From time to time, if you listen to music on the radio, you may remember hearing a song with the lyrics: “War? What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!”
The song was a Billboard number-one hit in the United States in 1969, during the height of the Vietnam War, and again reached the Billboard Top Ten in 1986. Clearly, it expresses a popular sentiment. But, is it true? Is war good for absolutely nothing? If so, why do seemingly intelligent people regularly wage war?
All over the world, wars rage with devastating consequences for the affected peoples. Huge sums are spent on military budgets—funds that could otherwise be used to enrich people’s lives. Yet, often, it is the people themselves who want to go to war. Military conflict is on everyone’s mind these days. War is in the news every day.
The 20th century saw dozens of wars, taking more than 100 million lives even by conservative estimates. Right now, there are ongoing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, as well as other less-publicized areas around the globe. Politicians may speak against the waste and devastation of war, but they continually prepare for it and wage it.
The daily news reminds us again and again about the worldly reasons for war, but most people fail to recognize the spiritual reasons underlying what takes place. So, we need to consider the subject of war from a biblical perspective. The Bible says a lot about war.
“Rational” Reasons for War?
One big motivation for war is profit. For example, when the ancient Assyrians attacked Israel, they hoped to gain slaves, booty and tribute. The Babylonians attacked Judah for a similar reason. The Romans also profited greatly from their wars. More recently, during the last half of the 20th century, the Soviet Union hoped during the “Cold War” to profit ideologically as well as materially by spreading the political system of communism around the world. For some, seizing power can be seen as a kind of profit.
Jesus told His disciples to count the cost of their commitment to God, and as an example He mentioned how rulers calculate carefully before entering armed conflict. “Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?” (Luke 14:31).
Even when the “cost” is high, some may choose war when they think the cost of not warring is higher, as when facing an oppressor or aggressor. For instance, many American colonists in the 18th century preferred war to continued British rule. Patrick Henry famously said, “Give me liberty or give me death.” He got liberty—and so did his nation. Similarly, faced with the prospect of fascist rule over Europe and Asia, the Allies banded together during World War II.
By contrast, there have been wars that in retrospect were senseless. Today, most historians view World War I that way. It was a conflict that none of the participants really wanted, but into which nations were pulled because of unwise alliances. It was a horribly destructive “war of attrition” fought with 19th century tactics but using 20th century weapons.
Still other wars have been motivated by sheer hatred between people of different races or ethnicities.
So, why do we have war? Scripture gives us this very simple and profound insight: “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members? You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war” (James 4:1–2).
This can apply to individuals, or to whole societies as well. One desires and takes… another resists… so they struggle.
The Spirit Behind Conflict
God uses His creation to give us insight into His nature. He uses the physical to help us gain greater illumination about spiritual matters. “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:20).
With this in mind, we can see how physical wars among human beings picture a greater spiritual conflict. Scripture also describes the first spiritual war: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit” (Isaiah 14:12–15).
Lucifer lost that war, and his name became Satan, which means “adversary.” We read: “And He [Jesus] said to them, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven’” (Luke 10:18). Because of his war and his fall, many people have a terrible misunderstanding about Satan, his role and his power. The following “pop quiz” can illuminate the problem:
What is the opposite of good? Evil.
What is the opposite of right? Wrong.
What is the opposite of light? Darkness.
So, what is the opposite of God?
It is not Satan! God has no opposite! “For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’” (Isaiah 46:9–10).
Satan, though a spirit being of immense power, is merely a created being who rebelled against the Creator. Yes, he tries to convince gullible human beings that he and Jesus are in an ongoing tug-of-war for human souls—and, if that is the case, Satan would seem to be winning. But this is not the case—it is merely one of Satan’s biggest deceptions.
Even some religions that claim to honor Jesus Christ have put forward the idea that Jesus and Satan are “brothers” or that both are created beings. Some religions teach that there is no absolute good or evil, but merely two sides of the same divine “force.” We find this in the Chinese notion of Yin and Yang. Even Western popular culture has embraced this idea; the Star Wars series features Jedi and Sith each using an aspect of “the Force” to achieve their goals.
Satan would love to be seen as God’s peer in an age-old struggle. But this is just one of his many lies. Satan’s power is the power to tempt and deceive. He demonstrated this with Adam and Eve. God may allow Satan to have certain influence from time to time—as was the case with Job—but ultimately Satan has no power other than what he is given. Even when Satan confronted Jesus Christ in the wilderness, when he tried to take the crown of the Second Adam, it was not a physical struggle. Satan tried to talk Christ out of His crown—to tempt Him as he had tempted the first Adam—and Satan lost that battle completely when Christ defeated him with the breath of His lips, saying, “Get thee behind me Satan” (Luke 4:8).
After that battle, Christ went on to die for our sins, and God the Father resurrected Him to sit at His right hand. God promises us that even the grave will not prevail against God’s Church. Satan’s fate is sealed. In a sense, the final years of this present age are like the end of a chess game. Satan has lost, but out of sheer hatred he will play out his failed position down to the last piece.
Why does Satan have such hate? He is consumed with jealousy and envy, realizing that the least of God’s children in the Kingdom of God will be far mightier than Satan. In the end, Satan cannot win! He is, quite simply, a bitter loser. However, for the time being, he still has great power to deceive and to tempt—and to cause conflict and war. Today’s physical wars are an echo of the spiritual war in which Satan is still engaged. Just as Satan is consumed with envy and hatred, he can transfer those attitudes to willing human victims, tempted by the “god of this age” to engage in mortal combat.
If War Is So Bad, Why Did God Command Israel To Fight?
Ancient Israel was a physical nation, given physical promises—and they always had a lot of physical problems in addition to their spiritual ones! Again and again, they rejected the spiritual solutions and insisted on the physical ones, so God gave them the physical solutions they sought.
Consider that when Israel and Judah went into physical slavery, it was because of their spiritual captivity to sin, which preceded the physical captivity. Their spiritual condition of rebellion came first—then came war and capture. Even so, God promised that He would free them when they repented and turned to Him with all their hearts.
When God took Israel out of Egypt, He did it with a mighty hand to show His power over mankind—a power He asserted repeatedly, otherwise the Israelites would not have believed Him. “For ask now concerning the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?” (Deuteronomy 4:32–34).
Israel saw and believed for a time, but not for long.
But why would a God of love tell Israel to war against its enemies? Some people accuse the God of the Bible of being inconsistent for teaching love while promoting war. What people forget is that, originally, Israel did not need to fight. God promised that He would fight for them! But that benefit was conditional; all they had to do was to trust God and obey Him.
Remember, God fought the Egyptians on Israel’s behalf. “And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them. So they were very afraid, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord.... The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace” (Exodus 14:10, 14).
Later, however, when the Israelites lost faith, they had to fight against Amalek. “They tempted the Lord, saying, ‘Is the Lord among us or not?’ Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand’” (Exodus 17:7–9).
Notice that God made an important conditional (“If… then…”) promise: “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.… But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off… I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land” (Exodus 23:20–23, 27–30).
There are other examples of God fighting on behalf of the Israelites. “Nevertheless you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; and you complained in your tents, and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us….’ Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ Yet, for all that, you did not believe the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 1:26–32).
Also: “Now the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, across from Jericho, saying, ‘Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: “When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out [not kill] all the inhabitants of the land from before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images, and demolish all their high places; you shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given you the land to possess”’” (Numbers 33:50–53).
By the time Israel had arrived at the Jordan River to cross over, God was requiring them to take up arms. But we should notice that they did not start out in the wilderness that way. They only took up arms after much rebellion and distrust against God.
So, why did God on occasion order the Israelites to fight against certain peoples? There were reasons such as ending the horrors of pagan child sacrifice, but ultimately it was His purpose to remove those peoples from the land so He could accomplish His purpose for Israel. The first century Church understood that Israel had received “the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David” (Acts 7:45). The Israelites could have trusted in God and avoided physical combat, but they rejected His protection. Instead, God had to use human means to accomplish His purpose, but ultimately it was still God who put the pagan peoples out.
War is not the only area in which God made conditional promises to Israel. He also said He would heal their diseases, and that He would bless their crops, their cattle, their weather, their childbearing and many other aspects of their lives—if they would only obey. But again and again they did not obey, and the result of their sin was continuing violence.
Even so, God kept faithful to His promise when Israel believed and trusted Him. For instance, God defeated the Ethiopians for King Asa (2 Chronicles 14), and He defeated Sennacherib for King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32).
Will We See Peace or Cosmocide?
Human nature has not changed over thousands of years, but our ability to cause destruction has increased dramatically in the last century. What will be the outcome of this?
The Bible says it plainly: People say they want peace, but “the way of peace they have not known,” because, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:17–18). Therefore, mankind continues to say, “‘Peace, peace!’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:10–11).
We in God’s Church understand that Scripture foretells a final cataclysmic war at the end of this age—a conflict that will demonstrate the evil character of the god of this world. “Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruninghooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am strong.” Assemble and come, all you nations, and gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O Lord’” (Joel 3:9–11).
As shocking as this may seem, the armies of our world will actually fight against Christ when He comes: “And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army” (Revelation 19:19). Of course, Christ will defeat them: “And this shall be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, and their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths” (Zechariah 14:12).
Just as the physical nation of Israel was born with Christ destroying the armies of Pharaoh in the sea, so the returned Christ will destroy that pagan system’s successor, the Beast power. And He will do so in righteousness. The Day of Atonement pictures that great day when Christ retakes Zion by force, locks up the Adversary and frees a world held captive! Our Lord will then usher in a new age when, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). There will be no more war for a thousand years!
Do Christians Fight?
Yes, Christians do fight in this age, but not like everyone else. The Church of God wages a spiritual war, and—unlike the world, which is blind to this war—we can recognize the spiritual forces we fight against. God reveals them. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
The fortresses we pull down are of a different sort. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:3–5).
Christians, are to fight—but not as the world fights. Our fight is spiritual. “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:12).
What will be the outcome of that fight? Our Lord is zealous for peace! “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isaiah 9:7).
The God of Israel encourages us in our spiritual warfare as we await the final cataclysmic battle that will end this age and Satan’s rule. He tells His Church, “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Ephesians 6:13).
War is a skill that many in our day study and perfect, but this will soon come to an end. “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2–4).
Until that day, we in God’s Church can take heart—as spiritual Israel—in the inspiring words of Scripture: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).