December 11

If God's enemies continue to harden themselves against the truth by refusing to repent, destruction is all they can look forward to. They are like animals "made to be taken and destroyed" (2 Peter 2:12). And they may know beforehand what will destroy them-- the Word of God: "If any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed" (Revelation 11:5). These men freely butchered and burned the saints, yet the Word the saints preached will destroy their enemies. It lives on to avenge the saints on their enemies. God's Word will give them the fatal stroke.

The sword of the Word has a long reach; it is at the breast of every enemy God has. And although they feel secure and powerful, sooner or later God will open one door or another to let destruction come upon them. The prophet expressed the impending ruin of the Philistines by announcing: "Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast... the Word of the Lord is against you" (Zephaniah 2:5); as if he was saying, "You are a lost people and the whole world cannot save you now, because the Word of the Lord is against you." Like lightning, the curse of the Word burns to the very root of sin. All seven nations of Canaan fell into the mouth of Israel as ripe fruit falls into the mouth of the one who shakes the tree. The Word of the Lord had gone before them and the fate of their foes was certain.

Too often we look upon government as the forces that control the earth's affairs, yet these are no more than a fly on the wheel. It is the Word of God which decides all that is done on the world's stage. "I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy... to build, and to plant" (Jeremiah 1:10). The whole earth is God's; and who has power to build on His ground, or pull down, but Himself?

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