Wars and rumours of wars (part 1)

In Matthew 24 Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Temple while the disciples were admiring how solid it looked! Then they asked two questions - when? and what will be the sign of the end of the age? They thought the two questions were about the same event. They could not imagine the Temple being destroyed until Messiah comes in glory.

Jesus answered the second question first (a common way of teaching in that context). He talked about the period from the Resurrection leading up to the Second Coming in verses 5 to 14, and returned to this in verse 27. (Verses 32 to 35 are probably about the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD.) 

Jesus’ main theme is “Don’t be alarmed or think the end is now - hold on, keep steady and endure to the end!” Why? Because we might be tempted to wait for it all to happen, when there is so much for us to do. The good news of the Kingdom has to be proclaimed (in works and wonders as well as words) in every nation (meaning every ethnic group or people group) before the end will come (verse 14). Right now there are estimated to be about 7,000 people groups who are unreached; so collectively as the church we have a lot to do and we can be fairly sure “the end is not yet!”

Why does it matter that we hold on and keep steady? Because God cares about our response to the many problems of the world, especially the wars and rumours of wars.

We might find that the UK gets embroiled in wars in Europe again, to contain Russia. It is important that we pray these issues through, so we are prepared if it happens. How will we respond if many of our Christian young people are called up for military service?

We must not assume that whatever our nation’s government says is what we must do - our role is to pray and speak prophetically!

Since the Second World War it has been easy to be a Christian in the U.K. and not to challenge those in authority in government. But soon we might need to! No nation is truly godly, even if it has a large number of Christians and even if many people claim it is, or was, a Christian nation based on Christian values. Nations cannot be truly godly because they depend on the use of force to compel people within and to defend from outsiders. 

But Jesus shows us what is really godly. Philippians 2:6-11 is probably the oldest text in the New Testament, a hymn that Paul quoted. Jesus surrendered power and chose to live and die in humility, so that He could conquer the grave by supernatural power and bring us freedom, real freedom. His refusal to use worldly power was a challenge to the powers that be: so they crucified Him.

The Lord will ultimately judge the nations when Jesus returns and the psalmist helps us keep perspective:

‘The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
    he frustrates the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
    the thoughts of his heart to all generations.’

Psalm 33:10-11

… to be continued

- Chris Horton