Picturing Peace

What’s the value of trying to picture a “peaceable kingdom,” where lambs lie down with lions? How is this helpful? Why did God inspire the Biblical writers to paint these dramatic other-worldly pictures?

I can think of a time when using my imagination caused me trouble. After graduate school, I was excited to get a job as a Foreign Service officer at the Department of State and I imagined a great career as a diplomat and foreign policy expert. But after four years I knew I was in the wrong place and left the State Department to become a teacher, which I later discovered was my real passion.

Others I know dreamed about a person they wanted to marry, but the image they dreamed up was impossible to find in reality. Or, like me, they imagined a perfect job, a pathway to success, but it never worked out like they imagined.

In the last post, we noted that God used Old Testament prophets as his spokesmen for judging Israel and Judah for their sins. The prophets cried out against the evil acts of the people who attended worship services, but whose lives were contradictions to what they said they believed.

But the prophets did something else. In addition to proclaiming judgment, which did not make them popular people, they also offered hope. And that hope was to be found in a Messiah who would bring in the ‘Kingdom of God.” This Messiah would be a “Prince of Peace (shalom).”

Let me give you an example. One of the harshest critics of Israel was the prophet Isaiah, but he was also a man who described a future “Kingdom of Righteousness” in which the Messiah would rule in justice. Listen to these beautiful words: “See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Each man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land. . . . My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest” (Isaiah 32: 1-2 and 18).

If you have ever been to the desert areas in Israel or to some of the desert areas in southwestern United States, you can picture what Isaiah is talking about. When people are trying to eke out a living in a dry and barren land, shelter from the hot sun and fresh water are amazing gifts. That’s what Isaiah was promising God’s people.

The key point is this: The prophets were foretelling the arrival of Jesus who would be the “Prince of Peace,” and Jesus would introduce God’s Kingdom in dramatic new terms.

For those of us from Christian families, we have often heard these familiar verses from Isaiah in the weeks leading up to Christmas:

“For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (shalom).
Of the increase of his government and peace (shalom)
There will be no end.” (Isaiah 9:6-7a)

From now on, when you hear or read these words, think about this prophecy in the context of Isaiah’s teaching about shalom. Jesus was coming to show us a new way to live, first by his actions and then by his teaching.

Although using our imagination can sometimes get us in trouble, especially if we have a rich fantasy life, the prophets drew these “peace pictures” to give us hope. Even in times of revolution, tsunamis, economic downturns, unemployment or corrupt rule by autocrats, we must not give up hope, because the Prince of Peace has promised to be with us.

So What?

• Dr. Craig Barnes, my former pastor, has written: “Faith is almost a synonym for vision. It is what allows us to see, to witness, God’s presence. Faith allows us to survive, even enjoy, today because we’ve seen that which is not apparent – God is with us.” Biblical faith is grounded in the promises and then the arrival of a Messiah, a “Prince of Peace.”

• To be peacemakers in our broken world, we need to be “agents of hope” in a culture where the default position is cynicism. And to be hopeful people we need three qualities -- imagination, understanding and passion -- if we are to make a difference in our world. Maybe that’s part of the reason why the Old Testament prophets painted these “peace pictures.”

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Confronting Corruption

One of the greatest challenges I have struggled with for the last twenty years has been how to live with integrity when you work in an environment of corruption. Russia is a profoundly corrupt place. I read about this aspect of Russian life in graduate school while pursing my doctorate in European and Russian history, but it was unsettling to actually face the reality of it in person. I was robbed at a Metro station by police in 1995 and there was no recourse, no way to file a complaint in the anarchy that characterized Moscow in the mid-1990s.

After we purchased a land lease in Moscow in a public auction in 2001, it took us five years to get a building permit. The normal time period to secure a permit in Russia is 18 months, but we refused to pay bribes to government officials and, as a result, it cost us time and considerable money because of subsequent inflation. Yet for the Board of our Institute, we were agreed that we were not going to pay bribes because of our commitment to train a new generation of Russian youth to be people of integrity.

The Russian Ministry of Economic Development recently reported the results of a survey it conducted in 2010 that noted that 90% of the foreign investors they interviewed cited the high level of corruption as the principal barrier to their investing in Russia. Even Russia’s President, Dmitri Medvedev, has described Russia’s investment climate as “very poor.” Bribery and corruption have become a part of the very structure of Russian life.

Recently I found out that you can buy a diploma from the Russian-American Institute on the Internet in Moscow. For a few hundred dollars, you can purchase a diploma from our school without ever having sat in one class. Diplomas from Moscow State University are also available for purchase, but they are a little more expensive than ours!

These illustrations show sin and evil are not just problems on the personal level, but also how evil infects society and corporate life. Part of the stimulus for the riots all across the Middle East is years of pent-up frustration with corrupt government officials and police, and with rich elites who control power and wealth and are not accountable to their fellow citizens.

If we are to live as peacemakers in this kind of a world, we need to have eyes to see how evil infects the structures of society and then the courage to choose not to live this way. We need to be bold and argue our case by saying “There is another way to live!”

Here’s a situation where the Old Testament prophets, God’s loudspeakers to his people, can teach us some important lessons on how to live in this kind of world. They made it clear when sin and evil were present in society and they were fearless – most of the time – in announcing the consequences of violating God’s laws.

For example, Isaiah repeatedly warned Judah that the sins of the Southern Kingdom would result in her destruction and captivity at the hands of Babylon. Isaiah clearly warned the people of Judah that their sins were not only causing them pain and suffering in their personal lives, but were also inflicting evil on others in their society. In a powerful indictment of the people, Isaiah told them that God found no pleasure in their burnt offerings or religious ceremonies because, when they spread out their hands in prayer, they were full of blood (Isaiah 1:15).

God through Isaiah warned the people of Judah in no uncertain terms: “Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (verses 16b-17). Categories of vulnerable people who were being wronged in Jewish society were clearly spelled out here. These were people without power, without anyone to defend them.

Later in this same chapter, Isaiah stated God’s judgment against Judah’s rulers who are described as “rebels, companions of thieves” who “love bribes and chase after gifts” (v. 33). Unfortunately sin doesn’t simply limit its destruction to individual acts of evil, but penetrates the structures of a society and causes the oppression of groups of people, especially those who are weak. Evil knows no bounds. It is an obstacle to God’s shalom in our personal lives and in our corporate lives.

So What?

• Sin is not only shalom’s enemy that attacks the hearts of individuals, but sin also finds expression in our corporate lives. Evil can become imbedded in the structures of society that often favor the rich and hurt the poor. When we see it around us, we ought not to close our eyes and walk away. Why? Because it doesn’t have to be like this!
• Think about your context. Where do you see evidence of sin and evil that have impacted corporate life in your community? Share some examples with me and others who read this blog.
• When the Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was sent into exile in 1974, he encouraged his fellow citizens to action by saying “Live not by lies (Marxism-Leninism)!” Through his writings and his example, he helped to bring down the Soviet regime. If individuals would begin making up their mind to “Live not by lies” -- this could lead to a halt in purchasing diplomas on the Internet and a commitment to actually get the education represented by the degree. Perhaps we would see a movement that would begin to curtail the corruption that pervades many societies. What a great peacemaking movement this would be!