Judges 11:1-6 Now Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty man of valour, but he was the son of a harlot; and Gilead begot Jephthah. Gilead's wife bore sons; and when his wife's sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out, and said to him, "You shall have no inheritance in our father's house, for you are the son of another woman." Then Jephthah fled from his brothers and dwelt in the land of Tob; and worthless men banded together with Jephthah and went out raiding with him. It came to pass after a time that the people of Ammon made war against Israel. And so it was, when the people of Ammon made war against Israel, that the elders of Gilead went to get Jephthah from the land of Tob. Then they said to Jephthah, "Come and be our commander, that we may fight against the people of Ammon." NKJV.
Of Butchers & Bolters
Yesterday evening I spoke about Operation Jubilee and the disastrous raid on Dieppe carried out in 1942. Though no major object was then achieved by the attacking allies, on Orange Beach, No 4 Commando had however, successfully landed in force and destroyed their targets thus providing the only success of the whole operation! It was Simon Fraser, the 17th Lord Lovat, who led this successful attack, providing the template for all future Commando operations. Indeed, Lord Lovat would later be promoted to Brigadier and head D Day Commando landings and most especially, the crossing and keeping of the American held, Pegasus Bridge. But that is another story for another day.
It was after the disaster of the Normandy evacuations that Winston Churchill cried out for the creation of a small and highly skilled, well-trained raiding force, armed with all the latest weaponry, to attack the smug faced enemy. Churchill wanted a force to attack, and then in his own words, 'butcher the enemy and then bolt!' As Churchill was the man of the moment to head up a wartime government, Simon Fraser was just the man, just the man of the moment, to head up all the ‘Butcher and Bolt’ operations. Many years ago, I remember sharing the firing range and the training ground of the regiment of Scots Guards. It was to this regiment, that Simon Fraser was initially inducted into his military training. Indeed, for centuries his Highland Clan had been churning out fierce warriors ready for a fight. Simon’s father had in his moment, formed the ‘Lovat Scouts’ and deployed them during the second Boer war. Militarily speaking, Simon was already trained, ready and reared to think outside of the box. Simon was ready to ‘dare to do’ what ordinary forces would never dream of!
I love to hear the stories of people’s lives. In doing so, I have concluded that most folks are prepared for special moments in time, and like it or not, God does breed some Christians for special moments of conflict, both within and without the church. Some folks are bred for war, both civil and otherwise and outside of this destiny, I have observed them become depressed and distraught and sometimes even wither, dither and die!
Jepthah was a bastard. Jepthah was an outcast. Jepthah was jettisoned from the family and land he loved. In his sovereignly prepared banishment, Jepthah became as Easton’s Bible Dictionary so wonderfully describes him, "A wild and daring, Gilead mountaineer, a sort of warrior Elijah.” Yes indeed, Jepthah was the man for this particular moment in the history of the people of God, and his beloved band of 'Butchers and Bolters,’ no doubt trained the Israelite wimps, to whoop the Amorite adversaries and deliver Israel once more. Jepthah was a man prepared for this moment in time. Jepthah was a man prepared for HIS moment in time. Do you see that?
If you are a leader in the church of the living God, I counsel you tonight to see if God may have peppered your fellowship, your congregation with a few Jepthah's in waiting. If so, then if all you are doing with them is trying to tame the beast and teach them to speak nice and drink tea, then my dear friend, may God forgive your lady-like control and your terrible lack of Biblical vision! Learn war yourself and then learn how to put a weapon into the hands of your Jepthah’s and release them to make war. God created them for this. I say again, God created them for this, so you make sure that you release them into it.
If you are a Jepthah, if you are a son of thunder or if you are a daughter of Deborah, please STOP repenting of your war-like attitude and my friend, start looking for a fight! For I tell you, there are people in the church of the living God destined to die with their boots on and a time is coming, when we shall thank God for all these ‘Great Hearts!’
The Motto of the Fraser clan is ‘All my hope is in God.’ The family motto of the Lovat family is ‘Je Suis Prest’ or, ‘I AM READY!’ How about you O warrior of God? Are your ready? Is all your hope in God? Tonight maybe you need to get a good night’s sleep for tomorrow I am sure for many of you that it is time to get back into training. Go get 'em tiger!
Listen:- So Jephthah advanced toward the people of Ammon to fight against them, and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he defeated them from Aroer as far as Minnith — twenty cities — and to Abel Keramim, with a very great slaughter. Thus the people of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel. Judges 11:32-33 NKJV
Pray: -Lord, please forgive us for turning our tigers into fireside pussycats and for spiritually emasculating all those who dare to stand up and fight the wars of the Lord! Lord fill our churches with warriors so in love with You, that they would fight through enemy lines to bring You water from the well of Bethlehem. Oh for such warriors to now appear within Your church O God! Please Lord Jesus, do not let us be left without them, in the conflict so shortly to come upon us. Amen.
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