Jesus vs. Trump: Part 2
Jesus said in Matthew 5:9:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
At a rally in Knoxville, Tennessee on November 16, 2015, then-candidate Donald Trump said:
We’re not dealing with stupid people. You know, it used to be, we would have a military, you’d have uniforms here, uniforms there, the ones with the most uniforms standing wins the war, right? It’s a little different now. Now you’re talking about dirty, sneaky, underhanded people that want to kill our civilians. They want to kill not only our civilians, all over the world. And it’s gonna be stopped. Somebody criticized me the other day because they asked me what I’d do and I said, “I’m gonna bomb the shit out of ‘em.” It’s true. I don’t care. They’ve gotta be stopped!
On the surface, or in this case on a billboard, again, it seems like an open-and-shut case that the President’s words are antithetical to Jesus’ teachings. Jesus said for us to bring peace. The Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 12:18
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
But before we go too far with “peace, love, and understanding” portraying Jesus as the original hippie, let’s take a step back and look at the whole counsel of Scripture. Jesus did say peacemakers will be called God’s children. But does that mean that peace is always possible or always encouraged for all people in all contexts? In Matthew 5:9, and all of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is giving us his expectations on what it means for his followers to obey him in day-to-day living. But we must also remember that Jesus is part of the triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the eternal 3-in-1. They are separate beings, but one in essence and nature with complete unity between them.
The first-ever theocracy, and indeed the only direct theocracy in history, was when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. God not only divinely intervened to make that possible, but the newly independent people depended on the revelations of God through Moses to understand what the LORD expected of them. Israel remained a theocracy where God directly ruled over the people until they demanded a human king so they could be like the surrounding nations (1 Samuel 8). So if we’re to understand how God intends for rulers to act, especially when dealing with ungodly enemies, we need to look for what he commanded in those types of situations.
The most applicable portion of scripture for the context in which Trump made this comment would be how God dealt with the wicked people living in the Promised Land that God had given to the Israelites because of their wickedness (Deuteronomy 9:5). God commanded two different means of how Israel dealt with their enemies in Deuteronomy 20:10–18, depending on whether they were inside or outside the Promised Land.
When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace. If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you. If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city. When the Lord your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it. As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the Lord your God gives you from your enemies. This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby. However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them — the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — as the Lord your God has commanded you. Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.
Even in the cases where everyone was to be wiped out to purify the land of wickedness, exceptions were made for the repentant (Joshua 2:9; 11:19). But the point here is that when God was running a nation directly, this was his foreign policy. So believers who want to see our country governed by godly principles need to take this into account. Suppose you’re a Christian who tends to camp out in the Gospels. In that case, you might have a view of God that makes the above Deuteronomy quote seem antithetical to who he is, but I assure you it is not.
And of course, we have in the New Testament what I quoted in the last post. Again, I will further illustrate that these principles go throughout the Bible under both covenants, not just the old. Romans 13:1–7 says:
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
Governments do not bear the sword with the end goal of avoiding confrontation at all costs. They wield a sword to defend their people protectively and to keep order within their own borders. Therefore, threatening to wipe out people bent on our destruction is not only permissible but in line with God’s own foreign policy, as I just laid out. And it’s also not out of character for Jesus. Revelation 2:27, 12:5, and 19:15 prophesy that he will rule the nations with an iron scepter. Blessed are the peacemakers? Yes. And Jesus will make peace by ridding the world of the wicked people residing in it. That sounds a lot like what Trump said in this quote. Peace through strength was also the governing principle of Ronald Reagan’s administration in the 1980s that helped to lead to the Soviet Union's downfall. Furthermore, America’s foreign policy has never been one that called for the genocide of entire ethnic groups. The closest example we have of any such thing is the two nuclear bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki that brought about World War II. And even in that case, it was done to save more lives than would have been had we not done that. We even dropped leaflets over the two cities letting the people know what was about to happen, giving them a chance to flee. So even in this most decisive action in the history of American foreign policy, mercy came before judgment, just like God.
Am I making the case that Jesus would have said what President Trump did in precisely the same way? Absolutely not. I am saying that the principle he was espousing is entirely in line with God’s revealed will in the Bible, including the actions of Jesus upon his return. Jesus was the suffering servant during his First Coming because he came to die for the sins of the world and show us the Father's love. When he returns the second time, he will come not as the suffering servant but as the conquering king who will wipe out all who oppose him.
Psalm 2:
Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers band together against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.” The one enthroned in Heaven laughs; the LORD scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” I will proclaim the LORD’s decree: He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.” Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry, and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
