the laws of the heathen and of wicked kings rather than God's commandments.

Evidence: 2 Kings 17:7-8; Micah 6:16.

War takes non-physical forms like seduction and ridicule.

Summary: Balak warred against Israel through Balaam's counsel to entice them to sin. Today, war includes ridicule and legal opposition to God's law.

Evidence: Numbers 25; Joshua 24:9; Psalm 69:12.

The war is ultimately over lordship.

Summary: The conflict is between those who say 'Jesus is Lord' and those who say 'Caesar is Lord.' It is a battle of jurisdictions.

Evidence: Acts 4:12; the early Christian confession 'Jesus is Lord.'

Christians must actively stand for God's law.

Summary: Neutrality is impossible; by not fighting for Christ's lordship, one effectively fights for the enemy.

Evidence: Isaiah 33:22: 'The LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king.'

Scripture References

Judges 5:8

Context: The central text: 'They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?'

Proverbs 26:2

Context: Cited to show that the curse does not come without cause; war in the gates has a reason.

Exodus 34:14

Context: God's name is Jealous; He is a jealous God who will not tolerate worship of other gods.

Deuteronomy 4:24

Context: The LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Isaiah 42:8

Context: God will not give His glory to another or His praise to graven images.

Judges 3:31

Context: Shamgar slew 600 Philistines with an ox goad, showing the lack of proper weapons under tyranny.

1 Samuel 13:19-22

Context: The Philistines deprived Israel of smiths to prevent them from making swords or spears; only Saul and Jonathan had weapons.

Exodus 15:3

Context: The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name, sung after the destruction of Pharaoh's army.

Deuteronomy 3:5

Context: Cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, illustrating literal gates.

Psalm 24:7-10

Context: Lift up your heads, O ye gates; the King of glory shall come in, depicting triumphal entry.

Psalm 100:3-4

Context: Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, referring to entrance into God's presence for worship.

Psalm 118:19

Context: Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD.

Psalm 147:13-14

Context: He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee, symbolizing protection and blessing.

Genesis 22:17

Context: Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, indicating dominion and authority.

Genesis 24:60

Context: Let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them, a blessing of authority.

Deuteronomy 16:18

Context: Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.

Deuteronomy 17:2-7

Context: Idolaters were to be brought to the gates for judgment and execution, showing gates as places of justice.

Psalm 127:3-5

Context: They shall speak with the enemies in the gate, indicating children as arrows in the hand of a mighty man for conquest.

Isaiah 13:2

Context: Go into the gates of the nobles, associating gates with rulers.

Jeremiah 1:14-15

Context: They shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, signifying conquest and dominion.

Historical References

Battle of Stalingrad (World War II)

Context: Referenced via the movie 'Enemy at the Gates' to illustrate war coming to the gates of a city.

Wilbur McLean and the American Civil War

Context: The war began in his front yard at the First Battle of Manassas and ended in his front parlor at Appomattox Courthouse, illustrating war in the gates.

Jabin, king of Canaan

Context: Mentioned as a tyrant who had disarmed Israel, contributing to their defenselessness.

Shamgar, judge of Israel

Context: Used an ox goad to slay 600 Philistines, indicating the lack of proper weapons under oppression.

Philistine oppression in 1 Samuel 13

Context: The Philistines deprived Israel of blacksmiths to prevent weapon-making, leaving only Saul and Jonathan armed.

Jeroboam I and the golden calves

Context: First king of Israel who made two golden calves, leading Israel into idolatry.

Omri and Ahab

Context: Wicked kings of Israel whose statutes Israel kept, provoking God's judgment (Micah 6:16).

Balak and Balaam

Context: Balak king of Moab warred against Israel by hiring Balaam to curse them and later seducing them into sin (Numbers 25).

Caesar Augustus's claim to deity

Context: Around 32-33 B.C., Caesar Augustus proclaimed himself savior, a claim countered by Peter in Acts 4:12.

Roman emperor cult and Christian persecution

Context: Christians were executed for refusing to say 'Caesar is Lord,' as they confessed only Jesus as Lord.

Important Quotes

They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

Significance: The foundational text of the sermon, linking idolatry to conflict and defenselessness.

When a nation forsakes the one true and the living God that has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, they are inviting war in the gates.

Significance: Summarizes the sermon's central warning about national apostasy.

A weaponless people and a people that lack a warrior spirit are already a subjugated and defeated people.

Significance: Highlights the need for preparedness and a willingness to fight for liberty.

The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

Significance: Establishes God's character as a warrior, setting the stage for the theme of divine conflict.

They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

Significance: God's diagnosis of Israel's demand for a king as a rejection of His own rule.

For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels.

Significance: Shows that God's judgment comes for following man's laws instead of His own.

They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

Significance: Messianic prophecy showing that those in authority ridicule Christ, a form of war in the gates.

When we declare the Lordship of Christ, we are declaring war against those who say that Caesar is Lord.

Significance: Crystallizes the sermon's thesis that confessing Christ's lordship is a political and spiritual act of war.

Discussion Questions

What does it mean that 'gates' in the Bible often refer to authority and jurisdiction? How does this change your understanding of 'war in the gates'?

Context: Weaver spent considerable time showing that 'gates' is predominantly used for places of judgment and rule.

In what ways do modern nations 'choose new gods'? How might this lead to 'war in the gates' today?

Context: The sermon applies the principle of Judges 5:8 to contemporary culture, suggesting that rejecting God's law invites conflict.

How does the story of Israel demanding a king (1 Samuel 8) illustrate the rejection of God's law? What were the consequences?

Context: Weaver argues that asking for a king was a rejection of God's reign and led to tyranny.

What are some non-physical forms of war mentioned in the sermon (e.g., Balak's seduction, ridicule)? How do you see these at work today?

Context: The sermon notes that war includes spiritual enticement, mockery, and legal opposition.

Why is the confession 'Jesus is Lord' a declaration of war? What does it challenge in our culture?

Context: Weaver explains that saying 'Jesus is Lord' directly opposes all other claims to ultimate authority.

How can Christians practically 'fight' in this war over jurisdiction and law without resorting to physical violence?

Context: The sermon calls believers to stand for God's law and Christ's lordship in the face of opposition.

What does it mean that 'a weaponless people and a people that lack a warrior spirit are already a subjugated and defeated people'? How should this shape our spiritual preparedness?

Context: Weaver draws a parallel between physical defenselessness and spiritual complacency.

How does the jealousy of God relate to His judgment on nations? Should we pray for national repentance?

Context: The sermon emphasizes God's jealous character and His response to idolatry.

Applications

Recognize the spiritual war over authority

Summary: Believers must understand that the conflict is not merely cultural but a battle between God's law and man's law, and they must choose sides.

Evidence: The entire sermon argues that war in the gates is a jurisdictional conflict.

Confess Christ's lordship boldly

Summary: Christians should unashamedly declare 'Jesus is Lord,' even when it brings ridicule or persecution, as it is a direct challenge to anti-God systems.

Evidence: The early Christians refused to say 'Caesar is Lord' and were martyred for it.

Stand for God's law in public life

Summary: The sermon implies that believers should advocate for God's law in the gates—in courts, legislation, and public discourse—rather than retreating.

Evidence: Isaiah 33:22: 'The LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king.'

Prepare spiritually for battle

Summary: Just as physical defenselessness leads to defeat, spiritual complacency leaves believers vulnerable. They must be equipped with God's Word and a warrior spirit.

Evidence: The warning that a weaponless people are already defeated.

Reject idolatry in all forms

Summary: Choosing new gods—whether materialism, humanism, or false religion—invites God's judgment. Believers must examine their hearts and remove idols.

Evidence: Judges 5:8 and the repeated pattern of Israel's apostasy.

Expect opposition from the world

Summary: Jesus promised that the world would hate His followers. Christians should not be surprised when they face ridicule or legal challenges for their faith.

Evidence: John 15:18-20; Psalm 69:12.

Pray for national repentance

Summary: Since national apostasy leads to war in the gates, believers should intercede for their nation to return to God and His law.

Evidence: The examples of Israel and Judah's judgment for forsaking God's statutes.

Teach the next generation to contend for the faith

Summary: Children are arrows to be shot into the enemy's gates; parents must equip them to speak with the enemies in the gate.

Evidence: Psalm 127:4-5: 'As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man... they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:16:24Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T15:48:19Z

Clean Transcript

War in the Gates

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

All right, I want you to open your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Judges, chapter 5. It was a wonderful conference, and the truth of the matter is, I think I really not only enjoyed it, but I was telling Brother Yarbrough, just on my own personal Bible study while I was here, I got three new messages. So maybe this is just kind of a prolific place around here. But look in Judges chapter 5, and I want to just read one verse, a very simple verse, so I'll read it twice. Judges 5, verse 8. The Bible says, "They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?" So this is the song of Deborah and Barak, but notice verse 8 again: "They chose new gods; then was war in the gates." So the title of the message is "War in the Gates." I don't know if you remember, but a few years back, there was a movie that came out that was entitled "Enemy at the Gates."
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It was about a battle in World War Two, the Battle of Stalingrad, where you had two snipers, a Russian and a German, trying to outmaneuver each other and basically kill each other. It was a very exciting movie in one sense of the word because all you saw as the snipers were basically trying to outmaneuver each other were bombed out buildings and burned buildings and just trash. And as you looked at that movie you got a real understanding of what it meant to have war in the gates because it did indeed depict very literally how war can come to the gates of the city. Our text in Judges chapter 5 and verse 8 demonstrates how war affects individuals and nations on a personal and close-up level.
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I've often said it's one thing to fight from a distance when you really cannot see your enemy and your enemy cannot see you. But it's a totally different thing to fight up close. And when you remember some of those ancient battles, I remember they certainly had bows and they had spears, and the bow, of course, was the long-distance weapon, but it was the short swords and spears and knives that were up close. And all of those battles were up close and personal, literally war in the gates. There's an interesting tidbit from the War of Northern Aggression, which some people call the Civil War, which was not civil at all. But I don't know if you know about the fact that the war actually began in the front yard of a man by the name of Wilbur McLean. Wilbur McLean was born on May the 3rd, 1814.
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He died on June the 5th, 1882. Wilbur McLean was a wholesale grocer and a sugar broker in Virginia. He also supplied the Confederate armies. Consequently, he would have been a target for the Union. Moreover, he had a desire to protect his family. And so since actually the first battle of Manassas literally began in his front yard, he moved his family 120 miles farther south to get away from all of the fighting. Now, you say, well, 120 miles further south is not very far. Well, it is if you're riding a horse or driving a buggy or driving a wagon with your furniture on it. So he moved his family 120 miles further south to a little place known as Appomattox County, Virginia, and Appomattox Courthouse. And the interesting thing is the war that began in his front yard ended in his front parlor because that's where Lee and Grant met and the surrender took place. So you could say Wilmer McLean experienced, on the one hand, war in the gates firsthand. But when you look at our text in Judges 5 and verse 8, war in the gates literally describes the hostile attacks of the Canaanites upon the Israelites.
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And war in the gates just simply does not happen by accident. It does not just occur. We're told in the book of Proverbs chapter 26 in verse 2 that "the curse causeless shall not come." And we read in Judges 5 in verse 8 exactly why there was war in the gates. And the Bible says it's because they chose new gods. They chose new gods. They not only submitted to idolatry that was forced upon them through tyranny, the fact is, they also freely chose new gods, new to them and unbeknown to their fathers, new in comparison to the one true and everlasting God, the ancient, eternal God, the immutable, omniscient One, the great I Am. They chose new gods to replace the one true and living God. And it was then, the Bible says, there was war in the gates.
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They were hemmed up literally in every way, in every place. They were besieged in all of their fortified cities. The strongest cities could not withstand the onslaught of the enemy. God had not only given them up, He had given them over into the hands of their enemies. One thing that we tend to forget is this, that God is a jealous God. In fact, the Scripture tells us that His name is Jealous. The Word of God declares in Exodus 34 and verse 14, "For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." In Deuteronomy 4 and verse 24, the Bible says, "For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God." And so the Bible teaches us that God is so jealously holy that He is not about to share His honor or His glory with a false god. He said in Isaiah 42 and verse 8, "I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images."
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Now let me just tell you this, mark this down in your mind. When a nation forsakes the one true and the living God that has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, they are inviting war in the gates. If you study this passage, and especially even in the book of Judges, you'll find especially here in Judges chapter 5 in verse 8, when war occurred and war came to the gates, so to speak, the Israelites were also defenseless. They were defenseless in the time of trouble.
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They did not have the means to resist their adversaries. For among them, the scripture says in verse 8, "Was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?" So this statement then is an open and honest assessment of their martial strength. You have to remember that the numbers of the Israelitish men who were of warrior age was literally in the hundreds of thousands. In fact, 600,000 of them came out of Egypt. And now it is said here, "Was there a shield or spear seen among the forty thousand in Israel?" Wow.
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So what the Bible is teaching us here is basically this. There were not sufficient spears and shields to equip 40,000 men, or at least not only maybe one out of 40,000 was literally equipped to fight. Well, why did they not have their weapons? Why did they not have any weapons? Well, it could be that they were negligent and slothful in a time of peace and certainly did not prepare for war. Let me tell you, I don't know if this ever occurred to you or not, but it's almost impossible to prepare for war when war is upon you. You better be preparing before war actually breaks out. So it could be that they just simply in a time of peace were slothful and neglectful and did not have anything, and did not even think that they would need anything. But it could also be that the ones who had ruled over them were tyrants and had deprived them of their weapons.
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In fact, Jabin, king of Canaan, had actually disarmed them previously. Let me show you something. Look in Judges chapter 3 and verse 31. Here's a judge in Israel, and I find it very interesting what the Scripture says. Judges 3 verse 31, "And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel." You know what an ox goad is?
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It's a long pointed stick or a long stick with a sharpener. That was it. He did not have a spear. He did not have a sword. He just simply had an ox goad. I want you to look in your Bibles. First Samuel chapter 13, hold Judges 5, if you would. But look in First Samuel chapter 13. Do you understand as we turn to this passage that it is indeed a common practice for tyrants to deprive their people of the means of self-defense? And the reason they do not want their people to have a means of self-defense is because they do not want those weapons used against them. They do not want their tyrannical rule and despotic rule overthrown.
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Therefore, even Shamgar, a judge, was reduced to an ox goad. But look what the Bible says in 1 Samuel chapter 13, beginning there with verse 19. 1 Samuel 13 and verse 19. The Bible says, "Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel: for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears: But all the Israelites went down to the Philistines, to sharpen every man his share, and his coulter, and his axe, and his mattock. Yet they had a file for the mattocks, and for the coulters, and for the forks, and for the axes, and to sharpen the goads."
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So it came to pass, now watch, "So it came to pass in the day of battle, that there was neither sword nor spear found in the hand of any of the people that were with Saul and Jonathan: but with Saul and with Jonathan his son was there found." Notice if you would, here's a time of battle and Saul, the king, his son, Jonathan, are the only two that have weapons. The rest had sticks. So obviously, tyrants do not want individuals to have weapons.
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As it was in Judges 5, so it was in 1 Samuel 13. There were no weapons or warriors who were able to defend their homes or their land against their foes. Here's another truth that you need to mark down. A weaponless people and a people that lack a warrior spirit are already a subjugated and defeated people. We almost, we always have to be willing to fight for our lives, our homes, our family, our liberty, our land.
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In fact, you know what the Bible says in Exodus chapter 15 and verse 3? I want you to listen. "The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name." And when you read Exodus chapter 15, you know what the Lord, the man of war, had just done? He had just destroyed Pharaoh and all of his army in the sea. And here the Israelites are shouting and praising God in their saying, "The LORD is indeed a man of war." Now, here's what I want to bring from Judges chapter 5 and verse 8. The Bible says in Judges 5 and verse 8, "They chose new gods; then was war in the gates." You know, when I read that passage a while back, I got to thinking. What in the world does it mean when the Bible says there's war in the gates? Well, before I share with you the truth that I want to proclaim today from this text, I want to take just a moment and show you how the word "gates" is used in the Bible.
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Do you realize the same word "gates" is used in different ways in the Bible? One of the problems we have in reading the Bible, we'll see a word and we assume that that word means exactly what we think it means. Or we try to interpret something that happened a thousand or two thousand years ago in light of our understanding. But the word "gates" is used several different ways in the Bible. First and most obvious, the word "gates" speaks of real, literal gates. No one can deny that. And Deuteronomy chapter 3 and verse 5 of the Bible says this, "All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars." There were cities and there were suburbs in the Bible that did not have fences, did not have walls, and did not have gates, but there were indeed fortified cities that had gates. And so oftentimes when you read a verse like this, you automatically think there was war in the gates. And that is true. That would be when the enemy came and they were forcing their way into that fortified city.
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So there'd be literally war at the gates. So sometimes, and first and most obviously, it does refer to real literal gates. But secondly, I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 24 because, secondly, I want you to understand that sometimes the word "gates" speaks not of real, literal gates per se, but of a triumphal entry. In Psalm 24, beginning there with verse 7, look what David says. Psalm 24, verse 7. He's approaching the city and he says, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?"
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"The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in."
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Now, everyone knows that it was David that took the city from the Jebusites. But it is not David here that is being spoken of as having the triumphal entry into the city. Here, David has gotten the Ark of the Covenant from the house of Obed-Edom. And now the Levites are probably carrying that Ark. And as David comes to the city of Jerusalem, he says this, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates; be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." So the picture here is obviously a general who's defeated his enemies, coming back now in triumph, going through the city, maybe even showing his enemies off. But now David says, look, this is not me. Here is the King of kings. Here is the God of Israel. Here is the Prince of peace. Here is the mighty presence of God. "Lift up your gates. Open the doors and this King of Glory shall come in." In other words, you better recognize that He is the triumphal King. He is the King who has obtained victory. He's God of gods and King of kings and Lord of lords. And David said you people better recognize this, lest what is intended for your good become your ruin. Because here we have the very presence of God. So sometimes the word "gates" then not only speaks of a real literal gate, but sometimes of a triumphal entry. Thirdly, sometimes the word "gates" is to be understood in the Bible as an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship.
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If you would turn in your Bibles to Psalm 100, you know this passage, but look at verses 3 and 4. Psalm 100 at verses 3 and 4. Sometimes the word "gates" is used in the Bible to speak of an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship. So you have it in Psalm 100, verse 3. "Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves."
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"We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name." So here you're entering into the gates for fellowship and worship. And it's not a real literal gate per se, but it's an entrance into the presence of God. If you would turn right over to Psalm 118, and look if you would please at verse 19, Psalm 118 verse 19, and David says it again, He says in verse 19, "Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD." So sometimes the word "gates" then refers just simply as an entrance into the presence of God for fellowship and worship. But fourthly, sometimes the word "gates" also represents the blessings and the protection of God upon his people. If you would look at Psalm 147, Psalm 147 verses 13 and 14. Psalm 147 and verse 13. Psalm 147.
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Verse 13, look what he says, "For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee. He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat." So here when he says, "For he hath strengthened the bars of thy gates," all he's saying is God has blessed you. God has given you protection. God has given you all kinds of blessings.
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So I think by now, as I've gone through all these verses, you understand, or at least you should understand, that when you come upon a word like "gates," it has to be the context that determines the usage of that word. Do you realize we have the same thing in English? I can give you words and you may not even know what I'm talking about unless you hear them or are able to read them in the context. For instance, if you take our little English word "row," R-O-W. If I just say "row," many of you automatically think of it as a verb. It's what you do when you put a paddle in the water and you row the boat. But do you realize that same word "row" can also be a noun in a row of tomatoes or a row of peas? And again, the same word R-O-W can be a verb when it's pronounced "row," which refers to a fight or an argument. And so if you see the word R-O-W, you don't know if it's a verb or noun until you see it in its context.
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And so when you see certain words in the Bible, you have to understand them in their context. Now, I want to show you predominantly how the word "gates" is used in the Bible. OK, not used many different ways. But here's the way "gates" is used predominantly in the Bible. I want you to go in your Bibles, first of all, to the book of Genesis chapter 22 and look at verse 17. I'm going to tell you in advance what the word "gates" stands for.
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Some of you probably already guessed it, but here it is. In all of these passages, I'm going to show you. The word "gates" is used to refer to a place of authority, a place of judgment and justice, a place of jurisdiction. OK, so look, if you would please, in Genesis 22 and verse 17. And here's what God says to Abraham. Genesis 22, verse 17. He says, "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." Now, let me just tell you something about the gate. You're going to see this as we look through all of these verses. It was the kings and the princes and the judges that sat in the gates.
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The Israelitish court system was an open court system. Judgment was at the gates. Whoever controlled the gates got to make the law. Whoever controlled the gates had jurisdiction. Now watch. God says in verse 17, "And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." If you look in Genesis 24 and verse 60, when Rebecca is being sent away to become the wife of Isaac, she gets the blessings from her family. And here's what the Bible says in Genesis 24, verse 60, "And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them." Now if your seed is in control of the gate, that means you have the power, you have the authority, you have the jurisdiction. If you look in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 16, and verse 18, Deuteronomy 16 and verse 18.
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Follow me, because it's important that you understand this point. Look what God says, Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 18. God says, "Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment." Where were the judges? In the gates. Where was judgment and justice? In the gates. Look in Deuteronomy 17, beginning there with verse 1. Watch carefully. "Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die."
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"At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death." Now the question is, where were men judged? At the gates. Where were they executed? At the gates.
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I want you to turn in your Bibles, if you would please, to Psalm 127. Psalm 127. I'm just trying to show you that usually when you read the word "gates" in the Bible, it is speaking of authority and jurisdiction and judgment and justice. Notice, if you would, Psalm 127, beginning there with verse three. Many of you know this passage as well, but the Bible says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."
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"They shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." Now, interestingly enough, God says our children are as arrows in the hand of a mighty man. You know what you do with arrows? You shoot them into your enemy. What are these mighty arrows doing? They're speaking with the enemies in the gate. What does that mean? They're conquering their enemies. They're about to dominate their enemies.
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I want you to turn to Isaiah 13. I'm just trying to show you how this is used. It doesn't matter where you look in the Bible, you'll normally find that the word "gates" normally refers to jurisdiction and authority. Notice Isaiah 13 and verse 2. Isaiah 13 and verse 2, and the Bible says this, "Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles." So all the nobles, the princes, the kings, sat in the gates. That's where they were. Now, I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 1. I want you to watch this very carefully. Because Jeremiah is talking about the judgment and the justice of God against Judah and Jerusalem.
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They're going to be destroyed. And I want you to see what God specifically says concerning them. Look in the book of Jeremiah, chapter one and verse 14. Let's begin reading there. "Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah." Now, what is God saying? God says, I'm calling all of these pagan kings, and they're going to come and set their throne in the gates of Jerusalem. What's that mean? It means Judah and Jerusalem are going to be in captivity. It means they're going to be dominated. It means they're going to be destroyed because now these pagans are in the gates. They're in control. They're in dominion.
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I could multiply verses like this, but I think you're beginning to see that all through the Scripture, when you hear the word "gates," it usually speaks of authority. Yes, it could mean all of these other things as well. But "gates" does refer to jurisdiction. It does refer to authority. It does refer to judgment and justice. Now, I said all that just to get you to think about this.
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The Bible says they chose new gods. Then there was war in the gates. I want you to consider a concept concerning war in the gates. Please understand that God does not necessarily need to bring an invading army into our cities for there to be war in the gates. He can do that and He has done that. But obviously, the word "gates" does refer to dominion and authority and jurisdiction. There's a concept concerning war in the gates that most of us have either been ignorant of, or we have forgotten it, or we've simply ignored it, overlooked it, but yet it is real and it is genuine. In order for you to further grasp this concept, I want you to turn in your Bibles to 1 Samuel chapter 8. And I want to take the rest of the time this morning just to try to share with you this concept of what I believe God is telling us about war in the gates. So look in your Bibles, 1 Samuel chapter 8, if you would, please. And I want us to read verses 4 through 20.
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I want you to think on this passage, let me make a statement before I read it and you try to look at it. You cannot understand 1 Samuel 8 without understanding it as a transition from one law structure to another. You cannot understand 1 Samuel 8 without seeing a change of jurisdiction, without seeing a change of authority. What? 1 Samuel 8, beginning there with verse 4, "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways."
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"Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." Now, let's stop there just for a moment. What do they tell Samuel? You're an old man. You're not going to be with us much longer. And your sons, they're not like you. They're wicked. Now you make us a king to rule over us like all the other nations. It's interesting. They did not first seek God, nor secondly, did they want another prophet like Samuel or a judge. They were not necessarily interested in what God wanted for them or what was right. They wanted a king. First of all, he said that we may be like all the other nations. Now watch verse six. "But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."
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"According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee." By the way, when a people forsakes the one true and the living God, they also forsake all those who represent the one true and the living God. So God said, first and foremost, they rejected me.
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That's why they're rejecting you. Now, skip down to verse nine. God says, "Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. Now watch. I'm going to emphasize one word as I read this, just one word, and I want you to see what this change in jurisdiction and this change of authority and this change in law is going to produce in Israel and for anybody else. Notice he said in verse 10, "And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you."
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"He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants."
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"And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles."
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Now, I want you to go back in your Bibles first and look at verse 7. Look what God said when Samuel prayed to the LORD and said, here's what these people want. The LORD said to Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee," watch carefully, "but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Now listen carefully.
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A king rules by his law. I don't care if we're talking about the divine king or a pagan king. A king rules by his law. You cannot have a king without having the king's law. And so God says, "They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." Therefore, he says, they have rejected you.
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Now, I want you to note, if you have followed in the Bible the life of the Israelites, all God had ever done for them was give, give, give, give. And now they're swapping God for a king, and that king is going to take, take, take, take. I've got a message. I'm not going to do it today, but I have a message entitled "Trading God for a Man," and I show you the consequences in 1 Samuel chapter 8 of trading God for a man. I show you the consequences of trading God's law for man's law. But this passage makes it exceedingly clear that once you reject God, you also are rejecting his law. And once you reject God and his law, then automatically you're choosing man and his law. If that's not clear enough for you in 1 Samuel 8, look in your Bibles to 1 Samuel 10, beginning there in verse 17. 1 Samuel 10, verse 17, "And Samuel called the people together unto the LORD to Mizpeh."
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"And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you: And ye have this day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a king over us."
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"Now therefore present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes, and by your thousands." Note what he said. You have rejected your God who saved you out of all your adversities and your tribulations. And what you said, in essence, was this. No, we don't want God. We want a man.
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Now, if that's not clear enough, look in 1 Samuel chapter 12 and verse 12. Because Samuel says it again, 1 Samuel 12 and verse 12. He said, "And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God was your king." What were they saying? We don't want God to be our king. We don't want His law. We don't want His rule.
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It was just like those Pharisees and the chief priests. When Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" They said, "We have no king but Caesar." We don't want Christ. We refuse him. We'll take a man. We don't want God to be our king.
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Now, you have to understand. We're talking about jurisdiction. We're talking about authority. We're talking about law. Any time you swap gods, you swap laws. Anytime you change the one true and the living God for a false god, you're changing jurisdiction, you're changing authority, you're changing law. When you trade God for a man, you're changing jurisdiction, you're changing authority, you're changing law. Let me show you. I want you to turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings chapter 17. Second Kings chapter 17, and I want us to begin reading there about verse 7. Second Kings chapter 17 and verse 7. I would encourage you when you get home today to read all of this chapter. It is really, really an important chapter. Notice in Second Kings chapter 17, and let's begin reading there with verse 7.
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The Bible says, "For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Now let's stop right there just for a moment. It's obvious in this verse that the children of Israel sinned against the Lord. How did they sin against the Lord? They feared other gods.
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So they became guilty of idolatry. Well now, let me ask you. How can you tell which God a man fears? I've heard people say, well, I fear the one true, the living God, or I fear the Lord Jesus Christ. People could say, I fear Allah. Or I fear Buddha. How can you tell who fears what God? Here it is. Watch verse 7 again. He said, "For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods." Here's how you know which god you fear. Watch. Verse 8, "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." Now go back. "And had walked in the statutes," that is, in the laws of the heathen. They feared other gods. What did they do? They left God, they left God's law, and they began to obey the law of these false gods.
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Moreover, he says very plainly, now watch verse 8 again, "And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made." May I remind you that no king of Israel was a good or godly king. Jeroboam I was the man who was the first king in Israel, and he's the man that made the two golden calves.
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But one in Dan, one in Bethel. Jehu was a pretty decent man. God gave him ten generations. But the Bible said he turned not from the worship of the calves. So what are Judah and Jerusalem doing? What are the children of Israel doing? Here's what they're doing. They're rejecting God. They're refusing God's law. And they're obeying the laws of these false gods and obeying the laws of these wicked rulers who are ruling absolutely contrary to God. Now, watch this.
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Let's go a little further. This is amazing. Verse 9, "And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city. And they set them up images and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree: And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger: For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing. Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways."
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Now watch, "And keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them. And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal." How do we know they did not fear God? Because they didn't obey God. They changed His law for the law of their false god or for the law of a wicked humanistic ruler. You know, here's the sad thing.
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God sent Israel, the ten northern tribes, into captivity first for their sin and their rebellion. And Judah and Jerusalem just did not learn. If you would skip down to verse 18, the Bible says this, "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only." Watch. "Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made." So even after God had sent Israel into captivity, Judah and Jerusalem were so ignorant and so depraved that they obeyed the laws of these wicked kings and false gods rather than God's law until God destroyed them as well. Isn't that amazing? Are you beginning to see that there is something to jurisdiction, there is something to authority, there is something to law?
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I want you to look in your Bibles to the little book of Micah. Micah, one of the minor prophets. The little book of Micah. And I want you to look at chapter 6, if you would please. Micah chapter 6. Right before the book of Nahum, and right after the book of Jonah, you'll find Micah. Micah chapter 6. And I want you to watch, if you would please, what God says in this passage. Micah chapter 6.
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And let's begin reading there with verse 13. God says, "Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins."
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Now, here's part of the curse. Watch. "Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine." Why is the curse of God coming upon these people? Why? Here's why, verse 16, "For the statutes of Omri are kept." Now, wait a minute. Omri was the father of Ahab. He was a murderer.
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He was a wicked, ungodly man. Now, God says, here's why I'm judging you. "For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people." Do you know why God sent the children of Israel into captivity?
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Because they refused Him and His law, His rule, His reign. You know why He sent the children of Judah and Jerusalem into captivity? Because they refused Him, His law and His reign. You know why God cursed them? Because instead of obeying Him, they obeyed the wicked, reprobate laws of wicked men and false gods.
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Now, the Bible says they chose them new gods. Then there was war in the gates. Have you ever stopped to think that war takes upon itself many and varied forms? One of our problems is every time we think of war, we think of blood and guts. We think of shooting and killing. You don't have to have shooting and killing to have a war. Let me show you.
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Look in your Bibles, if you would, to the book of Joshua, chapter 24, Joshua 24. Joshua 24, you have to remember that when God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, He refused for them to go into the land of Edom, or Moab, because He said, I'm not giving you the land that I gave to Esau, nor the land, you can't go in that land. And so they didn't. Now watch carefully. Look what happens. Joshua chapter 24, beginning there with verse 8. God says, "And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other side Jordan; and they fought with you: and I gave them into your hand, that ye might possess their land; and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you: But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I delivered you out of his hand."
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Now, I find it interesting that the Bible says in verse 9, "Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel." I would challenge you to show me in the Bible where Balak and his people physically attacked Israel. He didn't. But he did hire Balaam to curse. And you know, God turned the curse into a blessing. And Balak said to Balaam, "I brought you over here to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them." Balaam said, "Come with me, and I will advise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days." But he also advised him how to get Israel to sin. And all you have to do is read Numbers 25, and you will find the children of Israel went to the Moabites. They joined themselves, the Bible says, to Baal Peor. They committed fornication. They worshipped false idols. And what was it? God killed 23,000 of them. How did Balak war against the Israelites? He warred against them, number one, in trying to get Balaam to curse them, which that didn't happen.
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But he warred against them in seducing them and enticing them and trying to get them to violate God's law and sin against God because he knew then God would turn against them and judge them. Do you realize we are at war? Do you understand that? This world is no friend of God. The world system is against God. Man's laws are against God. Humanism is against God. Idolatry is against God. You don't have to have a physical battle to have a war. Now, wait a minute. War also, as I've already said, takes upon itself many and varied forms. Do you realize that war can also take upon itself ridicule?
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Satire and ostracism, whereupon the new ruler denounces the former ruler. Kind of like Obama blaming everything on Bush. You know, everything's Bush's fault. You know, they're two puppets on the same hands, but I mean, you know, he's blaming Bush. Everything's Bush's fault. Stop and think. Let me ask you this question. Why is Christ so hated and despised today? Why is Christianity so ridiculed and denounced on every side, especially by those in authority and in power?
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Think. Practically every law that comes out of Washington, D.C. is anti-God, anti-Christ, anti-Bible, anti-Christianity. And the same is true in our state capitals. Have you ever wondered why? Why is there a war against everything that is righteous and holy and godly? Here's why. We've chosen a new God, and there's war in the gates. What am I talking about? The war that you and I are talking about is a war over authority. It's over jurisdiction. It's over law. Man's law is fighting against God's law. God's law is fighting against man's law.
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Let me show you about ridicule. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Psalm 69. I never will forget. When this struck me many, many years ago, and I've never gotten over this. When you look at Psalm 69, Psalm 69 is a Messianic Psalm. I said that one time. And I was talking about Psalm 110. I said, this is a Messianic Psalm. And one of the brothers looked at me and said, well, aren't they all?
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And the truth is, yes, they all are. But some are more specifically Messianic Psalms. But if you look at Psalm 69, just to show you how this is a Messianic Psalm, I want you to look in verse four. Psalm 69, verse four, "They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty."
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"Then I restored that which I took not away." Well, the first part of that verse is directly applied to Jesus Christ in John 15, verse 25, where our Lord said they hated me without a cause. And of course, we know it's our Lord who restored that which he took not away. Whatever we lost in Adam, we got far more in Jesus Christ. So that refers to Christ. If you would just look, if you would please, at verse—skip down to verse 9.
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"For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me." That's said of Christ any number of times in the New Testament as well. Look in verse 21. "They gave me also gall for my meat; and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink." You know that's applied to Christ as He was suffering on the cross. Ah, but let me show you verse 12.
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"They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards." They that sit in the gate, they that have the authority and the jurisdiction and the power and giving their law, they're the ones that are speaking against me. And God said they speak against me so much, I was a song of drunkards. Mocked, blasphemed, ridiculed. You know, our Lord taught us something in John 15, verses 18 through 20.
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He said it like this. "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you."
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"If they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." What is our Lord saying? They're going to treat you exactly the way they treat me. What did our God tell Samuel? They rejected me. Therefore, they're rejecting you. I want you to understand there is a war going on. There's not only a war going on in your mind. There's a war going on in your life. There's a war going on in this church. There's a war going on in our communities. There's a war going on in our states. There's a war going on in our nation. And that war is a war in the gates and it is God fighting against wickedness and humanism and anti-Godism.
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It is His law versus man's law. Moreover, the war that I'm talking about is an age-old war and an age-old struggle. It will be an absolutely endless war as long as we are on this earth. Those of us who proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord, believe it or not, when we say Jesus Christ is Lord, we say He's boss, owner, master, sovereign. When we declare the Lordship of Christ, we are declaring war against those who say that Caesar is Lord. Do you understand that? Those who say that Caesar is Lord are proclaiming war against Jesus Christ. There's a war in the gates.
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You know, I love Acts 4 and verse 12. Where Peter said, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," the name of Jesus Christ. You know where Peter got that? You say, well, the Lord inspired him to write it. Yes, I understand that. But did you realize in 32 or 33 B.C. there was a star that shone brightly in the heavens and Caesar Augustus, who happened to be on the throne then, took advantage of that to proclaim himself God. And he said throughout all the Roman Empire, there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved than the name of Caesar Augustus. And then Peter penned those words in Acts 4 in verse 12. Or Luke actually penned them. Peter said them. But when he said those words, you know what he was doing? He was declaring war against Caesar and the Roman Empire. He is saying Caesar is not Lord. Jesus Christ is Lord.
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Caesar does not have the right to issue law. God has the right to issue law. That's why the Bible says in Isaiah 33 and verse 22, "For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us." We cannot escape this battle. And you will either fight for the Lordship of Jesus Christ or by your lack of fighting and standing for God and His law, you will be fighting for the enemy.
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There's a war in the gates. There's a war over jurisdiction and authority and law. Who has the right to rule? Who has the right to reign? By the way, I hope you know that in the Roman Empire, Christians were not put to death simply because they were Christians. In the Roman Empire, you could believe whatever you wanted to believe. If you wanted to worship Zeus, have at it. If you want to worship Aphrodite, go for it. If you wanted to worship Jesus, they could care less.
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Just so long as once a year you swore by the genius of Caesar and you said Caesar is Lord. Which meant then that Caesar gave you the right and the freedom to believe how you wanted to believe. The Christians refused to do that. They would not say Caesar is Lord. Therefore, they were put to death not just because they were Christians, but because they were considered traitors and treacherous individuals to the emperor cult. They would only say, Jesus Christ is Lord, and your pastor can tell you the earliest baptismal confession was three words. Jesus is Lord. And when you say Lord, you're saying boss, owner, master, sovereign, the one who has all authority, jurisdiction and power and the right to tell me how to live, and what to do, and where to go, and what to believe.
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There's a war in the gates. Who is God? Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Help us, Lord, to see where the battle actually lies. And help us to stay true to Thee, in Thy word and Thy law, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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There's a war in the gates. Who is God? Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to Thee. We thank You for Your Word. We thank You for Your truth. Help us, Lord, to see where the battle actually lies. And help us to stay true to Thee, In Thy word and Thy law, in the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-06T02:16:24Z

War in the Gates

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

John Weaver expounds Judges 5:8, 'They chose new gods; then was war in the gates,' to show that spiritual apostasy leads to conflict over authority and law. He explains that 'gates' in Scripture often represent jurisdiction, judgment, and rule. When a people reject God and His law, they invite war—not only physical invasion but a battle of jurisdictions where man's law opposes God's law. The sermon traces this theme through Israel's history, from the judges to the monarchy, and applies it to modern culture, calling believers to recognize the ongoing war over lordship and to stand for Christ's authority.

Introduction: The Reality of War in the Gates

Scripture Reading — Judges 5:8

"They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?"

So this is the song of Deborah and Barak, but notice verse 8 again:

Scripture Reading — Judges 5:8

"They chose new gods; then was war in the gates."

So the title of the message is "War in the Gates." I don't know if you remember, but a few years back, there was a movie that came out that was entitled "Enemy at the Gates."

The Cause: Choosing New Gods

The sermon explains that war in the gates is not accidental; it results from choosing new gods, which provokes God's jealousy and leads to defenselessness, as seen in Israel's lack of weapons.

And war in the gates just simply does not happen by accident. It does not just occur. We're told in the book of Proverbs chapter 26 in verse 2 that

Scripture Reading — Proverbs 26:2

"the curse causeless shall not come."

Scripture Reading — Exodus 34:14

"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God."

Biblical Usage of 'Gates'

Weaver surveys how 'gates' is used in Scripture: literal gates, triumphal entry, entrance to God's presence, and blessings/protection. He emphasizes that context determines meaning.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 3:5

"All these cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars."

Scripture Reading — Psalm 24:7-10

"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory?"

Scripture Reading — Psalm 100:3-4

"We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name."

Gates as Authority and Jurisdiction

Scripture Reading — Genesis 22:17

"That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies."

Follow me, because it's important that you understand this point. Look what God says, Deuteronomy chapter 16 and verse 18. God says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 16:18

"Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment."

Where were the judges? In the gates. Where was judgment and justice? In the gates. Look in Deuteronomy 17, beginning there with verse 1. Watch carefully.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 16:18

"Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, and hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; and it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die."

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 13:2

"Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles."

They're going to be destroyed. And I want you to see what God specifically says concerning them. Look in the book of Jeremiah, chapter one and verse 14. Let's begin reading there.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 1:14-15

"Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah."

Israel's Rejection of God's Rule (1 Samuel 8)

The demand for a king in 1 Samuel 8 is a rejection of God's reign and law. Choosing a human king means swapping God's law for man's law, leading to tyranny and loss of liberty.

The Consequences of Changing Laws (2 Kings 17; Micah 6)

The Nature of the War: Jurisdictional Conflict

The Christian's Stand in the War

War in the Gates

John Weaver | SermonAudio

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	SermonAudio
Media ID	824141559349
Subject	Civil Government
Course	Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order: War in the Gates
Genre	Sermon
Date	2014-08-17
Dictation Name
Book	Book 009: Civil Government: Power, Nations, and Constitutional Order — Chapter 16
Source Timed Segments	80

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Reality of War in the Gates: Weaver introduces Judges 5:8 and illustrates the concept of war coming close to home, using the movie 'Enemy at the Gates' and the story of Wilbur McLean, whose front yard saw the start and end of the Civil War.
The Cause: Choosing New Gods: The sermon explains that war in the gates is not accidental; it results from choosing new gods, which provokes God's jealousy and leads to defenselessness, as seen in Israel's lack of weapons.
Biblical Usage of 'Gates': Weaver surveys how 'gates' is used in Scripture: literal gates, triumphal entry, entrance to God's presence, and blessings/protection. He emphasizes that context determines meaning.
Gates as Authority and Jurisdiction: The predominant biblical use of 'gates' refers to places of authority, judgment, and jurisdiction. Weaver cites Genesis 22:17, Deuteronomy 16:18, Psalm 127:5, and others to show that controlling the gates means controlling law and rule.
Israel's Rejection of God's Rule (1 Samuel 8): The demand for a king in 1 Samuel 8 is a rejection of God's reign and law. Choosing a human king means swapping God's law for man's law, leading to tyranny and loss of liberty.
The Consequences of Changing Laws (2 Kings 17; Micah 6): Israel and Judah's idolatry is evidenced by their walking in the statutes of the heathen and of wicked kings. God's judgment comes because they kept the statutes of Omri and the works of Ahab instead of God's commandments.
The Nature of the War: Jurisdictional Conflict: War takes many forms beyond physical battle, including spiritual seduction (Balak and Balaam), ridicule, and legal opposition. The war in the gates is fundamentally a war over authority—God's law versus man's law.
The Christian's Stand in the War: Believers are in an age-old struggle. Declaring 'Jesus is Lord' is a declaration of war against all rival claims to authority. Christians must fight for Christ's lordship by standing for God's law, even when ridiculed or persecuted.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

War in the gates is caused by spiritual apostasy.

The text explicitly states that choosing new gods led to war in the gates. This principle applies to individuals and nations.

Judges 5:8: 'They chose new gods; then was war in the gates.'

God's jealousy ensures judgment on idolatry.

Because God is a jealous God, He will not tolerate the worship of false gods and will bring war and defenselessness as judgment.

Exodus 34:14; Deuteronomy 4:24; Isaiah 42:8.

Biblical 'gates' refer to authority and jurisdiction.

A survey of Scripture shows that 'gates' is predominantly used for places of judgment and rule, not just physical entrances.

Genesis 22:17; Deuteronomy 16:18; Psalm 127:5; Jeremiah 1:15.

Rejecting God means rejecting His law.

When Israel asked for a king, they rejected God's reign and thus His law, opting instead for human rule and human statutes.

1 Samuel 8:7; 1 Samuel 10:19; 1 Samuel 12:12.

Idolatry is evidenced by walking in man's statutes.

Fearing other gods is demonstrated by obeying the laws of the heathen and of wicked kings rather than God's commandments.

2 Kings 17:7-8; Micah 6:16.

War takes non-physical forms like seduction and ridicule.

Balak warred against Israel through Balaam's counsel to entice them to sin. Today, war includes ridicule and legal opposition to God's law.

Numbers 25; Joshua 24:9; Psalm 69:12.

The war is ultimately over lordship.

The conflict is between those who say 'Jesus is Lord' and those who say 'Caesar is Lord.' It is a battle of jurisdictions.

Acts 4:12; the early Christian confession 'Jesus is Lord.'

Christians must actively stand for God's law.

Neutrality is impossible; by not fighting for Christ's lordship, one effectively fights for the enemy.

Isaiah 33:22: 'The LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king.'

Scripture References

Judges 5:8: The central text: 'They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?'
Proverbs 26:2: Cited to show that the curse does not come without cause; war in the gates has a reason.
Exodus 34:14: God's name is Jealous; He is a jealous God who will not tolerate worship of other gods.
Deuteronomy 4:24: The LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
Isaiah 42:8: God will not give His glory to another or His praise to graven images.
Judges 3:31: Shamgar slew 600 Philistines with an ox goad, showing the lack of proper weapons under tyranny.
1 Samuel 13:19-22: The Philistines deprived Israel of smiths to prevent them from making swords or spears; only Saul and Jonathan had weapons.
Exodus 15:3: The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name, sung after the destruction of Pharaoh's army.
Deuteronomy 3:5: Cities were fenced with high walls, gates, and bars, illustrating literal gates.
Psalm 24:7-10: Lift up your heads, O ye gates; the King of glory shall come in, depicting triumphal entry.
Psalm 100:3-4: Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, referring to entrance into God's presence for worship.
Psalm 118:19: Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD.
Psalm 147:13-14: He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; he hath blessed thy children within thee, symbolizing protection and blessing.
Genesis 22:17: Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, indicating dominion and authority.
Genesis 24:60: Let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them, a blessing of authority.
Deuteronomy 16:18: Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
Deuteronomy 17:2-7: Idolaters were to be brought to the gates for judgment and execution, showing gates as places of justice.
Psalm 127:3-5: They shall speak with the enemies in the gate, indicating children as arrows in the hand of a mighty man for conquest.
Isaiah 13:2: Go into the gates of the nobles, associating gates with rulers.
Jeremiah 1:14-15: They shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, signifying conquest and dominion.

Historical References

Battle of Stalingrad (World War II): Referenced via the movie 'Enemy at the Gates' to illustrate war coming to the gates of a city.
Wilbur McLean and the American Civil War: The war began in his front yard at the First Battle of Manassas and ended in his front parlor at Appomattox Courthouse, illustrating war in the gates.
Jabin, king of Canaan: Mentioned as a tyrant who had disarmed Israel, contributing to their defenselessness.
Shamgar, judge of Israel: Used an ox goad to slay 600 Philistines, indicating the lack of proper weapons under oppression.
Philistine oppression in 1 Samuel 13: The Philistines deprived Israel of blacksmiths to prevent weapon-making, leaving only Saul and Jonathan armed.
Jeroboam I and the golden calves: First king of Israel who made two golden calves, leading Israel into idolatry.
Omri and Ahab: Wicked kings of Israel whose statutes Israel kept, provoking God's judgment (Micah 6:16).
Balak and Balaam: Balak king of Moab warred against Israel by hiring Balaam to curse them and later seducing them into sin (Numbers 25).
Caesar Augustus's claim to deity: Around 32-33 B.C., Caesar Augustus proclaimed himself savior, a claim countered by Peter in Acts 4:12.
Roman emperor cult and Christian persecution: Christians were executed for refusing to say 'Caesar is Lord,' as they confessed only Jesus as Lord.

Important Quotes

They chose new gods; then was war in the gates: was there a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?

The foundational text of the sermon, linking idolatry to conflict and defenselessness.

When a nation forsakes the one true and the living God that has revealed himself in Jesus Christ, they are inviting war in the gates.

Summarizes the sermon's central warning about national apostasy.

A weaponless people and a people that lack a warrior spirit are already a subjugated and defeated people.

Highlights the need for preparedness and a willingness to fight for liberty.

The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

Establishes God's character as a warrior, setting the stage for the theme of divine conflict.

They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

God's diagnosis of Israel's demand for a king as a rejection of His own rule.

For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels.

Shows that God's judgment comes for following man's laws instead of His own.

They that sit in the gate speak against me; and I was the song of the drunkards.

Messianic prophecy showing that those in authority ridicule Christ, a form of war in the gates.

When we declare the Lordship of Christ, we are declaring war against those who say that Caesar is Lord.

Crystallizes the sermon's thesis that confessing Christ's lordship is a political and spiritual act of war.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

What does it mean that 'gates' in the Bible often refer to authority and jurisdiction? How does this change your understanding of 'war in the gates'?

[Context]

Weaver spent considerable time showing that 'gates' is predominantly used for places of judgment and rule.

[Question]

In what ways do modern nations 'choose new gods'? How might this lead to 'war in the gates' today?

[Context]

The sermon applies the principle of Judges 5:8 to contemporary culture, suggesting that rejecting God's law invites conflict.

[Question]

How does the story of Israel demanding a king (1 Samuel 8) illustrate the rejection of God's law? What were the consequences?

[Context]

Weaver argues that asking for a king was a rejection of God's reign and led to tyranny.

[Question]

What are some non-physical forms of war mentioned in the sermon (e.g., Balak's seduction, ridicule)? How do you see these at work today?

[Context]

The sermon notes that war includes spiritual enticement, mockery, and legal opposition.

[Question]

Why is the confession 'Jesus is Lord' a declaration of war? What does it challenge in our culture?

[Context]

Weaver explains that saying 'Jesus is Lord' directly opposes all other claims to ultimate authority.

[Question]

How can Christians practically 'fight' in this war over jurisdiction and law without resorting to physical violence?

[Context]

The sermon calls believers to stand for God's law and Christ's lordship in the face of opposition.

[Question]

What does it mean that 'a weaponless people and a people that lack a warrior spirit are already a subjugated and defeated people'? How should this shape our spiritual preparedness?

[Context]

Weaver draws a parallel between physical defenselessness and spiritual complacency.

[Question]

How does the jealousy of God relate to His judgment on nations? Should we pray for national repentance?

[Context]

The sermon emphasizes God's jealous character and His response to idolatry.

Applications

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