Anti-war types who always want to remind Believers, “Jesus Christ taught peace,” might find it annoying that the Bible defines Him over and over as a soldier. Exodus 15:3 tells us, “The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.” (LORD in all caps always refers to God the Son.)

Jordan says, “In the Bible, the only path to peace—whether in the spiritual realm or the political, economic, or social realm—is through the door of absolute victory. Absolute total defeat of the enemy. Until the enemy knows he’s defeated. That’s why it took two atom bombs on Japan and it was over. When God delivered Israel from Egypt, He delivered them through a complete total strategic military victory over Pharaoh, his armies and the Red Sea, and the question was over.”

As Exodus 15 so eloquently describes it, “Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.
[5] The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
[6] Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
[7] And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
[8] And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
[9] The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
[10] Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.”

This passage links to Isaiah 42, which says, “The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
[14] I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
[15] I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
[16] And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. Lord shall go forth like a mighty man. Prevail against his enemies.”

Jordan explains, “He’s going to go forth as a man of war. He’s going to go forth with the cry of a conquering hero come to rescue His people, avenge His enemies and set His people in the blessings of their kingdom.

“The Lord Jesus Christ is a veteran of the battles of the past, and He’s going to be the victorious conquering hero of the future. The Scripture always speaks of Him in the terms of being the supreme veteran of all time.

“What people need to realize is there’s a much greater battle going on than just what World War I or II were about. They were big. Or what’s going on in Iraq.

“There’s a greater battle going on in the universe and it has to do with the battle for the control of the whole ballgame—the whole universe.

“There’s a tendency in human nature to want to fight, and global and national wars are nothing more than the extension of a personal war that goes on with individuals.

“There’s a natural tendency to want to avoid fighting, but the fact is, unless you’re just going to capitulate, lay down and be willing to be a slave, war is going to be a reality. James 4 explains why that is—it’s not such a great mystery. Where do wars come from? Top pundits ask this question and James 4 answers it.”

Specifically, James 4:1-5 says, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
[2] Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
[3] Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
[4] Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
[5] Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?”

Jordan says, “You see it’s corrupt passions seated in our flesh that have made the world one great battlefield. It’s that desire to have something you don’t have, which comes from your own lust that causes ‘war in your members.’ That’s called sin. Isaiah 53 is the greatest single definition of sin in the Bible: ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.’

“In Isaiah 50 you’ll see the Lord Jesus Christ, as He hangs on the Cross, says, ‘Who is my adversary—where is he? Let him draw near!’ and there’s a spiritual battle that goes on at Calvary between Jesus Christ, the Creator God, and Satan, the usurper, in the spiritual realm. And Jesus Christ successfully struggled with Satan in the sphere of the Adversary’s greatest strength as the prince of this world.”

Hebrews 2:14 tells us Christ entered into the stronghold of the pit of the Adversary’s power and emerged victorious: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

Jordan says, “Notice what He does. Through death He destroys him that has the power of death. He goes right into the very clutches of the stronghold of Satan and emerges out the other side victorious to secure redemption for His people. That’s why in Revelation 1:18 it says He’s the Son of man and He’s got the keys of death and hell. He has the keys. That is, He can open the door and let them out. He’s got the authority there. He’s the victor.

“But He doesn’t do that just for Israel. Because the great message that Paul comes along and proclaims later on—when Christ gives it to Paul—is that God our Saviour ‘would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth for there’s one God and one mediator between God and man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all’…

“When you come to Paul in the Bible, you come to that message about the fullness of everything God accomplished at Calvary: The strategic victory of the wisdom of God took place on that hill outside Jerusalem that we call Calvary. Now there’s a tactical victory! The application of it, of the strategic victory in prophecy, will be when He comes back as the man of war and destroys his enemies and sets up his kingdom.

“But there’s a tactical victory today for you and me. Look at Eph. 3:9. Paul says his ‘purpose is to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery.’ Why does Paul want everybody to see the fellowship of the mystery? Why does he want to put on living demonstration the truth of Christ living in us ‘to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God’? The greatest veteran of all times is living in you!

*****

From the Bible, we know there’s two kinds of jealousy—a good kind and a bad kind.

Proverbs 6:32-34, for example, shows the bad kind. It says, “But whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: he that doeth it destroyeth his own soul.
[33] A wound and dishonour shall he get; and his reproach shall not be wiped away.
[34] For jealousy is the rage of a man: therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.”

Exodus 34:14-17 reveals the good kind:

“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:
[15] Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods , and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;
[16] And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
[17] Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.”

My pastor, Richard Jordan, explains, “Someone said ‘jealousy is the talk of lovers.’ If you don’t love somebody you won’t be jealous about them. Jealousy is an expression in the talk of love. And the emphasis is on zeal and vigilance and devotion. But when it’s selfish, and for self-gratification—‘I want you to be devoted to me to satisfy me’—then it becomes the rage of a man.

“God demands complete and total devotion. He knows all these other gods are just pretenders. They come to be rivals, but they’re false rivals. He says to His children, ‘I’m looking out for you. I don’t want you to be deceived. I want your complete devotion. I’m the only one worthy of that, and all the others are a bunch of phonies.’ Godly jealousy is to live consistent with truth.”

In I Cor. 10:21-22, the Apostle Paul writes, “Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?”

He testifies in II Cor. 11:2-3, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

Jordan explains, “Paul’s defending his jealousy of them. He said, ‘I’m going to speak as a fool. Bear with me in my folly.’ First, he defends why he’s jealous over them. Why he’s concerned for them. Why he doesn’t want them to depart from his message. Because everything else out there is false. It isn’t true. It’s destructive. It corrupts you from the simplicity that’s in Christ. It causes you to live outside of your true identity; causes you to lose your chaste virginity to Christ. It causes you not to be totally consumed with Him and it puts self in the way.