Hello folks! Full disclosure: this week’s sermon was based on my posting on war from November 2020. I hope it can be an inspiration for you and your journey of faith…
I had a hard time figuring out what to talk about this week but, weirdly, I just kept coming back to war, which is kind of a bummer topic to talk about, I realize, but war has been in the news a lot for the past few weeks, months, years, decades, centuries.
According to the book of Ecclesiastes (3:8), there is a time for war and a time for peace. But why does there have to be a time for war? And who condones it? Does God support wars? Does He command we go to war? Is war “Godly”? Is war “good”? And if war is not good, then why is YHWH sometimes described as a Warrior (Isaiah 42:13)?
These are complicated questions, and for many people war and violence in the Old Testament are the primary reasons for their doubt in a God who loves them. If YHWH is an all loving God, then why does He allow such horrors as war? Is our God a Warrior God who condones violence?
Truth be told, these questions demand a full study… much more time than we have today. But we’re going to look at a few hints that point to God’s take on the topic of war. First of all…
#1 War was never put on a pedestal in the Bible
It was not glorified in any way… ever. Rather it put a spotlight on the horrors and devastation that went alongside militant destruction, such as… babies being “dashed to pieces” (Isaiah 13:16, Nahum 3:10), the raping of women as a victory claim (Isaiah 13:16), cannibalism due to war famine (Leviticus 26:29), bodies piled up unburied (Jeremiah 25:33). War was a brutal reminder that humanity made terrible choices- from the choice to rebel against God in the Garden of Eden, to Cain’s choice of murdering his brother instead of mediation, to the first great war of kings found in the book of Genesis… all monumentally bad choices.
That first mention of war is in Genesis 14, and it highlighted the key problem that has hurled people, throughout history, towards battle: nationalism.
To give you a quick outline of the first Biblical war Chedorlaomer, the king of Elam, was the most powerful king in the area during the early years of Abraham. There were 8 other smaller kingdoms who gave their allegiance to the king of Elam.
Five of those kingdoms served Khedor’layomer, as underling kings for twelve years, but on the thirteenth year they refused to bow to him and rebelled against his authority.
So the king of Elam and the three other loyal kingdoms went on a war rampage all across the known land, building their reputation as successful and brutal warriors. Eventually, after instilling fear across the land, they made their way back to the five rebellious kings. These five kings joined together against Chedorlaomer and his loyal kingdoms, but regardless of the odds in their favour, it did not go well for them. They were brutally defeated. Two of those conquered kingdoms were Sodom and Gomorrah… and the King of Elam took everything from them, including any survivors and all their possessions as war booty. One of those people was Lot, Abram’s nephew. Now up to this point, this war had nothing to do with the Hebrew people. It was not their battle. But as soon as Abram’s nephew Lot was captured by the king of Elam and exiled out of Sodom, things changed:
Genesis 14:14-16
When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he led out his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. He divided his forces against them by night, he and his servants, and defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus. He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.
Abram’s small army of 318 men took on a military giant, but his only incentive to go to war against the king of Elam was to rescue his family. This was not about elevating the Hebrew nation as a military force; it was about bringing a family member home.
#2 It’s worth fighting to save a life
In the same way, this is how YHWH has used war: to bring His family members back home. Anytime YHWH steadied a hand in war, or allowed humans to defeat other humans, or turned His face away from the horrors of humanity, it was done to nudge people back to the path of redemption… back to the cross… back to His Presence.
Remember, Abram only went to battle to save his family. He also, by the way, refused to take any spoils of war. He only retrieved what had been taken. Abram wasn’t in the business of war. And the business of war is Big Business! There has not been a time in history where that is more prevalent than today. War and Wealth are best friends… and they will do anything to help each other out.
Jump ahead a few hundred years and we come to the Exodus story. Egypt was in the business of slavery. And it’s worth noting, that when the Hebrew people were enslaved, they never waged war against Egypt.
At this point, the Hebrew people were not a warring tribe… but they had the potential to be a dominant threat by mere numbers alone. The Egyptians feared what would happen to them if the Hebrew people took up arms against them, so to stop that possibility, the Egyptians wore them out with heavy labour. They turned their fear into economic prosperity. Violence and fear and big business are intricately connected, and ultimately devastating.
The call to raise arms in war was not natural to these early Hebrew people, but protest against injustice was a different matter. For example: the Hebrew people did not go to war against the Egyptians, but they did protest their deplorable treatment… and that was enough to set them free.
So, yes, there is a time to fight…
#3 We should fight against injustice!…
…like slavery and human trafficking! Non-violent protest can be a Godly action. Jesus protested many things by his actions and his words, but he did not condone violence!
When it came to the Exodus event, YHWH fought on behalf of His children, but He did not fight with man-made weapons (cannons, automatic rifles, bombs). He fought, instead, with plagues and natural disasters… the things of His making. YHWH, as witnessed by the ten plagues in Egypt, used the tools of His own creation (weather, pests, and microbes) to put things in order.
YHWH’s main “fight” is against chaos and death. He is the radical defender of Life and Order. In fact, it is hard to find an example where He personally shows any direct violence. Even when He called the order to strike down every first born child in Egypt (as the final sign/plague), He did not pull the trigger (so to speak) Himself:
Exodus 12:23
“For YHWH will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, YHWH will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.”
God didn’t smite people but He, at times, would allow a destroyer to do the work. Death and destruction went against everything YHWH stood for. He is the God of Life, but He allowed His creation to have free will, and because of that, death has always been a very real presence on this planet.
In human wars, God doesn’t pull the trigger… but sometimes He doesn’t stop the gunman. Sometimes He just lets humans be the dreadful humans that they are, and that’s a hard pill to swallow.
Although humans very quickly took to war, it was never intended, by God, to be a part of human life and community. The Israelites started to believe that war was part of life, and it was God’s command for them to go to war. For example, when they found themselves in Amorite territory they said,
Deuteronomy 1:41-42
“We will indeed go up and fight, just as YHWH our God commanded us.”
And every man put on his weapons of war [k’leh mil’kham’toh מִלְחַמְתֹּ֔ו], and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country.
But YHWH said…
“Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be defeated before your enemies.’”
The people wanted to rush into war. In fact, they claimed it was God’s command! But YHWH made it clear that He was not on board. He did not condone this action of planned conflict. But even with the warning, they still marched into battle, and after their inevitable defeat, they came crying back to YHWH:
Deuteronomy 1:43-45
[Moses:] “So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of YHWH, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do, and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. Then you returned and wept before YHWH; but YHWH did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you.”
They had done this to themselves and they had to deal with the consequences of war on their own. They did not listen to God, so God did not listen to them.
#4 God does not condone man-made wars
God’s not going to put His stamp on any nation-against-nation war and say, “this war is Mine!” Or, “this side is My side”.
Because what makes war particularly heinous is that even the winners of war do not walk away without some form of damage (physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually). Victors were, and are, also very much victims of war… and God does not want to see any human suffer, on any side of any war.
My great uncle, Charlie Fisher, was a horse and wagon ambulance driver in World War I. He was in the trenches in France, Greece, and Egypt trying to medically save the shattered soldiers.
While in Egypt he was wounded but when the war ended, he made it back home. However, four years after the war, at the age of 31, he died of infective endocarditis. That’s when bacteria enters a wound & attaches to the heart valves… and slowly destroys your heart. The high prevalence of wound infections made soldiers susceptible to infective endocarditis, and Charlie was one of those victims. He was on the winning side of the war, but he was, very much, a victim of the violence. He left behind a wife and a son. That son, Norman Lucas Fisher, went on to fight in WWII as a rifleman. He was shot in March 1942, during “Operation Chariot” in France, and died of his wounds. Mabel (wife to Charlie and mother to her only child, Norman) was also a victim of war violence. It took everything away from her. Victory and defeat come at a very high and violent cost.
The thing is… war, as an organized battle plan, would have no power without violence behind it. Without violence, war would just be a strategic plan of communication between two or more parties in a boardroom. (Wouldn’t that be an epic improvement?!)
#5 Violence is not natural to God’s Kingdom
Violoence doesn’t belong in God’s Kingdom, neither does war. War and violence are man-made institutions. It’s the result of humans wanting to be gods of their own making… taking control by actions of power and dominance.
Sadly, war has been a consistent part of the human experience, from the earliest days of our existence. You would think, after all this time, humans would socially evolve beyond the wickedness of war and tribalism, but the “us against them” mentality is just as strong as it ever has been.
The Psalmist yearned for a day when he didn’t have to live in a time of division and dwell amongst war-mongers:
Psalm 120:6-7
…Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak they are for war.
We’ve discussed this before, peace is not the absence of war. Peace is wholeness and ordered completion. The opposite of that is chaos and fragmentation. It tears us apart… it enforces separatism and tribalism: “us against them”.
In YHWH’s Kingdom there are no tribes, no racial divide, no sexual divide, no national divide.
The ridiculous notion of “us against them” has no hold in God’s Kingdom. We are one humanity, and we are created to work together in harmony. That is peace.
The prophets spoke of the end of days when this primitive idea of war would be turned on its head:
Micah 4:3b
Then they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war [w-lo yil’m’dun ohd mil’khamah מִלְחָמָֽה].
In the true fulfillment of peace, when we are reunited with YHWH in paradise, we will NEVER AGAIN train for war. Never again will nation rise up against nation, because at the end of the human story, YHWH wins! The War will be over and He is the Victor. This was the beautiful message of so many of the prophets and the psalmists:
Psalm 46:8-9
Come, behold the works of YHWH, who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease [mash’bit mil’khamoht מִלְחָמוֹת֮] to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariots with fire.
There would be no more weapons because war was not part of YHWH’s Kingdom… and so when He sent His Son the Messiah, Jesus, to walk amongst His people, He did not make him a Warrior, He made him a carpenter (Mark 6:3).
YHWH sent a builder to build His Kingdom.
#6 Jesus was not a warrior, He was a builder!
A warrior tears down; a builder builds up. A warrior tears down God’s Kingdom; a builder builds up God’s Kingdom. The prophet Zechariah foretold of YHWH’s chosen one, a humble King who breaks weapons and speaks of peace:
Zechariah 9:9-10
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; and the bow of war [mil’khamah מִלְחָמָ֔ה] will be cut off. And He will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth…
YHWH’s Messiah did not come to proclaim war (Jesus’ words would break the weapons of war)… He came to proclaim peace to all nations. This Messiah would radically challenge the cultural emphasis on war, dominance, and national pride. He would also challenge the Jewish people’s perception on how to treat one’s enemies:
Matthew 5:43-45
[Yeshua:] “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
Jesus, however, was not the Messiah the Jewish people were hoping for. They expected (and desired) a great militant warrior God who would strike down the Romans and return Jerusalem to their control. But that was not what YHWH had in mind.
Jesus did not come to put a halt to man-made wars, He came for a completely different (and far more profound) purpose. He came to wage war on death… not on humans. Paul described Jesus as the One…
1 Timothy 1:10
…who has abolished death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the gospel.
#7 God’s war is against death, not life
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection meant that He defeated death. He conquered the grave and set us free from our covenant with death. God’s war was never against humans or nations; His war is against death and the evil force that has promoted it.
The Pope recently had some very wise things to say about war and wealth, and although I am not Catholic I agree with his assessment. He said:
Woe to those who manipulate religion and the name of God for their own military, economic or political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth.
Even the holy name of God, the God of LIFE, is being dragged into the discourse of DEATH. Enough of the idolatry of self and money! Enough of the display of power! Enough of WAR!
Dragging the God of LIFE into the discourse of death… that’s a dangerous game that certain individuals are playing. It’s heresy at the highest level. And I think, if you want to see God angry, that will do it!
History has been filled with “holy wars” where people try to use God as an excuse to kill those they do not like. It’s people twisting the word of God to fulfill their evil intent… and it is evil!
YHWH’s war is the cosmic battle between good and evil, life and death. YHWH, the God of Life and the ultimate Good, versus the Adversary (which in Hebrew is ha-Satan, “the Satan”), the formidable Evil one and the deity of death. That is the great cosmic battle: Life over death; Good over evil.
Isaiah 28:16-18a
Therefore thus says the Lord YHWH, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level; then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will overflow the secret place. Your covenant with death will be cancelled, and your pact with Sheol will not stand!”
The Messiah (the costly cornerstone) wasn’t meant to fix the earthly, petty, problems of humans, His purpose was far more important than that! He would fix their relationship problem. His death and resurrection rebooted our relationship with YHWH. He conquered death so that we could live eternally. Ultimately, Jesus paid our entrance fee back into YHWH’s Garden Kingdom where we could see YHWH face to face.
Jesus wasn’t a warrior, He was the (capital P) Peacemaker. He was the re-uniter… standing in the gap, uniting God with His people, just like they once communed together in the Garden of Eden. It’s a full circle story.
War is man-made, but Peace is God-centered… and it’s what we all should be striving for. Let us all sincerely pray, “Let there be peace!”… and when we do that, recognize that it’s an invitation for Jesus to come back and be our Peace-Maker… our Kingdom Carpenter… our Saviour… our King!
