By Pastor Aubrey Duncan

Yearning for peace

Many are concerned about all that is going on in the world today. There are wars, pestilences, unusual weather patterns, economic uncertainty, and moral declension. They wonder, what do all these things mean? People are asking: ‘where’s the world headed? How will it all end? Does anyone have the answers to the world’s problems? Will there ever be peace on earth? Humanity is dismayed and confused.

Russia has invaded Ukraine. The Ukrainians are fighting back with all the strength they can muster. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is ravaged by tribal conflict. Armenia and Azerbaijan are at war over disputed territory. And these are just a few. In these and other battles in Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, all are experiencing profound grief and unbearable suffering. There are significant casualties, destruction of property, and displacement of innocent men, women and children who have absolutely nothing to do with those wars. They are mere casualties of war.

Most recently, Hamas attacked Israel. Israel has retaliated with unbridled force, unmitigated wrath and genocidal fury, with no end in sight. To the rest of the world, this situation is a theatrical spectacle that plays 24/7 on their favorite news platforms. The commentators regurgitate their respective preconceived political and religious biases. But for the Palestinians and Israelis, the suffering, the loss of loved ones, the destruction and the loss of families and friends are protracted, gut-wrenching episodes of grief and agony. Their experiences are real.

Chris Hedges, noted historian and journalist, puts the ongoing Israeli/Palestinian conflict into its proper context: “The collective retribution against innocents is a familiar tactic employed by colonial rulers. We used it against Native Americans and later in the Philippines and Vietnam. The Germans used it against the Herero and Namaqua in Namibia. The British in Kenya and Malaya. The Nazis used it in the areas they occupied in the Soviet Union and Eastern and Central Europe. Israel follows the same playbook. Death for death. Atrocity for atrocity. But it is always the occupier who” initiates this macabre dance and trades piles of corpses for higher piles of corpses.

What does Israel, or the world community, expect? How can you trap 2.3 million people in Gaza, half of whom are unemployed, in one of the most densely populated spots on the planet for 16 years, reduce the lives of its residents, half of whom are children, to a subsistence level, deprive them of basic medical supplies, food, water and electricity, use attack aircraft, artillery, mechanized units, missiles, naval guns and infantry units to randomly slaughter unarmed civilians and not expect a violent response? Israel is currently carrying out waves of aerial assaults on Gaza, preparing a ground invasion and has cut the power to Gaza, which usually only operates two to four hours per day” (Palestinians Speak the Language of Violence Israel Taught Them, chrishedges.substack.com)

But how did we get here? There’s an ancient book, disregarded and despised by almost the entire world, that holds the answers. It contains the true history of humanity. The Bible gives profound insight into our current warlike culture and foretells the future of not only the Middle East conflict, but of the rest of the rapidly deteriorating world.

The Truth

This precious, yet despised document records a time when there was no war in the universe. Everything worked in perfect symmetry and with flawless synchronization. The Jewish prophet, Moses, writes about that indomitable masterpiece and its Creator: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Later, the apostle John, a contributor to that ageless, rejected masterpiece, reported on the first war that started in a neighborhood of unspeakable bliss: “And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9).

That war continues today on our plagued planet in the hearts of men and women. The conflicts around the world are manifestations of the war virus that arose in the courts of glory. It has infected every member of the human family and has brought about a seemingly unceasing culture of dispute and dissipation. That war virus is called sin, which is disobedience to our Creator’s will. It had so infected the human family that it brought hurt to our Creator’s heart: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (Genesis 6:5-6).

That ancient book, whose story is ever true, goes on to tell us that Creator God would eventually destroy His greatest creation, who thoroughly turned away from His revealed desire for them. That destruction came in the form of a great flood that engulfed the entire earth and all humanity, all except a man named Noah, his wife, his sons, and his sons’ wives.

But no sooner than God had preserved Noah and his family, the war virus raised its deadly head again. It has traversed the ages, and we are witnessing its most ravaging effects throughout planet earth.

Of all the devastation, the war between Israel and Palestine should be of grave concern to all alive. Its impact and significance are broader and deeper than most realize. The only solution for ending that and all other wars, thereby bringing in universal peace, is intimately connected to both parties. It is not a peace agreement between warring countries. The solution to war, destruction, death, and suffering is neither diplomacy nor genocide. Peace will not be accomplished by the implementation of some grand design for a universal religious or political project.

The only remedy for war and its horrific effects is a person. His entry onto the stage of the Drama of the Ages was announced by angels in that ancient book: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people…. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 10, 11, 13-14).

One God-inspired writer prophesied of Him on the pages in that often-despised book: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Peace will come to the Middle East only when both the Israelis and the Arabs, who are cousins, accept the Prince of Peace. Their age-old conflict is a consequential family dispute that goes back thousands of years, affects us all today, and will last until the Prince of Peace returns to planet earth.

But tragically, He was rejected by the Jewish nation at His first coming. At the time of His entrance into the human experience, they were looking for someone to overthrow their Roman subjugators and deliver them from the oppression and bondage in which they were held. They were then, and still are now, looking for an earthly conquering King. But the Prince of Peace decided instead to come as a suffering servant and a slain lamb. Isaiah foretold: “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth” (Isaiah 53:7). Deeply moved by His awe-inspiring presence, his cousin John declared: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The Jews didn’t accept Him; but rather delivered Him to their Roman oppressors to be crucified on a cruel cross. I often wonder: ‘what would the world be like today had they accepted Him?

On the other hand, their cousins, the Arabs, claim that their god, Allah, does not have a son; therefore, the Prince of Peace is neither the Son of God nor the Promised Messiah. They are looking for the Imam Mahdi, whom they believe will appear and fill the earth with fairness, justice, and peace. But Mahadi is not the Prince of Peace and therefore cannot bring them peace.

As Abraham’s children, the Jews and the Arabs, it will do them both well to accept Yeshua, the True Messiah, the Only Savior of the world, the Prince of Peace. Only then can peace come to the Middle East.

The Truth vs. the false

We live in a world where life and death have become a game played on the screens of one’s favorite electronic device. What is seen on TV is accepted as reality. Consequently, rather than accepting the truth of the Bible, which only accurately identifies and predicts the coming of the Prince of Peace, men and women are constantly concocting fables and calling them fulfillment of Bible prophecy. They are constantly looking at the events transpiring around the world and attempting to plug their old ladies’ tales into them to justify their false theories.

One of the most popular skewed Biblical narratives used for this purpose is that of the Jewish temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem. The war between Israel and Hamas has given rise to this false narrative which has not a thread of Bible truth. The Prince of Peace, in response to His people [the Jews] rejection of Him, with teary eyes, agonizingly declared: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Matthew 23:37-38).

There is no indication of Him returning to a rebuilt temple. In fact, He went much further in prophesying the temple’s demise: “verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (Matthew 24:2). That pronouncement was precisely fulfilled less that a generation later. Ironically, the very ones who propagate this spurious narrative of a rebuilt Jewish temple reject the foundational tenet of the Jewish religion: the Seventh-day Sabbath. How would their Sunday sacredness theory reconcile with God’s Holy Sabbath which the Jews tenaciously embrace as part of their national identity?

Another popular fable is the Secret Rapture. This widely accepted fib suggests that soon Christians will be removed from the earth and into heaven, leaving the rest of humanity to go through a great tribulation. Ironically, the ones that proclaim this fairy tale are the very ones who are striving desperately to establish God’s kingdom on earth which they claim will be a time of bliss for one thousand years (the millennium). How can one reconcile a Secret Rapture, a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem and a millennium of peace on earth is quite puzzling. The pieces simply don’t fit together.

The source of these theories is a phenomenally successful fiction series called Left Behind by authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. The fact that the authors made it specifically clear that their work is fictitious is of no consequence to its adherents who accept it as Bible truth. But popularity does not equate to truth.

The purpose of true Bible prophecy is to reveal the coming of the Prince of Peace in power and glory to redeem only those who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior. Any Biblical narrative that does not present that fact is false and must be rejected.

Thankfully, we have the words of our Creator who offers these words of comfort through His servant, John: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away (Revelation 21:1-4).

Can you imagine this: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord” (Isaiah 65:25). But it’s the sure promise of the Prince of Peace.

Jesus Christ, the Creator of the world and the Prince of Peace can be trusted when He assures us that He will come again to rescue humanity from this world of sin, perplexity, and woe. We can have faith in His word when he promises to make all things new. To date, everything He had promised and that which had been prophesied about Him, by the prophets of old, have come to pass exactly as was foretold. When and where He would be born. The precise period He would do His ministry on earth. How, when and where He would die. The time of His resurrection from the grave. All have been fulfilled with uncanny accuracy.

The angels joined the chorus of the assurance of the coming of the Prince of Peace. As Jesus completed the work appointed to Him here on earth and began to make His way back to His and our heavenly Father, the angels confirmed the return of the Prince of Peace. Doctor Luke, His chronicler and historian, left us with this account: “And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:10-11).

The coming of the Prince of Peace is the overarching theme of the Bible. It’s a divine chain of truth that stretches as an unbroken cord from the first book of God’s Holy Word to the final words of the Sacred Record. The patriarch Job, in the most despicable of human condition; having lost every earthly possession, deprived of family and health, exclaimed most positively: “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:  Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me” (Job 19:25-27).

The promise of that glorious appearing of the Prince of Peace was not lost on His beloved disciple John. He declared: “Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7).

With such a clear record of the manner in which the Prince of Peace will come, no one needs to be deceived. But how certain can we be of His coming? Considering the evidence of all the other events prophesied about Him and fulfilled in His life, you can be confident that indeed this final event, His return, will be likewise fulfilled as prophesied.

Again, his servant Paul, not only foretold of the manner of the coming of the Prince of Peace as the beloved John declared; but he spoke with assurance of the most glorious event to take place in human history: “For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18).

The prophet Isaiah exclaimed: “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it ” (Isaiah 25:8). He continued: “Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead” (Isaiah 26:19).

Not only by men and angels, but most assuredly, we have the assurance of the One who cannot lie, the Prince of Peace Himself. Addressing his troubled disciples on the night before He gave His life to ransom and reunite our lost world back to our Father, He offered these words of assurance, comfort and compassion: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.  In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3). That promise is as sure for us today as it was for His disciples almost two thousand years ago.

When that day comes, the entire world will be divided into two classes. One class is described thus: “And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:15-17).

But, the other class, the one I pray that you and I will be in, will look up, face to face with our Savior, and joyfully declare, “Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation” (Isaiah 25:9). He shall then respond with the most melodious voice ever heard in human ears, “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). I plan on being in that class. What about you?

But for now, He has given us a very special gift: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27). He beckons you: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30). How will you respond? Will the Jews, Palestinians and other warring factions accept the invitation?

Looking for peace? In Him, the Prince of Peace, is the only place to find it.

About: Follow Pastor Aubrey Duncan at his Unfolding Prophecy Page.