Rejoicing in the Destruction of God’s Enemies
Mark James
If you are a rabid sports fan like I am (Roll Tide!), then you take some pleasure when your opponent, especially if it is your archrival, loses. You may get in their face or “talk trash” about them as part of the celebration ritual. Something similar may happen if you like video games, board games, or anything that involves some level of competition. We enjoy relishing in the victory of our side as much as we take pleasure in the defeat of the other side. Yet, we feel some hesitancy and awkwardness when it comes to doing this in spiritual matters. What I mean to suggest is that we are hesitant to rejoice when God defeats His and our enemies (WLC 45; WSC 26). In our cultural context, people want the God of love, mercy, and grace, but not the God of righteousness, holiness, and justice (WLC 7), out of which His wrath is a manifestation against sin. It’s why some people feel uncomfortable with the imprecatory Psalms, those Psalms which call for God to take vengeance upon His enemies who have oppressed the people of God (Psalm 7, 35, 55, 58-59, 79, et. al.). Yet, this is a major thread running throughout the Scriptures, which I hope to demonstrate below. If correct, then we are only worshipping half of our God when we rejoice in His love, mercy, and grace, to the exclusion or downplaying of singing praise for His righteousness, holiness, and justice and for the manifestation of those attributes in the destruction of the wicked. As one OT commentator puts it, “God’s eventual destruction of those who opposed Him and His anger against evil are not opposed to God’s majesty but are in fact inherent aspects of it. Modern sentimentalist thinking wants God to be ever-tolerant, always softhearted, and thus defines God’s justice as something other than how the Bible defines it.”
The first example we come to in Scripture is found in the song of Moses from Exodus 15. In response to the destruction of Pharaoh and all of his army, the Israelites sing, “…He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea (15:1, ESV). A song of praise, rejoicing, and triumph is lifted up on the lips of Moses, Miriam and the women (15:21), and all the people (15:1). Not only do they rejoice in what God has done because of who He is (vv.2-3), but they go into detail about what God has done to His enemies. He cast them into the sea, He sunk them in the Red Sea, and He caused the waters to cover them (vv.4-5, 10). When was the last time you sang a Psalm, hymn, or spiritual song that goes into such detail at the destruction of the wicked in the context of praising God? I doubt such a song today would be a chart topper.
Another example found in Scripture is the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, where the context is not God’s righteousness, holiness, and justice upon the nations, but upon God’s own covenant people because of their obstinate rebellion. All of His ways are justice (v.4), yet His people have dealt corruptly with Him (vv.5, 15-18). Thus, Yahweh’s wrath is kindled against them (vv.20-22) and He will send all sorts of torments and disasters upon them (vv.23-25). The song ends with a call to all creation to rejoice in the God who “avenges the blood of His children” AND “takes vengeance on His adversaries” (v.43). It is just, and righteous, and holy of God not only to destroy the wicked, but also to discipline His children (2 Sam 7:14; Heb 12:6; WCF 11.5). Again, how often are we singing of such praise to God for these attributes of His in our private, family, and corporate worship?
Similar examples are found throughout the Psalms. I will only point out Psalms 135-136 as exemplars. Psalm 135 is a psalm that calls for giving to praise to God (v.1). Included in the manifold reasons why people are to praise God, it mentions the fact that He struck down the firstborn of Egypt (v.8). It also mentions the fact that He struck down the Amorites and their king, Sihon, as well as the Bashanites and their king, Og, while on the way to the Promised Land, then it praises God for destroying all of the people groups within Canaan as the Israelites conquered the Promised Land. That is a lot of death and destruction, from which we do not naturally move to praise to God, yet this psalm does exactly just that. Lest one forget, Psalm 136 calls for giving thanks to God for the exact same reasons (136:10-22). There, these expressions of God’s holiness, righteousness, and justice, are all incorporated under the umbrella of God’s steadfast love (I prefer “covenant faithfulness”).
Lest someone reply at this point that somehow our NT ethic is different as these are all OT examples thus far, let me point out Revelation 16. In response to three of the seven bowls of God’s judgment being poured out, the song of heaven from angels and saints praises God “for you have brought these judgments” (v.5), “you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” (v.6) Unbelievers, demons, Satan himself, all deserve God’s punishments for their persistent rejection of God, for their refusal to submit to God, for their love of self more than love of God. Not only do they deserve it, but God’s punishments fit the crime. They have shed the blood of God’s people, therefore God has given them blood to drink. God’s punishments are never too severe or not severe enough. They are perfect, righteous, holy, and just. In this scene, there is affectionate rejoicing in heaven over God’s wrathful judgments upon the unbelieving world.
From Moses to heaven, God’s people have been praising Him for His judgment on and destruction of unbelievers. At the end of the day, it is right and proper for us as Christians to rejoice and give thanks and praise to God for the destruction of His (and our) enemies in the past, the subduing and destroying of His (and our) enemies in the present, and the subduing and destroying of His (and our) enemies in the future. Joel Beeke comments, “Once you have grasped that God’s judgments are just, that His justice is true, and that His judgment will be absolutely final in the midst of all the misunderstandings, false accusations, and puzzling circumstances of your life, then you will be supremely grateful to say, ‘My exalted and coming Savior will be my Judge.’” I would say not just “say” but to sing, “My exalted and coming Savior will be my Judge.” Thanks be to God that through Christ and His perfect life, death, resurrection, and ascension, we are assured that all of our enemies culminating in the last enemy, death, have been defeated and will be overthrown, never to harm God’s people ever again.