Signpost 8—Peace Plans and War Preparations.

Why do we vacillate between talking about peace and engaging in war? Jesus said of the last days just before His coming:

“You will hear of WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”
—Matthew 24:6, 7.

Before the twentieth century, war had never been waged on a truly worldwide scale. But in this century nearly every significant nation on earth joined in two great global conflicts. And since World War II, we’ve lived with the knowledge that one push of a button could turn our world into a heap of rubble. No wonder the Bible speaks of God “destroying those who destroy the earth” (Revelation 11:18).

We live in a strange world. Everyone agrees that we should give peace a chance. We talk peace; we boast of international organizations dedicated to peace; yet everyone keeps falling into armed conflicts. Pent up hostilities, some centuries old, flare into open conflict. Border disputes turn into artillery exchanges. Terrorist raids result in “surgical air strikes,” and “surgical air strikes” bring on more terrorist raids. The prophets Micah and Joel predicted that at the very time the nations talk about their desire for peace (Micah 4:1-3), distrust for their neighbors compels them to prepare for war (Joel 3:9-13).

Long ago the Bible pictured our present peace-war dilemma, and declared that permanent peace will reign on earth only when Jesus comes.