The Alien Work of God

Yesterday afternoon, my wife and I were resting and flipping through the channels. We finally decided to stop and catch the tail end of the movie Men in Black which was wrapping up on TBS. If you haven't seen the MIB movies, the premise is that aliens exist, creatures from other planets and galaxies, and that there is a bureau of FBI-like agents (the "men in black") who work to protect earth by cooperating with the friendly aliens and bringing the more malicious ones to justice.

In Isaiah 28, God does some "alien" work as well - however, it has nothing to do with creatures "out there." He performs his "alien work" on His own people. This gets to the nature of who God is. God loves to show mercy and compassion to His people. He loves to save and to set free. But being the loving Father that He is, He also is willing to discipline His children and work to rid their lives of the evil that corrupts from within. In Lutheran circles, we talk about God working through both Gospel and Law. The Lutheran Study Bible quotes the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (Article XII, 52-53) as it describes God's working in the lives of His people:

[Isaiah] calls it the 'strange' work of the Lord when He terrifies, because to make alive and comfort is God's own proper work. But He terrifies, Isaiah says, for this reason - that there may be a place for comfort and making alive. For hearts that are secure and do not feel God's wrath hate consolation. In this manner Scripture is accustomed to join these two, the terrors and the consolation... Into these two works all Scripture has been distributed. The one part is the Law, which shows, reproves, and condemns sins. The other part is the Gospel, that is, the promise of grace bestowed in Christ.

We give thanks to God for His proper work, His gift of the Gospel message in our lives. But we also praise God for growing and refining us through His alien work of the Law, judging and condemning our sin through the cross of Christ so that it cannot live to destroy us. God threshes for a while (Isaiah 28:23-29), but not forever. There is a time to bring together and make whole again.