God as a Warrior

Isaiah 63:1-6

Most of us do not equate God as a warrior, and I’m not sure why that is, unless it has been absent from the messages and teachers we hear.   Shall we take a small sampling of Scripture that addresses God as a warrior; Moses sings about a Warrior God in Exodus 15:1b-3, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.  “The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will extol Him.  “The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name.”  Moses and the people have experienced their mighty warrior, God defeating Pharaoh’s vast army coming to crush them, and you wonder why they called God a warrior? 

Do you recall Isaiah referring to God as a warrior in chapter 42:13, “The Lord will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.  He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.  He will prevail against His enemies.”  Some of you may be saying that is the Old Testament God, I have news for you He does not change, He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, may help you in your understanding of that truth.  “Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.”  Now it sounds like Jesus is a warrior, and this last battle will be over every rule and every authority and power, and the last to fall under His submission is death. 

How we could learn from the Psalm of David, as David tells the people of Israel, “If the Lord had not been on our side – let Israel say –“ and David goes on to say we would not have had a chance, and he ends with this; “Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.”  We the Church need to awake to this confession, for our help comes in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

As we return to Isaiah 63:1, first the watchman ask a question and God answers them with this assurance; the warrior God has waged war and is returning in victory over His enemies.  He is mighty to save!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice