God's Battle Axe

 

Everyone knows what a ‘battle-axe’ is – a weapon of warfare, with sharp edges, employed from the beginning of the eighth century to the end of the 11th century by the Scandinavian foot soldiers and maritime marauders during their heyday. They were particularly associated with the Vikings in Western Europe. Yet the Bible declares in Jeremiah 51:19-23 (New King James Version)

‘…You are My battle-axe and weapons of war: For with you I will break the nation in pieces; With you I will destroy kingdoms; With you I will break in pieces the horse and its rider; With you I will break in pieces the chariot and its rider; With you also I will break in pieces man and woman; With you I will break in pieces old and young; With you I will break in pieces the young man and the maiden; With you also I will break in pieces the shepherd and his flock; With you I will break in pieces the farmer and his yoke of oxen; And with you I will break in pieces governors and rulers’.

 

However, we also know from the Bible (Ephesians 6: 12) that as God’s children, our warfare is “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”. This suggests that our battle is not physical, but spiritual. Hence, Ephesians 6: 13-17 provides us with a whole list of ‘body armour’ (girdle of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, boots of the gospel of peace; the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God) that we need for this warfare.

 

What does it mean then to be God’s battle axe, His weapons of war, if our weapon of warfare is not physical, like a typical man-made ‘battle-axe’? The passage in Jeremiah 51: 19-23 states that God will use us to break nations in pieces, to destroy kingdom, to break in pieces the horse and its rider, the chariot and its rider, man and woman, both old and young. It also says He will use us to break in pieces the young man and the maiden, shepherd and his flock, the farmer and his yoke of oxen, governors and rulers’. These are such incredible promises that it is not possible in the time and space provided to elaborate on what this entails for us as believers. However, the interesting thing as well is the fact that the Bible also says in Isaiah 41: 14-15, “Fear not, you worm Jacob, You men of Israel! I will help you”, says the Lord And your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat [them] small, and shalt make the hills as chaff”. How can God use a ‘worm’ as a ‘sharp threshing instrument having teeth’? Well, this is possible because we do not go into our spiritual battle in our own strength, because ‘the battle is not ours, but the Lord’s’. All through the bible, from the days of Abraham to the early Apostles, we find that every battle or challenge that confronted them, they overcame because “the Lord of hosts’ was with them. Given this assurance, we know that God can use even the most insignificant person (including ‘a worm’) as his ‘battle-axe’ to win any type of battle.

 

Whether it is a battle we face in our everyday lives, at home, work, business, or whatever it is, God says we are His battle axe, and can overcome every challenge or opposition the devil throws at us. The Bible is replete with many ‘battle-axes’ that God used to overcome kings, and kingdoms. For us today, the assurance is that if God has called us His ‘battle-axe’, then that is what we are. Therefore, we have no reason to fear even if the devil roars at us as an angry lion, just like Goliath and the Philistines did with the children of Israel, until David, God’s battle-axe, rose up to the challenge, and confronted him head-on (1 Samuel 17). Just like little David overcame the mighty giant, with 5 pebbles, we too, as God’s battle axes can overcome, because ‘greater is He that is in us, than the devil that is in the world’ (1 John 4: 4).