This morning, as I was reading Isaiah, I was reminded of the connection between worship and warfare, especially in regards to the end of this age on the earth. There is a divine connection between worship, which brings heaven to earth, and the destruction of everything on earth or in the heavens that stands against Jesus!

What brought this back to my memory was Isaiah 30:32 (NIV), where it says “Every stroke the Lord lays on them with his punishing club will be to the music of timbrels and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.”

We may have a tendency in the natural to fear the things that will take place at end of the age. We fear the destruction. But why do we fear? As is the case with our own hearts, the only things that we can possibly lose by worshipping and following Jesus are things we were not meant to keep, or things we were not meant to be, in the first place. Every tower and principality and kingdom that will fall at the end of the age was not meant to remain anyway…these are only powers that stand in opposition to God’s Kingdom of Love (Isaiah 16:5). When heaven comes to earth (in response to our prayers…including the Lord’s Prayer), Satan’s kingdom on the earth doesn’t stand a chance. In Isaiah 24, there is a description of the destruction of the earth at the end of the age. Very few people, it says, remain. Yet what do we find the people of God doing in Isaiah 24? The answer is in verses 14-16:

They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.
Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;
exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
in the islands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.”

Perhaps, in the end, we will find that it is this very worship that God is using to destroy the oppressive kingdoms of the earth…

“Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song,
And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.
Let Israel be glad in his Maker;
Let the sons of Zion rejoice in their King.
Let them praise His name with dancing;
Let them sing praises to Him with timbrel and lyre.
For the Lord takes pleasure in His people;
He will beautify the afflicted ones with salvation.

Let the godly ones exult in glory;
Let them sing for joy on their beds.
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth,
And a two-edged sword in their hand,
To execute vengeance on the nations
And punishment on the peoples,
To bind their kings with chains
And their nobles with fetters of iron,
To execute on them the judgment written;
This is an honor for all His godly ones.
Praise the Lord!
~Psalm 149:1-9 (NASB)

“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and establishes a town by injustice!
Has not the LORD Almighty determined
that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.”
~Habakkuk 2:14-16 (NIV)