Worship and Apocalyptic Warfare

Having finished a full draft of this work, I began seeing other themes surfacing in the Book of Revelation—elements of war and weapon imagery, especially between the angelic armies and Satan’s. Then I looked through the Psalms and saw the same. Certainly one expects war elements in the Old Testament, as God’s people struggle to free themselves of pagan peoples who conquer and enslave them when they sin and disobey the Law. But what I was not expecting was to see worship associated with war. 

The elements of war appear right after the fall of worship, when God curses the serpent for beguiling Eve and then Adam: “I will put enmity [war] between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed” (Gen. 3:15). So for the woman and her seed, God establishes a war with Satan to recover God’s creation for his glory. 

Then God places before the Garden of Eden the cherubim and “a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3:24).  

We see war as worship exemplified in how Pharaoh and his Egyptian armies try to prevent the people of Israel from leaving Egypt (a figure for slavery to sin) to go to a deserted place to offer sacrificial worship to God (Exod. 5:2, 14). This is part of God’s initial plan to “smite” those enslaving his people (3:20). God commands Moses first part the Red Sea and then to cause it to recede and drown Pharaoh’s army. The people worship God, chanting, 

The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name. Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea; and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea (Exod. 15:2-4). 

So, we praise worship of God, “a man of war,” who conquers the Antichrist (of Pharaoh and his army); this is true worship! 

Satan battles God’s people as they cross the Jordan to enter the promised land. They must battle Jericho; the commander of God’s army leads Joshua (“Jesus”) and the people of Israel to obliterate the city of Jericho by the blaring of trumpets (Josh. 5-6). Then Satan riles up the five nations and kings of Palestine against God’s people; Joshua leads the armies, yet God is the one who slays the soldiers with hailstones (10:5-27). And yet Joshua’s campaign under God’s command, too, is worship. 

God warns Cain after his unacceptable worship, “sin is couching at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it” (Gen. 4:7). So an evil disposition in worship decays that worship, leading to more sin.  

Jesus warns the scribes and Pharisees that their wrongful dispositions led to the murder of prophets inside the sanctuary of worship: 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! . . . I send you prophets and wise men and scribes [like Abel], some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly, I say to you, all this will come upon this generation.  

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! . . . Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down (Matt. 23:29-37, 24:2). 

The war over fallen worship calls for faithful soldiers. Jesus leads us with the heavenly army to the final victory. As the angel tells John toward the end of the Book of Revelation,  

“Worship God.” . . . Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon 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 inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad 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, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, king of kings and Lord of lords. . . .  

And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who sits upon the horse and against his army (Rev. 19:10-16,19). 

In his brand-new book, Bible Worship, Fr. John Waiss reveals what Scripture teaches about true worship and its power in our battle against evil. Get your copy today!