Is the Prince of Peace against war? Jesus said, according to John 14:27, “ 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.” What does this word peace mean? Does it mean what the war protestors say, “Jesus wouldn’t drop bombs on Iraq?” Does it mean there should never be a war if we are Christians or that we should never kill?
Peace- from the Hebrew Shalom- is not the peace that comes from the end of a war, or even the cessation of gunfire. But shalom is the peace that comes from Jehovah in time of war.
In the Greek- the word means pretty much the same thing, it has a connotation of rest and contentment when one is harmonized with God. It means undisturbed peace, a spiritual peace even when one is under fire by forces like the Iraqi Republican Guard!
The world’s view of peace is different than the Christian view because we as Christians have a different source of that peace than what the world has.
The world believes that peace comes from control, people of the world believe that if they can control the circumstances around them, if they can control the people around them, if they can control their things and other peoples things this control will bring peace. Jesus says, my peace is different; my peace comes to you regardless of your situation if you will allow it.
Should we as Christians sit back and enjoy the good life as people in the world who may be different than us are oppressed, tortured, starved, gassed to death and terrorized?
On my last trip to seminary in March, I was leaving Grayson to travel to Louisville, which is about a two and a half hour ride, and I was listening to the radio. The host was interviewing the husband of an Iraqi couple and their view about the impending war. Now listen brothers and sisters to what the husband said, “Life here is terrible, really we have no life, little comfort and much pain and suffering.” “The war brings us hope of freedom, even if it causes our own death.” In other words their lives were so miserable that death would be an acceptable option. That concept was driven home to me when I was a young boy and people were leaving Cuba on anything that would float in spite of the fact that they would probably not survive the 90-mile trip to Florida. Why? Simply because they were living in what seemed to be Hell to them, death would be better from their perspective than to continue living in their current situation.
Do we as Christians have a responsibility to help oppressed people? Are we to stand against evil?
I call your attention to a couple of passages that spoke to me and I hope they speak to you as well. Isa 1:16-17 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.
In Genesis 14 we read about these warring kings who attack Sodom and Gomorrah, they terrorized the people took their stuff and they took Lot. When Abram heard that his nephew had been taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and routed them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. Then he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his nephew Lot with his goods, and the women and the people (. Gen 14:14-16).
Now I ask that you to pay close attention to this next event because it is very significant to the war we find ourselves involved in today as a nation as it relates to the moral issues of what should we do and how God feels about rescue operations.
Isn’t that what we are doing in Iraq is liberating people who belong to God from an evil tyrannical regime?
Abram runs into a king named Melchizedek. Many scholars agree that this Melchizedek is a picture of an incarnate Christ and some go so far as to argue that he was Jesus. The writer of Hebrews says, “and what we have said is even more clear if another priest like Melchizedek appears, one who has become a priest not on the basis of a regulation as to his ancestry but on the basis of the power of an indestructible life” (Heb 7:15-16). The priest in Hebrews is Jesus and Melchizedek is aligned with Jesus.
But when Melchizedek sees Abram he doesn’t rebuke him, he doesn’t say why did you go to war and free the oppressed? Look at what the priest of the most high God does:
1. He brings out food.
2. . He blesses Abram. No judgment, no condemnation but he gives praise to God who has delivered Abram’s enemies into his hand.
3. And Abram left a tithe of all he had received and it was acceptable to God- Because Abram’s heart was right and his motives were pure and he went to war with shalom (peace. One cannot and should not have spiritual peace, shalom peace in his heart if he can stand by without coming to the aid of the underdog. Namely oppressed people, widows, orphans and children.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)
Abram had peace with the action he took, I am sure Lot and his family had peace knowing that God was in control. Yet, Abram’s peace did not depend on whether or not he went to war and Lot and his family’s peace did not depend on being rescued; the peace they knew was a result of knowing God.
I have watched the protestors against this war, I have listened to the likes of Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Rosie O’Donnell and Jane Fonda but I want you to look at the faces of these Iraqi people who have been liberated. (Show video clip of them kissing the coalition forces and smashing the palaces and the statues of Saddam Hussein).
Only a severely oppressed people would act out with that kind of emotion. People who do not know the peace of Jehovah the one true God but need too!
Was it wrong for our country to set these captives free? NO.
What should the Christian’s role be regarding war and our government who has chosen to go to war?
Let’s look at the Word of God and find our answer.
Move if you will from the OT to the NT and let us look together at Romans 13.
(Rom 13:1-7) Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
In closing I want you to take notice of these points regarding the text I just read and then as Christians draw your own conclusions on what your perspective of the war should be.
However, before we close I want you to know that while I was at seminary in March I also attended an ethics class and two very fine Christian men one advocating pacifism and one arguing for just war participated in a wonderful debate. When the debate was over they remained brothers united in Christ. We search the Scriptures together to find God’s will and it is not always easy. Yet, regardless of what we feel or think, glory goes to God when we maintain the unity He has placed over us. From Romans we glean:
1. The Christian is subject to the governing authorities (v 1).
2. Because no authority has been placed except that authority that has been put into place by God (v1).
3. Therefore if people resist the government (except when the Christian does so because man’s law opposes God’s law) then they resist God and what He has appointed, and those who resist the government will incur judgment (v2).
4. If you live by the sword you are likely to die by the sword. This is one axiom on which we can all agree, if the government wears that sword or if it is swung by vigilantes does not really make much difference to the resulting and inescapable death that one will ultimately receive if he lives by the sword (v4). (also Gen 9:6).
5. The government is the servant or the minister of the Lord to be an agent of God’s wrath and it may very well be the government who becomes the arms, the hands, the legs and the feet of God’s vengeance upon the evildoer. We live in a fallen world and people will continue to die at the hands of wicked men.
6. Therefore, the Christian subjects himself to the decisions of God’s government and prays for the authorities that they may be godly individuals not only because we want to be spared wrath, but because it is a matter of conscience and conviction (v5).
7. We pay taxes for many reasons part of which both then and now support the military materiel that protect individual rights and hold anarchy at bay. If this were not so, than the Roman Empire would not have proliferated through military dominance the way that it did.
8. We will remain on this earth for a little while in a world where all creation groans as we eagerly await the return of our Lord Jesus Christ (Rm. 8:22).
In conclusion I want to address the protestor’s comment and perception that He would not drop bombs on Iraq and give you this final thought to meditate on as we leave today.
Jesus is coming back and not as a pacifist!
(Rev 19:11-15) I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. "He will rule them with an iron scepter." He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.
Fifth Avenue Baptist had on their marquee “know Christ know peace; no Christ no peace.”
We are going to sing a song of invitation and I want you to know that the person who knows Christ has peace, he knows that the government has been placed by God, he prays for his leaders and whether there is war or not his countenance remains peaceful. You will never understand that without Christ.
Works Cited
Simone, John A. “Dictionary of Quotations.” < http://www.quotationreference.com/>
Online: (11 Apr 2003).
Vine, W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Nashville:
Thomas Nelson, 1997.
