Latest / Pastor John Piper's answers / Should We Rejoice When God Destroys Our Enemies?

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Should We Rejoice When God Destroys Our Enemies? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast on this Monday. Pastor John,
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  Speaker 1: you've admitted to us in the past that you carry
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  Speaker 1: a lot of sympathy for pacifism, citing texts like Matthew
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  Speaker 1: five thirty eight to forty one, Matthew ten sixteen, Romans
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  Speaker 1: twelve seventeen First Less Lomians five point fifteen, and one
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  Speaker 1: Peter thretey nine, saying that such texts, that collage of
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  Speaker 1: texts taken together should quote probably have a greater effect
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  Speaker 1: on our attitudes than they do, because even Christians are
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  Speaker 1: quick to seek vengeance instead of mercy. But you said, quote,
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  Speaker 1: I can't go all the way with the Christian pacifist
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  Speaker 1: when he tells us that retributive justice should have no
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  Speaker 1: place in the Christian life end quote. A great snapshot
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  Speaker 1: of your personal conviction tier from the EPG book on
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  Speaker 1: page two thirty five. In the context of those episodes
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  Speaker 1: that we did on gun ownership in the home, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of you listening will remember that episode and the
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  Speaker 1: follow up that came as a result of it. But
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  Speaker 1: today we returned to really what was at the heart
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  Speaker 1: of those controversial gun episodes over a decade ago, through
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  Speaker 1: a question over whether we should rejoice when God destroys
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  Speaker 1: our enemies. That's the question from a listener today, a
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  Speaker 1: listener named Liz My question, are we to celebrate the
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  Speaker 1: death of our enemies? In Exodus fifteen, the Israelites sing
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  Speaker 1: a song of adoration to God after he brings them
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  Speaker 1: through the Red Sea and allows them to escape the Egyptians.
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  Speaker 1: That song begins by praising God's character and magnifying his
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  Speaker 1: power and strength in Exodus fifteen, Yet it ends by
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  Speaker 1: celebrating that the Egyptians have been quote hurled into the sea.
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  Speaker 1: That's verses four to ten. At the same time, we
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  Speaker 1: are called to have compassion for the loss who are
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  Speaker 1: far from God in Matthew nine thirty six to thirty eight,
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  Speaker 1: and to desire that no one perished, but that all
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  Speaker 1: come to the knowledge of Him in two Bitter three nine.
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  Speaker 1: Please help me understand God's justice in God compassion, and
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  Speaker 1: what posture and attitude we should have towards our enemies,
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  Speaker 1: and how we can show mercy to them while also
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  Speaker 1: praising God for His justice when they get what they
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  Speaker 1: deserve eternal separation from Him.
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  Speaker 2: There are these two clusters of texts in the Bible
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  Speaker 2: regarding our enemies. One group describes God's righteous judgment on
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  Speaker 2: them and the joy of God's people in that judgment,
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  Speaker 2: and the other group describes what God requires of us
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  Speaker 2: in this fallen age, namely loving our enemies, blessing those
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  Speaker 2: who curse us, doing good to those who hate us,
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  Speaker 2: and not rejoicing when calamity comes to our enemy. For example,
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  Speaker 2: a few instances in each of those clusters Moses and
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  Speaker 2: the people of Israel saying to the Lord, I will
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  Speaker 2: sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously the
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  Speaker 2: horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea
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  Speaker 2: Exodus fifteen one, So triumph over the Egyptian army. Then
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  Speaker 2: the Book of Revelation describes the celebration of Heaven over
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  Speaker 2: God's destruction of his enemies in the last time, A
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  Speaker 2: great multitude in heaven cried out, Hallelujah. Salvation and glory
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  Speaker 2: and power belong to our God, for his judgments are
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  Speaker 2: true and just. For he has judged the great prostitute
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  Speaker 2: who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged
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  Speaker 2: on her the blood of his servants or Revelation eighteen twenty.
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  Speaker 2: Rejoice over her, Oh Heaven, and you saints and apostles
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  Speaker 2: and prophets, for God has given judgments for you against her,
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  Speaker 2: namely the Great Prostitute Rome. And even now the souls
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  Speaker 2: of the martyrs in heaven. Right now, as we're making
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  Speaker 2: this recording, the souls of the martyrs under the altar
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  Speaker 2: in heaven cry out, Oh, Sovereign Lord, Holy and True,
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  Speaker 2: how long before you will judge and avenge our blood
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  Speaker 2: on those who dwell on the earth. Revelation sixt' nine.
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  Speaker 2: So that's one cluster of texts, the celebration of God's
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  Speaker 2: justice in bringing judgment upon his enemies. Then this other
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  Speaker 2: cluster goes like this, do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
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  Speaker 2: and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles.
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  Speaker 2: Let the Lord see it and be displeased and turn
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  Speaker 2: away from his anger. Or that's Proverbs twenty four to seventeen.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, this is not an issue of one
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  Speaker 2: thing being excused in the Old Testament and forbidden in
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  Speaker 2: the New Testament, like vengeance is okay on your adversary,
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  Speaker 2: and the Old Testament is not okay in the New Testament.
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  Speaker 2: You know these are Old Testament quotes. Right now, he
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  Speaker 2: who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished, for
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  Speaker 2: Verbs seventeen five, or Job says in Job thirty one
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  Speaker 2: twenty nine. If I had rejoiced at the ruin of
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  Speaker 2: him who hated me, or exalted when evil overtook him,
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  Speaker 2: I would be guilty. And then you get the New Testament.
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  Speaker 2: We all know the words of Jesus. I say to you,
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  Speaker 2: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
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  Speaker 2: Bless those who cursed you, Pray for those who abuse you.
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  Speaker 2: And that teaching carries right through the New Testament. First,
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  Speaker 2: the Stalonians five point fifteen see that no one repays
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  Speaker 2: evil for evil, but always seek to do good to
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  Speaker 2: one another and to everyone. Same thing in One Peter
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  Speaker 2: three nine, Romans twelve seventeen, and maybe the most significant
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  Speaker 2: passage on not taking vengeance is Romans twelve nineteen. Beloved,
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  Speaker 2: never avenge yourselves. Leave it to the wrath of God,
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  Speaker 2: for it has written vengeance's mind. I will repay, says
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  Speaker 2: the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry,
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  Speaker 2: feed him, if he's thirst to give him something to drink.
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  Speaker 2: So the question then is, how shall we take both
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  Speaker 2: of these clusters of biblical teachings seriously and live out
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  Speaker 2: their implications in our lives. There are several answers to
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  Speaker 2: that question, and I'm just going to give one. I
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  Speaker 2: think it's, at least in my reckoning, the most important,
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  Speaker 2: and it goes like this, There is a difference between
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  Speaker 2: rejoicing over God's righteous action in dealing with his and
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  Speaker 2: our enemies and a self exalting pleasure in seeing our
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  Speaker 2: personal adversaries suffer diference. Charles Bridges, who were a good
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  Speaker 2: commentary on Proverbs, comments on Israel's rejoicing over the destruction
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  Speaker 2: of Egypt's armies like this. He says, how different is
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  Speaker 2: this sublime sympathy in the triumph of the church from
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  Speaker 2: the malignant joy of private revenge? Indeed, I agree with that,
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  Speaker 2: but I would add this is not a distinction that
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  Speaker 2: inexperience is easy to maintain. Our gladness in the vindication
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  Speaker 2: of God's glory and justice is not always easy to
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  Speaker 2: distinguish from our gladness in the personal calamity of our adversaries.
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  Speaker 2: And the reason is not is because our adversary really
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  Speaker 2: does finally come into calamity in the righteous judgment of God.
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  Speaker 2: So our joy in the victory of God, God is
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  Speaker 2: in some way joy in the demise of our adversaries.
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  Speaker 2: When the saints in heaven cry out Hallelujah, salvation and
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  Speaker 2: glory and power belong to God, they know that this
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  Speaker 2: includes the utter destruction of the Great Harlot and her
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  Speaker 2: city and all those people in it who hated Christians.
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  Speaker 2: But the fact that we find it difficult to make
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  Speaker 2: that distinction in our minds and hearts, the distinction between
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  Speaker 2: gladness in God's righteous vindication and gladness in our personal
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  Speaker 2: vendetta over the suffering of our adversaries. The fact that
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  Speaker 2: that's difficult doesn't mean it doesn't exist. It does. So
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  Speaker 2: let me try an analogy. This helped me as I
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  Speaker 2: was pondering afresh about this yesterday. Let me try an
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  Speaker 2: analogy and see if it helps you like it does me.
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  Speaker 2: Consider Crucifixion of Jesus. On the one hand, this was
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  Speaker 2: the vindication of the righteousness of God in passing over
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  Speaker 2: the sins of others, because it showed that God does
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  Speaker 2: not sweep sin under the rug, and he does not
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  Speaker 2: ignore the defamation of his glory. So the cross is
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  Speaker 2: a glorious display of God's righteousness and mercy. On the
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  Speaker 2: other hand, it is an absolutely revolting experience of exquisite suffering,
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  Speaker 2: with spikes being driven through hands and feet, sword in
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  Speaker 2: the side, thorns in the forehead, slaps on the cheeks,
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  Speaker 2: spit on the face, Jesus enduring impossible agony, and the
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  Speaker 2: spiritual weight of the world causing Jesus to cry, My God,
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  Speaker 2: have you forsaken me? So physically and spiritually it is
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  Speaker 2: as horrible as it gets. So my question is should
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  Speaker 2: we rejoice over the death of Jesus, And surely the
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  Speaker 2: answer is yes when we view the cross from one angle,
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  Speaker 2: and know when we view the cross from another angle
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  Speaker 2: as the most glorious act of love from the Father
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  Speaker 2: and the Son, and a perfect vindication of God's righteousness,
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  Speaker 2: the Cross should bring forth from us the greatest rejoicing.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, it does every Sunday my church. We're just
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  Speaker 2: on our tiptoes praising God for the Cross every Sunday.
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  Speaker 2: That's what we do. But as an act of torture
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  Speaker 2: and suffering considered in itself, surely we should weep for
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  Speaker 2: Jesus and for ourselves. So I think in a similar
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  Speaker 2: way we should rejoice over God's judgments, including the justice
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  Speaker 2: of Hell, and when we contemplate the misery of the loss,
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  Speaker 2: considered only as suffering, we should weep and pray and
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  Speaker 2: strive to save as many as we can. Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Amen. Faithful Christians must hold intention a deep rejoicing in
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  Speaker 1: God's righteous judgments, including his ultimate triumph over evil and
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  Speaker 1: the eternal justice of Hell, with a christ like compassion
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  Speaker 1: for the lost, while learning to resist all personal vengeance
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  Speaker 1: and self exalting delight in the downfall of the wicked.
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  Speaker 1: We have to balance those things so important. We got
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  Speaker 1: to learn this balance that so carefully, said Pastre John.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. These same convictions are at the very core
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  Speaker 1: of those controversial episodes about gun ownership that we did
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  Speaker 1: over a decade now, over a decade ago. I can't
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  Speaker 1: believe it's over ten years ago. Pastor John's twenty fourteen
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  Speaker 1: warnings of temptations that go along with gun ownership, the
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  Speaker 1: spirit of vengeance or retribution that could explode in a
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  Speaker 1: moment of self defense. Man, if you miss those episodes,
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  Speaker 1: those hot episodes, get up to speed on what was
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  Speaker 1: covered in the main episode, and then the follow up
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  Speaker 1: set came as a result. You can get caught up
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  Speaker 1: by flipping through the asp Pastor John book on pages
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  Speaker 1: two thirty three and two thirty four, and then flip
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  Speaker 1: one more page to see Pastor John explain his sympathy
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  Speaker 1: towards pacifism on page two thirty five. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: episodes connect to this one today, and you know, to
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  Speaker 1: be honest, I'm a little overwhelmed right now all the
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  Speaker 1: history of ABJ and how it's come together in the
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  Speaker 1: different episodes, and what an honor it's been to be
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  Speaker 1: your host for over a decade. Now, I'm Tony Rinky.
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  Speaker 1: We'll see you on Thursday.