The LORD as a Warrior… But Maybe Not in the Battles We Pick

When you ask people about their picture of God, what images or ideas typically come to mind?

• God as a shepherd, taking the idea from Psalm 23 or Ezekiel 34.

• God as creator, from Genesis 1 & 2; Proverbs 8; Psalm 104; or John 1

• God as the corraller-of-chaos, from Genesis 1-2; Job 26-27; Isaiah 26, 27, & 51; or Psalm 74.

• God as lawgiver, from Exodus 19ff. or Psalm 119.

• God as light and fire, as in Exodus 3 & 13 or 1 Kings 18.

• God as the mother who cannot forget the child of her womb, as in Isaiah 49 or Psalm 139:13ff.

So often these are almost tender images, full of care and grace and mercy.

But what about God as a warrior? Many of us blanch at that idea. And yet some of the oldest descriptions of YHWH depict him as such.

After Moses leads the people across the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army is consumed, Moses sings,

1 “I will sing to the Lord,
    for he is highly exalted.
Both horse and driver
    he has hurled into the sea.
2 “The Lord is my strength and my defense;
    he has become my salvation.
He is my God, and I will praise him,
    my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a warrior;
    the Lord is his name.
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
    he has hurled into the sea.
The best of Pharaoh’s officers
are drowned in the Red Sea.
5 The deep waters have covered them;
    they sank to the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, Lord,
    was majestic in power.
Your right hand, Lord,
    shattered the enemy.” (Exodus 15:1-6, NIV)

Or you have the Psalmist who praises God for schooling him in the art of defense and protection in Psalm 144:1-6:

1 Praise be to the Lord my Rock,
who trains my hands for war,
my fingers for battle.
2 He is my loving God and my fortress,
    my stronghold and my deliverer,
my shield, in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues peoples under me.
3 Lord, what are human beings that you care for them,
    mere mortals that you think of them?
4 They are like a breath;
    their days are like a fleeting shadow.
5 Part your heavens, Lord, and come down;
    touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
6 Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy;
    shoot your arrows and rout them.

Yet many of us are uncomfortable with this picture of God. At least, I am… and I serve in the military! But I prefer to think of God as a pacifist. We think of the teachings of Jesus, which call us to love our enemies and to turn the other cheek. (And I am definitely NOT discounting those teachings; indeed, I deeply admire and ascribe to nonviolent strength and resistance.) Yet it also ignores that Revelation describes this same Jesus in Revelation 19:11-16 as follows:

I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.” He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Others wholeheartedly embrace this image and want to ascribe to a militaristic mindset of waging a proverbial war on “leftists” and the “enemies of Christianity.” 

But I think we must also come to grips with two polarizing truths: God is a warrior, but one who fights on behalf of true justice, righteousness, and shalom, which often stands in sharp contradiction to what we call by the same name.

In Ephesians 6, Paul tells his audience that we are in the midst of a battle, so we must “be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power… [and] put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Yet Paul is also very explicit that we often judge the strategic picture wrongly: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (6:9-11). We judge wrongly when we make tactical decisions with imperfect, human eyes. We often equate our physical enemies with the enemies of God, and we wage war against those whom Christ has called us to love, serve, and bless in the name of Christ. 

Instead, Paul calls us to remain rooted in Christ through prayer, truth, righteousness, and guidance from the Spirit. In the military, it isn’t just bootcamp or OCS that prepares us for battle; it is ongoing training, as well as teaching and learning the rules of engagement. It is a never-ending process of preparation to always be ready for the battles that arise. Our rooting in God prepares us in the same way; it is our ongoing training, shaping, and spiritual development that allows us to have eyes to truly see the spiritual battles we must engage in. As the writer of Proverbs states, “The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe” (18:10). If we don’t, we tend to pick the wrong enemies… to both our own and their detriment.