He Makes Wars to Cease: A Meditation on Psalm 46 for the Last Sunday of the Church Year

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed,

and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled,

though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

 

There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God,

the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved:

God shall help her, and that right early.

The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved:

he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

 

Come, behold the works of the Lord,

what desolations he hath made in the earth.

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;

he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder;

he burneth the chariot in the fire.

Be still, and know that I am God:

I will be exalted among the heathen,

I will be exalted in the earth.

 The Lord of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

 

If there was anyone in Judeo-Christian history that understood the rigors, dangers, and calamity of war, it was the author of our appointed Psalm for this week.  Not only was David the second King of Israel, a shepherd and giant slayer in his youth, but he was also a soldier, a poet, a musician, and despite his many flaws, a man whom God described as having a heart like His own.  David was not perfect by a long shot, but he did have tremendous faith in God as His Savior, not only prophesying of the coming Messiah but foreshadowing Jesus in many ways.  David knew that war was an ugly reality of life in a fallen world, where evil people would bring forth disastrous effects as they worked out their wicked will upon their fellow men.  But just as surely, David knew that God was the King of the Universe, the omnipotent Savior of all who put their trust in Him, so that no one who fought for righteousness and the Word of God in this world would ever fight alone.  The Lord of Hosts is with us, David writes, even if the world itself is thrown into calamity and convulsion, which makes the God of Jacob our refuge and strength so that we will not fear though the earth is removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.

 

David was not a man who loved war, but he was accomplished in its art and strategy.  He faced so many enemies that he often described the perils in his Psalms as being completely surrounded by forces that sought his destruction.  He was the target of both internal political intrigue (the first king of Israel, after losing his mind tried to kill David on numerous occasions, and later in his life even some of his own sons tried to take the crown from him) and international conspiracy, not to mention the demonic forces which sought to tear down Israel and David altogether so as to blot out any witness to the Word and Will of God among men.  David went to war as a servant of the Living God for the good of the people given to his care, and to keep the yoke of evil off the neck of his nation.  Just because David was accomplished at war didn’t mean that it was his life’s obsession, or that war was what David desired.  On the contrary, it is the same David who wrote in the 23^rd Psalm of his love for green pastures, still waters, and of living without the depravations of food and comfort which come with life on the battlefield—the good into which David knew His God would shepherd him both in this life and the next.  David was a man fitted for war, but his heart remained with His God and Savior, who he knew would be his strength, victory, and refuge over every evil foe.

 

Wars have not declined in the nearly 3000 years between David and our own time, nor have the enemies of God, His people, and His Word.  Still today, those who would seek to live after God’s own heart by abiding in His Eternal Word, face intrigues, persecutions, and assaults from forces near and far.  Time would fail to name every enemy of the Living Word at work in the world today, who spend their time, energy, resources, and evil minds upon the task of wiping out, subjugating, or corrupting everything in their path.  While the names and movements and leaders of the enemies of God have changed many times over the course of history, God has not changed at all.  His Word has remained among His people as their strength and refuge in every age, including our own.  That Word which became flesh and dwelt among us, which the Apostles beheld as full of grace and truth, who overcame the worst that wicked men and demonic angels could throw at Him through His life, death, and resurrection, is still the Lord of Hosts and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.  Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of the Father, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, One God now and forever, is the God whom David confessed as Savior and Shepherd and Lord.  The same God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Moses, Joshua, and the Judges, the God of Samuel, David, and Solomon, the God of Elijah, Elisha, and the Prophets, the God of Peter, James, John, and the Apostles, is the same God who abides with us today.

 

History has a way of making people forgetful of the glories and calamities of their past, with modern iconoclasts always trying to tear down any memory of prior ages which testified to undeniable truth of God at work in the world to save His people.  Yet God remains the Lord of Hosts, the God of Sabaoth, who is a greater master of war than any human general has ever dreamt of being.  It is He alone who could conquer every enemy of mankind through His Vicarious Atonement upon a Roman Cross, leaving sin, death, hell, and the power of the devil a heaping wreckage upon the sands of time.  He plotted His strategy from before the foundation of the world, worked it out through all the generations from Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Jesus’ time, preserving His people and His Word from every evil design.  He guided the course of history from Creation to the Cross, and He is guiding it even now toward the Last Day.  He is not only the omniscient strategist who can account for every variable of every material and spiritual entity in the entire cosmos, but the omnipotent King who makes His victory certain by His own unconquerable power, and abides as omni-present with each and every one of His people in every time and place.  He is not a distant commander or conniving bureaucrat, but the ever living and imminent God, accomplishing all that He promised for those who abide in Him by grace through faith.

 

Like the saints before us, we are called to live in faith and courage, knowing our God to be exactly who He has revealed Himself to be through His Eternal Word:  the Lord of Hosts, the Creator, Savior, and Sustainer of all those who put their trust in Him.  It is He alone who will cause all wars to cease through His victory over ever evil thing, and He alone that will gather His people to Himself from every tribe and tongue, every culture and civilization, every age and place, into His Kingdom which has no end.  He is the God of our Salvation who calls us, like David before us, to contend with His power for the faith once delivered to the saints, to bear witness to the Word of His Gospel Promise wherever we are sent, and to know that any privations of war we now experience shall be swallowed up when He invites us to His Table where our cup shall overflow forever in His glorious banquet hall.  Hoist His colors high, and rally to His banner on every field of battle, all you His saints, who live forever in His power and grace!  All glory, laud, and honor be to our Redeemer King, now and unto ages of ages!  Amen.