Lessons From a Confrontation – Part 1, Our Warrior King
2005 : March  |  Website Version  

Today’s message studies the verbal scolding Jesus gave a group of adversaries while He taught in the temple’s treasury. Jesus uses the confrontation to give specific details about our adversary Satan, but we will study those during the next message. This message we will focus on what the confrontation shows us about God.

God is more then a one dimensional being, as some would have us believe. There are churches and groups teaching that all of God’s characteristics are secondary to His desire to love. This thinking allows them to believe there is no punishment for sins; in essence, hell doesn’t exist because God loves too much to create such a place. This is an unbalanced and distorted view of God. It makes no sense when we read today’s story and the rest of the Bible.

The confrontation pits Jesus against a crowd of people; He is uncompromising and stands up to His accusers. He looks into the faces of the people insulting Him and He says,

	44 "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 "Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? 47 "He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God."
	John 8:44-47 (NASB)

When you read these verses, do you think that God’s love will prevent Him from dispensing punishment? God speaks the truth and is not afraid to confront, offend and war with the evil in this world. There are verses throughout the Bible that refer to God as a warrior:

	3 The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.
	Exodus 15:3 (NASB)

	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.
	Isaiah 42:13 (NASB)

	17 The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
	Zephaniah 3:17 (NASB)

The references to our warrior God are not exclusive to the Old Testament. The following verses from the New Testament describe the return of Jesus:

	11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
	Revelation 19:11-16 (NASB)

There is a lot of blasphemous theology in the world. Teaching that the Lord will not punish evil, because His love prevents Him from doing so, is an example of it. It offends our God on so many levels that it’s difficult to comprehend why anyone would forward that theology, but the answer is obvious and right before our eyes. The unsaved, living contrary to the laws of God, have to find a theology that will support their lifestyle, so they create their own version of God. That they lie about God is of no consequence to them. That they forward evil in the place of goodness doesn’t matter to them. All that matters to them is that they justify God to themselves. Doing so might give them comfort today, but there is an eternal price to pay, if they do not repent.

Yes, our God is love and cares for His creation: enough that Jesus died for our sins, but we should not attempt to put limitations on God. God is infinite, and by definition has an infinite number of attributes and characteristics: judge, warrior, King of kings and Lord of lords etc. We will never fully comprehend God in our fleshly bodies on earth, but we do have the Bible’s wisdom to teach us of Him.

The Bible promises that Jesus will return and there will be a judgment; the saved will be with him for eternity and the unsaved will be in eternal torment. If your definition of God makes Him incapable of this, your definition is wrong. Again, we leave you with a description of what you’ll see on the day that Jesus returns. On that day, He will come with far more then the singular purpose of loving His creation:

	11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
	Revelation 19:11-16 (NASB)

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you today and always…