“The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name.”

— Exodus 15:3

This verse in the Song of Moses, celebrating God’s victory over the Egyptians in the Red Sea, sounds strange to our ears. God—a man of war? The liberals have had a field day with this text. God is love, they say, and nothing but love and the idea that the Lord is a man of war is an outworn ancient barbarian concept and certainly is not fitted for Christians to consider and it is obviously not spiritual. It’s a sinful idea that God is a man of war.

Well, before we go too far with that and talk about how unholy and ungodly and unchristian that is, let me call your attention to the last book of the Bible: “They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: ‘Great and marvelous are Your works, ‘Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of saints!’” (Revelation 15:3). The Song of Moses is reaffirmed in the New Testament.

God has many facets to Him. He is a God of love preeminently, He is a God of grace and mercy and kindness and longsuffering, but He is also a God of holiness and justice and righteousness. In the original Song of Moses (Exodus 15), He justly punished Pharaoh’s army, as they tried to attack the Israelites. He is a God of wrath against sin, and we cannot do away with that aspect of Him—otherwise we create an idol of our own mind, something other than the true God.

Lord, God Almighty, give me strength to embrace all aspects of Your character. I also tremble when I consider that Your justice will not sleep forever. Thank You for Your holiness, Your justice, and Your righteous anger against evil…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE SEEK WAR ONLY
AS A LAST RESORT AND ONLY WHEN IT IS JUST.