Israel God and the Anzacs

Soldiers need to learn to hear His voice and follow His commands. The textbook and instruction manual is the Word of God. Soldiers must study and obey its instructions. Discipline is necessary and recruits have to look after their mates and learn to work in teams. They must respect the officers God has appointed over them.

The Anzac Call – Uluru and Beyond

But most of all, the troopers need to develop a close relationship with the Father in Heaven. His call to His disciples is:. If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. These soldiers will set themselves apart for God, live holy lives, and be totally available to whatever God calls. We need such people again today to upset the status quo and awaken the sleeping church.

God and our nations are waiting for this army. It eventually became the foundation of law for the governments of the Western world.

We are now seeing a reversal of this trend. A spiritual reformation is urgently needed to stop this slide and we need the spiritual Anzac army to sow the yeast of the gospel into the bread of every sector of society to reclaim the biblical heritage that is being stolen. Unfortunately, Luther in his old age turned against the Jews and wrote some appalling anti-Semitic literature On the Jews and their Lies which not only produced hatred in his own times but was used by Hitler in the 20th century to justify the Holocaust.

He is gentle, humble, weak. And it turns out that he is defeated. For Zechariah 9 is a prophecy of Jesus entering Jerusalem.

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Jesus seems to have deliberately arranged his entry to fit with the prophecy, and the disciples recognised the parallel Matt Jesus knew that he was going to his death. This turns all our thinking about war upside down. So many wars are fought with the idea that victory will change the world.

War flows from our sin and evil. The end of war only comes when God deals with the penalty, guilt, and power of sin in Jesus death and resurrection. Zechariah foresaw that the humble, suffering, king would take away the weapons of war and declare a worldwide peace Zech 9: There will be a day when the Lord Jesus returns and he will bring peace, with the end of war, destruction, and death.

Revelation 19 shows Jesus putting an end to all the forces of evil. That is the real war to end all wars. And after that victory, God will brings his new Jerusalem and his glorious city will fill the whole world Rev No invading army will ever be threat, as there will be perfect security. The need for armed forces and war will be finished. If you ever have the chance to visit ANZAC cove, walk through the headstones and read the inscriptions.

They show different responses to the loss of war. Some are heartbreakingly desperate or resigned. But others ring with living Christian hope: During ANZAC ceremonies, we often hear stories of courage and sacrifice, and are assured that they give us a reason to hope for the triumph of good over evil. That logic is wrong. In war, acts of goodness stand because they are surrounded by awful, appalling, ugly, evil. Overall, the evil seems to greatly outweigh the good. They point to real power. The Burma railway was built through by , Asian civilians, up to half of whom died; and by 60, POWs, of whom 12, died including 2, Australians.

The workers faced awful abuse by guards, forced labour, long marches, little food, and terrible diseases. John Devon, an Australian private, was in the hospital hut with fever. Each day he went to visit a mate, Angus Ramsay, in the ulcer ward.

It was a simple act of service. Within a few weeks Angus died. But it is not just a hopeless generosity in the middle of hell. A simple act of service stands for more than all the abuse and suffering because in Christ, sacrifice triumphs. War is horrible but a necessary horror — so we honour those who serve.

John teaches theology and ethics at Christ College, the theological college of the Presbyterian Church in Sydney. He's written a book about the modern German theologian Wolfhart Pannenberg and is working on another one on the doctrine of revelation.

John is interested in thinking about how the gospel engages with contemporary culture and helping the church navigate faithful living in a post-Christian society. He used to do a bit of running, till one of his knees gave out; now he is getting used to riding a bike. A report about him said: The awful reality of war We have to acknowledge the awful reality of war.

Previous What Joy in Hell? But is Australia any more special than any other Gentile nation? We are, I would suggest, unique, just as every other nation is unique. If we are seriously seeking for revival in our nation, then perhaps we might be better served looking at the principles of 2 Chronicles 7: Our involvement at Beersheba and in the Middle East was not because we were any better than anyone else, but purely because of the grace and sovereignty of God Almighty in arranging it that we are where and who we are. Only His grace could see us go from our humble beginnings to our involvement in events which ultimately led to the restoration of modern Israel.

Is it actually possible to do so without exaggerating, or emotionalising it all? If God is sovereign over history then all we need do is to present the basic information, as well as find those natural points of contact between being a follower of Jesus, and this ANZAC-Light Horse involvement in the Middle East. What could those connecting points be? One central connecting point is Covenant. This dynamic is revealed throughout Scripture, including in Genesis If one understands the principles or mechanics of covenant, then it is clear that there are consequences, one for obeying or disobeying the conditions of the covenant, and two, for harming or blessing anyone who is in covenant with God Almighty.