Psalm 21 Sermon PART 3A — The Hand That Finds Out

contemporary classical sacred, spoken-word sermon, liturgical/Anglican church music

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We come now, dear brothers and sisters,
to the section of the psalm 
that modern readers most often find difficult.
I do not want to soften it.
I want us to hear what the psalm actually says.

[SECTION SIX — The Enemies and the Fire]
[Cello note sustained, slightly deeper]
[Preacher — measured, careful, theologically serious]

Verses eight through twelve:

Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies.
Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven 
in the time of thine anger.
The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath,
and the fire shall devour them.
Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth,
and their seed from among the children of men.
For they intended evil against thee.
They imagined a mischievous device, 
which they are not able to perform.
Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back,
when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings 
against the face of them.

This is hard.
We will not pretend otherwise.

The language is of consuming fire, 
of swallowed-up wrath, 
of seed wiped from among the children of men.
The destruction described 
is not merely the defeat of enemies in battle.
It is total — 
themselves and their offspring, 
removed from the earth 
in the time of God's anger.

Many modern commentators 
have softened this language.
They have spiritualized the enemies 
into abstract spiritual forces.
They have dissolved the fire 
into metaphor for divine displeasure.
They have explained away 
the destruction of seed and fruit 
as exaggerated poetic convention.

I will not do this.
The psalm means what it says.
The Holy Spirit who inspired it 
did not give us softer language than this 
because softer language 
would not have told the truth.

[SECTION SEVEN — God's Wrath Against Evil]
[Cello note steady]
[Preacher — firm, theological]

What is the truth that this language tells us?

The truth is that God's response to evil 
is not indifference.
God's response to evil is not 
a mild displeasure that can be managed 
by therapeutic interventions.
God's response to evil is wrath.

The modern church has largely lost 
the doctrine of divine wrath.
We have been taught 
that wrath is a sub-Christian concept, 
that the God of Jesus Christ 
is incapable of wrath, 
that the angry God of the Old Testament 
has been replaced 
by the loving God of the New.

This is a serious misreading 
of the biblical witness.

The God of the Old Testament 
and the God of the New Testament 
are the same God.
The wrath of the Lord 
is not contradicted by the love of the Lord.
The wrath of the Lord 
is one of the ways 
the love of the Lord 
is expressed toward what destroys those he loves.

Hear me carefully.
A God who could look upon the rape of a child 
and feel nothing 
would not be a loving God.
A God who could look upon genocide and human trafficking 
and abuse and predation and exploitation 
and feel mild displeasure 
would not be a loving God.
The love of God for the victims of evil 
necessarily includes 
the wrath of God against the evil 
that has destroyed them.

Psalm twenty-one names this wrath plainly.
The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, 
and the fire shall devour them.

This is what biblical wrath looks like.
It is the consuming fire 
that God directs against what has destroyed 
the creatures he loves.

[end]

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[intro] [American Episcopal Scholarly-Preaching Sermon] [Mid-sized Episcopal church acoustic] [Single sustained low cello note] [Faint sanctuary atmosphere] [Preacher — continuing, approaching the hard verses with care] We come now, dear brothers and sisters, to the section of the psalm that modern readers most often find difficult. I do not want to soften it. I want us to hear what the psalm actually says. [SECTION SIX — The Enemies and the Fire] [Cello note sustained, slightly deeper] [Preacher — measured, careful, theologically serious] Verses eight through twelve: Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies. Thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee. They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. This is hard. We will not pretend otherwise. The language is of consuming fire, of swallowed-up wrath, of seed wiped from among the children of men. The destruction described is not merely the defeat of enemies in battle. It is total — themselves and their offspring, removed from the earth in the time of God's anger. Many modern commentators have softened this language. They have spiritualized the enemies into abstract spiritual forces. They have dissolved the fire into metaphor for divine displeasure. They have explained away the destruction of seed and fruit as exaggerated poetic convention. I will not do this. The psalm means what it says. The Holy Spirit who inspired it did not give us softer language than this because softer language would not have told the truth. [SECTION SEVEN — God's Wrath Against Evil] [Cello note steady] [Preacher — firm, theological] What is the truth that this language tells us? The truth is that God's response to evil is not indifference. God's response to evil is not a mild displeasure that can be managed by therapeutic interventions. God's response to evil is wrath. The modern church has largely lost the doctrine of divine wrath. We have been taught that wrath is a sub-Christian concept, that the God of Jesus Christ is incapable of wrath, that the angry God of the Old Testament has been replaced by the loving God of the New. This is a serious misreading of the biblical witness. The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are the same God. The wrath of the Lord is not contradicted by the love of the Lord. The wrath of the Lord is one of the ways the love of the Lord is expressed toward what destroys those he loves. Hear me carefully. A God who could look upon the rape of a child and feel nothing would not be a loving God. A God who could look upon genocide and human trafficking and abuse and predation and exploitation and feel mild displeasure would not be a loving God. The love of God for the victims of evil necessarily includes the wrath of God against the evil that has destroyed them. Psalm twenty-one names this wrath plainly. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. This is what biblical wrath looks like. It is the consuming fire that God directs against what has destroyed the creatures he loves. [end]

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