Written by J. Cobb

Brethren Of Christ Articles - Biblical Standpoints

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Lasting Peace & Security?
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Is there any prospect of lasting peace and security?

The response to this question by many will be coloured by recent events. But even viewed from an historic perspective the prospect of lasting peace and security would seem a forlorn hope.

This year is the 60th anniversary of the end of the last world war. But whilst there has not been a war on that scale since, there have been few if any periods when there has not been a war, civil or national in one country or another. Many countries have become more familiar to us by virtue of their involvement in wars, such as Korea, Vietnam, Kuwait, Iraq, the Falklands etc. The African continent has been bedevilled with civil wars for many years, and few countries have been free from civil disturbances and threats to their security.

Peace has been maintained in some countries by oppressive and autocratic regimes, but what price peace if it be at the expense of freedom and civil liberty? There is a current debate in this country over the extent to which the curtailment of certain liberties should be accepted in the interests of national security.

The historian Gibbon wrote that the Roman empire maintained peace by a constant preparation for war, and this philosophy operated during the period of the so called Cold War between Nato and the Warsaw Pact countries for many years. There may appear to be peaceful cooperation now between the main superpowers, but it needs only a spark in an area which is perceived to be of strategic significance for it to ignite another major war. And the emergence of countries, hitherto incapable of mounting a nuclear threat, is having a destabilizing effect on the balance of power. It must be evident to any wise observer of world politics and a student of history that the best of human endeavours have been unable to secure anything other than a very tenuous peace, and if it has been obtained it is often at the expense of the freedom and liberty of a country’s citizens.

In the light of the past and present history we cannot be sanguine about human rulers and governments bringing about a state of lasting peace and security. The words outside the United Nations building in New York are a standing testimony to the failure of that body to achieve peace. The words are a quotation from the Bible and read, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

But, thankfully, the same God that created all things very good at the beginning has placed on record that He will send His Son the Lord Jesus Christ to this earth to establish a glorious reign of righteousness, justice, peace and security for all men. Then will the words of the angels, at his birth, be fulfilled – “glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” How and when this future state of peace and security for the world will be brought about and maintained is the subject of numerous references in the Bible. In order for universal peace to prevail and for man to live in harmony with his fellow man there needs to be a wise, just and powerful ruler, just laws, an equitable constitution, and beneficent conditions for all mankind to live under. At present none of these conditions prevail. It would require all rulers and governments to accept and impose the same religious, political, civil and economic constitutions in order to ensure universal equity. It is difficult to see how lasting harmony can exist between Muslims and non Muslims whom they regard as infidels.

Attempts have been made, with a degree of success, to bring about consensus of certain laws within the countries forming the European Common Market, and it must be acknowledged that so far the European Union countries have not resorted to war to settle any differences between them. But these countries have men under arms and the necessary armaments to defend themselves against would be aggressors, and have recently militarily intervened in the Balkans conflict.