The Enemies of God

The scatterer has come up against you. Man the ramparts; watch the road; dress for battle; collect all your strength. For the LORD is restoring the majesty of Jacob as the majesty of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their branches. The shield of his mighty men is red; his soldiers are clothed in scarlet. The chariots come with flashing metal on the day he musters them; the cypress spears are brandished. The chariots race madly through the streets; they rush to and fro through the squares; they gleam like torches; they dart like lightning. He remembers his officers; they stumble as they go, they hasten to the wall; the siege tower is set up. The river gates are opened; the palace melts away; its mistress is stripped; she is carried off, her slave girls lamenting, moaning like doves and beating their breasts. Nineveh is like a pool whose waters run away. “Halt! Halt!” they cry, but none turns back. Plunder the silver, plunder the gold! There is no end of the treasure or of the wealth of all precious things. Desolate! Desolation and ruin! Hearts melt and knees tremble; anguish is in all loins; all faces grow pale!
Nahum 2:1–10
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The Enemies of God
The enemies of God are real. They are fierce and they attack the people of God. The enemies of God come at the church from outside and they attack from the inside. They take the Word of God and use it to twist the truth and to introduce doubt and despair. Luther reminds us in the Small Catechism that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature are trying to deceive us and mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. The goal is to take the Word of God from you and to keep you from believing. The Lord God holds nothing back in his fight against these enemies. He dresses you for battle. He prepares you for the fight. God is your strength and your shield and he has given you the dagger fit for your hand. Through all of this, the earth is laid waste, the battle is long, and the warfare is fierce, but God is restoring the majesty to Jacob by the blood of Jesus. Whereas our sins are red like scarlet and our iniquities are crimson, it is the very blood of Jesus that has won the victory over sin and death and the power of the devil for you. The Lord is preparing a place in Zion for you. Worry not about the ruins all around you. Your Lord Jesus makes all things new. He has started with your heart.