War & Peace
What is wrong with everyone? Why can’t we all just
get along with each other? Why do people argue with others? Why are there wars?
Well, the Bible says it’s all to do with enmity. My dictionary says
enmity is deep-seated unfriendliness, hostility.
“Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do
they not come from your desires for pleasure that war among your members? You
lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and
war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.” James 4:1&2. Thus enmity
comes from deep within, and it has to do with coveting.
To covet is to break the 10th
Commandment. That Commandment slew the Christ-hating and Christian-hating
Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:1; Rom. 7:7-11) who, by God’s grace alone, became
Paul an Apostle of Jesus Christ. The Pharisees kept up an outward appearance of
keeping the 10 Commandments. But how does one keep “You shall not covet…”
outwardly? God’s Moral Law is spiritual. Therefore it goes straight to the
heart and shows you that you are a sinner! The covetous lusts deep within us
prove that we are not content with our lot. Wars are the extension of our inner
wars.
The war began with the rebellion in a garden some
six thousand years ago. It was then that mankind sided with Satan against God
the Creator. Satan used a serpent to deceive Eve into eating the fruit God had
forbidden her and her husband Adam. Listening to the befriending Devil, Eve
began to covet that fruit. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for
food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he
ate.” Genesis 3:6.
Enter the LORD God into His garden to deal with the
rebellion. In the course of His address to Adam, Eve, and the serpent, He made
a wonderful promise. Speaking directly to the serpent He said: “…And I will put
enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall
bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”
Man brought enmity into God’s creation by listening
to the Devil and thereby declaring war on God. But God, by His gracious
promise, as it were, beat Adam’s pruning hook into a spear to be used against
that serpent, the Devil. There was to be enmity between those who love God and
His Moral Law, and those who don’t.
The summary of God’s Moral Law is the Ten
Commandments. These are summed up again in the words, “You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind, and your neighbour as yourself.”
Mark 12:30&31. The Son of God, Jesus Christ was nailed to a tree on account
of His perfect love for God and His neighbour. It turns out that He is the
promised ‘Seed of the woman’ (Gal. 3:16). His cross was a mortal blow to
Satan’s head.
It is through His life, death, resurrection and
ascension into Heaven that all wars begin to cease. He is the Prince of Peace.
“Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end…” Isaiah
9:7a. And “He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they
shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
anymore.” Isaiah 2:4.
He reconciles with God all who trust in Him alone
for salvation. In Him we have peace with God – the peace that transcends all
understanding (Phil. 1:7).
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