ECC 3:1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
ECC 3:2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
ECC 3:3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
ECC 3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
ECC 3:5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
ECC 3:6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
ECC 3:7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
ECC 3:8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace
. MT 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
This morning I would like to ask the question what is it that God wants us to know about war and what would he have us do about war?
I would like to begin with words from Mr Hudson Taylor who knew the taste of Jesus and the experience of war.
Here is what he wrote in his diary October 2nd 1854.
As to my position it certainly is one of great peril. On two succesive nights, recently, bullets have struck the roof over my head. How little difference in the direction of the gun might have rendered them fatal to me. But ’As the mountains are round Jerusalem’ so the Lord is on every side to protect and support me and to supply all my need, temporal as well as spiritual. I can truly say my trust is in Him,. When I hear guns fired near me and the whizz of the bullets as they pass the house, I do feel alarmed sometimes; but a sweet still voice says inwardly, ’O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?"
Awakened suddenly in the darkness by the thundering report of guns from the North gate which shake the house, and hearing gongs, sounding and firearms discharging close at hand I have felt lonely, and my heart has palpitated painfully at times, not knowing whether my own house might not be the object of attack. But ’Lo I am with you always.’ Has quieted the troubled waters and restored peace to my soul.
One night I woke to my room full of smoke was not a little alarmed.
But it was only stubble butning in a field - Thoroughly ashamed of my fears I returned to rest with a very sweet sense of the presence of my Protector, the ’Watchman of Israel’."
If we look in our bible we don’t need to go too far before we find some evidence of violence - Genesis chapter 4 to be precise.
But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast. Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Now Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let’s go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him. Gen 4:8
The dictionary defines war as a state of hostility, conflict, or antagonism; a struggle or competition between opposing forces or for a particular end.
The Biblical term employed to describe such conflict are similar. Strife, conflict, battle, fight.
When we use the word war, we usually use it in reference to a conflict on a larger scale between nations or tribes or between people groups. James explains clearly the source and just why there is war on this earth and why there will always be war.
What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. Jam 4:1-2
But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. Jam 3:16
The foundation of all war and fighting relates to selfish ambition. Man has inherited from Adam a insatiable desire to have what somebody else has.
On the Pacifist"s side are powerful bilical images against violence hatred and killing.
One of the Commandments that Moses got on Mount Sinai was:-
DT 5:17 "You shall not murder.
But in stark contrast with this absolute is the following passage just a few chapters furthur on:
-DT 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you-- 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
These dual themes seem to be at war with each other. If taken apart one will provide powerful support to the person who says "No war at all" and the other can provide liscence to the red necked warmonger.
Both views historically have presented themselvces as virtuous.
The virtuous nature of a just war is pictured by Leo tolstoy in his classical work of literature - War and peace:-
In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pavlovna burst out:
"Oh, don’t speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don’t understand things, but Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war. She is betraying us! Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious sovereign recognizes his high vocation and will be true to it. That is the one thing I have faith in! Our good and wonderful sovereign has to perform the noblest role on earth, and he is so virtuous and noble that God will not forsake him. He will fulfill his vocation and crush the hydra of revolution, which has become more terrible than ever in the person of this murderer and villain! We alone must avenge the blood of the just one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely on?... England with her commercial spirit will not and cannot understand the Emperor Alexander’s loftiness of soul. She has refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find, and still seeks, some secret motive in our actions. What answer did Novosiltsev get? None. The English have not understood and cannot understand the self-abnegation of our Emperor who wants nothing for himself, but only desires the good of mankind. And what have they promised? Nothing! And what little they have promised they will not perform! Prussia has always declared that Buonaparte is invincible, and that all Europe is powerless before him.... And I don’t believe a word that Hardenburg says, or Haugwitz either. This famous Prussian neutrality is just a trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty destiny of our adored monarch. He will save Europe!"
In this speech we get the picture of someone who believes that their cause is righteous
But literature is just as easily found to the contrary
Not many in New Zealand remember the Boer war few know of this war fought in the late 19th and early twentieth century.
Particularly in its early stages,
There was very little active opposition to New Zealand’s participation. It was confined to a small group of radical members of Parliament, religious leaders, and others who condemned the war as an aggressive act of imperialism designed to seize control of the Transvaal’s gold mines. Such views had little impact on public opinion; indeed New Zealand’s political leaders and the community in general were rather intolerant of opposition to the war.
Opposition to the War
A small minority of people opposed New Zealand’s involvement in the war in South Africa.
Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain spoke to the National Council of Women’s annual conference in Dunedin in April 1900 on the topic of peace and arbitration—wryly acknowledging the untimeliness of the topic. ’With all the ardour of its young, strong nationality,’ she said, New Zealand ’had thrown itself headlong into the melee of old-world turmoil. We had selected from our young men those of the very finest physique … and we had sent them across the Tasman Sea and the Indian Ocean to slay boys of 16 and old men of 70, or be slain in the attempt … our poor British boys were led through the black night … that they might bayonet to death Boers slumbering within their tents, and the horror was justified. … When the Boers committed any special atrocity, our language failed to express enough reprobation.’ (Otago Daily Times, 11 May 1900, p. 2)
Not all the delegates at the conference supported Bain’s arguments, but they did unanimously pass a motion condemning militarism and supporting international arbitration.
The press condemned Bain’s speech. The Lyttelton Times, in an editorial, felt that she had ’cast the most atrocious aspersions on her own countrymen’, (14 May 1900, p. 4) and the Otago Daily Times took the time to argue for the necessity and basic righteousness of the war. Bain was unrepentant, arguing that ’human warfare has done service in the past; but one believes that the race is now capable of developing competition into emulation, and that the battlefield has ceased to be necessary.’ (ODT, 14 May 1900, p. 2)
Both these stories, the noble war and the cry for no war are echoed on the television screens of March 2003.
Let us make some conclusions - as it were from the evidence to date.
Firstly from the ten commandments - Thou shalt not murder.
Killing is not God’s plan.
Secondly from Genesis chapter 4 - the death of Abel that I read:-
GE 4:10 The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you. You will be a restless wanderer on the earth."
There is something sacred about human life and human blood - Abels blood cries out from the ground.
|That is perfectly understandable when you realise that we are made in God’s image and that to kill another tracks back not just to the individual but - if you like becomes a crime against God himself. The life that is taken
Is not the same as an animal or a fish or a spotted lizard this is the creation that we read about in Genesis that is made in God’s image.
True there is a judgement and some will later be rejected by God - but that judgement is after the individuals death and after their blood is as it were dead.
So we can see that life is precious and we have a right to live out our lives which are a gift from God.
As soon as a life has begun we have that right to live out that life before God and when that life has run it’s course then we face God.
So far we can find no rationale that will justify war in any way shape or form - so why would God say in Deuteronomy chapter 7 verse 1? -
-DT 7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you-- 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy.
The answer to that has to lie not so much with who the Israelites are or are not but who the Girgashites, Amorites,Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites are not.
In other words it is their failure that has bought about this rather than the goodness of the Israelites.
Let’s consider - just for a moment one of these races of people the Girgashites.
DT 7:1( When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations--the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you--) 2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
What we learn about these people is that they have heavily rebelled against God.
There is no hope that they will, as a people, turn to God theuy are in complete rebellion with God and instead have said that a stone or a carving is their God and they have worshipped that stone or carving.
In this passage God tells the Israelites that if they were to intermarry with these people that their descendants would bring God’s wrath on them as well.
So God calls the Israelites to war against these people.
There are of course after this time many other wars.
King David a man who God describes as a man after his own heart talks of his life in 2 Samuel 22:41
"I pursued my enemies and crushed them; I did not turn back till they were destroyed. I crushed them completely, and they could not rise; they fell beneath my feet. You armed me with strength for battle; you made my adversaries bow at my feet. You made my enemies turn their backs in flight, and I destroyed my foes. 2Sa 22:41
But when David wants to build a temple God says 1CH 28:2 King David rose to his feet and said: "Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house as a place of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, for the footstool of our God, and I made plans to build it. 3 But God said to me, `You are not to build a house for my Name, because you are a warrior and have shed blood.’
There is then a constant tension between perfect peace on earth and war.
There are a number of things that we can not say -
We can not say that desiring peace is a bad thing.
We can not say that the sheeding of blood or human life in any form is anything but a serious matter.
We cannot say that God doesn’t allow war and has at times and in certain circumstances encouraged it.
We can not say that God doesn’t regard some matters as more serious than war.
Having not said all these things what is left to be said.
We can say that God used the occupation forces of an unjust war as instruments for the most important act of history.
His Son Jesus Christ was murdered by brutal Roman troops and his blood was poured out on Israels soil as a substitute for our sins.
We can read Jesus’ instructions about war. Matthew chapter 24 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
The Christian’s position then is to understand that war is inevitable - Right or wrong they will happen.
It is not our task to be alarmed about them.
But we need to understand that God is working out his purposes.
Nation will rise against nation but God is bringing to birth something far greater far grander.
There is a cosmic change coming that these wars point towards.
These troubles are in fact the birth pains of something else being born.
Something of the character of that new Kingdom is spoken about in Revelation chapter 21:
-REV 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
This condition of bliss over all the earth is something that is yet to come.
We are mistaken if we expect it to happen without Christ coming again - but there is nothing wrong with the desire for peace - but God has told us about our times.
We are living through the times that God has warned us about in the scriptures.
At the same time we need to admit that there is something obscene about killing and the taking of innocent lives.
There are two things that this should remind us of -
One - That we can have personal peace with God. MT 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
One thing all of this should remind us of is the urgency of the gospel.
The greatest tragedy on earth is not war - terrible as it is.
The greatest tragedy is that God has sent his on to save us from a Godless eternity.
Yet millions die not having been bought to faith in him.
That is the great tragedy and it should encourage us to get right with God ourselves and to help others to do so.We can come to know the peace of God as hudson Taylor did in the midst of battle in China when he said:-Awakened suddenly in the darkness by the thundering report of guns from the North gate which shake the house, and hearing gongs, sounding and firearms discharging close at hand I have felt lonely, and my heart has palpitated painfully at times, not knowing whether my own house might not be the object of attack. But ’Lo I am with you always.’ Has quieted the troubled waters and restored peace to my soul.The fact that Christ is with us should encourage us to do the one thing that God wants us to do that is to trust in his presence and to walk donn the path that he has called us to walk.
When we do that everything else including war - falls into place.
