Our world is full of startling contrasts.
For example, just before and during the Olympics, the news was dominated by stories and by scenes of horror and carnage from the Middle East.
I am referring to the slaughter of innocent men, women and children in Syria. Despite talks of peace and ceasefires the grim reality of mass killings continues. There is a fear that chemical weapons may be deployed.
I wonder what God thinks of all this.
Some have suggested that God approves of organized violence and of murderous aggression when it is done in his name.They refer us to the Old Testament stories of conquest and vengeance, and to the bloody history of religion, including Christianity. One need only think of the Crusades, and of the wars and conflicts between Catholics and Protestants.
During World War 2 the Allies and the Axis powers claimed victories in the name of the same Christian God. In 1862, during the American Civil War between the God-fearing Confederates and the God-fearing Unionists, Abraham Lincoln wrote: God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.More recently both George W Bush and Saddam Hussein thought they had God on their side.
So what does God think? The New Testament has this to say about the source of war.Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you dont have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isnt yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it (James 4:1-2, The Message throughout).
Doing God a favour?
The problem is that seemingly religious leaders and warriors have hijacked the name of God in order to justify their dark deeds, They thought they were honouring God by fighting for him, even if it meant killing others in the process, thus doing God a favour (John 16:2).
If we claim God is with us, then we can persuade ourselves that any and all actions in pursuit of what we want to do are defensible. This is our human attempt to manipulate God. But God is not mocked. He does not go along with our deadly games. The Old Testament records how successive kings claimed God as their partner in war and violence. Perhaps, as Paul mentions in I Corinthians 10:11, these accounts were noted as warnings in our history books, written down so that we dont repeat their mistakes.
Paul also explains that our understanding of God is obscured (1 Corinthians 13:12). It was the same for the Old Testament prophets. Their vision of the character of God was incomplete. They would interpret God by transferring their own thoughts onto him. After Going through a long line of prophets, God spoke to us directly through his Son This Son perfectly mirrors God, and is stamped with Gods nature (Hebrews 1:1-3). This Son, prophesied Isaiah, is not the herald of war, but rather the Prince of Peace (9:6).
Instruments of peace
Gradually the Bible reveals an entirely different God from the one some biblical writers thought him to be. God has no pleasure in the death of any one (Ezekiel 18:32).His desire is to transform the weapons of war into instruments of peace (Micah 4:2). His message to humanity is one of grace (Zechariah 4:7). The Bibles final word on who God is and how he thinks is Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only complete revelation of God. Before Jesus everything else may be helpful but is incomplete at the same time.
If we want to know Gods mind, we listen to what Jesus has to say. Jesus tells us to love our enemies and to do good to those who oppose us.
There is a wonderful story in what some archaeologists and language experts regard as the oldest section of the Bible. It is in Genesis 14. It sounds a bit like our world today. There is international tension, and nations posture one against another. Hostilities have begun and war is about to break out.
Then a contrast occurs. Something – someone – unexpectedly happens. A king called Melchizedek appears. He is the king of Salem, which means peace. What he does is intriguing. He gets all the opponents together for a meal of bread and wine (Genesis 14:18).
What the world and the Middle East need right now is a Melchizedek. They need someone to appear as if from nowhere and to get them all to sit down together. The UN peace negotiators are good and we wish them well, but they do not measure up to the stature of Melchizedek.
Jesus, says the writer of Hebrews, is the great mediator in the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:20). When Jesus comes, as come he surely will, hell draw the nations to him. Lets have bread and wine together, he will say. Participate in my suffering instead of participating in your own. Let peace reign.
When I pray for peace, in my mind it is not praying for a temporary solution, like some ointment to smooth things along. It is praying for the return of the King, of the Prince of peace.