Wars :: By Sean Gooding

Matthew 24:6-7

“And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places.”

I am reading in the Book of Joshua right now, and the Jews are at war constantly to conquer the Promised Land. Every chapter almost is filled with war, battles, skirmishes, and conquests. The death toll is astonishing; entire cities, entire armies, entire peoples are wiped out and gone forever. There is bloodshed and destruction as the Jews take possession of the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Most of us have lived in times of relative peace. I have not lived in a war. There are wars all around us; when I was born in little Barbados, the Vietnam War was going on thousands of miles away. I am now 58 and there has not been a time in my life when a war of some kind was not in the news.

The British fought the Falklands War and the wars in the Middle East, which involved many countries, Kosovo, Iraq, Kuwait, and on and on we can go. But most of these wars were far away; yes, they involved US and Canadian troops, but they were far away. We experienced them through the news and various other media outlets.

In a more modern situation, many people do not understand the NATO Alliance; it is a treaty that was agreed to end the kinds of wars that came in WW1 and WW2. Many will recall that the US did not enter WW2 until after the attack on Pearl Harbor, but the war had been raging in Europe for some time. The NATO alliance is based on the idea that an attack on one member is an attack on all, with the US providing the heavy lifting in the event of an attack.

This is why the US has to keep Ukraine out of NATO; if they joined, then the US would be obligated to protect them and put US soldiers on the ground. This puts the US in direct line to be at war with Russia and perhaps China. The current administration does not want this to happen and put the US on a war path with the other two superpowers.

Sadly, Jesus told us that there are going to be wars and rumors of wars until He returns, and there is nothing we can do to stop that. It seems that men will always find a reason for war. Even in the current war in Ukraine, there have been so many deaths, so many innocent lives taken as collateral damage, and yet there is a thirst for war. God never intended this kind of carnage to take place, but man’s sin and the quest for power lead to wars.

The whole world thought that WW2 and the carnage from that would stop man’s appetite for war, but it seemed to whet it even further. In WW1, the world experienced more than 1,000,000 deaths in a conflict for the first time, and it was not even 35 years later that WW2 saw somewhere between 50-85 million deaths, depending on who is counting. WOW! It took just over 1,900 years since Jesus to get to 1,000,000 deaths in a war, and then we jumped to more than 50,000,000 in one war in less than a generation. We love war. Sinful man loves war.

There are even more wars to come. The anti-Christ will kill millions in wars; he will lead wars and attacks against various opponents and eventually attack Jerusalem itself, ending in the death of 5/6th of the people that come up with him. It is estimated by many that about 25% of the world’s population will die in the Tribulation. Now, we expect a massive loss of population in the Rapture, but even so, if there are 6,000,000,000 people left, that is the death of 1.5 billion people in a short 7 years. The carnage will be unfathomable. Once the attack against Jerusalem is done and Jesus wins (see Revelation 19:11 and on), there will be a period of 7 months that it will take to cleanse the land of the dead bodies. See Ezekiel 39:11-13:

“And on that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, the Valley of the Travelers, east of the Sea. It will block those who travel through, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon-Gog. 12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. 13 All the people of the land will bury them, and it will bring them renown on the day I display My glory, declares the Lord GOD.”

As you can see, even today, there are constant attacks on Jerusalem and Israel, and they will get worse and worse. Then, one day, a man will get them to agree to a 7-year peace treaty and gain fame for himself. But even that will be short-lived, and he himself will lead a war against Israel once they realize that he is not their savior and they begin to look for the real Messiah. In Revelation 13: 5-8:

“And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months. 6 Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”

The Jews realize too late that this messiah is not The Messiah but a complete fake and forgery. They rebel, and another war takes place against the Jews. Sadly, mankind has not yet had its fill of war. There are more and more wars to come, and millions more will die. Sin is expensive; the wages of sin is death, lots of death. One day soon, not too far from now, Jesus will make an end of wars for 1,000 years, and we will know what peace on earth really is. Take a look at Isaiah 2:4:

“He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Imagine a world where no one needs to learn war any longer. No need for soldiers and no guns; what a day that will be. But for now, until Jesus comes, there will be wars and rumors of wars. Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus.

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