Events in Iraq point to growing hostility on the world’s stage. This is not some civil war in that part of the world. This is about the exertion of the will of one group over another with a view toward others. A civil war is just that. It is localized as one group seeks to have power over another. However, if the efforts are to move beyond a local setting and spreading it out, it then ceases to be a civil war. The message from Washington is that it is just a civil war. It has already moved from Iraq to portions of Syria. Washington is mistaken.
Who are these people who are striving to obtain so much power? In days gone by anytime there was an effort on the part of those of the Moslem faith to act in a horrible way, the news media here, for the most part, declared that such were radicals. I grant that they are radicals but I am forced to wonder what is it that they are reading which leads them to cut off the heads of children and innocent people? One might conclude as per our news media that they are not interpreting the Quran in the right way.
Let us strive to simplify the situation. Here are three leaders from the past: Moses, Jesus and Mohammad. If I choose to read about the Israelites and how they conducted business I must read after Moses. If I choose to find out about the Moslem faith I then would read after Mohammad. If I want to know about Jesus then I must read after His life as revealed in the New Testament. God spoke to Abraham, long before there was a Moses. God told him that the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full (Gen. 15:16). In fact it would be a period of over 400 years before the sins of the Amorites would reach the full point.
God, in sending His people into Canaan, wanted them to destroy every vestige of idolatry in the land. The people were to be killed and/or driven out. Their images, idols and places of worship were to be destroyed. The kinds of sins that the people of Canaan were doing can be found out in a study of the book of Leviticus. God did not want His people to be affected by the thinking of those people. In that sense God placed a sword in the hands of Israel to drive out their enemies and make the land be holy as the people attempted to live holy lives.
Mohammad was a leader whose hand was filled with a sword. As long as he was alive, the sword or subjugation of his enemies was the path he walked. After his death, his followers continued to hold the sword in their hands as they made attempts to spread their faith into all the world. Those today in Iraq are holding a sword in their hands that can be traced back to the man who began their religion. One may argue that those who cut off the heads of children or others misinterpret what the Quran teaches. I grant that might be the case but it is not a misinterpretation as to the meaning of a sword in the hand.
Jesus said that He did not come to bring peace but a “sword” (Matt. 10:34). Same kind of sword as used by Moses or Mohammad? Why not let Jesus answer for Himself as to what is meant? Jesus in Gethsemane, surrounded by His enemies, had one of His disciples try to defend the Lord. What was the Lord’s response? He told Peter to “…put up again thy sword into his place; for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Matt. 26:52). Jesus in a few hours from this garden scene will tell Pilate, My kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). If His kingdom were of this world, then His servants would fight. Beyond that point, Jesus is being nailed to a tree outside the walls of Jerusalem. What a time for His followers to raise up with swords in hand to destroy the enemy. No such action is taken.
Whether by a misinterpretation of their holy book or some hidden agenda, people today are being murdered by the “sword”. Those who follow Jesus the Christ have since the days of Gethsemane, put their “sword” into its place. The sword used today by the followers of Jesus the Christ is the sword of the Spirit, that is the Word of God (Eph. 6:17). That sword touches the hearts of men when the truth is taught, understood and obeyed (Acts 2:36-39). The sword of Jesus the Christ does not cut off heads but touches hearts with truth. Who do you follow?