Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
As another Memorial Day goes into history in the U.S., we pray that the Lord may "make wars to cease unto the end of the earth [and] break the bow, and cut the spear in sunder, and burn the chariots in the fire" (that is, the murderous tanks and assault bombers; see Psalm 46:9). The very name of Jesus, the Son of God, is "the Prince of peace" (Isa. 9:6). Millions sacrificed their lives in World War I in order to fight "the war to end all wars," only to have died in vain as World War II sent many more millions into undeserved death.
The angels announced at His birth that Jesus would bring "on earth peace [and] good will toward men" (see Luke 2:14). But the Prince of peace was "despised and rejected of men," and expelled from the world He came to save. Those whose lives spanned much of the 20th century lived through the most bloody years the earth has ever known in its 6000 years of history.
According to the Bible, the only way that the Prince of peace could bring peace to the earth without being "frustrated" and stymied would be for His people to cooperate with Him in His work. In other words, it's useless for us to pray, "Prince of peace, please bring peace to this hate-filled, war-riven world," unless we serve as His agents in enabling Him to do so. "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you," He declares (John 20:21). He is the Vine, we are the branches that must be intimately bound with Him for His purposes to be worked out in the earth.
He spells out the formula in Revelation 7:1-4. There He promises that He will undertake to "hold the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow," provided His people on earth proclaim "the seal of the living God." He commands those terrible four winds that began to break loose in World Wars I and II, in the Vietnam War, the Iraq and other wars, "Hurt not the earth ... till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads."
It's an illusion for God's people to assume that horrible wars contribute to the progress of God's work by bringing conviction to hearts and taking away our "idols." It's not His plan to forcibly remove our "idols"! War terrorizes people so they can't even contemplate the Gospel. No, war has no redeeming evangelistic value. Now let us learn what is His "sealing message" and commit ourselves to proclaim it. It's the long overdue message that is yet to "lighten the earth with glory" (Rev. 18:1-4). Lord, please awaken us!
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: May 31, 2004.
Copyright © 2013 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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