Day 147: God/Christ Are Warriors Part 2

May 27

Today's Connected Readings: 

• Jeremiah 4:10-18, 20:7-18 
• Nahum 2:13-3:7 
• Joel 2:1-11, 3:7-16 
• Zephaniah 3:9-20 
• Zechariah 9:9-13 
• Luke 1:67-75 
• Revelation 19:11-21 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Welcome to the Canon Connected, where we read the connections, see the connections, and study the connections of the Bible. I am honored you have chosen to join us here for day number 147 of the Canon Connected, and we are doing part two today on a two-part series under a much larger series on God's sovereignty, specifically focusing on connected passages that speak to how God and on a couple of occasions Christ, Jesus Christ, are described as a warrior, you know, in the sense of, again, God has won and will win many military battles throughout history, especially in the Bible. And then ultimately he is going to win the most battle, the most important battle of all, and that is the battle for men's souls, the battle over death and hell and Satan, and they're all going to be cast into the lake of fire. But the imagery of the Bible, the descriptions of the Bible quite frequently on both case on both sides, military battle, you know, God defeating other, you know, actual literal enemies, and sometimes even his own people, he uses this imagery, and the spiritual warfare that we exist even to that exists even today that is going to come culminate again with with Jesus coming back and it all being over. But in Jeremiah is where we begin today, because in the Old Testament, again, God uses this imagery about himself quite frequently, and those who write about him under the inspiration of God, the inspiration of the Spirit, write with these kind of terms, these kind of terms. And Jeremiah 4 is one of those places. In verse 13, it says, Behold, he, God, comes up like clouds. This is definitely like the days of Elijah again, like those marines singing. His chariots like the whirlwind, his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined. That's all you can say whenever you see God in his glory like this. Um, like a warrior coming on a chariot with horses, and not just any horses, the fastest, most powerful horses, because that's that's the God of Christianity. Jeremiah 20 has a very similar, you know, description in verse 11. It says, But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior. Therefore my persecutors will stumble, they will not overcome me, they will be greatly ashamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. And why? Because God is a warrior. And we're going to see this so clearly over the next four days, starting tomorrow. Just how God wins these battles. Humans don't. There's no amount of human power, strength, strategy, you know, brilliance. None of that matters when it comes to the God of Christianity, because God wins. Um, and this is what Jeremiah could testify. Then in Nahum too, I've alluded to this before when we talked about how you reap what you sow, because the Assyrians, the Ninevites, the capital city, they were the bully. We're going to see, you know, the very similar story with Sennacherib, king of Assyria, uh, over the next couple of days. But they were the bully and they beat everybody, and they beat everybody with military power by shedding blood. And Nahum, and in the larger context, but I just put a few verses today, you know, you know, prophesies about how God is going to wipe out the Ninevites, and this is, you know, their their second chance, probably more than that, but compared to Jonah, Jonah was the first chance to repent, and this is the second opportunity. They don't, and so God wipes them out with the same means that they were using to wipe other people out. Horsemen charging, flashing sword, with glittering spear, host of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end, they stumble over the bodies, and all for the countless whorings of the prostitute, graceful and of deadly charms, who betrays nations with their whorings. Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts. Wasted is Nineveh, who will grieve for her? So God defeated Nineveh, the military power, with the same measure of military power that they they were giving to others, they were defeating others' peoples with. He gave them exactly what they deserved, being routed by the same means that they were they were bullying everybody else. So God in Nahom is absolutely a warrior. And they've almost got thirteen Behold, I am against you, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will burn your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions, I will cut your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers shall no longer be heard. God wiping out their armies and all of their resources. And then Joel, Joel 2, verse 1 through 11. I'm going to read a larger section of this one. Blow a trumpet in Zion, sound an alarm on my holy mountain, let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming. It is near, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like blackness that is spread upon the mountains and great and powerful people. They're like their like has never been before, nor will there be again after them through all the years of all generations. Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run, as with the trumbling of chariots, they leap on tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame, a fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle. Before them the peoples are in anguish, all faces grow pale. Like warriors they charge, like warriors they scale the wall. And then at the end it says, The Lord utters his voice before his army. Okay, God is the general of what we described, this army we just described. The Lord utters his voice before his army, for his camp, that's a war term, is exceedingly great. He who executes his word is powerful, for the day of the Lord is great and very awesome. Who can endure it? And this could have been used for the God of heaven's armies in the coming readings, but I thought it felt it felt right today as well. Then Joel 3, hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O Lord. Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge and all the surrounding nations, put in the sickle, and the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the wine press is full, the vats overflow, for their evil is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of discision. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. The Lord roars from Zion, Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem in the heavens and the earthquake. Very similar scene as the one before. Zephaniah three, verse 15 says, The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. He has cleared away your enemies. And that is the context for this verse where we get the modern song Mighty to Save. I don't know how many churches still sing it 20 years ago. It was very popular. But verse 17, I think, is the basis for that song. The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one, a mighty warrior, even, who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you by his love. He will exalt you over loud singing with loud singing. So that is again the connection there is the Lord has taken away the judgments and cleared away your enemies like a mighty warrior, saving his people. When God saves us, the warrior imagery is a part of that, because there is all as always been a warfare dynamic to Christianity versus those who were who opposed the Christian God. Zechariah 9. Same passage as the one for Jesus Palm Sunday, humble mounted on a donkey, but at the end of this passage, for I have bent Judah as my bow. That's a warrior, a warrior weapon, war weapon. I have made Ephraim its arrow. I will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and wield you as a warrior's sword. This is the God of Christianity. And then Luke 1, um, here, Zachariah speaking. It's not as clear, I don't think, but you have to read between the lines again, understanding all that we've learned, you know, earlier this year about who David was, and about, you know, um, about how David was a warrior general, and we'll learn a lot more about David to come. We really have only done very little about David to this point. But the idea was he was a warrior general, and the fact that Zachariah keeps saying things like, you know, he is going to deliver us from our enemies. He says that twice in this just these nine verses. He says he has raised up a horn of salvation for us. All right, in the house of his servant David, okay, and that's again what the people wanted, even the apostles till Jesus right before he ascended, were wanting him to know when are you going to restore the kingdom? When are you going to deliver us from our enemies as as in the days of David? They don't say it with that clarity, but that's what they mean. People wanted Jesus to overthrow the Romans. He didn't do that, okay? But I think again what Zachariah said here was truly ultimately fulfilled in Revelation, because he was not a king like David in the Gospels, but Jesus is absolutely a king like David, magnified by infinity in his power and his glory, okay, and his army or war general mentality in Revelation 19. Then I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, the one sitting on it, is called faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, okay, the crowns of sovereignty. And he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the word of God. The beginning was the word. The word was with God, and the word was God, Jesus Christ. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of the God uh the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun with a loud voice. He called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, come gather for the great supper of God. This is Jesus Christ. He is no longer, as we've said, the man who wandered about the earth for three years, preaching and healing and spitting in the mud. You know, he's that same God for sure, but he is the imagery of Jesus. The physical appearance even of Jesus is different now. What the three in the inner circle saw in the transfiguration, that's who Jesus is. Now that's how we should see him in our mind to have a healthy view of him. Not always. We can see him as the Jesus of the gospels. The humility there, you know, the taking the yoke upon me, because uh my my locus my yoke is jumble, is uh is humble and light, that is important for us too. But man, if we're really gonna understand Jesus, all of these things we've read about these last couple of days, about God being like a warrior, that's Jesus at the end of time. That's Jesus now, that's what Jesus is gonna be. He has to be a warrior because sin and death and hell and Satan have to be defeated. And so this amazing, this awesome, truly awesome description depiction of Jesus, I don't think it's figurative at all. I think this is what it's gonna be like when he comes back. And we're gonna see him exactly for who he is. And um this is what it's gonna be. So we transition seamlessly tomorrow, you know, to the God of Heaven's armies, and we have a very special guest for our first our first uh uh days of of connected readings of my son Liam, because tomorrow features David and Goliath, and he wanted to be a part of that one. And so I allowed him, he's gonna make uh makes a few comments on the David and Goliath story, and uh and it'll be great. But it all ties into how God is the God of heaven's armies and he doesn't lose. And that's what David told Goliath. David did not come at Goliath with his own skill, he came with God, Goliath with his own skill, but not foundationally. And so God won that battle, and it's just we'll see over the next four days all the battles we're gonna see. So come back and be with us again tomorrow. We have special guest Liam, and we will continue to read the connections, see the connections, and study the connections, thank you.