The Battle Belongs to God: The Strategy of Praise
Introduction: A Fearful Realism
We live in a world that is, to put it mildly, a mess. We are confronted on every side by a great multitude of troubles. Whether it is the moral insanity being mainstreamed by our ruling class, the economic foolishness that threatens to impoverish our children, or the spiritual lethargy that has crept into the pews of so many churches, the enemy seems to have the high ground. Like Jehoshaphat, when we look out from the walls, we see the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites, a vast horde, and our first, honest reaction is often fear. And Jehoshaphat was afraid. He did not pretend he was not. He did not engage in some form of pious stoicism. He was a realist. He saw the threat, and he knew that in a contest of sheer carnal strength, Judah was hopelessly outmatched.
This is where the story gets interesting, and this is where it confronts our modern sensibilities. What is the first move for a man who knows he is about to be steamrolled? For the pragmatist, it is to rally the troops, sharpen the swords, and devise a clever military strategy. For the pietist, it is to retreat into a corner and pray for a miraculous escape, a divine airlift out of the problem. But Jehoshaphat does neither. He combines a robust, God-centered realism with a radical, counter-intuitive strategy. He fears, but he sets his face to seek Yahweh. He knows he has no power, so he turns to the one who has all power. He declares, "we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you" (2 Chron. 20:12). This is the necessary precondition for the kind of victory God is about to deliver. You must first come to the end of your own strength, your own wisdom, and your own resources. The battle only belongs to God when you finally admit it is not yours.
What happens next is a paradigm for all of Christian history. It is the pattern for how the church is to face down empires, ideologies, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. God's people are given a battle plan that looks, to the world, like utter madness. It is a strategy of standing still, of singing, of worshiping. It is a declaration that our primary weapons are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. This is not just a quaint story from the Old Testament; this is the central strategy for the new covenant church militant. Worship is our warfare.
The Text
Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; and he said, “Pay attention, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says Yahweh to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the valley in front of the wilderness of Jeruel. You need not fight in this battle; take your stand stand and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for Yahweh is with you.”
So Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh. Then the Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, rose up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
(2 Chronicles 20:14-19 LSB)
The Prophetic Intervention (v. 14-15)
In response to the nation's corporate prayer and fasting, God sends His word through a most unexpected channel.
"Then in the midst of the assembly the Spirit of Yahweh came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, the Levite of the sons of Asaph; and he said, 'Pay attention, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says Yahweh to you, Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.'" (2 Chronicles 20:14-15)
Notice who God chooses. He does not send an angel. He does not speak to the king directly. He does not use a high-ranking priest or a seasoned general. The Spirit of Yahweh comes upon Jahaziel, a Levite, a descendant of Asaph. Who was Asaph? He was one of David's chief musicians. This is a choir member. God's decisive word of military strategy comes through the music department. This is not an accident. God is embedding the method in the messenger. The victory will come through praise, so the promise of victory comes through a praiser.
The message itself is the bedrock of all Christian courage. "Do not fear or be dismayed." Why? Not because the enemy is small, but because the battle is not yours. It belongs to God. This is the fundamental re-orientation of reality that faith provides. We are not the primary actors in our own deliverance. God is. Our job is not to win the battle, but to belong to the God who has already won it. This is covenant language. When God's people are threatened, God Himself is threatened. An attack on Judah is an attack on Yahweh's name, His promise, and His reputation. He will fight, not simply because He loves Judah, but because He loves His own glory, which is bound up with His covenant people.
This principle runs through all of Scripture. When David faced Goliath, he did not say, "I am a skilled warrior." He said, "You come to me with a sword and a spear... but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts... whom you have defied... that all this assembly may know that Yahweh does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is Yahweh's" (1 Sam. 17:45-47). This is the same truth. Our problem is that we are constantly trying to pick the battle back up, to make it ours again through worry, frantic effort, and worldly scheming.
The Foolish Battle Plan (v. 16-17)
The instructions that follow are a divine comedy of military tactics. They are designed to display God's power by nullifying man's.
"Tomorrow go down against them... You need not fight in this battle; take your stand stand and see the salvation of Yahweh on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for Yahweh is with you." (2 Chronicles 20:16-17)
Here is the paradox of faith. They are commanded to "go down against them." They are not to be passive. They must show up. Faith is not sitting on your couch waiting for a check to appear in the mail. Faith gets up, puts on its boots, and marches toward the enemy. But then comes the glorious contradiction: "You will not need to fight." Their marching is not for fighting, but for spectating. They are to "take your stand" and "see the salvation of Yahweh."
This is precisely what Moses told the Israelites at the Red Sea, with Pharaoh's army breathing down their necks: "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh" (Exodus 14:13). God is deliberately echoing one of Israel's greatest moments of deliverance to remind them of His character. He is the God who saves. Their role is to be an audience for the mighty works of God. They are to march to the theater of war, take their front-row seats, and watch God dismantle their enemies.
This is what active faith looks like. It is not inaction. It is obediently placing yourself in a position where only God can deliver you, and then standing still in confident expectation. They were to go out to face them, not with swords drawn, but with hearts fixed, because of the final, definitive promise: "for Yahweh is with you." This is the ultimate weapon. Immanuel. God with us. If that is true, then the size of the enemy's army is a triviality, a rounding error in the divine calculus.
The Only Sane Response (v. 18-19)
How do you respond to such a promise? How do you react when you are told that the sovereign God of the universe has personally taken up your cause? The only sane response is worship.
"So Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before Yahweh, worshiping Yahweh. Then the Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, rose up to praise Yahweh, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice." (2 Chronicles 20:18-19)
This is crucial. The worship does not come after the victory. The worship is the victory. It is the enactment of faith. Before a single enemy soldier has fallen, before the ambush is set, before the sun rises on their deliverance, they fall on their faces. This is not a nervous, quiet, prayerful hope. The Levites, the professional worshipers, stand up and praise God "with a very loud voice." This is a defiant roar of confidence. It is a declaration of victory before the fact. They are celebrating the answer before it arrives, because the promise of a faithful God is as good as the fulfillment.
This is the essence of worship as warfare. It is laughing at the enemy's numbers. It is singing in the face of impossible odds. It is declaring God's character to be more real than your circumstances. This loud praise was a spiritual cannonade fired into the enemy's camp. It announced to the unseen realm that Judah was not trusting in its army, but in its God. And as we see in the verses that follow, it was precisely "when they began to sing and to praise" that Yahweh set the ambush and their enemies began to destroy one another (2 Chron. 20:22).
Conclusion: Singing at the Gates of Hell
This account is a permanent lesson for the church. We face a great multitude. The ideologies of our day are vast, well-funded, and utterly opposed to the crown rights of Jesus Christ. We are tempted to fear, and we are tempted to fight with carnal weapons, whether political maneuvering or shrill outrage. But God's strategy has not changed.
The battle is not ours, but God's. This does not mean we do nothing. It means we do what He says. We are to go out and face them. We are to stand. And we are to worship. Our corporate worship service is not a retreat from the culture war; it is the central front. When we gather to sing the psalms, to hear the Word preached, to confess our sins, and to feast at the Lord's Table, we are not hiding from the world. We are ascending into the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and from that high ground, we are engaging in spiritual warfare. What happens in heaven drives what happens on earth.
The loud praise of the Levites is the model for our own. We do not sing apologetically. We do not mumble our amens. We are to praise the Lord with a very loud voice. We sing because Christ has already conquered. The decisive battle was won at the cross and the empty tomb. We are now simply in the mop-up operation. Our singing, our worship, our confident joy is the means by which our God routs His enemies in our own time.
So when you look at the great multitude arrayed against the church, do not be dismayed. The battle is not yours. It belongs to God. So take your stand. Show up. And when you get there, open your mouth and sing. Sing loud. For Yahweh is with you.