And He will judge between the nations, and will mediate for many peoples; And they will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not lift up a sword against nation, and never again will they learn war. Isaiah 2:4 NASB Learn war – “Giving birth to one child is…
When you go out to battle against your enemies, and the Lord your God hands them over to you and you take them away captive, Deuteronomy 21:10 NASB When – The most important word in this verse is not “battle” or “enemies.” It’s not the claim that God will fight on your side. It’s the opening conjunction, the…
“Remove Your plague from me; because of the opposition of Your hand I am perishing.” Psalm 39:10 NASB Am perishing– There’s a lot of important vocabulary here. There are also a lot of “connect-the-dots” clues. Let’s start with “remove.” The verb is sur, here in the imperative, ha-ser. In other words, David doesn’t ask. He demands. “YHVH,…
“and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” Matthew 5:45 ESV Rain – I have a hard time understanding God’s battle plan. If I were running the cosmic war, I would make it as difficult as possible on my enemies and as wonderful as I could for my allies. I’d be sure that…
For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord, . . . Joshua 5:6 NASB War – At the macro level, human history is filled with…
No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier. 2 Timothy 2:4 NASB Entangles – Don’t be empleko, says Paul. The verb paints an important picture. It means to be braided into. Imagine you are vacationing on a…
In the towns of the latter peoples, however, which the LORD your God is giving you as a heritage, you shall not let a soul remain alive. Deuteronomy 20:16 JPS Remain – “Kill them all. Every man, woman and child. Even the animals.” Does that sound like a compassionate God to you? Commands like this…
“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you” John 14:27 KJV (Cambridge Edition) Peace – The Greek word for “peace” is eirene. In Classic Greek it meant, “the absence of war.” By implication, it came to mean “health, well-being and prosperity.” But the Greek meaning placed the word in a context of…
to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against your soul 1 Peter 2:11 NASB Wage war – Strategy seems to be a big deal these days. There is military strategy in the war with terrorism. There is political strategy in the upcoming election. There is a strategy for reaching the world with the gospel. …
But wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. James 3:17 Peaceable – OK, let’s think about this. “Peaceable?” We live in a world of greater and greater threat and conflict. In case you weren’t paying attention, tensions around the globe are escalating as…
