“A Biblical Perspective on the Death of Bin Laden”

“Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.”

Those were the words our president shared with the world late Sunday evening
(5/1/11).

Osama bin Laden was the one human being most responsible for 9/11. He claimed responsibility for it and pledged to attack in the future.

So when I heard late Sunday night that Bin Laden had been shot, part of me shared the president’s words who simply said “we got him”, after watching the live footage of the operation.

But it was something less than what Senator Mitch McConnell said, when he announced, “Those who remember the horror of 9/11 take a certain satisfaction knowing that the last thing Osama bin Laden saw in this world was the small team of Americans who shot him dead,”

What is the Christian response to news like this? It’s important to see how our faith intersects with real life, so let’s spend some time looking at what Scripture has to say about this.

1) It is wrong to seek personal revenge

Romans 12: 19a Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God,

Proverbs 20:22 Do not say, "I will repay evil"; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

And our Lord was the perfect example of that wasn’t He?

1 Peter 2:23 and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;

2) It is right to seek national retribution

Because men bear the image of God, we possess a value that the animal kingdom does not and are not free to take life without suffering the consequences of our actions.

Genesis 9:6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.

It is the God ordained function of government to use the sword (an instrument of death) to punish evil doers

Romans 13:3-4

3 For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;

4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

1 Peter 2:13-14

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority,

14 or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.

3) It is wrong to think humans can carry our perfect justice

We have no ability to carry out perfect justice. That is left to God alone.

Rom 12:19b for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord.

AL Mohler said…

“Once again, Christians are reminded of the inherent limitations of justice in a fallen and sinful world. At our very best, we can achieve only a small proportion of adequate justice. We can convict the murderer and put him to death, but we cannot bring the dead back to life. We can put an end to Osama bin Laden, but we are robbed of the satisfaction of seeing him answer for his crimes.” (Read his full post here)

4) It is right to trust that God will carry out perfect justice

Gen 18:25c “Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?"

Psalm 98:9 He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.

Really death was the least of Bin Laden’s worries. A thick cement wall and barbed wire was not going to prevent death from happening. Even if we never “got him”, death eventually would have. Death was not Bin Laden’s biggest concern, after death is.

Luke 12:4-5

4"I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do.

5 "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

5) It is wrong to celebrate death.

Proverbs 24:17-18 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Or the LORD will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him.

In his blog, Tom Ascol posted this…

“I am very grateful that justice has been served. But I cannot rejoice that Bin Laden is now suffering under the wrath of God--the very same fate that I deserve but from which I have been rescued, not by my righteousness, but by the sovereign grace of God in Jesus Christ.” (Read the full post here)

Ezek 18:23 "Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked," declares the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?

Ezekiel 33:11 "Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord GOD, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!

6) It is right to celebrate justice being carried out.

Proverbs 21:15 The exercise of justice is joy for the righteous, But is terror to the workers of iniquity.

Psalm 37:28 For the LORD loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off.

So it is appropriate to celebrate justice but are we celebrating justice or our nation? I like what Tom Ascol says further…

“Yes, we can celebrate the proper execution of God-ordained justice against evil in the world. But some of the euphoric displays of joy on the part of Christians--even Christian leaders--at the news of Bin Laden's death leave me cold. Their celebrations strike me as more American than Christian--which is precisely the problem with much Christianity in America in our day.”

7) It’s right to pray for America

You should be praying for your country and those that lead it. Pray for the president and our military.

1 Timothy 2:1 First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men,

2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,

8) It is wrong not to pray for terrorists

Matthew 5:43-45

43 "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.'

44 "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

45 So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

9) It is right to desire judgment

Psalm 94:1 O LORD, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth!

2 Rise up, O Judge of the earth, Render recompense to the proud.

3 How long shall the wicked, O LORD, How long shall the wicked exult?

4 They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly; All who do wickedness vaunt themselves.

Rev 6 :10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

10) It is wrong to despise mercy

One of the things that really struck me this week is how quick we are to cry for judgment for others but mercy for ourselves. We desire that God would judge the thief but have mercy on the covetous, judge the adulterer but have mercy on those who struggle with lust, judge the murderer but have mercy on those who struggle with anger. We want God to judge on our own terms and have mercy on our terms. Where do we want God to stop? We can’t desire judgment for others and mercy for ourselves.

This truth was powerfully communicated in the book of Jonah.

Jonah 1:1-3

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

There is no other book in the Bible that begins like this. This is unique among all the books of the Scripture. Nowhere else do we find a prophet respond in this way to the Word of the Lord.

Instead of rising up to do what the Lord called him to do he arose to flee from the Lord’s presence. Why was he doing this?

Jonah explained what was running through his mind.

Jonah 4:2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.

Now Jonah was not against mercy. Mercy is what he prayed for while he was in the belly of the Fish. In 3:9 he confesses that Salvation is from the Lord.

He wasn’t against mercy, he was just against mercy for these folks. Why? Assyria, of which Ninevah was the capital, was known especially for their cruelty and violence against their fellow man and against other nations.

Listen to one of the Kings of Assyria in his own words, Ashurbanipal says this:

“I tore out the tongues of those whose slanderous mouths had uttered blasphemies against my god Ashur and had plotted against me, his god-fearing prince… The others, I smashed alive with the very same statues of protective deities with which they had smashed my own grandfather Sennacherib--now (finally) as a (belated) burial sacrifice for his soul. I fed their corpses, cut into small pieces, to dogs, pigs, birds, vultures, the birds of the sky and (also) to the fish of the ocean.”
Sounds like a terrorist nation to me. But the Lord responded in compassion.

Jonah 4:11 "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

D.A. Carson said about Bin Laden, “He is an evil man, and he must be stopped, but he is a man, and we should take no pleasure in destroying him. Vengeance is the Lord's alone. Do not offer the alternative, 'Should we weep for Osama bin Laden or hold him to account for his genocide and prevent him from carrying out his violent intentions?' The right answer is yes" (Love in Hard Places, 143).

I celebrate the justice in the death of Bin Laden. I am relieved to know there is one less terrorist alive today, but if my heart does not also desire that the eyes of terrorists would be opened to the glorious light of the gospel, I have come short of Christianity.

In Christ Alone,
Pastor George