Biblical View on Issues

Front Page Article
"The Lenses of Reformation
Concerning Biblical Principles of War"
By Patti Amsden

The serpent, who was identified as a cherub, brought rebellion into his conversation with Eve at the Tree of Knowledge. He came into the conversation with conflict in his heart, divergence in his words, and disparity in his allegiance. An earthly battle was introduced from the spiritual dimension when the enemy of truth sought to align humanity with his side of the conflict. Mankind was brought into a pre-existing war. The Lord did not initiate the war but did acknowledge the conflict that the serpent had introduced into both the heavens and the earth when He announced that the warfare would continue until the utter and complete defeat of the serpent and all those in alliance with him (Gen. 3:15). Scripture uses the designation Yahweh Sabaoth, meaning Lord of heaven’s armies or Lord of the hosts, as a title for God 261 times in the Old Testament. The Bible presents God as a man of war who commands His troops, who are His angels, who assist Him in His spiritual warfare. Psalm 24:10 declares, “Who is this King of glory? The Lord of armies, He is the King of glory” (NASV). Spiritual warfare is not a separate activity from other throne room governance, rather spiritual warfare is the implementation of throne room justice and judgment.
Reformation lens #1 – God did not create warfare, but God also did not abdicate His sovereignty nor surrender His cause once the war had begun. God directs warfare for the cause of righteousness and kingdom advancement.

At times within scripture, God called His people to engage in warfare. In the case of Joshua, the population of the promised land had a sinister point of origin. The Nephilim (giants) bloodlines had been produced by fallen divine beings, a storyline previously communicated in the pre-flood world (Gen. 6). These giant offspring were not created by God, nor did they belong to God’s seed. Not only was their origin from unholy beings, but their pagan practices were also unholy and destructive. Scripture states that the very land was vomiting out these earth managers (Lev. 18:25). God was leading His people through Joshua into a holy war. The idea of a holy war stands in stark contrast to other kinds of war. Before his death, Moses instructed Israel on the rules of war. Those laws are defined in Deuteronomy 20. When God told the people to go to war, they were not to be afraid of their enemies because “the Lord your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you” (vs. 4). Next, the passage describes those who could be excused from battle. God was reinforcing that the battle was not going to be won by the sheer numbers of soldiers, the superiority of their weaponry, or the wise strategies of their officers. Heavenly armies would sway the outcome in favor of the people of God. Moses then commanded the people to offer peace to any enemies. Only if peace was rejected could the armies engage. These passages and other passages in the Torah describe just and humane treatment of conquered people. In the middle of Moses’ war rules, he makes the one exception, which is found in Deuteronomy 20:15-18 where God described His war with the giant nations as His holy war to cleanse the land, uproot evil, and crush the seed line of the serpent. God was judging these nations. Everything and everyone within those nations had been contaminated by the occult pagan practices of the fallen seed line of the serpent and was set under an order for complete and utter destruction.
Reformation lens #2 – God, Himself, engaged in war against the corrupt seed line of the Nephilim by way of the flood in Noah’s day and by way of this people in Joshua’s day. Only the nations identified as giant nations, namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (Deut. 20:17) were set for utter destruction; while other non-giant pagan nations were conquered by God’s help but without annihilation.

During the old covenant era, all the nations were ruled by the lesser gods and were under the human management of demon-controlled leaders who cooperated with the area’s prince in the execution of his schemes. With the coming of Christ, the warfare became less about natural, physical warfare and more about warfare executed in the heavenly dimension. Jesus accomplished warfare against fallen powers in His life and ministry. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (I Jn. 3:8). In His death, He stripped Adamic-granted authority from the fallen angelic beings (Col. 3:15), and in His ascension, He received all the nations to be His possession and inheritance (Dan. 7:13-14).

After Christ and the reclaiming of all nations, evil spiritual powers lost their authority. The church was commissioned to occupy the reclaimed territory, which meant deposing spirits from their seats of spiritual power. Apostle Paul informed the church in Ephesus that they must wrestle with the spiritual strata over territories. “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:10-12).
Reformation lens #3 – In the New Testament economy, individual believers and the church as the body of Christ have not been called into physical warfare; but, rather, our warfare is spiritual.

Nations and national leaders are commissioned through the powers God has given to the civil jurisdiction to serve as guardians and protectors of the people and the land within their boundaries. Part of the responsibilities of the civil government is to defend the citizens from enemies within and enemies without. To do so, the civil realm trains and maintains an internal system in the form of police and courts and external defense in the form of military agencies. When an enemy invades, the nation should be prepared to defend. When the citizens or the assets of a nation are threatened by invading forces, the nation should be prepared to defend. First, the nation should seek the Lord for His council, as can be discovered in several stories in the life of David (I Sam. 23:1-2; 2 Sam. 5:18-19) If and when the Lord confirms a war strategy, the rules of war found in Deuteronomy 20 must apply. Modern day forms of rules of war have been written, such as those from the Geneva Convention or international humanitarian law.
Reformation lens #4 – When a nations security is threatened by invading armies or through terrorist activities, that threatened nation has the authority of God to engage in war and to expect that the Lord will aid them in their warfare as they follow the rules of war outlined within the scriptures.

As Reformers, we must understand the difference between spiritual warfare that the individual and the church have been assigned and the natural warfare that falls within the jurisdiction of civil governments and nations. God is not against warfare when a nation is provoked and must defend itself, its borders, and its citizens. God is against nations that invade other nations for the taking of land, confiscation of raw materials or national product that are the property of the invaded nations, subjugation of the citizens and government of the invaded nations to advance the empire of the invader, and conducting criminal acts of war against the citizens that are not part of the military.

During this season of war in the Middle East, we as Reformers should stay vigilant in prayer, seek the Lord for prophetic insights as to how to inform our prayers, and join with other prayer groups and organizations to provide spiritual protection and divine guidance for the nation. We should give charitable contributions to agencies that can be trusted to bring humanitarian relief to the war-torn areas. And now – as always – we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem.