Dear Friends,
One thing that has been challenging for me as I’ve explored the theme of peace in the Bible is the ongoing idea in the Old Testament that peace is accomplished through war, or at least through intimidating military superiority and the threat of war. This is in stark contrast with the later teaching of Jesus that his followers should pursue being people of peace even at the cost of being the recipients of unreturned violence.
One passage I have found helpful as I’ve been chewing on this contrast is Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 (NIV).
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
There is a time for war and a time for peace. This means that knowing what to do in a given situation requires knowing what time it is. Those of us who have become citizens of the kingdom of God are called to live by the ways of the kingdom of peace that has already arrived within us and that will arrive in full in all the earth when Jesus returns. This means that, for us, the time for war has passed, and now is the time for peace. As Geoge Fox put it in 1651, when he was offered release from the Derby House of Corrections if he would become a captain in Oliver Cromwell’s army, we now live “in virtue of that life and power that took away the occasion of all war.”
Many arguments can and have been mounted against this claim. But, this was the belief of the first Christians for centuries until the time of Constantine, when the organized church gave in to the temptation of alignment with human rulers. If it is true that those in Jesus are presently citizens of the kingdom of God, then we must live according to the ways of the kingdom that is to come and not according to the ways of this world, just as Jesus has taught us to do. This stands in stark contrast not only to the logic of the world around us but also to the commands to do violence that were given to Israel in the Old Testament. To make sense of this, it is important to understand that the kingdom of God isn’t something that is fought for with human weapons or that is established or spread by human governments. Rather, the kingdom of God arrives quietly in human hearts and lives as individuals welcome and submit to it. And it is spread as the love of Christ is shared, one to another. Most people grossly underestimate its power.
A Prayer for Peace:
Lord Jesus, I submit myself to you. Let your kingdom come now in me. Change the way I think and the way I live. Let me walk in peace and spread peace wherever I go. Keep me faithful to your peace regardless of what happens in the world around me. Amen.
Love in Christ,
Michelle
