War and Peace and God


On 15 August 1945, following the dropping of two atomic bombs, the Japanese government announced its surrender to the Allied forces. The formal surrender was signed on 2nd September. Months earlier, Germany had signed its own unconditional surrender. Going back 27 years before, we often think of the end of the First World War as being on the 11 November 1918 but this was an armistice. Technically that war ended in June 1919, with the Treaty of Versailles, when the Allies dictated the terms. If Germany had not accepted these terms, there would likely have been a resumption of hostilities. Happily, with these surrenders came peace.


Now to another sort of peace. On TV dramas we sometimes come across a character that has faced the fact that they are terminally ill and say something like, ‘I’m ready; I’ve made my peace with God.’ I guess this must happen in real life too.


Just as Germany and Japan were in no position to dictate terms by which they could be at peace with the Allies, so it must be remembered that when we want peace with God it has to be on his terms and not ours. To speak of ourselves making peace with God does rather imply that we lay down our terms and expect that he will be glad to accept them and have us as his friends. We need to guard against such delusions.


The first Christian teachers sought to show how each one of us, by nature, are enemies of God. We don’t like the idea of doing the things that God requires if they don’t coincide with our own desires. To be candid, we are in rebellion.


Our war with God is one we’ll never win and, if we will surrender, we will actually find him to be a magnanimous, divine Heavenly Father, not a harsh overlord. So what are God’s peace terms?


Some Jews once asked Jesus, ‘What must we do to do the works God requires?’ Jesus answered, ‘The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.’ On another occasion a non-Jew in desperate straits said, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Jesus’ disciples told him, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…’. We also are told to lay down our weapons, believe and trust in Jesus and then we will know peace with God.  


Stephen Richards

solidrocknews.co.uk

Faith Matters August 2025