Every interaction God has had with mankind since Genesis,three, must be regarded in the context of when man fell. From the dealings with Adam and Eve in The Garden, to the deliverance of the Israelites to the promised land, all of the covenants, wars and violence of the Old Testament and New, from Jesus' rescue of us (God with us), up to and including every problem we have today - every sickness, every disease, crime etc. is a result of the Fall. ,
God created man out of His desire for relationship. He created man in His own image to be caretaker of His Creation (Gen 2:8-15, 3:8), and, I think , more importantly, to have a personal relationship with. Even though Gen. 3:8 was after the act that produced The Fall, God and Adam obviously had a personal relationship. I take it that, they were friends, walking and talking in The Garden, before that, h ad not been uncommon.
Mankind had fallen, and God Himself would take care of mankind. From then on, God would give fallen man instructions on how best to navigate a fallen Creation. Upon The Fall, God immediately had a plan to redeem man, a provision for salvation. God’s plan was to redeem mankind by sending a Savior (Gen. 3:15).
In His Perfect Plan to redeem mankind, He would give man the Law to teach man he couldn’t keep it, and then come to earth as the Second member of The Trinity.
Mankind would repeatedly prove that he couldn’t keep The Law. Man became very debased. Most of mankind was literally Godless.
Realize that even though the law that God gave His Children seemed harsh, it was perfect and for their own good – Even though, the wars and violence in The Old Testament seemed un-ending, He was dealing within their condition. That was the way the culture was, thanks to the fall of man.
The fact is, violence in ANY form is NOT acceptable in God's Kingdom. God allowed and allows violence as part and parcel of The Fall - the disobedience in The Garden.
Even those devoted to being obedient to God (I'm thinking of King David here), did not please God unto His righteousness with war - but it's what had to happen in a fallen world to advance His righteousness.
God did not, and does not, take pleasure with in the death of ANY person - whether he knows God or not. Or whether that person is "evil" by the by the judgement of those, who by Grace (Ephesians 2:8 & 9) have received His Righteousness through Christ.
Joshua 5:12-14 tells us that when Joshua, who was the leader of God's chosen people, and commissioned to take His people, the people who were to impart His Righteousness to the world, and to destroy and take Jericho was told by The Commander Of The Lord's Army that He was on NIETHER side (remember here, God's people would be considered "more righteous" by the "church people" today). We now know that the person Joshua met (Joshua knew it too, that's why he "fell on his face") was the second member of The Trinity - Jesus - God on earth. Jesus is EXACT picture of God, the Exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3)
Jude 1:9 gives us insight into The Lord's attitude about anyone except Him judging a particular person. Jude tells us: ESV - But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”
When mankind fell, God set in motion a plan to redeem mankind, to give man a way back to Him. That way back, would take a few thousand years and God Himself coming to earth to show the way and reveal The Kingdom and it's ways. (Jn 1-14, Hebrews 2:14, Romans 5:12-17).
Jesus being the exact representation and picture to us of God (Hebrews 1:3). He shows us that love conquers all and never fails (1 Cor. 13:8). In every instance, He chose non-violence over force - legions of angels were at His disposal. The thread of love runs all though his ministry. There was no compromise. Jesus was only interested and concerned with the politics of The Kingdom of God - not the politics of the kingdom of the world. The Jewish subjects of the brutal Roman government who expected a political leader not a spiritual leader turned against Him and enabled His execution. They, as well as the majority of people from every generation since - including some of His staunchest proponents, didn't, and still don't understand true sacrificial love on that level.
During that execution - that act of outrageous love - He prayed for His executioners. He prayed for mankind, whom he came to rescue through His act of ultimate love. Before He did this however, He taught us to put others first by putting God and His Kingdom first. He taught us to overcome evil in this world by praying for our leaders and blessing our enemies. Not one time did Jesus tell us to stand against evil with any kind of force. Not one time was anyone taught to remedy any evil or injustice in the world with any means except love.
I know Jesus turned over tables and will be anything but peaceful when He returns. That has to do with judgment of un-righteousness.
I hear the "stand against evil" argument to justify violence in wiping out the evildoers all the time. One of the most popular is the example of the holocaust. Even Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Nazi resister, theologian and pacifist prayed that he be forgiven for violence he was responsible for in his resistance against the evil Nazis (evil by every measure).
Muslims have been anti-Jew since Ishmael. Right now Isis is the threat du jure. Terrorism is not new, just new to the west. As long as we believe God - Love never fails!
Don't get me wrong, things are crazy in the world today, there is terrorism, mass slaughter, people being burned alive, be-headings and all manner of brutality we can't even imagine. I for one, don't want to have my head cut off and don't know how to prevent this without violence if that situation arises.
I don't know how to reconcile this. I will defend myself and my family. But under no circumstances do I pretend that Jesus is OK with it. Nowhere in The Word is it justified or condoned - I know the arguments and the fact is they are arguments designed to justify the actions of fallen man - not to reflect God's point of view.
I do want to emphasize that I recognize the beam in my eye while pointing out the sliver in other's eyes. I am but a fallen man, but that is indeed no excuse. Our calling is to "be like Him" fallen or not.
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