You may be familiar with the verse "No weapon that is fashioned against us will succeed" (or stand, or prevail or prosper, depending on your translation). It's used in a line in more than one Christian song, and it often gets quoted or prayed in situations where the church or individuals within the church feel under attack from other people or evil. And it is a Biblical promise. But I came across this verse this morning as I was reading Isaiah, and was struck by how much richer this promise is in its original context (not sure why I was surprised though; this is usually the case with one-liners from the Bible). I've generally thought of this concept of weapons not being able to stand against us as being simply of the "Our God is greater, our God is stronger, God you are higher than any other" kind of assurance. And the element of God being more powerful than any weapon and therefore able to stop any weapon is, of course, true and biblical. But there's more to it than that. God is not just more powerful than any attack against his people.
This little well-quoted portion of a verse comes, first of all, in the larger context of Isaiah 51-55, which is all about God's redemption of his people by means of the "Suffering Servant" of Isaiah 53, the Saviour who was pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. In Isaiah 51, in the context of outlining God's redemption of his people, Isaiah speaks for God saying, "My salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed... Fear not the reproach of man, nor be dismayed at their revilings... I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies?" Paul, looking back at Isaiah from the perspective of Jesus' completed work at the cross, puts it this way in Romans 8: "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?..."
So God is not just more powerful than evil forces and people, he has also shown his absolute commitment to the salvation and protection of his people at the cross of Jesus, and therefore we need not fear. But there is more. This is the immediate context:
"Behold, I have created the smith
who blows the fire of coals
and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
and you shall confute every tongue that rises up against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
and their vindication from me, declares the Lord."
In Isaiah's flow of thought, those weapons don't come out of nowhere, and they don't come from forces that swirl uncontrolled (but less powerful than God) somewhere out there. God says that he is the creator of both the weapon-maker ("the smith" who makes a weapon for a designated purpose) and the weapon-wielder ("the ravager"). And if he creates them both, then as his creations, they are fully subject to his authority and will. It is not the case that God fights on our behalf against less powerful, but fully-autonomous forces of evil out there. He fights on our behalf against less powerful and ultimately subordinate creatures that as Creator, he knows inside and out and controls for his purposes. And if the smith and the ravager are created by the same powerful God who calls us his people and willingly gave up his Son for us, how could their weapons possibly prevail against us?
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