Heart Meditations 14 - Footwear Part 2 - David Mitts

"“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Matthew 10:34 (NASB)


Last chapter we engaged with a radical concept. The Gospel of peace involves how we relate to others. How we relate to others sets boundaries in our heart which affects our relationship to God. The Apostle John tells us:

"If someone sdidays, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God must also love his brother and sister." 1Jn 4:20-21 (NASB)

Every broken relationship we have fragments our love for God. As we erect boundaries and walls in our hearts to try to protect ourselves from pain, we also block out God. The preparation of the footwear of the Gospel of Peace requires us to be able to allow the Lord to bring peace and healing to the broken places in our lives.

Now, I want to turn to the other side of the coin.

Yeshua said: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to TURN A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A PERSON’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD. “The one who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and the one who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And the one who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “The one who has found his life will lose it, and the one who has lost his life on My account will find it." Mat 10:34-39 (NASB)

The very same Gospel of Peace that is to be our footwear also seems to be oriented at causing deliberate divisions. How can the God who tells us to love our enemies be the God who is creating those very same enemies?

This is a very powerful question because it points at one of the key questions of this reality that we live in. When we declare God to be in control, then we need to also acknowledge the presence of conflict resulting from God’s control. How can the God of peace also be the God who brings the sword that results in divisions in families?

The central piece is to realize that the Gospel of Peace that is to be our footwear is not like the peace that we normally envision in our lives. Our idea of peace is no conflict. Yet Yeshua brings conflict. He divides like a sword. He spoke about this contrast in John 14:27

“Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, nor fearful." Joh 14:27 (NASB)

His peace is different than the “world’s peace”.

Let’s look at the word shalom to gain an insight into what might be going on here.

Shalom, at its root means to be complete, to be whole. As a verb it means to bring a situation into wholeness or balance. It is used in the practical sense of paying an obligation, a debt.

What is the debt of mankind that Yeshua satisfied to bring peace? Whatever it is, serves as an antidote to a troubled and fearful heart. We know that Yeshua paid the price for our sin. Our sin separates us from God. Yeshua paid the debt incurred by our sin. The underlying question is what is the root of this evil that required the suffering and sacrifice of the Son of God?

One way to think of something is the truism that payment must equal the crime. If we look at the payment of Yeshua’s life as the solution, then the crime has to be of an equal value. What did we do that justifies such a price?

Violence. Violence is at the heart of our sin. Yeshua spoke about this when He said:

And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. (Mat 11:12 NKJV)

I think this verse gives us a potential insight into what Yeshua meant when He said He came to bring a sword. (Mathew 10:34). I think sometimes we can become so lovey peace oriented that we miss the true violence that the kingdom requires to bring about a true salvation. I mean, I would really love it if we could fix our world just by being nice and harmonious to all people. It seems like such a beautiful ideal. Yet there is always a deeper violence that threatens our lives and requires a violent response.

The cross is violent. Yes, Yeshua was the lamb led to the slaughter, but it wasn’t an easy death. No, it was the worst sort of death, tortuous, mocking, humiliating and shameful. To be hung on a cross openly shamed, scourged and beaten and then forced to bear the instrument of that torture and shame and climb on it is beyond evil.

This is the Roman empire that came to power to express this kind of evil death. It would be useful to also understand the kind of debauchery that was tolerated as normal in Rome to mark what an antichrist culture looks like. The fall of the Roman Empire is a topic of serious study. Suffice it to say that we know that there was rampant immorality, sex became all about conquest, the weak were dominated by the strong, the rich took from the poor, borders were ignored of every kind and the mind was lifted above the heart.

Today, we see a similar trend towards the rule of the mob. We see the power elites dominating the masses. Today’s tyrants include the pharmaceutical industry and their pets, the CDC and the FDA. Tyrants include the tech giants and their pets the politicians on the left. Tyrants also include socialism and multinational corporations and cabals of various sorts. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Against this tide is the peace that Yeshua brings through a sword. If we look in Revelations, we see Him portrayed with the sword:

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”" Rev 19:11-16

Many have forgotten this image of Yeshua or relegated it to the future return of the Lord. While I believe that this is a literal vision of the return of the Lord to vanquish the kingdoms of man, I think it is important to remember that this is ultimately the gospel of peace.

There is a military philosophy which is called peace through strength. Nowhere is this more evident than in modern day Israel. Surrounded by hostile nations, the remnants and fiefdoms of the Islamic Caliphate of the world ruling Ottoman Turks, Israel has had to survive their nihilistic agendas by being strong.

In the post second world war and the ensuing nuclear arms race, the United States and the USSR built stockpiles of nuclear weapons knowing that it was only the mutual assured destruction that would operate as a deterrent against a first strike by either side.

Now, we know this isn’t the gospel of peace by any stretch of the imagination. We do however need to consider the wiring of humanity that requires deterrence to awaken us to the importance of boundaries. There is inside of us a heart that is desperately wicked left to its own devices. The Lord spoke about it through Jeremiah:

"“The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, to give to each person according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds." Jer 17:9-10

We have to come to terms with this statement and own it personally. There is a sickness in the heart of man. The laws of cause and effect have brought about the world we live in. I don’t have to tell you about how much deception is at work in the heart of man today. Just this week I read about the ever-increasing death toll from supposed immunizations against a deadly virus that has in reality claimed only a small percentage of the reported casualties. Young people who are at virtually no risk are being inoculated in a monitoring of compliance that reminds us on Nazi Germany.

We look back in history and wonder, how could the German people have stood by while millions of innocent Jewish people, gypsies, and other undesirables were systematically eliminated from the face of the earth? If we look back into the history of the people and their time period, we see a process of gradually increasing the demands of compliance to authority. Step by step Hitler persuaded the people of Germany to see themselves in one camp and the undesirables as a threat to their security, health and ultimately for the good of society they had to be eliminated.

This is the sickness in the human heart, the pressure of conformity to a shifting set of standards that has at its ultimate core the destruction of the weak by the strong. The irony in today’s case is the weak and vulnerable are being paraded as the poster child for the manipulation and control of the masses. All of the strategies for control are clothed in a pseudo compassion of the elderly and immune compromised.

Watch however as the target shifts from the elderly and weak to the vaccinated and unvaccinated. The unvaccinated will be marginalized and what is being tested by the totalitarians is how the compliant will react to the protections of the freedoms of personal choice in the health arena. The unvaccinated are already seeing restrictions in travel freedoms, business opportunities, and even leisure possibilities. Remember the Nazi’s began the same. First, they marked the Jewish businesses which were attacked. Then they limited access through the yellow stars to theaters, travel etc. Finally, they murdered those labeled. They too had their justifications.

Against this tide is the gospel of peace, which comes with a sword. Why a sword? Why divisions? Because the solution has to match the issue of the heart it is dealing with. The most primal level of identity is family. Blood is thicker than water. BUT we are seeing families turning on each other over the shots. Family members who refuse to submit themselves to unproven and arguably dangerous health chemicalized strategies are being marginalized in their own families! Think about that! We respect the right of the terminally ill to chose whether they should be resuscitated but we do not respect the choice about a questionable solution to an imagined viral threat with distorted death counts which have been admitted by the same counters who are promoting the shots!

Do not despair! This is inevitable prior to the return of the Lord with that sword.

"“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be as wary as serpents, and as innocent as doves. “But be on guard against people, for they will hand you over to the courts and flog you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings on My account, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. “But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given you in that hour. “For it is not you who are speaking, but it is the Spirit of your Father who is speaking in you. “Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. “And you will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved. “But whenever they persecute you in one city, flee to the next; for truly I say to you, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes." Mat 10:16-23

This is the same gospel of peace. There is no true peace this side of the return of the Lord. Our true family is in the Lord. The most powerful force in the world is faith, trust in the truth.

"But Jesus replied to the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” And extending His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold: My mother and My brothers! “For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.”" Mat 12:48-50

Don’t be deceived my brothers and sisters this is not a war with flesh and blood but with powers and principalities and rulers of wickedness in high places who exalt their demonic wisdom against the knowledge of God. As David prophesied in Psalm 2 God will have the last laugh.

"Why are the nations restless And the peoples plotting in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers conspire together Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying, “Let’s tear their shackles apart And throw their ropes away from us!” He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will announce the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have fathered You. ‘Ask it of Me, and I will certainly give the nations as Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’” Now then, you kings, use insight; Let yourselves be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, that He not be angry and you perish on the way, For His wrath may be kindled quickly. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!" Psa 2:1-12

Activation: Strengthen yourself in the Lord and in the power of His might! This is the time to be sober minded and build yourself up in the meditations of our heart!

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