150. A Standard against the Enemy
Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
The Lord promises us a standard against the Enemy. The Spirit of the Lord will lift up this standard against Him. The Enemy is a personal real person, not an idea or a force. The Devil is the personal enemy who comes in like a flood seeking to sweep us away into oblivion. Death is a personal entity that takes away life; Death is the last enemy to be defeated, and so he will be at the end of the age. Sin is the ever-present enemy attempting to bring us down and keep us away from God. Sin entered through Adam, Eve, and Cain. Sin is pictured as “crouching at the door…its desire is for you.” Cain is told, “You must rule over it.” All people have failed to rule over Sin until the One Sinless Man came to earth and ruled over Sin forever for all of us.
Sinful human beings, like us, cannot clearly see Sin crouching or Satan coming in like a flood; so we get caught unawares and suddenly we find ourselves in a mess. Therefore, the Lord reveals to us what is really going on: Sin crouches, Death kills, and Satan floods. The Lord also reveals that a Standard will stop the enemies from destroying us. The Spirit of the Lord blew and the Red Sea opened up a way where there was no way for His people; then the waters rushed back and drowned the charging enemy army.
The Standard is the Cross, where the wind of the Spirit blew away the Enemy, and “the Flood” of destruction ended up destroying him. In Revelation 12 the Serpent is shown spewing a river of water out of his mouth after the woman, but the earth opened and swallowed up the flood. These fantastic pictures reveal to us what is really going on in the heavenly realm: The Enemy is stopped! This reality occurs every time we pray and believe, “Deliver us from evil.” Pray it; believe it; God does it.
The Dragon continues to make war on us, but we have a promise of victory, repeated for us many times and many ways in the Scriptures. The promise is sure, and because of God’s promise we can stand. Ephesians 6 tells us: “stand against the schemes of the devil. Stand therefore.” We have a standard.