Prepare For War

Donald Z. Underwood

“Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.” (Joel 3:9-10, 16-17).

Joel prophetically spoke of time when God’s people would be involved with a spiritual war.  He foretold of a time in which God’s voice would be proclaimed from Jerusalem.  Luke records of such a time, “And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:47).  The war would begin in Jerusalem.  The army of our Lord will take the fight to the world to convict the world of sin (John 16:8).  This responsibility we must fulfill.

Paul told Timothy these words in 1Timothy 1:18, “This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;” The command that was given to Timothy applies to all soldiers of Christ.  My dearest brethren, we must take the fight to the world; we must be on the offensive in this spiritual battle.  In Ephesians 6:10-17, we read of the description of the soldier of Christ.  Each and every Christian must prepare himself for battle.  We are in a war to win the war.  No where has God commanded us to surrender, retreat or quit.  Unfortunately, some churches and Christians have given up the fight.  I heard an old preacher say one time, “It is easier to go down river than up river.”  His statement is true, and going down river is not an excuse when it comes to abstaining from the fight.  When we fight that good fight, we fulfill the prophecies of old.

The church of Christ needs to continually prepare for war.  Paul said it this way to Timothy, “Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” (1Timothy 2:1-4).  We are to commit truth to faithful men. This is what we pass to the very next generation.  If our young people do not see us studying with people, they most likely will not study with people.  If we teach our fellow Christian how to study with others, they in turn will most likely study with the lost.  The war we wage in the name of our Lord is hard; it is not easy.  Warfare involves training ourselves to contact people, to teach people and to do the follow up training, which should include a commitment to battle.

The war that we wage may involve persecution and even death, such as Stephen when he took the battle to a Jewish audience, and they, in turn, did not like what he taught, and they killed him (Acts 7:54-60).  Today, topics such as homosexuality, the use of mechanical instruments of music, the one church, and baptism are controversial in the world, and most people do not like what the Bible has to say on these topics.  Be as it may, the soldier of Christ proclaims the righteousness of heaven (Isaiah 45:8 and Romans 1:16-17) on these topics and many more.