War and Rumors of War

The face of war rears its ugly face again. Another fight in the Middle East, this time begun by our country. The administration that ran for office disdaining American involvement in foreign conflicts, has delved into several in the last months. It’s an old story repeating itself. We always have a “good” reason for our actions, but the bottom line is usually same, and rarely good for the people we are supposedly helping, or for our men and women put in harm’s way to carry out their orders.

Wars and rumors of wars. For whatever reason, war seems inevitable at any given point in time. And here we are again.  It feels like we live in a much more violent world, but history shows us that violence has been here all along. We’ve just grown more creative. Now we fight wars like video games, manning missiles from afar, or flying armed drones. We also have plenty of weapons of mass destruction available. But one missile hitting a girl’s school massively destructed enough, we don’t even need to engage the big guns.

What’s the world coming to?  That’s a commonly asked question. Will we just keep fighting each other until we launch those weapons and destroy it all? Is it possible for us to find a way to peace over war? Who is in charge here?

Jesus is the one who used the phrase “wars and rumors of wars” when discussing the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.  The Old Testament spoke of a King, coming from the line of David, to free the Jewish people once for all. The Conquering Messiah. Those who recognized Jesus as the Messiah were confused when He didn’t form an army and throw off the Roman shackles. That is what they always believed would happen. And that is what the Bible says will happen – only in a much broader sense than just getting rid of Jewish oppression.

But first the Messiah had to come and deal with our relationship with God. There is no sense setting up a kingdom if there are not any constituents. The Old Testament also spoke of the suffering Messiah, often in the same verses as the victorious One. But those who studied the Scriptures missed that picture. It makes sense, since Israel came to always be under subjection to some other country. They looked to a real time leader who would set them free. God saw a bigger issue than an invading country – He saw us all under the subjection of sin. Sin imprisons and incapacitates us in much bigger ways, the biggest being separating us from God.  What good is being physically free if our soul is imprisoned by sin?

So Jesus had to come first to die in our place, and make it possible for us to live in God’s Kingdom. The centuries that have passed since Jesus came, taught, died, rose again and ascended into heaven have made it possible for as many as wanted to come into God’s Kingdom by accepting His gift of forgiveness.

However, there is still the rest of the story to occur. The Bible is quite definite that the Savior will physically return, and the world will finally be set right. Meanwhile, there will always be war because sin wants to do as much damage as it can before it’s forever destroyed. On the cross Jesus destroyed the power of sin over our lives. When He returns He will forever remove sin from all aspects of life. Until then, we have a choice regarding which kingdom we wish to be part of.  Once He returns, all bets are off.

We have a tendency to forget that God isn’t surprised by what’s happening here in our world. The invasion of Iran hasn’t taken God by surprise. He hasn’t lost control of the situation. Ultimately His full plan for humankind will be set into place. For now, we wait, and try not to do too much harm. I have no control over what my country chooses to do. I have some control over what I choose. While I wait for the Lord to return, I need to be about His business, bearing His fruit and doing His work. That means staying connected to the Vine as long as possible, and making quick confession when I fail and disconnect. That is my business. Meanwhile, God is about His, and we can count on that. He has a timeline we know very little of, and we don’t need to know. We simply need to trust that He is still in charge, no matter what stupid decisions we or our fellow humans make.

The picture in the Bible, especially in the interesting and strange book of Revelation, is that we might just take our world to the cusp of destruction. We are certainly headed that way and not just with the destructive power of wars. Our environmental destructions wreck equal, if not more, havoc. Day by day we act as our own weapons of mass destruction. Humans take the world to the brink of extinction and God steps in. We are told we won’t know when or where, but we are confidently told it will happen. The writers of the New Testament felt it would happen in their life time. It didn’t. So we are 2000 years closer to that then they were. Certainly all the fever-dream like pictures in Revelation have more reality in our time, just take the means of tracking people or the means of spreading a message worldwide. What seemed weird and almost indescribable to John writing about his vision, today has a lot of real time possibilities.

Years ago I took a group of High Schoolers on a trip through the book of Revelations. It was an amazing time of discovery and discussion. But what I remember best was their reaction to the end of the story. After the dust clears, and God has removed all traces of sin and brokenness from our world, John writes “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. 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….I Am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:1-5).

We sat there and absorbed those words. Imagine a world with a healed environment, a world with no sickness or pain, a world at peace, a world without sin. Imagine that possibility. At the end of Revelation John writes, “He (Jesus) who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I AM coming soon.’" To which John replies, "Amen. Come Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20). My students were in tears imagining such a world. They were also filled with hope that Jesus promised such a world was possible, and He would come again “soon” to make it so.

I find it easier today to say “Come, Lord Jesus, come.”  When I was younger I had so many things I wanted to accomplish before Jesus returned. Pretty selfish and immature of me. Most of those things I have had the grace to accomplish. I’ve had a really good life. But I’ve also had enough sorrow to make me yearn for a time and place where there will be no more tears. The only thing making me hesitant today is the knowledge of people I know and love who do not yet know Jesus. I selfishly want them with me. Nonbelievers wonder why Christians “shove” their faith around. Well, that’s the reason (though we shouldn’t be “shoving”). We believe Jesus is the only way, and without Him, there is no reconciling with God. We get to choose where our soul will spend eternity, and when Jesus’ returns He will separate those who chose Him and those who did not. That’s not arbitrary or mean spirited on Jesus’ account. If we didn’t wish to have a relationship with Him in this life, why would we care to spend eternity with Him? We were given the choice, it’s up to us what to do with it. But while there is still time, I pray for time for the people in my life to choose Jesus.

Wars and chaos do not surprise God. Sadden Him, but don’t surprise Him. War and chaos are the results of unabated sin in our world. We can’t possibly find true and lasting peace without God’s power in us. Perfect peace is only to be found in God. We can find a taste of that in our walk with Him now, but, praise God, He promises forever peace is on its way. Come, Lord Jesus, come.