Friday, April 8, 2011

God the Destroyer?

Isaiah 25:1-9 TNIV

Lord , you are my God;

I will exalt you and praise your name,

for in perfect faithfulness

you have done wonderful things,

things planned long ago.

You have made the city a heap of rubble,

the fortified town a ruin,

the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more;

it will never be rebuilt.

Therefore strong peoples will honor you;

cities of ruthless nations will revere you.

You have been a refuge for the poor,

a refuge for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the storm

and a shade from the heat.

For the breath of the ruthless

is like a storm driving against a wall

and like the heat of the desert.

You silence the uproar of foreigners;

as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud,

so the song of the ruthless is stilled.

On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare

a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine—

the best of meats and the finest of wines.

On this mountain he will destroy

the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;

he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears

from all faces;

he will remove his people’s disgrace

from all the earth.

The Lord has spoken.

In that day they will say,

“Surely this is our God;

we trusted in him, and he saved us.

This is the Lord , we trusted in him;

let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”


My thoughts -

It seems a little weird to praise God for destruction. I love to praise God. I love to thank our Creator for all of the good things that have been done for us. Creation is a wonderful thing. As Christians we believe that we are being made new in grace, we are being re-created. This praise makes sense to me. I love to give praise to a God who creates.

But here we open with praise for destruction. Here God is being praised for leveling a city and wiping it off of the face of the Earth. Here God is described as being faithful for doing this. It is described as a wonderful thing. Powerful I can see, but faithful? Wonderful?

Whose city did/will God destroy? Who was being laid low? Who is being shown the awesome power of God here?
Therefore strong peoples will honor you;

cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
The powerful have been shown God's power. The strong have been shown God's strength. And on whose behalf does God use his power and strength?
You have been a refuge for the poor,

a refuge for the needy in their distress,

a shelter from the storm

and a shade from the heat.
The oppressors have been destroyed. The oppressed have shelter and security in God. The powerful have been destroyed. The powerless have shelter and security on God. The strong have been destroyed. The weak have shelter and security in God.
On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare

a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine—

the best of meats and the finest of wines.

On this mountain he will destroy

the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;

he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears

from all faces;

he will remove his people’s disgrace

from all the earth.
The power imbalance has been corrected. That which separates the people has been destroyed. All can rejoice and feast in God's banquet. No rich and no poor. No powerful and no powerless. No strong and no weak. Just God's people, whom God has delivered and saved.

God the Destroyer destroys that which separates us from God and from each other. God the Creator creates a feast for all of us to enjoy together. God is to be praised.
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