WARS ORIGIN AND ITS END

Wars Origin and its End

What are the inspirations of war? People seldom ask that question. The march of every army, the mobilizing for war, and all that we are almost sure, at our point in time, to hear and know of slaughter and shambles on this earth, have sprung from out of human thinking. Apart from human thinking, these things could never be. Feeling one's way back then, to the inspiring motive, not for the moment referring to any one nation or to any one man, we are bound to say that all war springs out of the lust for power. Under certain conditions and in certain circumstances, men speak of honor-using the word too often in an abused and degraded way. At the back of all war there is lust for power. War has always been the outcome of it.

In the day of battle, there may be two opposing nations, or forces, or men, both of them actuated by this lust of power; or, on the other hand, war may be caused by one nation's lust of power, and the necessity for resisting that lust for power on the part of other nations (America-Israel). Therefore, there may be an element of righteous action in the conflict. But even then, the beginning is the same; not on the part of those who are driven into the conflict as against their will, but on the part of those who are the aggressors. The origination of war in the human mind is the lust for power.

John and his brother were seeking this power. When there is a denial of any such thing as morality brute force comes-Germany-Nietzsche-nothing is true-everything is permitted to the strong. All this originates from darkness-Satan the prince of it.

Jesus knew the origin of these matters. "It has been said, "Thou shalt not kill, but I say...." 

The terrible tensions caused by war results oftentimes in mental derangement, overclouding the intellect, finally distorting truth. Emotional life becomes endangered. The moral fiber of a person is weakened. Only God can bring good from it. “All things work together for Him.”

WAR in the Old Testament

It is necessary to bear in mind that the Israelite people were being led into the Promised Land not merely to find a possession for themselves as an established nation, but first as the scourge of God against a corrupt and corrupting people. In view of this fact war was inevitable.

          Israel's early wars in taking over the Promised Land were not wars in the ordinary sense of the word but were Divinely ordered executions in which the armies of Israel were the instrument against the enemies of God's people. See Deut. 20:10-13. The real leader of these expeditions was God Himself. Cf Exod. 23:20, 23, 27, 31; Josh. 6; Psa. 44:3.

          Why is there so much war in the O.T.? War is entirely contrary to the mind of God but always arises from men being out of harmony with His mind and will. This was true in all the wars chronicled in the O.T. Had there been no corrupt nation there would have been no need for war. War wages from sin within (James 4:1). Wars today are numerous because of this fact of nation against nation, but notice in Matt. 24:7 there is a 2nd cause for war. These wars are caused by attempting to apply their religion in the conduct of men and nations which are not submitted to their God. Therefore Christ identified them as "Kingdom against Kingdom." For men who are genuinely Christian are profound in their loyalties. But the people who are utterly evil are even more so. You should notice that the end of wars comes about in Matt. 24:14.