A Forceful Justice

I, the Lord, will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their sin. I will crush the arrogance of the proud and the haughtiness of the mighty. Few will be left alive when I have finished my work…For I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move from its place. I, the Lord Almighty, will show my fury and fierce anger.
--Isaiah 13:11-13

Yesterday’s passage was an image of utter peace and tranquility; today’s is one of complete rage, destruction, and violence. Yet they come a mere two chapters apart and are both seem to come from the voice of God himself—a fact that is possibly more shocking and disorienting than either alternative on its own. In the course of thinking about this, that very discomfort got me thinking—why? Why am I so uneasy with the idea of a God who was both loving and judging, with divinity capable of both peace and violence? If we are truly honest about this situation, I think that most of us would be somewhat comfortable with a god that solely embodied either extreme—either all peace and love or all violence and judgment. It’s a simpler stance—we know what to do with a god like that. Our response can then be equally cut-and-dried; it is when he embodies both that we get uncomfortable and uncertain.

So why then are we so uncomfortable with a God who embodies peace and promises violence? Allow me for a moment to suggest a possible reason: the stance is all too familiar to us. We ourselves know what it is to stand in the tension between peace and violence, desiring the former but very capable of the latter. What is more, we know all too well our own willingness to forsake peace and unjustly employ violent action. We know the uncertainty of our own thoughts and actions—the idea that God would be prone to such erratic behavior is not too far fetched.

Yet there is a deeper strain at work here that we must not miss if we are to properly understand the character of God that Isaiah describes. God here speaks in very violent terms indeed, but it is the force and violence that justice brings. Where we act from a self-seeking violence, God moves in a kind of “forceful justice”—a justice that will brook no quarter to evil and will not be swayed by any opposition. Throughout the Bible, God speaks at great length of his mercy, kindness and grace available for all who would accept it. Yet even God will not allow such grace to be ignored and trampled upon forever. One day he will put a stop to the violence and hate of our world with a forceful justice that will leave no room for opposition and no chance of resistance.

One day all will be at peace—whether willingly or unwillingly. A scary thought indeed.