“When we buy into the American narrative that focuses on ‘flesh-and-blood enemies,’ we are spraying the tip of the flames, not the source of the fire. America could nuke the entire Middle East, and Satan would walk away untouched. China or Iran could conquer America, and God’s kingdom wouldn’t feel a thing. As long as we pray, love, suffer, and herald the good news that Jesus is King, we will continue to see the Kingdom of God thunder against the kingdom of Satan. We need to make sure we’re fighting in the right war with the right means.” –Preston Sprinkle
For too long the church in America has walked under the intoxication of militarism. We’ve been duped into believing that it is our responsibility to protect our lives on this earth, whether by providing churches with armed security guards or by preaching a gospel compatible with materialism and the building of wealth.
But this is not the way of Christ. Not as laid out in Scripture, at least.
We are to love those who hate us and pray for those who persecute us. Not make sure their evil never happens again by protecting ourselves with guns or campaigning for laws to protect our religious freedoms.
We are to conquer with Christ by absorbing violence, not participating in it.
In America, John’s book of Revelation gets abused perhaps more than any other book of the Bible. James Carroll said, “In no text of the entire Bible is God’s violence, and the violence of Christ himself, more powerfully on display than in . . . the book of Revelation.”[1] John MacArthur said, “Armageddon . . . will actually be a slaughter” of “millions of people engaged in the Battle of Armageddon,” and “it is the Lord Jesus Christ who crushes out their lives.”[2] Mark Driscoll believed the book of Revelation depicts Jesus as “a prize fighter with a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand and the commitment to make someone bleed.”
“That is a guy I can worship,” Driscoll said, “I cannot worship the hippie, diaper, halo Christ because I cannot worship a guy I can beat up.”[3] Perhaps that is why Driscoll is the way he is.
Whatever the case, the violence we read about in Revelation is not executed by God. Rather, it is done to God.
Driscoll’s prizefighting Jesus does judge His enemies—His clothes are dipped in blood and He defeats His enemies with a sword. But His authority to judge comes by first being conquered by them.
To quote Sprinkle again,
The suffering of Christ, His death on the cross, becomes the means by which Jesus slays the dragon (Rev. 19). And the blood spattered on His garments comes not from His enemies—but from Himself.[4]
Furthermore, the sword used to slay the dragon and all who oppose God, comes from his mouth. All throughout the book of Revelation, a sword from the mouth refers to a word of judgment.[5] This is not a violent act of Christ. He is not slaying thousands of people with a sword from His hand, as Alexander the Great did.
Instead, He is defeating His enemies with a word of judgment.
In Revelation 5, John weeps because there is no one with authority to open the scroll. But then he hears someone say to him, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.”[6]
But when John turns to see this conquering lion, he does not see a violent, blood-hungry beast who has devoured all his foes; he sees a lamb, slain.
The Lamb of God conquers evil not with more evil and violence, but with laying Himself down to absorb all violence.
We, then, as Christ-followers claiming Jesus as our Lord and Prince of Peace, are to lay down our lives in response to God’s invitation to work with Him in reconciling the broken to Himself. And through suffering with Christ (by counting our lives on this earth as nothing) we can experience the resurrection, the glory and riches of God.
There is no other way. If we want to experience God and live with Him eternally, if we are going to advance His kingdom and conquer evil in this world, we can only do so by actively laying down our lives.
Too often we approach this discussion as activism versus pacifism (or nonresistance). God does not call us to be passive. He does not tell us to be peacekeepers. We don’t not resist evil.
On the contrary, we are called to resist evil. We are to actively engage in warfare so the kingdoms of this world can be absolutely dismantled and we, as God’s people, are not conquered by Canaan.
But we fight not against flesh and blood. We don’t fight with swords and spears made of medal.
We fight with suffering.
Through prayer, love, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, walking in faith, and teaching people Christ’s way of life, we do more damage to Satan’s kingdom than nuclear bombs will ever do to us. We walk in boldness, not because we won’t ever lose our lives; but because in doing so, our enemy is defeated.
The dragon is slain. He and all his followers are thrown into the sea of sulfur.[7]
Perhaps the most graphic modern-day story of suffering love I know is the story of the five missionaries killed in Ecuador trying to reach a reclusive, malicious tribe. They had guns with them, but only to scare off any attackers they faced.[8]
Their commitment to not using the guns on attackers, themselves, came from a deep-rooted confidence that “We are ready to die. They are not.”
On January 8, 1956, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, Jim Elliot, and Roger Youderian waited on a beach along the Curaray River, expecting a group of Huaorani Indians to arrive sometime that afternoon, if only to get plane rides.
Around three in the afternoon, the Huaorani arrived. First, two women appeared (their attempt to divide the foreigners before attacking).
As Jim Elliot and Peter Fleming waded into the river to greet them, they were speared from behind. Jim fired a couple shots from his pistol into the air, attempting to scare the attackers. Peter, desperately reiterated friendly overtures, asking “Why are you killing us?” before being speared to death in the river.
All five missionaries died in the attack, leaving behind their wives and children.
As it stood on January 8, 1956, evil had won. Gospel-tellers had died. How could this be good? How could this be the way the church conquers Satan?
But the story wasn’t over for Huaorani people on January 8, 1956. Rachel Saint (sister to Nate) and Elisabeth Elliot (wife of Jim) returned to Ecuador and eventually led the murders to Christ. In fact, Steve Saint (Nate’s son) would later be baptized by two of his father’s killers.
Christ conquered evil in the Huaorani not because the missionaries protected themselves with guns, but because they laid down their lives in death.
Every week, my wife and I take our boys, with others from our church, and share the Gospel on Drew Street in North East Los Angeles. It doesn’t sound spectacular until you realize this is an area of the city known for gang violence. Things have drastically changed in the last eight years, but still, shootings take place often enough cable companies get paid overtime to go into that neighborhood. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago a shooting involved some friends of people we know.
If we buy into the American mindset that we need to protect ourselves, that we need security guards at church, we wouldn’t target that area of the city for discipleship.
But Christ calls us to enter the chaos of violence and be conquered so that others can live.
Teresa and I lived on Drew Street for a year and a half before moving overseas. During our time there, we were able to develop some relationships that kept on after we left. People from our church continued regularly visiting Drew Street and having Bible clubs with the folks there.
Now we’re back, and it’s hard to believe what God is doing. A place where people never hung out after night, now finds itself buzzing with laughter and screaming from children at play long after the sun has set.
We’re not the only ones working there, God has raised up several of other Christ-following groups to engage in spiritual warfare for the hearts of the people once held in bondage to violence.
If we are nonviolent only because we don’t want to have to go to war, if we are pacifists simply because we want other people to like us, then we may as well give it up. Something has silenced the very people most noted for their suffering love in previous generations. Few of us today, engage in active, cruciformed resistance.
We need to be awakened, again. We must resist.
Only, we resist evil with good; not violence.
We are nonviolent because through cross-bearing discipleship of those who don’t know Christ, the Lamb of God dips His robe in blood, in victory over His enemies. Our resistance is shaped by the cross.
What are you doing to overcome evil? How are you “laying down your life”? Share in the comments below.
Citations:
[1] James Carroll, Jerusalem, Jerusalem (2011), p. 45
[2] John MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 (2000), pp. 117, 188
[3] Mark Driscoll, “7 Big Questions: 7 Leaders on Where the Church Is Headed,” Relevant, Issue 24, Jan/Feb 2007
[4] Preston Sprinkle, Fight—a Christian case for nonviolence (2013), p. 178
[5] Rev. 1:16; 2:12, 16; cf. John 12:48; 2 Thess. 2:8; Heb. 4:12
[6] Rev. 5:4-5
[7] Rev. 19
