Why Does God Say Not To Fight Wars, When He Used To Have Israel Fight Wars?
You have probably ask yourself why in Matthew 26:52, Jesus said those who take the sword would parish by the sword when he permitted Israel to fight wars.
We have to remember that Israel was commissioned by God as Judges. They had Gods laws and rules to guide them. The land they took was given to them by God. (Genesis 13:14,15) The people were living there in defiance of God. (Deuteronomy 7:1,2). God was having those nations destroyed for the wickedness they did. (Deuteronomy 9:5) Not all were destroyed by the rules of war that God laid out for Israel. Rahab and Gibeonites were shown mercy. They demonstrated faith in God. (James 2:24-26, Joshua 10:1-14)
There were wars Israel fought that God did not condone in. This displeased God they were doing their own will instead of Gods. (Judges 9:1-57,1 Kings 16:16-22) In doing this they lost Gods protection. When they fought a war that served the perfect will of God, then they had his protection and assistance. (Deuteronomy 20:4)
In Isaiah it was prophesied that God’s people would not fight wars on earth anymore. So we know that no one on earth is commissioned by God to fight wars. (Isaiah 2:4) Jesus said continue to love your enemies. (Luke 6:27-31) Killing them is not showing them love. The bible also tells us that vengeance is Gods. (Hebrews 10:30, Revelations 11:18) God freely forgives us so we are to freely forgive others. (Matthew 6:14, Ephesians 4:32)
Spiritual War
There is a war that God’s people are commissioned to fight but it is not an earthly one but a spiritual one with spiritual weapons. (2 Corinthians 10:3-6) Jesus tells us that we are to be no part of the world. (John 18:36) If we got involved in the things of the world like war , then we are not following Jesus command to be no part of the world. James 4:4 tells us friendship with the world is enmity with God. Satan is referred to as the ruler of the world. (John 14:30) So we can be sure if we fought in a war on earth then Satan would be influencing all sides.
When they tried to seize Jesus and make him king he withdrew, he knew that he had to wait because his kingdom is in heaven. (John 6:15). Daniel says it would be a heavenly kingdom. (Daniel 2:44) . So that means since the kingdom is a spiritual one then the war would be a spiritual war.
Those who fight the spiritual war will help defeat Satan (Revelations 12:10,11) We may feel God is slow in taking action against the wicked, he doesn’t desire any to be destroyed. He is waiting until all the sheep are gathered together. (2 Peter 3:9) So we should work good toward all and render our services unto God. (Galatians 6:10, Luke 4:8)
Since it is a spiritual war then we must turn to God to get the weapons to fight. . We are not just warring against the spirit of the world but also against Satan’s wicked forces. (Ephesians 6:10-13) We need to work on turning people away from the wickedness teaching them to obey God. (Matthew 24:14,) Another thing to consider is if we fought in a war we could be killing someone that could be a potential spiritual brother or sister.
If you want to learn more about the spiritual war go to this site http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/h/r1/lp-e and search for spiritual weapons or spiritual armour.
Sorry I made some mistakes in the other post so I figured it would be easier to redo the whole thing.
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