“Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” Matthew 24:7-8

The word nation translated here means ethnic from the Greek word ethnos. Almost all wars have been rooted in differences between tribal leaders and their practices which is why the travail in the last days would include severe wars between tribes or nation vs. nation and kingdom vs kingdom. For instance the case of the Rwandan genocide abundantly makes clear to us that deep cultural wounds that are unhealed can be used by satan, our adversary, to inflict massive pain, hurt and loss of lives among people. Cultural wounds that have been left open are not healed, but only awaiting the time that the enemy will use it to cause massive destruction. Unless there is great repentance and healing for these national sins and deep wounds, time cannot heal them. They will be used by our enemy to inflict the maximum damage and whose hunger for destruction cannot be quenched.

Therefore even if there will be turmoil through the world as revealed in increased wars, revolutions and earthquakes and famines, Christians should not be alarmed by them but keep watching in prayer. Like Jesus, we are to be praying for the nations seeking their good, seeking peace and healing in their great divide because His temple will be a “house of prayer for all nations,” not just one nation (Matthew 21:13). Divisions and injustice among nations and tribes on earth are rooted in our misunderstanding of our purposes, our place and ultimately our call. As long as we continue to recognize people based on their flesh, their color, creed, religion or race, we will be easily deceived. Although not distinctly spoken in the Bible, racism is a stronghold that must be defeated early on in our lives so that we will not become tools for its use on others.

Recognizing people after the externals

There was a remarkable story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus who did not recognize the risen Christ because He appeared to them in a different form (Mark 16:12). This story tells us that as two of the disciples were going to a village called Emmaus, they were talking with each other about everything that had happened to the Lord. And as they were discussing things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them but they did not recognize Him. Then He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”, and with a sad look, one of the disciples named Cleopas asked, “Are you the only one in Jerusalem who do not know the things that happened there? Then He asked, “What things?” 

And the disciples spoke about the works, sufferings and the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. Then He rebuked them for their slow heart to believe and He begun to explain to them about Himself from Moses and the Prophets (see Luke 24:13-19). But because their minds and eyes were shut from recognizing Him, they did not recognize the Lord until He broke the bread. This illustrates the need for us to become discerning and not to be tied on the form that we are familiar with. This is why the Lord also said that if you love those who are just like you, who will give you a reward? We must learn to discern when the Lord comes to us as a different person apart from what we are familiar as the painted, long haired white Jesus Christ.

And as He often said, as we do to others, we did it to Him, even to the least of these, those in prison, strangers, orphans, sick, beggars and the poor and needy. Such discernment requires us to abandon our beliefs of selective mercy and the need for us to lavish our love to our neighbors for the sake of the Lord. This would also mean that we must be open to receive His Word even if it comes from a Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical or Lutheran minister. Those who are tied to the familiar often reject those who are not like themselves; this superficial spirituality brings us to bondage and makes us intransigent on others. This is a root of pride that we have to deal with even among ourselves. Racism is recognizing others by their externals, their color, race, creed, and religion. There is no more appalling condition for us than to fall on pride because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6). Who do we want to resist us? God or Satan?

The only way to deal with this is to repent of our pride and accept others when they come to us whether they are brown, black, white, short or tall, great or small or whether they are Catholic, Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical or Lutheran. We simply do not have an option for another view. There is no other way to be a sheep of His fold than to be able to help those whom He wants to help, to welcome those whom He wants to welcome because He also died for them. We have to learn to be hospitable on others, extending mercy to those in need by giving them tunics, food and even lending money. We also have to accept those with different views from us but at the same time to never compromise what is truth and absolute, this is the meaning of being a good Samaritan to those who are different from us in many matters. In short we must, start working together across racial and denominational barriers so that we can make an impact, let us stop the hubbub, “Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer” (II Corinthians 5:16 NASB).

Reconciliation through Christ

This fatal misunderstanding between nations or tribes can only be healed and reconciled through Christ who has made us one in Him, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:28-29). If we continue to rely on man’s peace plan and superficial agreements without actually breaking the cycles of unforgiveness and vengeance through the cross, then wars will continue. This is the reason why we see centuries old conflicts that seem to never vanish in many African nations. These people are blind to the truth and the only way for their healing is to lift up Jesus Christ in their midst as Moses lifted the serpent in the wilderness. They should come together in an assembly and renounce their claim of vengeance on each other and release forgiveness and healing to each one.

It is clear from the Bible that man apart from Christ can do nothing good, when there were just two brothers on earth, they could not get along very well. Today that man have multiplied over the face of the earth, the enmity between tribes have also increased, the potential for conflict and violence to erupt have never been much closer. This is often rooted in our filthy and superficial understanding of each other, we often judge people because of their color, their origin and their race.

This prejudice is rooted in our sinful nature, a mind that is set in accordance to earthly desires, one that is hostile towards God and towards each other. Therefore the “mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God” (Romans 8:6-8). For instance the potential for conflict between the different Kalinga tribes who all profess to know Christ has never been closer, so long as not everyone accepts this truth in their heart. We must make peace-making, reconciliation and education a priority in our midst so that the Rwandan genocide will not come here too.

Healing deep wounds

As we have been discussing above, the causes of wars between nations and kingdoms are mainly due to deep open cultural wounds. It is a great deception to think that time will buy us healing for these wounds; rather, infection will turn it into a deadly combination of hatred and death. The only way to heal a wound would be to clean it first, apply a medicine then bandage it so that it can heal naturally afterwards. This is true of physical and cultural wounds. History testifies repeatedly that those who simply covered up their wounds without treating them have become infected and it would burst open again.

In the Bible there is a peculiar lesson that we can learn from how David closed a wound that caused a famine in the land because of Saul’s mass murder of the Gibeonites, it says, “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year, and David sought the presence of the Lord. And the Lord said, "It is because of Saul and his bloody house, because he put the Gibeonites to death” (II Samuel 21:1). Although David did not commit the mass murder, his administration was under judgment for the sins of the previous administration because there had been a major injustice done to the Gibeonites that need to be addressed. Our God is a God of justice, and every wrong needs to be made right. The foundation of His throne is justice and righteousness.

This means that for every injustice committed but was not rightly atoned for or restituted with corrective punishment, there will ultimately be consequences. Saul’s folly in killing and almost wiping out the entire Gibeonite tribe had to be addressed, the injustice need to be made right. Because this injustice was committed under the Law where “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth” (Matthew 5:38), David had to give Saul’s sons to the Gibeonites to be put to death as a restitution for Saul’s injustice. Clearly under the New Covenant, we do not let this practice of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” exact their toll on us, but rather, the cross is preached to the concerned individuals, clans and tribes so that they will go to the foot of the cross in repentance and ask for His forgiveness that there might be healing and remission of sins.

Only the cross of Jesus Christ has been given as a remedy for national and cultural wounds. In Christ, troubles are turned into triumphs, defeats into victories because there is nothing impossible for Him. For this purpose, the Lord has made us as His ambassadors, and given the ministry of reconciliation so that nations will be turning to Him in droves and seek His Kingdom on earth. It is now time for the church to rise up and become the force that it is called to be.