War is a a huge concept found in a tiny word. If words carried the gravity of their meaning, the word for the concept of ‘war’ ought to be something like 17 syllables. But this is English so “infinitesimal” means really small and “big” means large.
I woke up thinking about war this morning, because I watch the news from time to time. Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Russia, and now Iran. Our world is full of conflict. And Jesus said it would be.
How should followers of Christ think about these wars and rumors of wars? The devastating headlines of bombs dropping and lives ending should give us pause. And they should make us think about the return of Jesus. Too many Christians say it this way: “Is Jesus coming back soon?” It is good for us to tie together the return of Jesus to the cataclysmic events of earthquakes, violent storms, and war. But they are meant to remind us that He IS coming back. No single war can tell you WHEN He is coming back. We only know that Jesus gives us the expectations that history is like a woman in labor. Jesus called these headlines, labor pains . . . Like waves of contractions that lead to the birth of a new little human. I was there for three labor and deliveries. The waves of contractions . . . The counting, the breathing exercises . . . The desire to rescue my wife from this terrible pain.
And that is what Jesus said we are to think of when we see wars and rumors of wars. History is full of wave after wave after wave of wars and rumors of wars. When we see those contractions, we are meant to think that a new world is coming! Just like each contraction in labor leads closer to a final contraction, and then “waaaaah!’, and then new life!
The world is interspersed with cycles of wars, cataclysms, times of peace, famine, drought, disease, health, prosperity… We live in a world heaving and contracting, and each headline carries us closer to the arrival of our Lord and King. I wonder if anyone reading this has felt fear in the current state of the world. If you are a follower of Christ, let me remind you; we are one more contraction closer to the return of our King. There will be one final contraction . . . There will be some “waaaaah!” And, then, newness of life! Forever!