Defending Ourselves and the Work of God on Earth
There are times in history when the followers of Jesus Christ are called upon to bear arms even as they build the kingdom of God on earth. The book of Nehemiah describes the use of swords by the builders of the wall in Jerusalem.
In Nehemiah 4:16-18, it is mentioned that the builders of the wall in Jerusalem carried swords while working: “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.”
In Nehemiah 4:21-23, Nehemiah instructed the people to continue carrying their weapons even while they slept: “So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, ‘Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.’ Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.”
The bottom line here is, the work, because it was under physical threat, was required to be defended by weaponry. Not only did the bear arms of their day, they were required to be vigilant and ready to fight at a moment’s notice.
Concerning the latter, the point is the enemy is unpredictable in the sense of timing, and we must be ready to defend themselves and the work of God at any time.
With the recent murder of young students and teachers at a Christian school in Tennessee, it’s a eye opener in understanding that we must have the work of God and Christians protected, and that means training and bearing arms in all the work being done by Christians in the world at this time.
This is going to get far worse before it turns around, and only a only a consistent and lethal response to physical attacks will make people think twice if they’re considering attacking us.
