(Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Rumors of Wars”, originally shared on September 20, 2023. It was the 277th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
There are wars being fought all over the
world. One kind is in the news every day. The other kind, one with eternal
significance, gets about no attention at all. Today, we’re going to find out
what it is.
There is a lot of talk about war these days.
Even if it’s not on the news every night, we’re aware about wars and potential
wars all over the world and our concern is growing.
The summer movie “Oppenheimer” gave us a
fatalistic view of the likely use of atomic and hydrogen bombs.
We see tension and threats between the
United States and Russia, and China, and Iran, and North Korea and each of
their allies. We are not sure who our allies are, or would be or wouldn’t be,
if such war were to break out.
New weapons are constantly being developed.
We don’t need to be told that there are scarier ones stockpiled as well as ones
in the pipeline that almost nobody will ever know about.
No one in the history of our nation could or
can say that their lives have not been touched by war. Our generations have
been defined by them.
Near the end of the gospel of Matthew, near
the end of Jesus’ life, before He gave his life and took it back again, he was
in Jerusalem speaking with his disciples.
He was not talking with them about the end
of his life, but about what that end means. And part of what it means is the
redemption of forever at the “end of the age”.
He says this, in Matthew 24:3-8,
3 When he was sitting on
the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us,
when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of
the age?” 4 Jesus answered them,
“Beware that no one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in
my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of
wars and rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take
place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and
earthquakes in various places: 8 all this is but the
beginning of the birth pangs.
When the wars in Kuwait, Iraq and
Afghanistan began to be referred to as “the forever wars” a whole generation of
mostly young men had been raised on violent media, regular gun violence and
war-themed video games. Some in the media began to refer to them as “generation
kill”.
I spoke with an Army recruiter during those
days who said that nearly everyone who came in wanted to be a sniper because
they were really good at first-person shooter video games.
There is actual war in Ukraine today which
has shown us, to some degree, who our allies are and are not. We read about it,
we hear about it, and we see it regularly on our TV’s.
So, it’s hard for us to imagine mere “rumors
of wars”. In our experience, a war has come to you, or it hasn’t. You’re
fighting in a war or you’re not. You can see what’s happening yourself on TV in
real time. And if it’s not being covered by the mainstream media, it’s because
it does not have much effect on us or on our country as a whole. At one time,
before it was stopped for obvious security reasons, you may even have broadcast
it to others yourself on your phone as you were fighting in it, in real time.
There are no rumors of wars. They are either
happening and known, or they are not.
In Jesus day, rumors were a form of micro
media and one of the few means of gathering information.
If you heard a rumor about a war and you
weren’t one of the very few who were able to confirm it through a
position of power, rumors were more likely to be your only source of
“information.”
Jesus mentions several signs of the end to
look for, and rumors and wars take center stage.
But, until then, are wars signs of
beginnings?
I saw a program on PBS the other day whose
premise was that wars bring chaos, and chaos brings a destruction of the old
order, and the destruction of the old order makes room for new ideas and
progress.
This seems to me to be an overly optimistic
view of war and its outcomes. World War II stopped Hitler and Mussolini and
Hirohito, and positive and benign American influence rose in their places. But
wars rarely accomplish their stated ends, at least not for long. We only need
to think about more recent wars in our history.
It’s said that history is written by the
winners and, for people who are content with that, it’s true.
But an end to all history is coming, and
Jesus wants us to know that and be ready for it.
It will be preceded by wars and rumors of
wars.
But the Bible also speaks of another kind of
war. Wars that will make the greatest difference, and are not fought with the
weapons of this world.
Those wars are spiritual, and the weapons we
use are from God, and they are not rumors. We in the Church are all engaged in
them.
The Roman Empire was dominant at the time of
Jesus. It would continue for hundreds of years. The sight of a Roman soldier
was commonplace in occupied countries, so Paul references their weapons in
order to contrast the kind of “warfare” that Christians take part in every day.
He wrote, in Ephesians 6:10-18,
10Finally, be strong
in the Lord and in the strength of his power. 11Put on the
whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the
devil. 12For
our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present
darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13Therefore
take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that
evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. 14Stand
therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the
breastplate of righteousness. 15As shoes for your feet put on
whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. 16With all of
these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all
the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of
salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
18Pray in the Spirit
at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and
always persevere in supplication for all the saints.
How do we fight in spiritual warfare? By
using the weapons of the spirit. And we do not fight alone.
The Bible is filled with tales of war.
Likewise, many of our classic Christian hymns.
We are often very uncomfortable with them.
We tend to avoid them or explain them away.
But, to the degree that that is true, I
think that it is because we are far removed from the circumstances in which
they arose.
Imagine, for example, that you lived in a
small village where you had no hope for protection from the clash of
civilizations and the movements of empires except from some other empire.
Suppose you knew that you were nothing in the greater scheme of things, and
that you could be crushed like a bug at any time and lose everything, your
home, your livelihood, your spouse, your children, your life. Suppose that it
had happened to you. What would you call justice? What would you
want from God?
I spoke recently with a member of a
congregation I once served. He said that his life was a living hell. He said
that he lived in a neighborhood where people lived in fear of violent crime, of
regular gang vandalism and theft and violence, of dealers openly carrying
backpacks filled with a deadly assortment of drugs and preying on the weak,
where the weak preyed on the weaker, and where he was afraid to go outside. A
prisoner in his own home in a neighborhood where home prices had plummeted,
where he was trapped. Where he was being screamed at and harassed regularly.
Where he felt that he had been forgotten by almost anyone who could help him.
Where his daily reality was fear, isolation, and loneliness.
At one point he talked about how angry Jesus
was by all of this, and how Jesus was going to come and that all those who had
made him wonder how he was going to make it through another day were going to
feel Jesus’ wrath, and that they better be scared, though he used significantly
more colorful language.
People have lived like this all over the
world from the beginning of time.
The coming of Jesus in Judgement is not a
relic from another age for them. They are counting on it! When they have no
hope of getting justice, their only hope is that it will come from Jesus.
There will be wars and rumors of wars. As
there always have been and people have always been pointing to them as signs of
Jesus’ imminent return. And every one of them has been wrong. The thing is,
though, that someday, one of them will be right. Jesus will return to judge the
living and the dead.
Meanwhile, being a Christian involves all
kinds of struggles including spiritual warfare, both widely known and rumored
throughout the world, against oppositions, persecutions, and all the forces
that defy God. We put on the whole armor of God that includes truth,
righteousness, faith, salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word
of God. We are called, equipped and sent to use them.
The outcome is already made known at the
cross. And we do not fight alone. Paul proclaims, in Romans
8:37-39,
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
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