Page 109 - Pentateuch

catch the blood in a golden goblet for the priest to drink. Scholars know about these
ceremonies by studying Moche artwork, like the frieze of naked prisoners discovered on
Huaca Cao Viejo’s plaza walls. Bones of sacrifice victims – incorporated into the frieze and
buried under the plaza floor – show evidence of extreme torture before the grisly
executions. 128

th
We wonder about world events like the spread of communism in the 20 century. Millions of people lost
their lives in the U.S.S.R. and China. We wonder about the Nazi extermination of six million Jews during
World War II. The examples seem endless. The world does not seem to change much. In 1994, during the
space of about 100 days, some 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda, almost 20% of the population. With
the rise of Islam, more people are losing their homes and their lives in places like Nigeria, Egypt, Syria, and
other countries. Can God really be working in such events? We wonder if Satan isn’t the one who is actually
behind genocide and other atrocities.

We must distinguish responsibilities. Yes, Satan is active in this world. He was often behind the religious
practices in Canaan that led to child sacrifice (1 Cor. 10:18-21). He is often behind the terrible events in our
world today. 129 Yes, people do what they want to do. God honors their wills and choices. To be a human is a
serious matter. Yet YHWH remains sovereign. He can use Satan’s intended evil or a human’s intentions as
either judgment or as a warning or as grace or as all of these and more at the same time. Humans can have
one purpose in mind for action. Satan can have another or the same purpose in mind. Yet God, in his
sovereign wisdom, power, righteousness, and love, can have multiple reasons for that same action. We can
hardly know the full story, but we can thoughtfully extend how God has worked in the past to faintly grasp
what he might be doing today.

So then, was this all-ruling Christ building His church on September 11? I answer
with questions that are not merely hypothetical. What if Christ saw the planes heading for
the destruction of thousands and the upheaval of nations? What if, at the same time, He
saw 200 million Hindu untouchables in India, the Dalits? What if He saw that His centuries-
long work of dislodging them from Hindu bondage was about to come to consummation in
our day, and they were contemplating embracing Islam or possibly Christianity or
Buddhism? And what if He foresaw that this Islam-related terror against civilians in New
York would have a mass effect of tilting millions of Dalits away from Islam toward Christ?
What if He withheld His power from stopping the terrorists because (along with ten
thousand other hope-filled effects) He had a view to the everlasting life of millions of
untouchables in India? And if not this, perhaps my grandchildren will tell a better story of
sovereign grace, which only time reveals. 130

In some ways, we have come a long way from the ban in ancient Israel. Yet, in other ways, our reflection on
this one-time command teaches us much about how God works in this world throughout history. Our holy
YHWH is serious about loving people. He is also serious about judging people who reject his love. His people
are no longer involved in judging others in such an active way, but each can marvel and ponder when
judgment happens, hoping that such warnings will draw many more people to Him.

128 Peter Gwin, “Peruvian Temple of Doom,” National Geographic, July 2004, 109.
129 Much has been written about the tragedy that occurred in Rwanda. Some have suggested the influence of demons.
Evidence is cited about a prophetess named Little Pebbles who foresaw the coming of Christ on Easter Sunday in 1992.
See Peter Gourevitch, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We will Be Killed with our Families (New York: Farrar,
Straus, & Giroux, 1998), 78-79.
130 John Piper, Pierced by the Word (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2003), 104-105.
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