It seems that
we at a crossroads in America. In a way, you can call it prophetic if you want,
there are two verses that I see that seems to be where we are at in American
politics.
Isaiah 2:4 He will judge between the nations and will settle
disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and
their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
However, I wonder if the US will choose this verse instead. I hope
not.
Joel 3:9-11 Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare a war; rouse
the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up! 10Beat your
plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say,
"I am a mighty man." 11Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your mighty ones.…
The first is
referenced as a future prophecy concerning the Messiah coming peace. The other
is in the context where Israel was mistreated by the surrounding nations and was
judged by God for harming His chosen people. It was more about having a weaker
nation rise up to take on six stronger nations that were unjust in the eyes of
God. My view though is in any war, lives on both sides are lost. In a sense, a
call to war was also a judgement on Israel However, this is the kind of people
they were:
They have also cast lots for My people,
Traded a boy for a harlot
And sold a girl for wine
that they may drink. (Joel 3:3)
The enemies of
Israel had no value on human life thus were so judged as to receive their value
of others. My fear though is that someone like Trump or Hillary will use such a
verse to drive us into a war under the false premise we are the just ones and
have the right to give out the justice to those we deem unjust.
The saddest
thing is that Jesus message on the Cross-was of being the Just and the Justifier.
Meaning, in Christ Jesus we already have the judgment of being loved and
accepted and have no need for more war and blood. I hope we all choose the
right path.
2 comments:
Nice to see a few posts from you again. I agree, Jesus says we are all loved. I listened to a Tony Jones interview today, he says Jesus also said (in parables), that justice is not required. But he was talking about fairness in economic matters, not so much about keeping a just society. We still have evil, whether it be the outlier psychopath or the nations that rattle their swords. There have always been both of those. Do we allow an evil empire to grow until they actually commit crimes against humanity? Do we allow the empire we live in to turn evil? I think Jesus would say "No" to both of those.
Thanks for the kind words. I have been trying to be more consistent in posting new posts. More for the reason to keep myself thinking and writing. I am amazed that when I look at my stats I still have around 150 hits a day. I remember getting 35 and being excited. LOL! I also experienced an spike last week of over 750. I am not even sure what that was about.
I agree that at times there should be justice and Jesus shows us that we have the choice to give mercy and forgiveness instead. I have been talking to my wife about how people, including myself tend to see people as all good or all evil. I, for one, have a hard time in seeing Donald Trump as having any redeeming qualities. However, God still sees Trump as one of value. We discussed how people, all of us, are not all good or all evil. We are a mixture of both and at times need to step back and realize that God still loves and accepts us.
As far as a nation, I see that we US citizens have a great privilege to choose how we want our empire to be. I see that my calling as a citizen is to be a good one and to choose ways to make this nation a better place for all people. I know that is an uphill battle against people who are immersed in fear and believe the lie that we need to keep other nations in turmoil instead of bring peace. I realized, as I approach the election season that I for one do not want to vote for the "lesser of the two evils". I choose to not vote for evil at all.
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