![\"Kingdom](\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Kingdom-of-God-570x379.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWe are working our way through several of the views about how to understand the violence of God in the Old Testament in light of the love and mercy taught and exemplified by Jesus Christ in the New Testament.<\/p>\n
One view is that such an attempt is futile from the start because it is like comparing apples and oranges.<\/p>\n
We must not equate what Jesus was trying to accomplish in His life and ministry with what God was trying to accomplish through Israel in the Old Testament. The two events had different goals and different methods, and trying to fit them together is like trying to put a square into a round hole.<\/p>\n
Jesus, it is argued, was trying to set up a spiritual kingdom, governed by the rule and reign of God within men\u2019s hearts<\/i>. In the Old Testament however, God was trying to set up an earthly kingdom, one that had rulers and laws with a system of taxation, government, and military might.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In a world like ours, countries need military might and wartime violence to establish borders, maintain peace and security against invading armies, and protect itself from crime and revolutionaries within its borders. In this view, since Israel was a theocracy, God, as the \u201cCommander in Chief\u201d sent Israel to war against her enemies. He gave the order to kill, destroy, and annihilate those who threatened the earthly government which He installed in Israel.<\/p>\n
Jesus, on the other hand, came to install a Kingdom that was \u201cnot of this world\u201d (John 8:23; 18:36) and therefore, did not need to issue commands for His followers to kill others for their common cause. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom, and as such, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of the air (Eph 6:10-20).<\/p>\n
So just as it would seem to be impossible for any earthly government to exist without a standing military, without violence toward enemies, and without governing rules for order and peace which include death to traitors and some form of capital punishment, so also God had to include such things in the earthly government which He set up in Israel. But Jesus had different goals and different methods, and so He was able to show a way of peace and non-violence toward His enemies, and call His disciples to do the same, for His Kingdom is not of this world.<\/p>\n
It seems true that earthly governments need various forms of violence to maintain peace, safety, and security for the citizen of that country. And Jesus even indicates that if His kingdom was of this world, His followers would rise up and fight to protect it (John 18:36).<\/p>\n
The main difficulty with this view, however, is that it seems that the way of Jesus in setting up a spiritual Kingdom is \u201cPlan B\u201d in God\u2019s redemptive purposes. It almost seems like God tried to set up an earthly kingdom through Israel, but when that didn\u2019t work, the Trinity sent Jesus to try a different tactic. It could be argued that the coming of Jesus was intended all along as \u201cPlan A\u201d and that the first \u201cattempt\u201d of God in setting up an earthly kingdom through Israel was just to show the futility of such actions, but then we face the problem of why God would command Israel to engage in such violence if He knew <\/i>it was futile.<\/p>\n
![\"God](\"https:\/\/redeeminggod.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/Old__New_Testament_God11.jpg\")
How can a God who says \"Love your enemies\" (Matthew 5:44) be the same God who instructs His people in the Old Testament to kill their enemies?<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n