Yes, in the OLD TESTAMENT, there IS abundant warring, but to understand this warring is KEY! First of all, Mankind displayed tendencies towards hostility, and violence, and the people HE CHOSE as HIS own, were oppressed on EVERY side, therefore, HIS PLAN to rescue them, and to bring them into the land HE PROMISED Abraham, involved ridding of hostile nations, and their influences...
Jumping ahead before I finish this thought, CHRIST JESUS clarified, and revised the OLD way, by stating that instead of an eye for an eye, and all vengeance is mine, we are use LOVE, and to allow *GOD* HIS revenge, SO we SEE that we have been led, taught, and advised against the old way, which existed FOR the purpose of DELIVERING HIS people from that which would enslave them...
The people *GOD* CHOSE as HIS own were weak in conscience, weak in resistance, weak in courage, weak all the way around, PARTLY because their egocentric being, the flesh was saturated with the world, it's ways, and self-importance! Thus, THE LORD desired to remove as much wrong control which would further sway them, and place them in greater dangers of the flesh! AND, most of these nations WERE as evil as the very ones HE destroyed with fire, Gomorrah and Sodom, if not worse, as they lived totally in the flesh, and worshiped manmade, and mentally devised gods!!!
It was a very long, and riddled journey to the PROMISED land, in which case, HIS people provoked HIS wrath frequently, SO HE would allow enemy nations to attack them, plunder them, and what have you, UNTIL HIS people would SEE the need to repent, and to align TO HIM, and HIS WILL! Such measures were about ALL they could relate to in their selfishness, and their backwards understanding! They would repent, comply for a while, then they would rebel again, THEREFORE, THE LORD would TEACH them through many means, though the worst kind of suffering affected them the most...
*GOD* used war to LEAD HIS people, to PROTECT them, to TEACH them, to SHOW them HIS WILL, and to HUMBLE them, AND to rid of all control which would worsen their already weakened state! And after they were settled in the land HE PROMISED them, they would continue to rebel, and challenge HIM, SO what did HE do? HE removed HIMSELF from them, and THE REST of HIS PLAN to SALVAGE HIS people went into effect, as the prophetic messages from the beginning came to LIFE IN CHRIST, who IS THE LORD in flesh, and who came TO SACRIFICE HIMSELF for our very weaknesses...
WHEN CHRIST walked the Earth, HE TAUGHT that HE did NOT come to eradicate the law, instead to fulfill it, and HE COMMANDED in a whole new way, the interpretation of said law, such as NO LONGER would it be an eye for an eye, instead HE says, "LOVE thine enemy", AND, no longer would nations seek revenge, INSTEAD HE says, "ALL VENGEANCE IS MINE"! This IS SO difficult for humans in the human condition to comprehend, let alone conform to, but for those who are ONE with HIM, it makes PERFECT sense, ESPECIALLY given the past, and the dire effects involved!!!
HE IS THE JUDGE OVER ALL IN CREATION; it is NOT our work to exact revenge, or even the score, or to rid of all evil, it IS HIS!!!
MATTHEW 26: 52-54...
52/ Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place; for all those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword.
53/ “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?
54/ “How then will the Scriptures be fulfilled, which say that it must happen this way?”
God has no need of our services, much less of our sins, to bring about his purposes. Though Christ was crucified through weakness, it was voluntary weakness; he submitted to death. If he had not been willing to suffer, they could not conquer him.
WE do NOT have the knowledge to exact THE LORD'S WILL, instead, we RELY ON HIM, and allow HIM, through aligned character, and behaviour TO FULFILL HIS WILL IN US! While we detest evil as HE does, evil is NOT ours to avenge, it IS HIS, to which, ALL things ARE working TOWARDS ERADICATING, ONCE, and FOR ALL!!!
THE NEW COVENANT IS OF PEACE, OF LOVE, OF CHARACTER, and BEHAVIOUR REFLECTING CHRIST JESUS, NOT of the ancients, THOUGH we yet struggle with many of the same issues as did they! We LEARN from HIS EXAMPLE, HIS MODEL that HE LEFT FOR our sakes, and our safety, and we ACT ACCORDINGLY! We SEEK to exist in PEACE as much as is possible IN this plane, as we sojourn to our RIGHTFUL home, because LOVE HAS SET THE STANDARD, EXEMPLIFIED ITSELF, HAS TAUGHT US, and IS LEADING US! All else is of the world, and we are NOT, therefore WHY would we go against HIS WILL, and follow what is perishing???
*GOD* is NOT the *GOD* of war, HE IS THE LORD OF LOVE, and while war CERTAINLY IS involved in HIS PLAN, as LOVE WILL FIGHT FOR WHAT IS RIGHT, it is NOT THE STANDARD! LOVE NEVER FAILS, BECAUSE *GOD* IS LOVE, and HE CANNOT FAIL, only people fail LOVE!!!
REV. LWINSOR © 2014
BIBLICAL, and/or other references marked BOLDLY IN COLOURS
1 comment:
CHRIST JESUS says HE did not come to condemn us, for that is yet to come, AND this is true because condemnation begins and ends in the hearts of humanity, thus, if HE did not condemn, why should we who are nothing without HIM???
HE came in LOVE, and with LOVE to save that which was lost, bidding us to FOLLOW HIM; to sin no more, to DO THE WILL OF *GOD*, in which LOVE IS PREEMINENT, MANDATORY, and COVERS a multitude of sins, and TEACHES us to exist in what is right, just, and good, in MORE than in thought, and words, instead in deed, bearing worthy fruits of THE SPIRIT, FOR HIS GLORY, and the greater good of ALL: this IS a PLAN to eradicate the principalities, elemental rulers, authorities, and powers of evil which ARE of this world as they so chose to be...
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