Introduction

God is revealed in nature, history, and Scripture as the all-glorious and incomprehensible Sovereign Lord upon whom we gaze and to whom we give all praise. In this gazing we know Him and yet we know the One who is unknowable. That is, we know Him truly but it is impossible for us to know Him fully. As He says,

"…my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:9).

Our regular struggle to know the incomprehensible God is cast in bold relief by the horrid events of this past week, by the destruction that was caused at the Pentagon and in New York City. It is gut wrenching and makes us search for solid answers in distressing times. Because this is so much on our minds and because it is too massive to put into perspective easily, I want to direct our thoughts today to our resource in God speaking through Christ by the Spirit in Scripture. This will have a problem and solution format. My title is "When Towers Fall."

1A. Perspective on the Problem that Challenges Our Faith

When we ask for a bottom line on this terrifying evil we voice the often repeated "Why?" question: "Why did this happen?" And the question may be asked again and again with refinement. Lord, why did this happen? Lord, why did you allow this to happen? Lord, why did you not prevent this from happening? Furthermore, we have to broaden the scope of the question. We have to ask, "Why Lord do ten thousand die in an earthquake? Why the death and suffering of hundreds of thousands in wars and rumors of wars? More narrowly our inquiry becomes, "Why this city or that city at this time? Why the cities in America that symbolize power and wealth (governance and materialism)?"

As Christians we must remember that this nation, our nation, America is hardly a Christian nation. In a fundamental sense, however, we can say that America is the daughter of Christianity. One example of this fact is "the balance of powers" form of government that we have. This form of government that has distinguished us since the founding fathers is based on the biblical doctrine of man's total depravity. That doctrine led the founders to a basic premise: the rulers, the people in power cannot be given unfettered power because unfettered power puts the people who are ruled in chains (unfettered power fetters). Give too much freedom to some totally depraved sinners and you will take too much freedom away from other totally depraved sinners.

This impact of belief in human depravity in the formative years of American history is well documented by M. Stanton Evans in his book The Theme is Freedom (1994). Chapter six is titled, "If men Were Angels." If men were angels then no government would be necessary. But men are not angels neither those being ruled nor those doing the ruling (104, 96). It is the biblical doctrine of sinful human nature that was "the motif of American political theory from the outset" (97). Belief in Original Sin was translated into "constitutionalism, the rule of law, and careful safeguards against arbitrary power" (98). So what is envisioned where governments whether, American, Jewish, Arabic, or Japanese are formed without giving due justice to this belief in man's depravity? The result will be deception, oppression, and tyranny within that nation and/or the carnage of war outside that nation.

In this context, recent events remind us of two things: a) The nation that forgets God will be turned to destruction, and b) When man asserts his autonomy and departs from the Lord he becomes a threat to his neighbor. As it was after the Fall when Cain spilled the blood of his brother Abel so it continues to be: nation rises up against nation, neighbor against neighbor, and the blood of those who are murdered cries out to the Lord from the ground (Gen. 4:10). Hence, we witness the horror of man's inhumanity to man. In this light, we must ask a different question, "What happened to human in human race?" Here we must say, "The noble creature has become devilish. Refusing to submit to God, we have turned the world into paradise lost. We have exchanged heavenly blessing for earthly destruction. We store up wrath against the day of wrath."

To summarize these brief comments on the problem, notice that I am saying outright that this event should cause us to examine ourselves and acknowledge our sins. Columnists are misguided when they write about how "we should not change as a people" and that "we are a good people: modernist, secular, rational, and humane."

I am also saying that we should see such atrocities as a consequence of asserted autonomy and departure from obedience to God. Departing from God we lose our true humanity and manifest this loss by degrees across a continuum of evils, sometimes in small wrongs and sometimes in huge atrocities.

2A. Perspective on the Solution that Confirms Our Faith

To direct our thoughts to the solution (or some answer to the deep significance question that surfaces in this context and contexts like it), let's consider this question: can I make the following application of Isaiah 54:8a, 10-17?

…Though the [buildings] be shaken and the [towers] be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord, who has compassion on you. "O afflicted city [of New York], lashed by storms and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. All your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be your children's peace. In righteousness you will be established: Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me," declares the Lord.

Here is the claim I want to make in this connection: this passage can be applied to New York City and to the cities of the nations when we interpret the passage in its largest context. As we will see, the context to which I refer extends not only to other chapters in Isaiah but all the way into the NT and to Jesus at the temple in Jerusalem with a whip in His hand. Now let's begin with God's sovereignty over the destroyer.

1B. The Sovereignty of God over the destroyer who works havoc

1) Isaiah 54:16 is striking in its straightforwardness. It is God who says, "It is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc." This has to be balanced with verses 14-15a: "Tyranny will be far from you; you will have nothing to fear. Terror will be far removed; it will not come near you. If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing." In the latter text the promise of God is emphasized. That there will be "nothing to fear" and terror "will not come near you" is reinforced by the fact that if you are attacked "it will not be my doing."

What is meant by "not my doing" and how does it square with the strong language of verse 16? Not near means that they will not prevail (v. 17) and "not my doing" means that those who come against you will not be following my orders or my commands; in the sense of God's prescriptive will, those who come against you are doing so in disobedience. But nonetheless, verse 16 informs us that if they do come against you they can only do so because of God's complete and absolute control as sovereign Lord. Thus the sense is: "I create the destroyer to work havoc. I create those who cause waste of both men and things but these destroyers will not prevail in their intentions. Instead, they will bring about my intentions." This convergence of things would defy belief if not given to us in Scripture.

2) A microcosm of God's sovereignty over the destroyer is found in the Joseph narrative. At seventeen years old, Joseph was hated by his brothers, almost murdered by them, and finally sold to slave traders in route to Egypt for twenty shekels of silver (Gen. 37:2-4, 18-20, 28). Some twenty years later Joseph had risen from slave to statesman in Egypt, second in command to the Pharaoh. A widespread famine brought the brothers to Egypt where eventually Joseph revealed himself to them. In a flood of tears he said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" (Gen.45:3a). He did not ask about his mother since he was present when she died giving birth to his younger brother Benjamin (Gen. 35:18). But his brothers were terrified (Gen. 45:3b).

To console them he cites the sovereignty of God in language that is so strong that it is as if the brothers had not wronged him. Of course, Joseph knows very well of the pain and suffering they afflicted on him (45:4b, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt). But he skips the human and secondary cause of his suffering and goes directly to the primary cause and he does so in very bold terms: "it was not you that sent me here, but God" (45:8, cf. 4-8).

If that is not clear, and I don't see how the clarity can be missed, then consider the final account that takes place after the death of Jacob. The brothers are still afraid of Joseph (lacking faith in the promise of God): "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?" (50:15). In this context, we have the classic words of Genesis 50:20, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done."

We have to marvel at the paradoxical language of this account. This must appear to our minds as a contradiction between the intentions of man and the intentions of God. Whose intentions were accomplished in the evil done to Joseph? To a point the intentions of the brothers were accomplished. That is, they got their twenty pieces of silver and bitter satisfaction to their thirst for Joseph's blood and suffering. But they knew not that they were instruments in the hands of the Lord in the accomplishment of His sovereign purposes. Difficult to comprehend but reassuring to our feeble hearts, we are told that there is more here than the brothers choosing this evil because we are also told that the evil acts of men are intended by God to work His will in the course of human history.

3) On a macro scale, a most revealing passage on God's sovereignty is Isaiah 10. Some translators render the opening of verse 5 with the words, "O, Assyrian, the rod of my anger." But this "O" contains a "woe." So there is a pronouncement of judgment here on one of the most ruthless nations of the ancient world. We have no difficulty with that because we sense the need for righteousness to be vindicated in the day of God's wrath.

However, this passage throws us back on our heels and practically knocks us off our feet in the directness of its presentation of the sovereignty of God. To begin with, just consider the opening phrase again: "Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger." The Assyrian that comes under a woe of divine judgment is the rod of God's anger. God used the Assyrian nation as an instrument of His wrath. The instrumentality is expressed further in the latter half of the verse: "in whose hand is the club of my wrath!" (Isa. 10:5b, Assyria has a club in its hand that is identified as God's club).

And Isaiah is seen to be even more straightforward when we correctly identify the godless nation cited in verse 6. It is not Assyria (though it is godless). The godless nation is the kingdom of Israel. Jehovah's rod of anger and club of wrath is Assyria. The Assyrians are sent by the Lord to do His bidding: "to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets."

But whose intentions are being worked out in these things done by Assyria? It is not the intentions of Assyria! (10:7a). To be sure, Assyria has intentions: "his purpose is to destroy, to put an end to many nations" (17:7b). But profoundly, the commanders of the Assyrian army were God's commanders, the king of Assyria was God's commander, and the kings of all nations are God's commanders (10:8a). In all their commanding, leading, deceiving, plundering, enslaving, and destroying they do the Lord's bidding.

Thus it has to be said that when Assyria ended its assault on Israel as a club of wrath in the hand of Jehovah, then and in that very way God finished His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Then He will punish Assyria for doing what it intended as a bloodthirsty nation, that went forth conquering the nations of the ancient world (10:12-14). The Assyrian Empire plundered the nations like one who reached into a nest to gather abandoned eggs: no country could stand, their goods were stripped from them, "not one flapped a wing, or opened its mouth to chirp" (10:14).

The woe of God's wrath comes upon Assryia for its sin of pride as well as destruction despite the fact that it is a rod and club in God's hand. This is forcefully stated in the analogies of ax and saw: "Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it, or the saw boast against him who uses it" (10:15a). Returning to the images of the rod and club, the Lord says, "As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up, or a club brandish him who is not wood!"

Profoundly, we are told that it is God who swings the ax and uses the saw; when the Assyrians take ax in hand to destroy they do so as instruments in the hand of God in the realization of His will. They are instruments in the holy hands of God; they wield weapons of destruction with unholy hands; and God will not only use them in His judgment of others but He will also judge them for their sins.

We can only fall on our faces in worship of our sovereign Lord. We must acknowledge the sins of men and nations at the same time that we acknowledge that through these very sins God works His wrath and accomplishes His will. They have their evil purposes but our Lord has His higher purposes that He brings about through secondary causes. He foils the goals of the nations bringing His goals to pass (Ps. 33:10-11).

2B. The Sovereignty of God in giving mercy to the nations

The Almighty God and Lord of heaven and earth "works all things after the counsel of His will" (Eph. 1:11). In doing so, He is working all things together for good to those who love Him because He has called them from darkness to light (Rom. 8:28-30). From Romans we know that the called include "even us" from among the Gentiles. That is to say, His call includes even us of the nations of the earth (you and me here today).

The context for this "even us" in one way is John's concern from prison that Jesus does not bring in the kingdom as expected (Matt. 11:2-2-3). The expectation was for the blessing of Israel and for judgment on the nations, the separation of wheat and chaff by winnowing and burning (Matt. 3:10-12). However, the kingdom was taken from Israel and given to another (Matt. 21:43). Why judgment on Israel? In one summary way we can say that it is because Israel made God's house of prayer into a den of thieves. So picture Jesus in the temple area with whip in hand (Jn. 2:15) "driving out those who were selling" (Lk. 19:45). Per Isaiah 56:7, He said to them, "'My house will be a house of prayer'; but you have made it 'a den of robbers.'"

So instead of judgment what do the nations now receive? They receive the gospel overture of forgiveness from a Sower sowing seed and a Fisherman casting his net into the sea of nations. Judgment is delayed until the harvest at the end (Matt. 13). Now the gospel is to be proclaimed to the ends of the earth (Matt. 28). The house of prayer in Isaiah 56:7, we are told, is "for all nations." Now there is no shrine, no temple, no city, and no land that is holy. The people who commit themselves to the Lord Jesus Christ are the (holy) temple of the living God.

In this context the question of Jesus about the tower that fell takes its shape (Lk. 13:1-5). When towers fall we are to be reminded that there is a more horrifying death. What is more horrifying is to die without repentance: "Unless you repent you will all likewise perish." The move is from some to all and the likeness is from the lessor to the greater. The greater perishing is to fall into the hands of an angry God. Our God, remember, is a consuming fire.

So in the midst of the conflict of the nations, what does the Christian church do as warriors in the kingdom of Christ? The church takes the healing balm of the gospel to the nations calling for repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the armor of our warfare.

Conclusion: There are two fundamental things that we must do when towers fall.

1) We must acknowledge our sin. We must say, "We have done this terrible evil as the fallen human family." This is our sin. The potential is in our hearts. This we must acknowledge. As Americans we must say that we bring such things upon ourselves when we forget the God of our fathers and the true king Jesus Christ the Lord.

2) We must bow in thankfulness and praise to our sovereign God. We must be doubly thankful for God's saving grace and providential rule. It is here that we find comfort. Our ultimate comfort is to know that the Lord God Omnipotent reigns. As B. B. Warfield put it with regard to World War I where "Men seem to have broken away from the government of conscience, and even from the guidance of the common instincts of humanity." Thus when we hear of "ruthless struggle" and "only cries of rage and despair" he says,