In the sermon this last week, I noted on Joshua 11:23, that “the land had rest from war,” only once great wars had been fought. It is, of course, important to note that the wars Joshua fought were of a very particular nature. God had given the land to Israel after giving the Canaanites over 400 years to repent from their sins. And the most important parallels and applications of the message of Joshua are to our spiritual struggles–against the devil, our flesh, and the world.

In spite of this, there are broad principles which can applied to political and physical wars upon the earth as well. In light of the recent war led by the US and Israel against Iran, I thought it would be useful to offer some Scriptural thoughts on war generally, and how to think biblically about a war such as this. We will see in the observations that follow, that a doctrine of sin is crucial for a proper understanding.

Firstly, warfare is inevitable in a world of sin. The greatest conflicts have, at their root, not political disagreement, but personal sins, often compounded and complicated by other factors. Even within Christian circles, a certain sort of fighting can easily break out if we are not in control of our desires. James 4:1-2 states, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.” When world rulers and their congresses, assemblies, and legislatures, are populated by unrepentant sinners, it is not surprising that bloodshed and warfare break out. This is, sadly, the history of the world. Because of this, any sort of utopia or even the desire for world peace, has a dark and ominous undertone if it is not a peace based in the truth of the gospel of Christ. I suspect that it is some sort of desire for peace against a powerful enemy that will one day usher a “man of lawlessness” into power who will be able to lead many astray, even many who claim to be religious.

Secondly, the presence of sin and the doctrine of total depravity suggests that both the “bad guys” and the “good guys” in warfare will be in the wrong in some way. It may be that motives for an attack are not wholly good. It may be that the extent of an attack is not wise. It may be that the timing wasn’t best. None of this is surprising. Even if a dedicated believer were at the reins of an army, he would still face a plethora of weaknesses and temptations in carrying out that warfare. In light of this, I suggest a couple of cautions: one, don’t judge an entire war to be unrighteous merely because you suspect a bad motivation, think the extent too great, or the timing imperfect. One needs to take into account a much more broad set of variables. And two, be cautious of too hasty a judgment on whether a war is just or not. I tend not to make pronouncements from the pulpit concerning wars, and one of the reasons is that there is so much sin to go around, and much of it may not come to the light of day for some time. I will probably be more free in my opinions when not in the pulpit, but even then, I tend to be cautious.

Thirdly, and in keeping with my brief comment on Sunday, although wars are always an “evil,” they are sometimes necessary and just. The doctrine of sin tells us that neither death nor pain nor war are part of the original creation. But when sin entered the world, so did death, in all of its degrees and permutations. Death, therefore, is always an “evil,” in that it is not what God originally desired, and it causes the bodily destruction of one made in the image of God. For this reason we rightly abhor things like abortion and euthanasia. And yet, the death of an individual is not the greatest of evils. It is better, as one example, to put to death a murderer than, in allowing him to live, to essentially say that murder is not serious. It would have been better, it seems clear to me, if the eventual allies of WWII had acted far sooner, and not assumed that Hitler’s desires or evils could be contained. It may be better, as some Iranians have recently argued, that some innocents be killed in strikes against the evil, hard-line Muslim regime of the Ayatollahs, than to have tens of thousands of innocents, protestors, and Christians killed from within by their army or police. Again, there is no perfect world this side of Christ’s return. Death is always an “evil” insomuch as it pertains to original sin, but it is not always a moral evil or wrong.

There are many complicating factors in evaluating wars among nations. But there are a few things that are clear and which can guide our prayers:

• Pray that the Lord’s sovereign guidance of history for His glory would be achieved
• Pray that Christ’s church in particular would be protected and would grow
• Pray that evil tyrants, one way or another, would be removed if they refuse to repent–no matter whether that tyrant is Iranian, Israeli, Canadian or American.