In Romans 13: 1-5 God grants governments the authority to establish order and "punish evil doers". Good governments punish evil doers and bad governments punish whomever they choose. Occasionally one or more good governments will rise up to punish an evil government such as in WWII. Many millions of noble men and women have taken up arms and sacrificed their lives in defense of liberty, freedom, and justice. On these core values America become a nation and it took guns to do it.
I am writing this article with an attitude of honor for all the veterans who have sacrificed so greatly for our freedom. I also realize that for many guns and the gusto to fight are as American as apple pie and baseball used to be. So I am aware the subject is complicated and controversial and many good godly people see things very differently from the perspective I'm about to share.
Even in view of all the above, this is an appeal to consider the words of Jesus.
“All those who take up the sword
shall perish by the sword”.
The relevancy of these words of Jesus and their current application
for today could hardly be more poignant.
You and I live as believers in an America
that is becoming alarmed and is increasingly arming itself
in light of a threatening and uncertain future.
As a believer are you contemplating taking up the sword?
Are your convictions grounded in scripture
or in evolving situational ethics ?
When one takes the time to meditate on what Jesus was actually saying and more importantly demonstrating in this garden scene of His betrayal, then these words become radically insightful.
Before my conversion I was fully immersed in the sixties culture. I was committed to non-violence, obviously resisted the draft and the Vietnam War, and thus experienced the customary riots and tear gas that accompanied such convictions and activities. As I became a believer those convictions deepened as I saw in Jesus the invitation to enter into a kingdom where it was even possible to love one's enemies.
Over the years I have maintained the underlying conviction that I would not kill someone, that is, I would not cross the line and take a life irrespective of the situation. However just in the past few years other influences have grown. Because violence has so increased and become so familiar in our culture, it has also taken a toll on my convictions and I have been wavering. As Jesus predicted, because wickedness would increase people’s love would grow cold. So I have been wrestling with a loss of love, a loss of the high ground and a growing sense of frustration and anger over where I see our country headed and the evils looming on our horizon.
Nine years ago we built a nice home in the woods so my wife and I along with our chickens share the same space with coyotes, some cagey raccoons, skunks, a mazillion squirrels and a few armadillos. In order to maintain some balance I obviously have a few guns, but it was as I was contemplating buying a handgun that I had a very specific encounter with the Lord. At the right time, as He so often does, He clearly stepped in and through a spirit of guidance and revelation opened up my understanding on this issue by inviting me into a passage of scripture. Matthew 26:52 “…all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword”.
In essence the encounter left me with an unmistakable realization
that Jesus was trying to communicate
if you cross the line and take up the sword in order to kill
you would come under the same spirit
as the evil one you are encountering.
If you take up the sword you will come under the sword. If you take up the sword it will gain legal rights over you. If you take up the sword you will come under the spirit that drives the sword, a spirit of violence, anger, wrath, murder, retaliation or revenge.
And if you take up the sword BY IT you will PERISH.
IF YOU TAKE UP THE SWORD OR WEAPON
IT EVENTUALLY WILL TAKE YOU UP.
It is in the process of taking up the weapon that the perishing begins to set in. It’s the inner thought life of anger, self-defense and retaliation that reduces us to the level of our enemies.
To perish means to rot, to deteriorate, to lose ground. God's intention for the heart of His followers was a heart of love towards ones enemies demonstrated in turning the other cheek, not returning evil for evil, and leaving revenge in the hands of God. All that begins to lose ground, to waste away, and ultimately to perish inwardly before the outward physical perishing when one seeks to take a life.
Consider the overall scene in the garden, where Jesus is demonstrating and living out the fulfillment of all that He has taught. Consider the harmony and singularity of the following passages in light of what He was about to do.
Matthew 5:39-45: "...do not resist him who is evil; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone wants to sue you, and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. And whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two… You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy'. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven…"
I concede these verses seem almost unattainable. But heaven and being like God is our goal, not the earth. They point to a very high place, one that is beyond the reach of man. It is God’s sphere, and only God in us can live on this plateau. But still Jesus talked as if He expected us to walk on this level. All of these passages pointed to a totally radical and different worldview. The primary aim of these passages was to direct us to live like our heavenly Father and that is above the world, above revenge, above anger, above retaliation. To be so heavenly minded that if someone wants to take your coat offer him your shirt as well. Jesus was directing us to have our spirit, our life, and our values above.
So once we have seen the truth or “The Way” presented for us in these preliminary scriptures we then can be attuned to what is really going on in this truly amazing passage. In the garden, we see in Jesus the manifestation of all He taught the apostles as He invites them as well as us up to this standard.
Here we have Jesus who has taught us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek, and He is about to go to the garden and turn the other cheek and not resist his enemies even to the point of death. Into that context He invites Peter and a few other disciples. And then of all things He seems to contradict everything He has ever said on this subject and tells Peter to bring a sword to the event.
Now wait a minute! what on earth is going on? The mindset of the Jews up to this point was that the Messiah was going to physically usher in another kingdom. But now He is talking about His dying and worse yet, one of them is just about to betray Him. In the garden they were internally perplexed; confusion, fear, and chaos filled the air as a mob carrying swords and weapons was descending upon them. Out steps Judas and betrays Jesus and the convulsing, crushing, internal realization that Jesus their Messiah, the fulfillment of all of their dreams and aspirations for themselves as well as for the nation of Israel was about to be arrested and crucified.
It was in this exact context a completely different story line was unfolding. In the very essence of Jesus' suffering He was also being the ultimate shepherd for Peter. And how did He do that?Please stop and ponder-
It was into that intense beyond description situation
that Jesus had told Peter
to bring a weapon.
Peter of all people, the impetuous, independent, headstrong walking-on-water Peter who had just said even if everybody else deserts you I will, not, I cannot, I will die for you. He told that Peter, not timid Thomas, to bring a weapon to the event.
There you have it. I would say if there was ever a time to use a weapon this would have been it. Enemies coming to arrest and possible kill your best friend and Messiah, righteous indignation, the crushing of all hopes of earthly victory, chaos, anger and hatred filling the air and Peter has a weapon in his hand, not only a weapon but also the one Jesus TOLD Peter to bring. So Peter sees what’s about to happen and having been told to bring the sword he swung it. No small swing, but one that was mere inches from stabbing the guard in the face or slitting his throat. I believe Peter meant to kill, his inner (and lower) nature was animated, pulsating, and in control.
I think that was exactly the point Jesus was trying to make
and to exactly the man who needed to hear it.
Jesus understood Peter’s nature, so why did He set him up? Because this was Peter. This is the one who on the day of Pentecost would usher in the kingdom. This was Peter who would stand up against the same Sanhedrin that was about to crucify Jesus. This was Peter who would need to lead the church through the martyrdom of Stephen and face his own imminent death in Acts eight. This was Peter who would need to lead by setting the precedent for the entire church, who would face a hostile, persecuting, Jewish people as well as the Roman world, and this was the Peter who would one day be crucified upside down. Peter needed to know at the most foundational core of his inner being one clarion call, a fact as foundational as bedrock and a principal so high that it could inspire men to live above any and all circumstance, one that could guide the church through centuries of potential enemies and persecutions. And that was this:
The taking up the sword or weapons
to advance or protect the kingdom of God
would make God's kingdom no better than the kingdoms of this world.
It would have ruined Peter and the church he would one day lead.
“ All those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword”
So we find Peter’s life never wavered from the lesson he learned that day. The message to Peter was if you come under a spirit of anger, retaliation, and revenge and take up arms you will be not only no better than your persecutors but
your persecutors will gain the mastery over you
because then you will be fighting on their turf, not Mine!
Jesus lived what He taught and rose above the situation and in love restored the ear of the man Peter had tried to kill. And Peter got the message, loud and clear and forever. Jesus' kingdom is not of this world; that’s why He told Pilate “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, then My servants would fight”.
This value was so entrenched in the church that over the centuries we have hundreds if not thousands of testimonies of martyrs who faced their executioners with such a radical joy and expectation of being with Jesus that occasionally their very executioners would lay their implements of death aside and convert to Christ on the spot, to join those who were not of this world.
This encounter, this opening up of my mind to see the heart of Jesus reflected in this passage so helped me at the core of my being. I am deeply thankful that the spirit of God guides us into all truth at the time we need it.
I so realized that if I or we in America are going to face persecution
then I don’t want to be caught with a gun in hand
and a spirit of fear, anger, or retaliation polluting my soul.
No, I yearn to be so filled with the love of God and the Holy Spirit that I may like Stephen behold heaven opened and see Jesus arising to welcome me into His arms. I feel that it would be such an honor to be able to stand so completely assured in my inner man about all that I have built my life and to look a persecutor in the eyes and love him. That is I believe the transcendence Jesus is after.
As said earlier I know this is a very difficult and complex topic, one that may eventually test all of us to the core, regardless of where we stand now. What I am sharing is a revelatory encounter my Father gave me because He knew I needed some encouragement to live up to the Biblical convictions I have always held dear to my heart but was in danger of compromising.
What I do believe is that we are all being swept up into a violent age, and an age of rising armament. In the first century there was a radical difference between how the believer responded to persecution and the path for which many today are preparing. It seems to me that the drift for many is headed toward a place where there will be very little difference between the responses of the believer and the non-believer to aggression. In the church in America there is a subtle and not so subtle taking up the sword.
My intention is to lift up the Word and bring clarity to a subject that is developing a momentum that will have most of us swept up into situational ethics. Whatever your position, think it through beforehand.
We each need to be thoroughly centered in His leading
and that leading needs to be unequivocally
grounded on the word of God.
