I had plans this week. Three church members were having surgery and I had a meeting every night this week; two on Tuesday. But Tuesday all that changed. I had three hospital visits to make and two Bible Studies to teach and I had it all planned out. I was visiting Jud Thornton as my first visit of the day and we were talking about his knee when he said, "Is that the World trade center on fire?" I looked over my shoulder at the TV and it was. Thinking is was just a tragic fire we watched when suddenly out of the right side of the screen a jet came into the picture and hit the other tower. War and violence has a way of disrupting our lives doesn't it. But don't despair, the Word of God has something to say to our situation.

Wars and rumors of war are nothing new. They have been going on for a long time. Just look at the history of the world. Wars go back to the beginning of civilization. One might even say that wars began with Cain killing Able. Or maybe they began when Adam and Eve went to war with the law of God. Or when the Serpent decided to deceive them and destroy Paradise. I don't need to belabor the point. Violence has been part of human interaction from the dawn of humanity. And often times that violence has been manifest in nation rising up against nation.

Wars are nothing new because evil is nothing new. You see wars and evil go together. Wars are around, because evil is around.

In the face of the reality of war Jesus' words don't seem to offer much hope. In fact at first glance they seem dismal. Jesus says, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars." Also, "For nation will rise up sword against nation, and kingdom against kingdom." This sounds like wars will continue to happen just as they have in the past. People will continue to rise up and kill one another.

That's not what the mothers of soldiers want to hear. That's not what the brothers and sister and sons and daughters of those in the National Guard want to hear. It's not what the people of New York and Washington and America want to hear. It's not what the people of the world who watch the terrorism unfold before them on their TVs want to hear.

What we want is peace. We want a "war to end all wars." We want a "new world order." We dream of a world where nation does not rise up against nation. A world where we beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. We want to trade bread not bullets with the nations of the world. We want to raise our daughters and sons without the fear that they may be called upon to kill and maybe even be killed.

But all those dreams, as inspired and beautiful as they are, seem doomed. They are a ship of hope that seems bound to be sunk by an enemy missile. No matter how earnestly we seek world peace there is always some war bent person who kills peace in its infancy.

But Jesus Christ offers hope to the hopeless. Jesus said that these wars and rumors of wars must take place. This is the beginning of the birth pains. They are the beginning of the beginning. It will happen over and over again that people will kill each other over Lord only knows what. But this is a sign to us that something new is about to be born.

I said before that wars and evil go together. Even just wars are begun by an evil act. But Christ will overcome all evil. As Christians we believe that Christ will return and he will cast all that is evil in the lake of fire and utterly destroy it. And when he does that the cause of all wars will be destroyed. And we can finally beat our spear into plowshares. For Christ will have won the war to end all wars: the war against sin and evil. And there will be a new world order, in fact there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and the Prince of Peace will rule.

It is significant that Jesus talks about wars in response to the question, "What will be the signs of the age to come?" Christ talked about wars in the context of his return, so we need to view wars in the context of his second coming. You see wars are a sign of the age to come. Oh this war or that war will not signal the end. But the activity of human killing human is an evidence of evil. And we know that Christ has vowed himself to destroy all evil. He even died for that cause! A war casualty! But he also arose, and he is coming again to finish the job.

War is nothing new. We will have them with us until the end. The human race in its sinfulness cannot stop it. It's as inevitable as sin itself.

But we Christians have a unique perspective. The world looks at how evil humans can be to each other and they feel hopeless. But we have a hope. His name is Jesus. And as surely as nation will rise up against nation, he will come again to end it all.

In light of this hope we can continue to dream of a new world order. We can honestly and truthfully envision a war to end all wars. And we can lift up our voices in singing "Let there be peace on earth." And because of the blessed hope of his return we can also say that peace can begin with me. And we can spread that hope. A hope and an assurance that one day we will all dwell as one family under God our Father. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.