God Is Our Victorious Warrior

The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire. Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them. Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. Psalms 18:13-17

As the ragtag Scots watched the precisely trained English army assemble at Sterling Field, fear began to grip their hearts. Maybe it was better to live under oppression than lose their lives. Some went to discuss a truce, to try and compromise. Others began to turn tail and run. One man stood his ground.

With sword raised high, William Wallace, wild, fierce at heart and passionate for the freedom of his homeland and his heritage, began to shout after the fleeing men. Driving his horse back and forth among them, he cried, "Sons of Scotland ... you have come to fight as free men, and free men you are ... And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that to come back here and tell our enemies that they may take our lives, but they'll never take our freedom!"

Heartened by his words, reminded of their identity and the truth that life lived in fear is no life at all, the Scots form ranks once again. Wallace then rides straight toward the British, intent on picking a fight and beginning the battle that resulted in Scotland's liberation.

Many people have a difficult time seeing God as this type of victorious warrior. They either see Him as a distant and passive father who doesn't care or they look at Jesus and see Him as a wimp, someone who just takes blow after blow, turning the other cheek and never fighting back.

But it's a perverted picture! God, in all three persons -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit -- is powerful, mighty, obsessed with our freedom and wholeness and always, ultimately victorious.

Throughout the Bible, we're told repeatedly, as in Nehemiah 4:20, "Our God will fight for us." God always pits Himself on the side of His people and enjoins the enemy. And in the final battle, spoken of in Revelation 19:11, the Bible describes God as the Faithful and True warrior, with eyes like blazing fire, riding on a white horse, His robes dipped in blood, and "with justice He judges and makes war."

Characterizing His own strength and power to His servant Job, God asks in Job 38:22-24, "Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail, which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle? What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth? Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain and a path for the thunderstorm?" And in chapter 40:9, "Do you have an arm like God's and can your voice thunder like His?"

The Bible also describes Jesus, God's Son, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the ultimate warrior. Fangs and nails barred. Strong and fierce. Protective of His territory and His family. And like all true warriors, He knows what the battle is for, who the true enemy is and what it will take to defeat him.

Christ battles for our freedom from slavery to sin, eternal death and damnation. The battle is also for our wholeness from the wounds and attacks we come under constantly from the enemy of our souls -- Satan. He won the ultimate victory for these battles when He willingly laid down His life for us on the cross. But, since Satan is still alive and well on our planet, there's a daily strategy to defeat him in the lives of men. That is to draw him out, expose his deceptions and lies and shame him so he slinks away.

Every day, the Spirit of God is fighting battles for you in your life, trying to do the same thing -- draw the enemy out, expose him and the lies he's feeding us and cause him the ultimate humiliation of having us turn from the deception to Jesus, who offers both truth and life.

God is both passionate and fierce. He hates and battles evil, oppression and injustice in every form every moment of every day. The Bible talks about His warrior angels who also engage in the battle. But, most of all, God wants man to join Him in the fight. In the Garden of Eden, He gave man dominion over the earth. When man sinned, Satan took over that dominion, but with His death and resurrection, Jesus won it back. But, now, it's up to man to live in the reality of that victory and life. It's up to man to remind Satan that he's already lost the battle, lost the war and lost dominion. He has no more territory, no more slaves.

God made man in His image. He made each person to have a brave heart and to fight for righteousness, justice, mercy, love, truth and a host of other realities He wants the earth to experience. That's why the Bible is filled with battle imagery. We're told to put on our whole armor daily. God talks about training our hands for battle and our arms for war.

But the battle takes His courage. It takes His strength. It takes His power so we don't succumb to Satan's traps and deceptions in the middle of the fight. It takes His purity and commitment so we don't become corrupted by the very evil we're fighting. It takes His presence dwelling in us so evil doesn't reduce us to trembling, fearful, hollow wretches, living under its dominion and its consequences.

God, the victorious warrior, is calling you today to join Him in the greatest battle, the ageless battle, the ongoing battle, on earth -- the battle of good versus evil -- in your life and the lives of those around you. If you're going to expend your life for something, is there a better cause? Answer His call now.

• Email This Page to a Friend
• Print this Page