And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”
So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. And he commanded them, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them. And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand. And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the LORD. See, I have commanded you.” So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.
Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And all the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place toward the Arabah to meet Israel in battle. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they were drawn away from the city. Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was left none that survived or escaped. But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.
When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the LORD that he commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.
(Joshua 8, English Standard Version)
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.
(The Revelation 19:11-21, ESV)
I don't think Christians know what they mean when they speak of bringing God's kingdom here.
Now, as far as I gather, according to many of my brothers and sisters in the faith, God's kingdom involves a sort of pro life welfare state where every person has emotional stability and the arts are celebrated, for some reason. Also there is no racism, sexism, ismism, and well, you name a societal ill and you got it removed.
Well that just makes reading the Bible so much more awkward, I would imagine.
Every time I see God's kingdom coming into Earth in a substantial way in the Bible, people seem to die. When Israel marched into Canaan, a lot of people died. When Jesus is spoken of coming back to "set the world to rights", his robe is covered in the blood of his enemies.
I wonder how most of Christendom deals with that.
Then there's the problem of asking every Christian to bring the kingdom on Earth. Again, my autistic (and I mean that as an insult as well) brain goes to work. So every Christian must bring the kingdom? What happens if they don't bring the kingdom, are they excommunicated from the local church? Eh probably not because nobody believes in church membership anyway and in the States we have the blessing/curse of switching church according to our eccentricities.
Whatever.
Let me keep going. So let's say we can discipline Christians that strictly (ha ha ha). So how does bring the kingdom down here look like? Well, good Christians vote for Trump/Hillary/Sanders/Johnson/do not vote/vote for "liberal" policies/vote for "conservative" policies.
Oh boy, so now we're telling people how to vote. That's not even in the Bible.
Whatever.
Wait, you tell me. We're trying to transform the culture, we're not telling people how to vote.
Ah, yes, because when I read the Bible, I see that God supports a multi cultural welfare state/free market anarchist policy that happens to coalesce with your particular vision of things.
Every time God's kingdom comes, people die. When God's kingdom came in a substantial way, Jesus died. When God's kingdom will come, there will be a great judgment.
Why do Christians want to bring this violence upon themselves?
I mean, they don't. But every time I hear a Christian talk about bringing God's kingdom on Earth, I get scared. I get scared because if I disagree with them, would they be willing to kill me or silent me? I speak of "both sides" of the political cultural divide.
And when I hear pastors talk about it, that's when I get most annoyed.
I get annoyed because when I see pastors using that language, they mean starting a church in a rich part of town (not in the hood or a rural part of the States) or they follow whatever the Gospel Coalition(TM) is pushing.
After all, Christians must engage the culture.
Now here's the thing. I do want God's kingdom to come. I'm tired of evil existing and I'm tired of people dying for no good reason. But, at the same time, I don't know how God's kingdom is going to look like other than it's going to be "Life" and all things will be made right. The political program is irrelevant to me, in a sense, other than the fact that Jesus will be made to be seen as Lord.
But if it's going to come through people pushing a certain political or cultural agenda, I don't want that. I don't want to be told how to make political decisions or think about cultural issues with God's name attached to it.
I'm looking at you, Sojourners/TGC.
Of course, I don't this blog post will change anybody's mind. Nor do I think I'm that important of a person to listen to.
But it's either write it down or annoy my poor wife with my thoughts.
Maranatha,
-SJG
