The One Who Ends All Wars

As I safely write this article from the quiet comfort of my office, a massive conflict rages in eastern Europe as Russian forces continue their advance into Ukraine. Like everyone else, I have watched appalled as a sovereign nation of 43 million people is needlessly subjected to a humanitarian crisis.

During the First World War, the international conflict was naively labeled “The war to end all wars” (originally derived from a 1914 book by H.G. Wells). However, the march of history led to an even more disastrous Second World War, and other conflicts followed in the succeeding decades. This latest struggle is one more example of a deranged dictator attempting to amass more power regardless of the cost.

Traditional human warfare is atrocious and ugly. It destroys infrastructure, wrecks national economies, creates a scarcity of necessary resources, brings horrific death to soldiers and innocent civilians alike, and leaves generational scars on the people left behind. Warfare has not ceased despite the diligent effort of bright minds and good hearts. The United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union, and other organizations are clearly not the ultimate path to international peace. So what will end war – this persistent evil?

God promised long ago to accomplish that seemingly impossible task through Jesus. In Isaiah 2.2-4, the Lord revealed that in the “latter days” his mountain would rise above all others and “all nations” would flow to it to learn the ways of Israel’s God. During that time, “He shall judge between nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and 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 anymore” (Isaiah 2.4). Micah, Isaiah’s fellow prophet and contemporary, prophesied the exact same thing (Micah 4.1-3).

At the beginning of the book of Acts, right after Jesus’ resurrection, “all nations” did indeed come to a mountain in Jerusalem to worship at the Jewish temple. There they found uneducated Christ-followers speaking the good news of Jesus in their own languages. Three thousand obeyed the word that day, and God continues to add untold numbers of believers to His spiritual family even to this day. So as the world continues to rage and foam, Christian invite all to the mountain of peace. In God’s family “the wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain” (Isaiah 65.25). Evil leaders throughout time have pridefully fought to create a new world order, but without exception their plans quickly crumble into dust. God has created a “new heavens and a new earth” for His people (Isaiah 65.17) and has promised to return to set everything in order. Do you know the One who is ending all wars? Do you need to come to his mountain?

~Nathan Combs