A Season of Peace

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; A time to plant, and a time to pluck what is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; A time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; A time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to gain, and a time to lose; A time to keep, and a time to throw away; A time to tear, and a time to sew; A time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; A time of war, and a time of PEACE.”

It is my conviction that the time we are living in as Sons/Daughters of God is a time of Peace. (Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Matt 5:9)

Micah 5:2-5 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting. Therefore He shall give them up, until the time that she who is in labor has given birth; then the remnant of His brethren shall return to the children of Israel. And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God; And they shall abide, For now He shall be great to the ends of the earth; And this One shall be Peace.”

Ephesians says it this way: “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation.”

Colossians 1:19-20 “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Man’s original coexistence with God was one of perfect peace. The entire earth was at peace. But when man sinned against his maker the peace of God that held all things in perfect unity and harmony was thrown off balance.

It was Aristotle that once said “man is a political animal.” And I think Aristotle was right but only because politics became the substitute for peace when humanity sinned. When God gave Adam and Eve his authority he gave them authority and dominion over the earth and animals only, not over other people. Humanity’s sinful nature will always corrupt authority. Because peace was lost, death, sickness, and war were introduced to the history of the world.

Just as Ecclesiastes states that there is a season and time for all things—a time for war, and time for peace—I believe that the time we are living in now is a time of peace.

John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Just because war and death is all around us doesn’t mean we can’t have peace, for the peace that Christ gives is not like the peace the world gives (John 14:27). The peace of Christ is stronger than any worldly peace. Jesus Christ has already overcome the world and he has told us that we are in the world but not of the world. Therefore, taking all of this into account, how is it that the Church has become so violent? How is it that the Church can possibly believe that peace can come through worldly politics? The peace of humanity can only come in having peace with God.

As Christians we have a responsibility to be peacemakers—not through violence but through the life of Jesus Christ.

It is the way of the world to make peace through war, it should be the way of the Christian to make peace through the life of Christ.

I have read dozens of different arguments as to why Christians should have the right take arms and go to war. And it is a strange thing how almost everyone of the arguments I have heard/read never articulates its theory by using the gospels. It is as if they find no support for their logic in the teachings and life of Christ. To argue for the just war they must go elsewhere.

I know this is a very controversial subject and may make many angry when reading my thoughts, but it is a subject that I feel must be talked about—in love.