War & Peace

To those sitting,

I discovered that many people in our country have a fundamental flaw in their view of Jesus: they see a man of peace and not a man of war.

 

Many of you may be quick to assert that Jesus is “the lamb” and that he is a gentleman through and through. A God who is the author of love couldn’t possibly be anything other than soft spoken, gentle, and “slow to anger” (James 1:19) correct? But what happens when the New Testament, specifically the Gospel tells us differently?

Many of us when we picture Jesus inherently come to an image of a long haired, robe wearing man walking in a meadow carrying a lamb (or some slight variation). We seem to overlook the fact that Jesus was a vagabond, a wanderer, and a man who spent so many days in the wilderness alone that even Bear Grylls couldn’t hang with him. We seem to skip over the passage where Jesus, screaming and over turning tables, drives out people from His temple with a whip (see John 2). We seem to miss the whole book of Revelations, specifically the part where Jesus will be riding through a river of blood ( see Rev 19).

Jesus, himself goes so far as to say in Matthew 10:34, “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” 

Jesus foresaw our tendencies to pacify Him, and our beliefs. Jesus knew that left alone we would seek peace and not war. However, whether we want peace or war is not an option. “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8, NIV). The devil has already begun the war. He won’t wait for you to realize that were on the frontlines, before attacking. We are already knee deep in battle.

Open your eyes, and see the battles all around you

Open your ears, and hear the heavenly clashes 

Open your heart, and see the Warrior inside of yourself and inside God

Were in the middle of a war, we can’t afford not to cry out

 So…“Shout it! Go on and scream it from mountains! Go on and tell it to the masses! That He is God!”

 – All Sons & Daughters

Merely,

Chris Gerac

“They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” Revelation 12:11, NIV