Skip to main content

Isaiah 2:1-4: Will there ever be world peace?

Will there ever be world peace? Yes. The real question is when? The Scriptures say that the heavens and earth will be made anew or that even a new heavens and earth will be made. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and Jesus is coming back. When Jesus returns (if not before) there will most certainly be peace on earth. This is important. I think that sometimes we forget that Jesus is actually coming back.

The Salvation Army’s official position on world peace is as follows:

The plan for creation is that all people shall live in a harmonious relationship with God. It acknowledges that only within this relationship can perfect peace be fully known, and that this peace transcends the circumstances of this life. Greed, selfishness and injustice, however, have entered human lives and often result in conflict and, at times, armed aggression.

Therefore, in the light of the Gospel and in obedience to the one who declared, “Blessed are the peacemakers,” The Salvation Army through its ministry around the world confronts the poverty, injustice and the inequalities that so often give rise to disharmony and unrest, and seeks to foster mutual respect and understanding between peoples of all races, ethnic origins, socioeconomic backgrounds, religions and cultures.

Recognizing the appalling character of modern warfare, The Salvation Army urges nations to eliminate all weapons of mass or indiscriminate destruction and divert those expenditures into measures that will benefit society, and especially into providing services that promote the welfare of the poor, suffering or disadvantaged, and bring about a more just society. The Salvation Army is ready to work, alone or in partnership with others of goodwill, to bring about an end to armed conflict and to promote reconciliation between opposing factions. It also undertakes to extend in Christian love its practical care to those who suffer because of war, civil unrest or other forms of violence, without discrimination except on the basis of the need being met and its capacity to meet it.

The Salvation Army calls upon all within its influence – members, friends and fellow Christians – to pray for peace, to love their enemies and to work for the betterment of society, witnessing to God as the source of lasting peace and to a right relationship with God as the only path to perfect peace.

When we are in a relationship with God we can even experience His peace in the midst of turmoil. Many early Christians experienced the peace of Christ during torture and martyrdom. Their forgiving response was used by God to greatly expand his Kingdom here on earth.

When have you had the opportunity to turn the other cheek and share the peace of God with your neighbour even in the midst of calamity? What was the result?
---
---
More daily blogs at
More articles, sermons, and papers at
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hosanna! The Triumphal Entry into Holy Week (Matthew 21:1-11)

Today  is Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday is when we commemorate the Sunday before Jesus’ death. Jerusalem was occupied then, like it is now; now it is occupied by the Israelis, then it was occupied by the Romans. The Judeans in the first century didn’t like being occupied then any more than the Palestinians like it today. The Romans were harsh, not nearly as brutal as modern Israel, but harsh enough that the first century had their version of … (Remember the suicide bombers of the ‘70s and ‘80s?) …suicide bombers: the Sicarii (zealots), Judean terrorists / revolutionaries would walk into crowds with daggers looking for Romans to kill –. One of Jesus’ followers, Simon, was arguably a Sicarii or zealot.   Passover is the commemoration of ancient Israel’s birth as a nation. The Angel of Death passed over Egypt and the nations of Isreal and Judah were created through the Exodus. Passover, in the Roman period, was a time when many people of Judean descent descended upon Jerusalem. I ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lanterns (Matthew 25:1-13, Psalm 146)

  The topics I chose from our Lenten list for today are “God has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness”; “He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin”; the Kingdom of God is at hand. Do we believe that? Do we live that?   In theology we use the term ‘prolepsis’ to refer to the time when the Kingdom of God begins, which is now, the time between the resurrection of Christ and His return at the eschaton. This is the time in which we are living and as Christians it is our responsibility to be willing instruments of God to display what it means that He has rescued us from the Dominion of Darkness; He has Freed Us from the Power of Sin, that the Kingdom of God is at hand. But do we even actually believe that He has already done this? And if He has why does it not seem that the Sin and Darkness still reign?   We know the parable of the bridesmaids (holy ones) in the Bible who needed to keep their lanterns lit – because lit lanterns were to be there when the Bridegroom Jesus returns...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bah Ram You Shaggy Goat (Daniel 8)

This book is written in a couple of different languages as we  have it  tod ay. Ch apter 7  that Susan looked at with us  is the last Aramaic chapter - if that is on purpose then chapter 7  probably concludes  the first  section  of Daniel  rather than  beginning  the  next  section   but Ch apter 8  that we are looking at today  (and everything flowing from it)  is obviously connected to  Chapter 7  as Da n iel  refers to the first dream when relaying the second one.   Chronologically speaking,  Chapter 8 and  Chapter 7 take place before  C hapters 5 and 6.  In Chapter 5, Babylon falls, Belshazzar is killed and  the Persians take over. None of that has happened in Chapter 8 which we are about to read .   Verses 1-4   8 In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, after the one that had already appeared to me. 2 In my ...
2 comments
Read more