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Monday, March 17, 2014

Pastoral Pings ~ God’s Peace Where There is no Peace

          It always amazes me how things come together to communicate the plans and purposes of God. God speaks through his word so that we are led into the mind of Christ for his church. God shows us things he is doing in the world so we know where we should focus our attention and activities. Circumstances present examples of situations in which we must put God’s word into practice, and situations that stand opposed to the word of God and those who live it.

          Yesterday it was a very uplifting time to share with God’s people about how the first of the seven seals uses the imagery of a rider on a white horse going forth conquering, and to conquer,[1] to remind us of the way the gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world before the coming of Christ.[2] The book of Revelation engages the children of God as conquerors,[3] not victims of a mad, and sinful world.

          However, today I focused my meditation on the second seal, which tells us that another characteristic of this “last hour”,[4] is likened to a rider on a fiery red horse who “was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another.”[5]

          This imagery made me wonder how the revelation of a peaceless earth would encourage the church to be the conquerors the first seal revealed. After all, part of the whole armor of God[6] includes, “as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.”[7]If the gospel that goes out conquering, and to conquer, is a gospel of peace, why are we immediately told that another rider will accompany the spread of the gospel by taking peace from the earth?

          At least part of this picture is to encourage God’s conquerors, whom Jesus referred to as “peacemakers”,[8] that they will lead people to have “peace with God”, but will never bring the world to have peace.[9] This protects God’s children from the frustration and confusion of thinking that we must be failing at our conquering mission of bringing people to have peace with God if our proclamation of the gospel of peace causes all kinds of trouble and turmoil.

          After all, the greatest peacemaker of all, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, God with us, the word become flesh, deity in bodily form, stirred up such opposition and hatred from the descendants of God’s friend, Abraham, that they would not feel any rest until they had crucified their Messiah. And yet, in the midst of their murderous violence, Jesus laid down his life for his friends so that, through the animosity of his enemies, he secured peace for all God’s children. Peace with God came through the violence of people who hated the Prince of Peace.

          I encourage people to spend enough time with God in his word each day that we leave our time knowing that God has applied his word to our hearts in such a way that we know how to put his word into practice, or, to join him in what he is doing. How does that work for me today?

          It reminds me that the church that goes out conquering, and to conquer, will have a dual experience in the world. On one side, the conquering church will bear much fruit by bringing people to have peace with God. On the other side, the conquering church will see a world that cries out, “‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.”[10] The world will call for tolerance, while showing hateful intolerance of God’s children. The world will call for a peace after the manner of John Lennon’s, “Imagine”, that wants peace without God, and will fight to get rid of those who know there can only be peace with God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

          It is significant, after encouraging the peacemakers that, they shall be called sons of God,”[11] he adds one more blessing, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.[12] There is blessing in being the peacemaking conquerors that bring people to have peace with God, and there is blessing when being persecuted for doing so.

          A rider on a white horse going out conquering, and to conquer, gives us a timeless picture of the peacemaking church. A rider on a fiery red horse going forth in war, stealing peace from the earth, tells us that we will never see a world at peace no matter how many people come to faith in Jesus Christ during this last hour.

          The conclusion is simple: be part of a church that puts on the whole armor of God to stand against the schemes of the peace-destroyer, Satan,[13] including, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.[14] There will be no peace in the world throughout this last hour, but the peacemakers of God will be blessed in their conquering, as they bring the POW’s of sin to have peace with God.

© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)




[1] Revelation 6:1-2
[2] Matthew 24:14
[3] Each of the letters to the seven churches concludes with a message to “the one who conquers”.
[4] I John 2:18
[5] Revelation 6:3-4
[6] Ephesians 6:10-20
[7] Ephesians 6:15
[8] Matthew 5:9
[9] Romans 5:1-5
[10] Jeremiah 6:14
[11] Matthew 5:9
[12] Matthew 5:10
[13] Ephesians 6:10-20
[14] Ephesians 6:15

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