God's Justice, Patience, Grace and the Death of Osama Bin Laden

Last night sent the world spinning into a frenzy with the news of Osama Bin Laden's death. Many Americans recalled memories of September 11th and the threat of this new terrorism that many have endured for the last decade. Cue the parade of blog-spheres and social network sites blowing up with opinions on this subject. This parade seems to have many Christians beating drums to different beats and I merely want to try and conduct some of this rhythm. Forgive me if I'm not faithful to God's Word.

God's Justice
I've read countless Facebook status' and Tweets that declare something about the justice of God and how it relates to the death of Osama Bin Laden. I will deal with God's justice and Bin Laden's death in a moment, but first I want to address the many who have taken delight in the death of Bin Laden and breathed a sigh of relief that our security in the United States is now more secure. I want to say up front that I believe this sort of comment is foolish. Ezekial 33:11 says, "Say to them, 'As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live..." I take comfort in knowing that God is perfect in justice, but I do not delight when he pours out his wrath, because that is not the posture God himself takes. R.C. Sproul wisely points out that when God judges sinners who are without Christ, it is done in tears because this judge is sentencing his own son . If we delight in the punishment of sinners, we are saying that is what heaven will be like as though we are nerds gloating over the punishment of the bullies that tormented us. Nothing could be further from the truth. We will delight in the fact that God chose to save any sinner much less our own self. There are no tormented nerds in heaven. Only bullies who were saved.

As far as American security, take one look at Psalm 90. In that chapter our life is compared to the dew on the grass - to an inhale of air. It's as though our lives are like a breath of air in the winter where we see it for only a moment. Life is short, but more importantly it can be lost in a moment. Bin Laden's death will not prevent somebody from getting into their car and colliding with another on their way home from work today. Bin Laden's death provides no new found security for the patient with terminal cancer. Our lives are so fragile, and to stake security in governments - an invention of man - will leave us empty. Shane Claiborne wisely pointed out in his reflection of September 11th, "A people longing for a savior placed their faith in the fragile hands of human logic and military strength, which have always let us down. They have always fallen short of the glory of God" (The Irresistible Revolution p. 199). This is not to say that I do not believe safety in culture should not be preserved or upheld. We are called to be salt and light in the world. National security is a good thing and as Christians we should be about helping to foster communities that are safe for people. I fully support any government person who chooses to uphold our security both at home and abroad. However, the problem with sin is that it takes good things and makes them the only thing. This is called idolatry and it is alive and well. National security cannot be the ultimate idol we hold to, because as September 11th showed us it can come crashing down in one morning.

I do want to answer the larger issue of God's justice and Bin Laden's death. If I'm honest, for a long time I struggled with how to reconcile justice with death. Derek Webb's lyrics from the song My Enemies Are Like Me ring loud in my ears when he sings, "Peace by war is like purity by way of fornication. It’s like saying murder is wrong and showing them by way of execution." How can we, a sinful people, execute God's justice? However, to ask such a question takes a naive view of scripture. If you take a look at the book of Habakkuk you will see God using the Chaldeans, a very evil nation, to punish and bring justice upon the nation of Israel - God's chosen people. At this point, I would love to spell out a view on God's wrath and how it coincides with justice, but perhaps that is best left suited for another blog post. I do want to simply say that a very weird view that has taken hold in the Church is that somehow God can only use Christians or Christian nations for his purposes. That really isn't Biblical. Heck, the Gospel of Luke was funded by a pagan Roman official! The Church is the primary way in which God works, but it is not the only way. To come full circle, the person who says that God only executes justice outside of human entities makes God devoid of his personal nature and ignores the entire Bible. Not only does God execute justice through the hands of people, but he did so ultimately through the "man" Jesus Christ.

Still, the larger question remains: Do I believe that Osama Bin Laden's execution was an act of God's justice? Absolutely. Romans 13:4-5 is pretty clear: "...But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he(a governing authority) does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer." However, God's wrath has nothing to do with God's supposed "blessing" on the United States or the supposed "righteousness" of our nation. The USA did not work out a deal with God. This has everything to do with His Kingdom and His redemption. There is no righteous person who carries out justice except Jesus. However, God does use sinners to carry out justice in the world that ultimately we may point to Jesus.

At this point someone may interject - what about Bin Laden's redemption? If we take his life, aren't we saying that he is beyond redemption? What about the justice paid in the cross of Christ?

God's Patience
This leads me to discuss the patience of God. Romans 2:4-5 says, "Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed."

I want to first point out that the simple fact that we are all breathing right now is an act of patience on God's behalf. As hard as this is to swallow for some people, we are all in the same boat as Osama Bin Laden. We have all sinned against the glory of God. That is cosmic treason and demands a cosmic punishment both for you, me, and Bin Laden. God would be perfectly just to kill all of us right now, and as we have seen earlier he can use sinful people to do it. In that sense, justice makes sense, but it leaves God as seemingly cruel and indifferent. However, God is not that way. He is by no means tolerant of our actions of sin, but he is loving towards us, and he deals with our sinful nature. God did not send us to our room or slap us on the wrist, because that is not a just punishment. He did not make a way out - he became the way out. This means that Christ took on the cosmic punishment which is ultimate death and the full wrath of God and gave us the relationship he had with God the Father. We can either remain as we are and collapse under this wrath or seek refuge underneath the cross - the only thing to bear the weight of God's wrath.

Why do I spell out a simple gospel message? I want to show that Christ's death and resurrection was for the glory of God not your own. The idea that God would do this for us, and then actually give us a chance to respond to this love and be patient over our life time to respond is remarkable and nothing more then pure grace. John Piper notes in one of his many works on Romans that, "No man will ever be able to say that God did not provide an opportunity for him to repent, nor that God did not give evidence that should have led him to do so." .

Still, one may wish to say "Aren't we perhaps negating the work of God? How are we giving Osama a chance to respond in repentance if we take his life?" To that I would simply say that we cannot put all the stakes in the power of choices. God has a choice as well and I believe that choice is much more powerful then my own. God was not somehow caught off guard by the sudden death of Osama Bin Laden wondering what he should do next, because Bin Laden was supposed to respond in repentance on May 2 and now he can't. God has much more control over the day we die. I'm not saying your choices don't matter, I simply want to point out that I believe at one point or another Bin Laden had some opportunity to respond to grace or there was a much larger use of his life that I cannot yet see. God does not waste his creation.

However, to say we should not take the life of Osama Bin Laden doesn't really hold any ground in my opinion. He was a mass murder and a conniving man who gave false assurance to women and children that if they strapped bombs to their bodies and go into a building they would have eternal bliss on the other side of death. He seemed set on causing further destruction as is evidence by his last stand and a man like that deserves a death to preserve the safety of culture and communities. Was Osama saved? I do not know. I want to believe that God moved in his heart perhaps at the last moment and he responded in repentance, but that is not my job to figure out. To that end, I will mourn the death of such a man who is beloved by God and caused so much heartache in the world and I will rejoice that some may be saved by it. May God truly have mercy on his soul.

God's Grace
Whether you agree with my views or not, or you are somehow still reading - I do want to say that I think we all can agree that God can use this for his glory and plans of redemption. Somehow, God will use the death of Osama Bin Laden to bring people to repentance and a knowledge of him. The beauty of Grace is that no situation is beyond it. May we all be diligent in prayer that Jesus Christ may be seen as beautiful, and that the Gospel would be seen as the only true peace, security, and justice.