A Call To Arms

A Call to Arms

2 Chronicles 32:6-8

And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying, Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

In 701 BC, the king of the Assyrian Empire, Sennacherib, conducted military campaigns in the western part of the Empire. Judah’s king Hezekiah incited by Egypt and other disgruntled officials of Assyria, renounced his allegiance to the Empire along with other small states in the area. Sidon, Ammon, Edom, and Moab all were taken by force and paid tribute without resistance. Sennacherib then turned his attention to Jerusalem. Hezekiah had told the Israelites before the battle that all the Assyrians had was arm of flesh but they had God on their side and would fight for them. The people believed their king. The Assyrian king besieged the city and gave the surrounding cities to vassal rules in Gaza, Ekron, and Ashdod, but could not breech the walls of Jerusalem. When faced with the threat of war, Hezekiah called the people together and reminded them that God was there to fight for them and against the might of the Assyrian Empire they prevailed. The Israelites believed God would not allow the Assyrians to win and that was what happened.

It is this faith, this belief in God, which all Christians need to have; the belief that with God with us there can be no one who can stand against us. It certainly is the one belief God wants us to have. In Luke 18:27 Jesus told us “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Can we have any more reason to believe God can indeed do anything in to aid us in whatever course of action we take? In today’s reading, we are told that the Assyrian army, which was vastly superior to what they faced in Jerusalem, could not capture the city. We read in Judges Chapter 7 that Gideon defeated the combined armies of Midian and the Amalekites with just 300 men! There should be no argument that with God on our side there is nothing we Christians cannot accomplish!

It is not my desire to get political; the pulpit is here for the proclamation of God’s Word, and that is all! But there are times when the world of politics overlaps with the Word of God and you cannot talk about one without talking about the other. In May of 2019 the state of Georgia signed a bill into law that stated an abortion cannot be performed once a baby’s heartbeat can be detected, which is roughly six weeks into the pregnancy. The law is scheduled to go into effect on the first of January 2020, but it first must face the many hurdles of judicial review in State and Federal courts.

What is the result of the passing of this law in Georgia and other states (nine states have passed similar legislation this year)? All flights to Georgia from Los Angeles have been banned. Many actors, actresses, and movie companies are refusing to travel and work in states these heartbeat laws. On the 10th of June, representatives from over 180 companies representing over 108 thousand employees signed a petition against Georgia’s heartbeat law stating the law was “against their moral standards” and “bad for business”.

The only question I have to ask is why is this an issue? As soon as the mother’s egg cell and the father’s sperm cell unite there is a human life growing in the womb. There are many who try to disprove this simple statement, but it is true none the less! According to the Dorland's Medical Dictionary for Health Consumers copyrighted in 2007, life is defined as “the quality or principle by which living things are distinguished from inorganic matter, as manifested by such phenomena as metabolism, growth, reproduction, adaptation, etc.” Within hours the single cell divides and begins to grow. Within just a few short weeks the baby will have a metabolism. With the union of the egg and sperm cell, we have the 23 human chromosome pairs every human has. The baby is human in its chromosomes, down to its DNA. What else is needed for the baby to be considered a living human?

The Bible tells us in Ephesians 6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” And in truth this battle about abortion rights is one of ideals. Even though it is the baby’s flesh and blood that is in the crossfire, it is a battle of politics, a battle about what is alive, a battle about what is human, a battle about what is right and what is wrong. With all this talk about battles, I can believe many, if not all, are asking “Are we at war?”