Blessed Are the Peacemakers

For they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9)

By Christian Sergei

A  lot is happening in today’s world: the rise of AI, wars and rumors of war, etc. We sure live in times of trouble and difficulty. (See 2 Timothy 3:1.)

Nevertheless, I could not find any references in the Gospels where Jesus takes sides or gives an opinion for or against Rome, Caesar, or the powers that be.—And that’s with Rome being one of the worst tyrannies that the world had ever experienced!

Jesus simply was not of this world and emphasizes over and over that we are also not of this world. (John 15:19) Paul even tells us that we should pray for all people ... “for kings, and for all those in authority” (1 Timothy 2:2).

I know this is a hard saying, but Jesus taught that we are to love our enemies, pray for those who persecute and abuse us, and we are even told not to resist an evil person and to turn the other cheek. (See Matthew 5:44, 39.) How could this be?

Simply put, because we don’t belong here, we are not of this world. Our calling is to “be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29), “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind” (Romans 12:2), and to “put on Christ” (Romans 13:14) so the divine nature becomes our nature. “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).

The reality is that we have been translated into the kingdom of God. (See Colossians 1:13.) We still dwell here, one important purpose being to rescue souls from the domain of darkness under the grip of Satan, to deliver the prisoners from fear and torment, and to open their spiritual eyes to the truth, so they can also experience His great love, forgiveness toward their fellow man (regardless of who they are and what they have done), and experience true spiritual frfreedom.

We’re dead to the old life, reborn to the new. We are His born-again children, adopted, heirs of the kingdom. God—the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit—dwells in our hearts! (See Romans 6:6; John 1:12; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:17.)

It’s not about ignoring or condoning the evil in the world around us, it’s about knowing who we are in Christ and never forgetting why we have been left here on earth after we were spiritually reborn! (That’s not to say that of course our hearts don’t break for those who are suffering and are cruelly abused. We should earnestly pray for all the humanitarian workers and those who are striving to help those who suffer and can’t help themselves.)

I am an eager student of Bible prophecies and end-time events, but this is in no way connected to the way I look at, empathize with, and reach out to those who don’t know Him and who might be in total darkness. I used to be very stirred up and even, in the past, caught myself taking sides (not vocally, but in my heart), until the Lord opened my eyes to a different perspective while studying Matthew chapter 5.

Thoughts on the parable of the Good Samaritan

The “robbed and beaten man” in the parable of the Good Samaritan is portrayed as someone who has been physically abused and mistreated, oppressed and left dying on “the side of the road.” I wondered if maybe this applies as well to those that are bound by the chains of darkness, vice, and oppression.—Those who are captives and slaves of Satan and who carry out his dirty work, who are nevertheless beaten and wounded deep in their souls. Let’s not forget how Jesus looked at the thief who was dying on the cross.

Jesus sees each one of us. Each soul has been created and is loved by our heavenly Father, who makes His sun rise over the just and the unjust. (See Matthew 5:45.) He sent His Son for all men. All are loved, but we have been blessed by grace to be His children, sent for a purpose, even this: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me… The Lord has anointed me… sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound” (Isaiah 61:1).

Who are these captives? Could this also include those who are caught in the domain of darkness as well? We are not to condone, overlook, or minimize the evil of those who perpetrate it, but as God’s children, we have been commissioned to reach souls, regardless of who they are and what they have done, with the gospel of grace. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people” (Titus 2:11). “For I did not come to judge the world but to save the world” (John 12:47).

Our King has kept us here to be His peacemakers. Let’s not allow ourselves to become entangled in the affairs of this world, or distracted, but let’s “set our affection on things above” (Colossians 3:2). Let’s “walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind” (Ephesians 4:17), but let us “walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8), as the children of God!

"The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16).