Shaking Christchurch (3) - Destruction

The earthquake wrought terrible destruction. Many roads and buildings were smashed and are broken, but it is not just human constructions that have been destroyed, the land itself was slashed and gouged. God loves the earth he created, so he does not like to see it being destroyed. On the other hand, there is another who enjoys destroying.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy;
I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10).

Jesus was warning about the evil one, who loves to take, kill and destroy.

In John’s Revelation, the devil was called Destroyer.

They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon (Rev 9:11).

Abaddon and Apollyon both mean “Destroyer”. Christians should never forget that the devil’s middle name is Destroyer.

As I travelled to work along broken roads and past smashed houses, it did not look like God’s handiwork to me. What I saw looked much more like the deeds of the spiritual forces of evil. Actually, it looks like restrained forces of evil. They were lashing out violently, but were cramped up an unable to strike out with full force ( I will explain the reason in a future post).

Christians should be very careful about attributing the works of the devil to God. Blaming him for things he has not done is an insult to his character. Misrepresenting God to the world harms the gospel.