"The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name." (Exodus 15:3)
In Solomon dissertation on life, he wrote, "A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace." (Ecclesiastes 3:8)
The following verses present an inconvenient truth, a truth that many are not prepared to accept. We do not often hear about this in our Sunday morning church services because we are uncomfortable with this truth. This does not make it wrong, or that it requires a special interpretation, it just makes it an inconvenient truth that we need to learn to accept. From day one of our indoctrinated study of God, we learned of God love, now; expressing the love of God has become a way of life.
Unable to reconcile John 3:16 with Exodus 15:3 we began studying to change the nature of God. Changing the nature of God is easy when we see only our own reflection or, the reflection of our own predetermined beliefs. Member of the clergy and scholars of the Bible hold almost countless opinions as to the meaning of certain scriptures. Sadly, to their own detriment they overlook the most important part of the equation, the scriptures mean exactly what the original authors intended them to be. What are the implications of this fact? We must understand how to apply what the author said thru the Knowledge of God. We must properly apply the Knowledge of God in accord with the original intent and objectives. We must maintain the proper context and perspective of the authors when they composed the sacred writings. If we do not, then our assumptions about the meaning of the scriptures will amount to just one more of the infinite often-meaningless opinions as to just what the scriptures mean.
The Old Testament gives us a detailed account of one bloody war after another bloody war. Bible scholars are often troubled that God is at the center of many of these horrific battles. The most disturbing and hard to reconcile is the practice of herem, a Hebrew word difficult to translate (awkwardly translated as "things under the ban"). Herem's meaning for the Hebrew inhabitants of the land was clear: they were to "utterly destroy" the enemy of God.
Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass." (1st Samuel 15:3"
The first war command given to man was, "subdue the earth". (Geneses 1:28) God blessed man or empowered him with the necessary assets to conduct or persecute a war against the Devil on a natural order, a war that had begun in Heaven. Jesus alluded to this event in Luke 10:18.
On close examination, there are two important passages in the Word of God concerning the origin of sin and fall of Satan. Ezekiel 28:12-19 describes the creation and judgment of a vile and vicious non-human creature whose name was Lucifer. The Prophet Isaiah presents the origin and fall of Satan in Isaiah 14:12-14.
There is no clear revelation as to exactly when Lucifer fell, but there are limits to the possible time, which we may deduce from biblical evidence. The following picture of Lucifer, (Satan) emerges based upon information gleaned from a comparison of Ezekiel 28:12-19 with Isaiah 14, Jude 6, and II Peter 2:4, and other passages.
In order to defeat an enemy, we must ascertain the enemy's strength and his weakness. The scripture provides an in-depth analyst of our adversary, but much of what we know and what we learn about God and Satan are inconvenient truths. We prefer to recognize Satan as a defeated foe, and God as a God of love, yet Peter described the Devil as a roaring and stalking Lion. (1st Peter 5:8)
Lucifer was one of the hosts of angelic beings, an anointed cherub; he was the captain of the cherubic hosts. Somewhere between Geneses 1:1 and Geneses 1:2, Satan became vain about his beauty and position, and his heart became rebellious against God. In essence, he began to seek out glory for himself.
He was able to secure a considerable following among the angels, resulting in their expulsion from Heaven (Luke 10:18; II Peter 2:4; Jude 6; Revelation 12:4). Thus, Geneses 1:2 begins with, "and the earth was without form, and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep." Since that day, Satan has devoted himself to opposing the works of God in every way possible and to attempting to destroy all of the good that God has created in the natural order. He (Satan) is allowed to continue this way for a period but will ultimately be confined to Hell for eternity” (Revelation 20:10).
There are numerous ways to prosecute a war. When brute force is no longer a logical option, the implementation of a different strategy becomes necessary. Annihilation and pacification are the two methods used to implement the plan of God. Annihilation is the severest method of prosecuting a war and pacification being the most humane.
Annihilation is to "utterly" destroy the collective existence or main body of; wipe out, to defeat completely. In the Old Testament, annihilation was the choice of God. God pronounced annihilation or destruction as early as Genesis chapter 6. As God prepare for a war of annihilation, he is manifesting certain traits that infringe upon the comfort zone of modern day Christians. It is hard for many to reconcile a God of war with our conceit of a God of love. "And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." (Genesis 6:6) Thus, the tone of the war throughout the Old Testament was the total destruction of the wicked.
Pacification is to bring peace or a change by the use of threats or implied threats rather than force, to quell the anger, agitation or excitement through the exchange of values. In the hands of the righteous, it can be a noble asset, but the unscrupulous will use it to undermine the fabrics of a righteous society. In the New Testament, pacification was the choice of Jesus. "Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn." (Matthew 13:30) The implied threat once was the basis of Christian sermonizing.
Christianity often refrains from embracing the warrior attributes of God (Father) in favor of the pacifist nature of the Son. The introduction of God (Father) as a war God was necessary to set the stage for his son to appear as a meek and humble lamb. Yet, we are inclined to overlook the message of, "follow Christ or face the wrath of God (Father)." The demeanor of God, the Father did not and will never change, and his son who came as a lamb will one day return as a Lion and he will fight in the name of his Father. This will take place when the God of war unleash his wrath upon the earth.
To be Continued
