The first two weeks in April we gave attention to Lent and the Two Kingdoms. In these last two weeks of the month we’ll consider Easter and beyond, and the Two Kingdoms.

Yesterday we celebrated the Resurrection of our Lord (Easter)!  It is the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, pointed to by the events of the exodus (Exodus 12 and beyond).  As God sent Moses back to deliver His people from bondage in Egypt, so the Father sent His Son, Jesus, to deliver us from our bondage to sin, death and hell.  Reaching the Promised Land did not happen over night for the Israelites.  Their journey had only just begun.  And so it is with us.  Along the way, Israel was directed to set up two kingdoms for their governance (rules, regulations, laws, judges, etc.: the Left Hand Kingdom; as well as instructions for worship and holiness, etc.: the Right Hand Kingdom).

As I was reading through Exodus a while back, one particular verse jumped out at me: Exodus 13:18, which reads, …And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.  Wow, equipped for battle!  That tells us something.

One thing it tells us is that the journey to the Promise Land will be fraught with warfare; therefore we need to be “equipped for battle.”  Are we?

Certainly we are engaged in spiritual warfare (Eph. 6:10-20; 2 Cor. 10:3-4); but also worldly.  When, in Ephesians 6, Paul says we are not contending against flesh and blood, we really are.  It’s just that behind the “flesh and blood” are “spiritual hosts of wickedness.”  Both must be contended against.

As Israel left their place of bondage equipped for battle, so must we.  Just prior to leaving the upper room for Gethsemane, Jesus said to his disciples, let him who has no sword sell his mantle and buy one.  And they said, Look, Lord, here are two swords.  Jesus replied, It is enough. (Luke 22:36, 38)

Two swords for battle: (1) the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph. 6:17), with which to fight spiritual enemies; and (2) an actual sword (weapon) to defend against the “flesh” (evil actors in this dark world of ours – Nehemiah 4).  Blessed are they who know how to rightly handle both swords.

Easter – the Resurrection of our Lord – is our guarantee of victory over sin, death and hell.  This deliverance puts us on a journey to the Promise Land…  The journey will be long with many a battle to fight, of both the spirit and the flesh.

The Israelites “went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.”  Are we?