War is the unwelcome stain on history’s cloak that covers humanity whole. It soaked the soil at Abel’s end and has marked each and every soul. At the hands of our brothers and sisters we fall, and at the mercy of God’s righteous gaze; is war at its birth and the cessation of its ways. To learn war no more as a skill no longer needed to attain, is the promise of a coming kingdom with Christ on its throne to reign. May we take this promise to heart and carry it in how we choose to live, for war is not a conflict of right and wrong it is the scars of sin unwilling to forgive.

It is memorial weekend in the United States, a time that is set aside to honor those who have either given their lives in service of the country or those who now actively serve domestically or abroad. It is a sober weekend as we consider the price of national identity and the many freedoms that has with it. Both my wife and I have had family members who have served and it is such an honor to live in freedoms that they have bought.

As we went through the Union cemetery and WWI museum in Kansas City today we thought about the promises that God holds ahead of us when He will indeed bring a true lasting peace. We struggle to even accept that such a thing could be true but it is intrinsic in the truth of our faith in Jesus Christ. When Christ first entered into human history there is the account of him reading the scriptures stating:

 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord”

Luke 4:18-19, Isaiah 61:1-2a

Christ accomplished that which he spoke that day, but he also proclaimed or gave a promise to ultimately bring about these words beyond his ministry that we are familiar with through the gospel accounts. Christ is an eternal being, not just a man who lived in time, and when he proclaimed this in that temple long ago he gave his immutable word that he will perform all that is written. If you do not know Christ’s work is not done yet! We live in a time where we can not only believe what He has done for us we can also be part of what He is doing today and will do when that “acceptable year of the Lord” comes to a close. Time is short and human history only reveals that in our state of sin, war is inevitable.

No need to panic, there is good news..

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

Revelation 21:4

Former things will pass away, this is such a comfort in regard to the sorrow and pain that the human soul has to endure in time. There is great promise to those who have been Transformed to His way Christ will not only remove the stain of sin from you, he also desires to abide with you forever in the truest state of peace that man will ever know. This is not some zen or ethereal plain it is a promise of a real coming kingdom where sin, thus war will have no place. It is written!

“And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.“

Micah 4:3, Isaiah 2:4

Imagine a world where man will learn war no more, weapons will be rendered useless and the intuitive minds of man will actually harmonize and progress humanity forward not end it. It will be a world that identifies with its creator, relates with Him and abides with Him, a world that is saturated with love, community, purity, and holiness; it will be a world unimaginable yet a true reality. It will not just be a world changed it will be a world that is transformed to His way.

Honor those who have given much so that you may live, and consider Him who did just that for your very soul. We may never witness the end of wars but we can be part of the great hope that they one day will cease.