No Hiding Place

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said:
“Smite the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;
and what are left of them I will slay with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away,
not one of them shall escape.

“Though they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
though they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.
Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search out and take them;
and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
And though they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them;
and I will set my eyes upon them
for evil and not for good.”

Amos 9:1-4

If there is one ironclad law by which the universe operates, it is that for every action there will be reaction, there will be consequence.

For all that we do, we will eventually answer. Consequence will come for us in its time. Consequence always comes for us in its time.

Yesterday, the United States and Israel visited consequence on the Islamic Republic of Iran. In a coordinated series of air strikes, several of Iran’s major cities were severely damaged.

Most significantly, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was apparently killed.

Khamenei’s leadership of Iran was marked chiefly by one phrase: “Death to America”. For most of his 35 years in power, his hatred and opposition to both the United States and Israel was implacable.

The man who made “Death to America” his country’s policy found “death from America” the consequence of that hatred.

Iran had built bunkers and bomb shelters to protect their leaders when attacked. They did not keep Khamenei alive.

We do not know if Khamenei attempted to hide in one such shelter, but we do not need to know. As he is dead we can conclude that Iran’s bunkers and bomb shelters were of no use to him. After 35 years of virulent hatred for America, there was no hiding place for him when American consequence rained down on Tehran.

We should ponder what Khamenei set in motion by his hatred: funding Islamic fundamentalist terror militias, under his leadership Iran helped Hamas carry out their barbaric and genocidal attack on Israel in 2023. That brutal act, tantamount to a declaration of war against Israel, had the direct consequence of Hamas’ leadership being hunted down and exterminated.

There was no hiding place for Hamas when Israel visited consequence on them.

Israel’s zeal in that quest, and what some would call their excesses, has had the direct consequence of Israel receiving a considerable measure of condemnation in many parts of the world. Whether the condemnation is appropriate or not, it is what Israel has received for prosecuting its war against Hamas. There has been no hiding place for Israel when the world visited consequence on them.

Yet it is in no small part that because Iran has played a role in Israel’s wars with Hamas, with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, and even the Houthi rebels in Yemen, that Israel came to see Iran as an existential threat.

It is in no small part that because Iran has sponsored terrorism around the globe that the United States government came to see Iran as an eternal threat to global peace and security.

It is in no small part that because Iran inspired these fears and concerns in Israel and the United States, Israel and the United States concluded now was the time to deliver proper consequence to Iran, while also encouraging the Iranian people to rise up and topple the Islamic Republic regime of Ayatollah Khamenei.

This is exactly what the prophet Amos warned the Israelites would happen: there would be consequence for their wickedness. There would be no defense to shield them. There would be no means of escape. There would be no hiding place.

When God decided it was time for Israel to receive consequence for its actions, for turning away from God and wallowing in sin and depravity, consequence would come—and did come. As the immortal first verses of Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 remind us, everything has its time, including God’s wrath.

Does this mean the US and Israeli attacks on Iran are akin to a holy war—a crusade? No. There is nothing holy about war, and this war, brief as it has been, is no exception.

It does mean that the US and Israel are but instruments of the consequences God has decreed for Iran.

It also means that consequence will eventually come for the United States and Israel as well. No matter how righteous the intent, no matter how certain each nation is that its actions against Iran are right and righteous, the United States and Israel will each receive its due measure of consequence in its time.

There was no hiding place for Khamenei. There will be no hiding place for Israel. There will be no hiding place for the United States. As consequence came for Khamenei, consequence will come for Israel in its time. As consequence came for Khamenei, consequence will come for the United States in its time.

Whether that consequence is to be an expression of God’s Wrath or God’s Mercy only God will ever know—and God never lets us know.

We can see consequence at work also in the fratricidal war which nearly eradicated the Israelite tribe of Benjamin in the final chapters of Judges. From the questionable behavior of a Levite to outrageous behavior by a group of young Benjaminite men, sexually assaulting the Levite’s concubine until she died, to the war of vengeance sworn by the other tribes of Israel against the Benjaminites, at every turn there was consequence for actions taken.

When that war was over, and the tribe of Benjamin all but extinguished, the other tribes of Israel were faced with more stark consequences, horrible and bad no matter which path was chosen. They could allow the surviving Benjaminites leave to kidnap their daughters, that they might have wives with which to replenish the tribe of Benjamin, or they could cut off the tribe of Benjamin from the nation of Israel for all time.

Such were the consequences of fratricidal war, a war marked as much by excess as by martial prowess and valor.

As consequence came for the tribes of Israel, consequence came for Ayatollah Khamenei.

As consequence came for Khamenei, consequence will come for you and I, in its time.

For all that you and I do, consequence will come for us, always in its time.

If we are wicked and sinful, and turn away from God, God’s wrath will come for us in God’s time.

If we are mindful and righteous, and turn towards God, God’s mercy will come for us, again in God’s time.

Whether we are sinful or righteous, this much is certain: we will have consequences. We cannot shield ourselves from consequence. We cannot run from consequence. We cannot hide from consequence.

For all that you and I do, there is no hiding place. There is no hiding place from consequence. There is no hiding place from God.

For all that you and I do, we will answer. Of that there is no doubt. From that there can be no escape.

My prayer this day is first and foremost for the ordinary people of Iran, that the consequence which comes to them will be freedom from oppression. My prayer this day is also with the Israeli and American soldiers charged with bringing war and consequence to Iran, that they will all come home alive.

My prayer this day is also that I will be forever mindful and watchful, always apprehensive of consequence, always seeking the consequence of God’s Mercy rather than the consequence of God’s Wrath.

My prayer for you this day is that you also will be forever mindful and watchful, always apprehensive of consequence, always seeking the consequence of God’s Mercy rather than the consequence of God’s Wrath.

Whether we are sinful or righteous, this much is certain: we will have consequences. We cannot shield ourselves from consequence. We cannot run from consequence. We cannot hide from consequence.

For all that you and I do, we will answer. Of that there is no doubt. From that there can be no escape.

For all that you and I do, there is no hiding place. There is no hiding place from consequence. There is no hiding place from God.