Who and What Is a Peacemaker?

In Matthew 5:9, Christ tells us that the peacemakers "shall be called the children of God." But who are the peacemakers? What is peacemaking? And how does one become a person who makes peace?

If we were to study examples of peacemaking in the world, we could easily come to very different conclusions regarding what peacemaking is. There are the peacekeeping missions of the United Nations, which are often essentially military actions--or to be blunt, wars; peace, in these instances, comes through force, one nation or a set of nations instilling its will on another nation or set of nations to prevent abuse and bloodshed but via yet other bloodshed or the threat thereof. There is peacekeeping via negotiation and diplomacy: sets of people coming to an agreement over a particular situation via discussion and signed contract. Here, violence is avoided, though sometimes tensions remain. There is peacekeeping via tolerance, wherein one set of peoples rolls over and lets the other set of peoples have its way. In this case, some would point to the example of Christ, who told believers to "resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matt. 5:39). But when Christ told followers not to resist evil, was he then saying that believers should accept and tolerate sin? Or was he telling followers to disobey authorities where those authorities engage in unrighteousness but to remain unviolent? Is nonviolent protest such as the civil rights movement an example of peace? Conversely, were those who participated in "peace demonstrations" during the beginnings of the Iraq War in 2003 really rallying for peace? Is the absence of war, amid abuse of a nation's citizens, peace? What are the biblical definitions of peace and peacemaking? Do these worldly concepts fit in with those outlined in scripture?

In fact, a search of the scriptures does confirm that the biblical concept of peacemaking incorporates aspects of each of these three concepts of peacekeeping as they exist in the world: force, diplomacy, and tolerance. However, in the Bible, peace starts in a different place, and peacemaking thus originates from a different perspective. That perspective is one that belongs to God himself. In scripture, we learn that peace--true peace--originates with God; is established in the laws of God, in those laws (God's government) ruling in people; is internalized within the self; and is then exuded toward others in one's actions and reactions. Peacemakers, thus, become those who have managed to complete this process of inculcating Godly peace within and then transmitting it to others.

Of especial importance here is recognizing that God is the ultimate source of peace. If we as human beings try to establish our own peace, it will be based on the wrong premise and, thus, not lead to a lasting and true peace. This is the problem we see in many peace treaties and peace agreements. A cessation of violent hostility is established, but the hostility itself remains, festering underneath. Fighting like that between North and South Korea comes to a close via an armistice, but both sides station troops along their borders, awaiting the renewal of all-out war and occasionally stumbling into a relatively minor skirmish (yet anything but minor to those who might die in it). A civil war like that which happened in the United States over 150 years ago might come to an end, but the bitterness, anger, and injustice might remain for generations afterward. In the U.S. Civil War, for example, while the South was defeated, the Southern cause lived on. For years after the war's conclusion, guerilla warfare continued as the North maintained an "occupying" force, and the former slaves who had gained their freedom would still find themselves abused by their white countrymen. In such instances, there is a peace of sorts--the absence of all-out war--but not a peace that is satisfying to all the parties involved.

These are examples of the unsatisfying peace brought by men, but scriptures denote that it is ultimately God who gives peace--that in fact God is peace. On the seemingly most mundane level, we see this in a greeting that is repeated throughout the New Testament. "Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ," Paul tells the recipients of his letter to the Romans (Rom. 1:7). In fact, Paul uses this same phrase, "peace from God," as a greeting at the start of virtually every letter he writes (see 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:3; Eph. 1:2; Philip. 1:2; Col. 1:2; 1 Thes. 1:1; 2 Thes. 1:2; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2; Tit. 1:4; Phile. 1:3). Paul also uses it for a closing in such places as Ephesians 6:23, when he writes, "Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." Others used the phrase in salutation as well, as in John's use in his second letter: "Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love" (2 John 3).

Other scriptures explicitly state that God makes peace. This is especially the case in the Old Testament, where salutations are not numerous but discussion of relations with one's enemies is. "Dominion and fear are with him [God], he maketh peace in his high places," Job 25:2-3 tells us. "Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?" The concept of God creating peaceful relations with others--that is, with one's enemies--is particularly a focus of the Prophets, as in Isaiah 45:7, when God tells us, "I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." In one of the minor prophets, God tells Judah with regard to a temple that is to be rebuilt: "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace" (Hag. 2:9). In Psalm 4:8, David in fact states that true peace and safety rest only in God: "I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety." Conversely, Jeremiah 16:5 notes that God is also the one who removes peace: "Enter not into the house of mourning," God says there, "neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people [Judah]." Not to be left wanting, the New Testament also states that it is God who gives peace, as in this benediction of Paul's in 2 Thessalonians 3:16: "Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means."

Scriptures also mention peace as coming from Christ, who is of course God also. We see this in prophecy in the Old Testament, both in the names Christ is to bear and in the changes that Christ is to bring: "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The might God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever" (Isa. 9:6-7). Peace coming through Christ is emphasized also in the New Testament. As with scriptures elsewhere about God, Christ is noted as a source of peace, as in this passage from a sermon of Peter's: "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ . . . That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea" (Acts 10:36-37).

That peace of Christ comes in various forms throughout the New Testament. John 14:27, for example, speaks of a peace of mind that Christ provides to followers: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." So too does John 16:33: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." Christ also brings peace between man and God. "Therefore, being justified by faith," Paul writes of this in Romans 5:1-2, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God." This peace with God, as Paul writes in Colossians 1:20, comes through Christ's sacrifice for us: "And, [Christ has] made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." Not only does Christ bring peace within self and between men and God, but he also brings peace between people--most particularly between Jews and Gentiles--as Paul notes in Ephesians 2:13-22:

But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

Because the scriptures show God as the source of peace, it makes sense that they also show God as the one who grants peace﷓-to certain types of people for specific ends. Eliphaz, in the book of Job, for example, instructs his friend accordingly: "Acquaint now thyself with him [God], and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21). Peace, in other words, comes from knowing God, who is the source of it and who alone gives it. Job 5 extends this peace beyond even the human realm to a peace with all things in one's environment, including animals and land:

I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number; Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: . . . For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shall not sin. (Job 5:8-10, 18-24)

As if to confirm that God is the one who grants peace to specific people for his specific end, God﷓-or belief in God--is the reason mentioned for the institution of peace between many of the patriarchs of the Old Testament and the inhabitants around them. In Genesis 26, for example, Abraham's son Isaac finds that he is unable to find a place to dwell, for every time that he digs a well, other settlers claim to have ownership of the land--and thus the water below. Ultimately, however, one of these landowners, Abimelech, decides to make peace with Isaac. Note his reason:

The Abimelech went to him [Isaac] from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phichol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, We saw certainly that the Lord was with thee: and we said, Let there be now an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee; That thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now blessed of the Lord. And he mad them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. (Gen. 26:26-31)

Similar statements are made to Israel's and Judah's ancient kings when others--including enemies--decide to lay down their arms or join with Israel. David, for example, in fleeing from King Saul, was joined by a group of Benjamite and Judaic supporters. Note the reason their captain gave for siding with David rather than with Saul: "The spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers; for thy God helpeth thee" (1 Chron. 12:18). The fact that God helped David meant to Amasai and his army that peace was on David's side; and what moved Amasai to recognize this? God's very spirit--his presence.

Around one hundred years later, the Judaic king Asa would gain peace for his nation largely through the blessing of God in response to Asa's religious reforms. The account in 2 Chronicles 15:1-15 is explicit in defining who provides the nation rest from its enemies:

And the spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded; And he went out to meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. Now for a long season Israel hath been with the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them. And in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries. And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity. Be ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your work shall be rewarded. And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities, which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord. And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. And they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice, and with shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets. And all Judah rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart, and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of them: and the Lord gave them rest round about.

Knowing then that God is the source of peace and provides it to certain types of people for certain ends, we might naturally ask how it is that God transmits--or causes--such peace to come about. In the instance above, it was Asa's turn toward God, his obedience to the laws that God set forth, and his, in turn, reinstatement of those laws in the land over which he reigned that resulted in peace. Peace, in other words, is generally maintained by order, by government, and by law. In nations where there is no order, where the government does not maintain full sovereignty over its citizens (because of civil war, for instance), or where laws are flouted (because of, for example, corruption), security--and the peace that comes with it--is compromised. Confusion, over who is in charge, over how to conduct one's life, over how to get along with one's fellow citizens, is the result. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14:33, makes this contrast between confusion and peace explicit: "For God is not the author of confusion," he writes, "but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints." Paul's example of peace here is "the churches of the saints." What are these churches? And how do they maintain this peace?

We can read about several churches of the saints in Revelation 2 and 3, where Christ explicitly addresses seven churches that are in Asia Minor. Note some of the characteristics these churches are said to have. "I know thy works," Christ says to the church in Ephesus, "and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted" (Rev. 2:2-3). And here's something he says to the church in Pergamos: "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith" (Rev. 2:13). And to Thyatira, he says, "I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience" (Rev. 2:19). So we see that these churches have works, faith, and the name of Christ or God and that they hate evil. In other words, they obey God and they hate sin, the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4). God provides for them a government (his) that reigns over people and a law that that government upholds and that those people follow. Peace, then, comes through adherence to law--and specifically God's law.

Both the Old Testament and New Testament talk of how one of the functions of physical government is to provide peace to those who live under it. In the Old Testament, perhaps the most explicit instruction in this regard is given in Exodus 18, when Moses is counseled with regard to setting up a hierarchical government to help him carry out his tasks as leader of the people of Israel. "Hearken now unto my voice," says his father-in-law, Jethro,

I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And let them judge the people at all seasons; and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee. If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace. (Ex. 18:19-23)

The New Testament is not without its own instructions with regard to government. Note what Paul tells Timothy regarding the civil authorities who reign over churchgoers: "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men: For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty" (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Here, Paul makes clear that "kings" and "authorities" are--through the will of God--what make possible the Christian's own peaceable existence.

Just as government is identified in scripture as an entity that enables peace, so too a lack of government and the laws it enacts are shown to bring a lack of peace. Note, for example, what Isaiah writes of a land where sin--a lack of following God's laws--abounds:

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. (Isa. 59:1-8)

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. (Rom. 3:10-18)

The Bible doesn't stop at instruction, however. It gives concrete examples from history. One such case appears in 2 Kings 9, wherein the Israelite Jehu rebelled against King Joram. Note the reasoning that Jehu provided when the king attempted to make peace with the leader of the uprising:

And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, I see a company. And Joram said, Take an horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? So there went one on horseback to meet him, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What hast thou to do with peace? turn thee behind me? And the watchman told, saying, The messenger came to them, but he cometh not again. Then he sent out a second on horseback, which came to them, and said, Thus saith the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What hast though to do with peace? turn thee behind me. And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously. And Joram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. And Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot, and they went out against Jehu, and met him in the portion of Naboth and Jezreelite. And it came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? And he answered, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel and her witchcrafts are so many? (2 Kings 9:17-22)

Civil strife--a weak national sovereignty--was one reason the ancient nation of Israel was instructed not to seek peace with the evil nations around them. The lack of a moral compass in those nations would bring Israel's own moral standards into decline and would thus ultimately result in Israel's own decline. Note, for example, what Ezra reminded the Jewish people upon their return to the holy land after their captivity in Babylon: "The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever" (Ezra 9:11-12).

Although scripture makes clear that peace cannot ultimately be established by making covenants with those who do evil, it provides a couple of other recommendations with regard to keeping the peace: gaining knowledge and practicing righteousness. Peace is, in fact, a natural outcome of righteousness, or of doing good, proclaims the Bible. This claim runs throughout scripture--in, for example, the Prophets, the Psalms, and the New Testament. "[T]he work of righteousness," Isaiah 32:17 tells us, "shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever." Psalm 37:37 tells us to "behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace." Paul, in his letters to the Romans, echoes this sentiment when he proclaims: "But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good" (Rom. 2:10). And how is this assured? Paul ties this back to God himself, the source, who "will render to every man according to his deeds" (Rom. 2:6).

Peace, through righteousness, in turn, is based, scriptures say, on knowledge. In Proverbs, for example, Solomon says that "the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding" is happy, in part because, as Solomon goes on to explain, wisdom's "paths are peace" (Prov. 3:13, 17). Peter, like Paul, ties peace to God--but more specifically he ties knowledge of God to peace, when he says, "Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord" (2 Pet. 1:2). In other words, God, as the source of peace--and of wisdom--provides it to those who gain knowledge of him. Such is exactly what is prophesied with regard to a future nation of Israel: "And all thy children," Isaiah says of his people, "shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children" (Isa. 54:13).

Taught of God, Israel itself will finally see peace, something it has not seen during its current return to the Holy Land. And what is it that Israel will be taught of or from God? What is the wisdom that brings peace? It is none other than the law that God provides to mankind. This law, when obeyed by all of humanity, will finally result in a worldwide peace. Note what various biblical authors say regarding God's law's relationship to peace. "My son," Solomon writes in Proverbs 3:1-2, "forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee." This is why David could write, "Great peace have they which love thy [God's] law" (Ps. 119:165). Indeed, Malachi's description of an ideal priest is one with the law in his mouth and no sin, whose actions are accompanied by peace. Writing from God's point of view, Malachi says, "My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn away from iniquity. For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts" (Mal. 2:5-7).

Loving the law and having the law on our tongue suggest something further--namely that the means toward peace, indeed peace itself, should be inculcated within the self. Before we can make peace with others or instill it in them, it must first reside inside us. Notice what the writer of Hebrews says about God's work in his people Israel in the latter times. Quoting God's words from Jeremiah, the writer states, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people" (Heb. 8:10). Hebrews 10:15 tells us the means by which God puts that law in people's minds--imparting to them the Holy Spirit, of which the New Testament church was a witness, and a witness to its effect.

The Spirit itself brings with it a type of peace. Paul's letters to the early church are full of statements to that effect. Peace, in Galatians 5:22, for example, is listed as one of the fruits of the Spirit. In Romans 14:17, Paul tells the church, "[T]he kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." And in Romans 8:6, Paul notes, "For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace."

This peace, residing in the self through the Spirit, through a mind focused on the spiritual, then works its way out to others--through one's actions and one's words. Note what Christ says in Mark 9:50 when comparing his followers with salt: "Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another." The salt here isn't so much the believer him- or herself but something within that person. What is it? Well, in another scripture, Paul writes of the necessity of having "speech . . . always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man" (Col. 4:6). When we speak well, we bring peace between others, and what we speak arises from a spirit of peace that dwells within. For as Christ notes, in Matthew 15:18-19: "[T]hose things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Hence, if peace is in our hearts, then how we speak will reflect that.

Knowing then that peace comes from God, that the path to peace resides in law, and that that law must be implanted in the self so that we exude peace naturally, we can now examine what the nature of the resulting peaceful conduct should be. When we look at a wide range of scriptures, what we find is that that conduct is based in a lack of lust and in a will to put others' needs before our own. A lack of lust--a lack of desire--is something another major religion, Buddhism, also sees as foundational to the cleansing of a person. This lack of overwhelming desire brings a peace both to the self and to others, as the Biblical scriptures make clear. Note, for example, what Paul advises in his second letter to Timothy: "Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do gender strifes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will" (2 Tim. 2:22-26). Fleeing lust, in this passage, is thus connected to peace, while Paul connects engendering strife to lust.

This relationship between lust and strife is made even more clearly and directly in the book of James, from which I quote here at length:

But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish [remember Paul said those who caused strife were in the snare of the devil]. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace. From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit your yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. (James 3:14-4:11)

New Testament scriptures abound in instructions with regard to how we can place others before ourselves. "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory," writes Paul in Philippians 2:3, in a passage reminiscent of his directives in Galatians 5, "but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves." When we regard others above ourselves, we aren't likely to fight for our own position. Paul, in 1 Thessalonians 5:11-15 gives another similar instruction, but this time he ties looking up to others not only explicitly to peace but also to patience: "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men." And in 1 Corinthians 16:10-11, in Paul's instructions to the church regarding Timothy, he emphasizes the importance of showing respect to others in maintaining peace: "Now if Timotheus come," he writes, "see that he may be with you without fear; for he worketh the work of the Lord, as I also do. Let no man therefore despise him: but conduct him forth in peace, that he may come unto me: for I look for him with the brethren."

In addition to the need to respect others, to place those others before ourselves, the scriptures emphasize certain character and personality traits as essential to maintaining or creating peace, including forgiveness, patience, and kindness (or gentleness). This starts, however, with turning that placement of others before one's self to a natural outgoing concern for the good of others. Note, for example, what the writer of Hebrews asks Christians to do when it comes to maintaining peace: "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled" (Heb. 12:14-15). Here, love and looking out for one's brother is contrasted to something to avoid--namely, bitterness--as the means for establishing peace. Peter says something similar, when he encourages Christians to avoid letting bitterness become the motivation for unpleasant acts toward one another: "Finally, be ye all of one mind," he writes, "having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it" (1 Pet. 3:8-11). Ephesians 4:31-32 also notes the importance of not letting bitterness become the motivator for one's actions but adds to that a technique that can help quell such bitterness--namely, forgiveness, bound within a general nature of kindness: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking," Paul writes, "be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

These attributes of forgiveness, patience, and kindness are expanded upon elsewhere in the scriptures in reference to peaceful conduct with others. One such extended discourse appears in Romans 12:9-21. Note here how Paul lists both positive traits to be inculcated as well as negative ones to be eschewed:

Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Paul makes similar statements elsewhere. Note this passage in Ephesians, for example, where Paul emphasizes the need for patience and forgiveness in creating peace with others: "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Eph. 4:1-3). In Colossians 3:12-15, Paul stresses, in addition, the need for mercy and kindness: "Put on therefore, as elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful." It is because a Christian is to exhibit these attributes of peace--kindness, forgiveness, patience, esteeming others highly--that Paul could write what he did in 1 Corinthians 7 with regard to marriage to an unbeliever. The good example might convert the unbelieving spouse, and if the unbeliever wished to leave the marriage, then the Christian would not fight such a wish, knowing that for the present, such was better for the partner. "But if the unbelieving depart," Paul wrote in verse 15, "let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace."

Beyond esteeming others higher than ourselves and having patience with, kindness toward, and forgiveness of others, the scriptures also note that the overall focus of those who make peace is the edification of those around us. While the attributes of peacemakers may include various Christian characteristics such as gentleness, mercy, genuineness, and humility, and while those who create peace place others before themselves, the overall goal of exhibiting such traits is to help make other people better, to nourish them, to teach them. Note, for example, how Paul continues in his instructions to the Colossians after he's told them to "let the peace of God rule in [their] hearts": "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving things to God and the Father by him" (Col. 3:16-17). Paul's emphasis moves from attributes of character to attributes of expression--that is, to teaching others. The internal is externalized. "Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace," Paul tells the Romans in yet another letter to believers, "and things wherewith one may edify one another" (Rom. 14:19). The two go together.

While Colossians focuses on song as a means to edification, much of this peace through teaching actually comes, as we might expect, from our speech. So Paul makes clear in Ephesians 4:29: "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." Much peace can be attained when our intent for speaking is righteous; conversely, bad communication is cause for a lack of peace. Psalm 34:13-14 implies as much, when it tells readers to "[k]eep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it." Zechariah recommends something similar: "Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute judgment of truth and peace in your gates: And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath" (Zech. 8:16-17). In other words, when we think no evil, we speak no evil--and the result is a lessening of tensions. "Deceit is in the heart of them that imagine evil," Proverbs 12:20 says in comparing two ways of speaking, "but to the counsellors of peace is joy."

Peace then--and by extension, becoming a peacemaker--is the end result of a process that begins with God himself, transmits through obedience to the law that he provides, transforms our inner being, and ultimately is exuded in a type of tranquil conduct that becomes our very nature. Because peace derives from the very mind of God, when our own nature itself--in its actions and thoughts--becomes peaceful, we have in practice conformed to that mind. And when others likewise move to that same state, they then are sharing in that mind, not only with God but with all others who have that same peace. Thus, we have a bond a tranquility, in which all agree, and in which all are of the same mind. It is because Christians are supposed to be exemplars of the culmination of this process that Paul could urge the Corinthians "that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (1 Cor. 1:10). Later, in his second letter to the Corinthians, he ties unity of mind to peace when he says, "[B]e of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you" (2 Cor. 13:11).

This unity of mind is, in turn, manifested in speech--a speech that focuses on the same thing, namely, the gospel. Here again is how Paul puts it: "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel" (Philip. 1:27). So believers are unified in gospel thinking and speaking, and in turn, that gospel is in fact a gospel of peace. "How beautiful are the feet of them," Paul writes, quoting the prophets, "that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" (Rom. 10:15). Elsewhere, he talks of Christians' feet being "shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace" (Eph. 6:15). The gospel of peace, in other words, is something that we walk in, that we live, in every aspect of our lives. It is our way, our path.

Having reviewed how peace comes into being, how it originates with God, follows through in his law, how by taking on particular character traits one can become a peacemaker, a final useful exercise is to compare those steps to historical examples of peacemaking we find in scripture. Here, one of the biggest surprises may be that peacemakers in the Bible aren't always "peaceful," at least not in the sense we tend to think of peace in this world--that is, as an absence of war or contention. Rather, scriptures show peace as the goal of such people--peace extended as an offering--but always within the framework of God and his law, meaning that sometimes nonpeaceful acts are perpetrated to bring about peace.

One of the passages of the Old Testament that is most explicit in how to go about establishing peace involves God's instructions to ancient Israel when going out to conquer another people. Those instructions appear in Deuteronomy 20:10-12: "When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it, then proclaim peace unto it. And it shall be, if it make thee answer of peace, and open unto thee, then it shall be, that all the people that is found therein shall be tributaries unto thee, and they shall serve thee. And if it will make no peace with thee, but will make war against thee, then thou shalt besiege it" (Deut. 20:10-12). Israel was to be the conquered people's ruler in exchange for peace; concurrent with that, however, would have been the people's obedience to the Israeli law--to God's law--for most of Israel's laws applied also to the "stranger that is within thy gates" (Ex. 20:10). As it so happened, most peoples rejected Israel's offer of peace, for as we learn in the book of Joshua, "[t]here was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they [Israel] took in battle" (Josh. 11:19).

The reason--already alluded to--that God asked Israel to destroy nations that did not submit to them is revealed later in Deuteronomy 20, for here, God notes that Israel was not to even attempt to make peace with certain peoples of the land. "But thou shalt utterly destroy [these people]," God commands; "namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee: That they teach you not to do after all their abominations, which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the Lord your God" (Deut. 20:17-18). The issue was that the conquered peoples--the peoples with whom Israel made peace--were not to tempt Israel to give up the laws that God had given them. Unfortunately, as Judges notes, Israel did not follow this command, and thus it fell into the very sins that God had warned about: "And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you" (Judg. 2:2-3). Because Israel chose to make "peace" with those God had said were too rotten to redeem, Israel suffered years of hardship--invasions from and fights with the pagan inhabitants around them.

God is not above using war and killing to destroy the disobedient in order to bring about the peace that comes only from obedience to his way. The example above, of God's commands to Israel, certainly shows that, and so too do other Old Testament scriptures. Note the example, for instance, of Phinehas, one of Israel's priests, to whom God says he extends his "covenant of peace." During the course of Israel's punishment for its idolatry at Shittim, one man had the boldness to continue in the obfuscation of the law of the land in the sight of the very rulers. Phinehas took care of it:

And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. . . . And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy. Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace: And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel. (Numb. 25:6-8, 10-13)

Another example of peacemaking in the Old Testament occurs in 2 Samuel 20. As with the example in Numbers, it is not a peace that is made without bloodshed. The context here involves a man named Sheba who raised a rebel movement in Israel during the time of King David. A civil war resulted, but one older woman helped bring the war to a close through her advice and actions. Here is the latter half of the story, once Sheba was on the run and his main army officer Amasa dead:

And they came and besieged him [Sheba] in Abel of Beth-maachah, and they cast up a bank against the city, and it stood in the trench: and all the people that were with Joab (David's general) battered the wall, to throw it down. Then cried a wise woman out of the city, Hear, hear; say, I pray you, unto Joab, Come near hither, that I may speak with thee. And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. Then she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel: and so they ended the matter. I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel: thou seekest to destroy a city and a mother in Israel: why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And Joab answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so: but a man of mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bichri by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David: deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto Joab, Behold, his head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. Then the woman went unto all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bichri, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. (2 Sam. 20:15-22)

In each case, though a killing or set of killings was required, peace came about because people were ultimately looking out for others, whether that be allowing a conquered people to live if they accepted God's law or removing the blight of sinners from a community. There are, in Old Testament, also examples of making peace through looking out for others that involve the staying of violence. One such example is that of Abigail, a future wife of King David. Her story is told 1 Samuel 25:2-35:

And there was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail: and she was a woman of good understanding, and of a beautiful countenance: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep. And David sent out ten young men, and David said unto the young men, Get you up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name: And thus shall ye say to him that liveth in prosperity, Peace be both to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast. And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there aught missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel. Ask thy young men, and they will show thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David. And when David's young men came, they spake to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased. And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a day that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings. And David said unto his men, Gird ye on every man his sword. And they girded on every man his sword; and David also girded on his sword: and there went up after David about four hundred men; and two hundred abode by the stuff. But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on him. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him. Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the ass, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground, And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the Lord hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord. I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling. And it shall come to pass, when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; That this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless, or that my lord hath avenged himself: but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid. And David said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me: And blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou, which hath kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left unto Nabal by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall. So David received of her hand that which she had brought him, and said unto her, Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person.

Another example of peace being maintained through one person looking out for the good of another involved Jonathan, the son of King Saul of Israel, and David, the anointed future king of Israel. Saul was unhappy both that David had garnered popularity as one of Israel's great soldiers and also that God had chosen to remove the throne from Saul's family and give it to David. Saul's purpose was thus to kill David, even though David had remained loyal to the king. Jonathan, as Saul's son, had reason to want David dead--for David was a threat to Jonathan's own kingship. And yet, Jonathan, in this passage in 1 Samuel 20, shows that his will was not to do what was best for himself but to do what was best for David, his friend and countryman:

And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is mine iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life? And he said unto him, God forbid; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing either great or small, but that he will show it to me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so. And David sware moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thine eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved: but truly as the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death. Then said Jonathan unto David, Whatsoever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee. And David said unto Jonathan, Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field unto the third day at even. If thy father at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is yearly sacrifice there for all the family. If he say thus, It is well; thy servant shall have peace: but if he be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him. Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the Lord with thee: notwithstanding, if there be in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldest thou bring me to thy father? And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil were determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee? Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father answer thee roughly? And Jonathan said unto David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field. And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and, behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto thee, and show it thee; The Lord do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it please my father to do thee evil, then I will show it thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the Lord be with thee, as he hath been with my father. And thou shalt not only while yet I live show me the kindness of the Lord, that I die not: But also thou shalt not cut off thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the Lord hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth. So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the Lord even require it at the hand of David's enemies. And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul. Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty. And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shall remain by the stone Ezel. And I will shoot three arrows on the side thereof, as though I shot at a mark. And, behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find out the arrows. If I expressly say unto the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the Lord liveth. But if I say thus unto the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the Lord hath sent thee away. And as touching the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the Lord be between thee and me for ever. So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon was come, the king sat down to eat meat. And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty. Nevertheless Saul spake not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean. And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said unto Jonathan his son, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to meat, neither yesterday, nor today? And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem: And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother, he hath commanded me to be there: and now, if I have found favour in thine eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not unto the king's table. Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto the confusion of thy mother's nakedness? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore shall he be slain? what hath he done? And Saul cast a javelin at him to smith him: whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of his father to slay David. So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and did eat no meat the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame. And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him. And he said unto his lad, Run, find out now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. And when the lad was come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee? And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David knew the matter. And Jonathan gave his artillery unto his lad, and said unto him, God, carry them to the city. And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded. And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city. (1 Sam. 20:1-42)

In the world today, we have various examples of peacemaking, each of them based on one or more methods: war (as in a UN action against one country that has invaded another), diplomacy (as in negotiations between countries to avoid war, such as in the case of North Korea giving up nuclear ambitions in exchange for U.S. food), or tolerance (as in certain peoples letting others have their way, such as when one country accepts the rulership of another). Yet these methods do not lead to real peace: there is war, there is a desire for war, or there is bitterness. In these biblical examples, we see the same methods used: war, as in the case of Israel conquering its neighbors; diplomacy, as in Abigail offering food to David so that he won't seek vengeance against her husband; and tolerance, as in Jonathan accepting David's ultimate rise to the throne Jonathan otherwise would have inherited. These are examples of peacemaking, like those examples we see in the world. But there is one difference. Each example is based on what God has decided--is based on obeying God's law and on submitting to God's will. In the latter two cases, the parties bear no bitterness against one another, despite whatever unfairness may have been perceived, for they willingly accept the will of God, no matter the consequence.

In Isaiah 9:6, as has been noted, Christ is called "The Prince of Peace," but how exactly does he become such? Because of the sinfulness of mankind, Bible prophecy tells us, the kingdom that Christ will set up will be created in violence and war, "break[ing] in pieces and consum[ing] all these [earthly] kingdoms" (Dan. 2:44), "consum[ing] and destroy[ing] . . . unto the end" (Dan. 7:26). Note how unpeaceful the extended description of Christ's return appears in Revelation 19:11-18:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.