My first real “job” was as a trainee in the Canadian Armed Forces. At the age of 17 I enrolled in the Officer Candidate Training Program. during that time I learned the hard way why candidates are not usually approved quite that young. I definitely lacked the discipline and fortitude to succeed, and went home with my figurative tail between my legs. My parents allowed me a brief time to lick my wounds, followed by what I can only describe as “paternal therapy,” a fatherly discussion about how to better prepare for living on my own. After a couple of months it was time to try to get back on the proverbial horse that threw me, so I signed up as an enlisted man (a Private, not an officer). I was there to learn a trade, but naturally had to learn to take orders and train with weaponry. You never know when a war might break out, and even radio repair people can be called upon to defend a base or an outpost.
Nobody could have been more surprised than me to discover that the Worldwide Church of God originally did not believe church members should serve in the military. Their printed material, of which I had read all I could get my hands on, seemed to decry a lack of patriotism in North American and European youth. When I joined up I thought the Bible had no objections to military service. When I began attending that church I discovered that my career choice was a problem. Needless to say, this did not help my military career aspirations. I made the hard choice to leave the military and had to scrape by with minimum wage jobs for a number of years until things turned around for me. I did like the military life, but do not regret my choice. (I found the love of my life as a civilian within that church, so definitely no regrets.)
I once heard our Minister of Defence speak at a Remembrance Day service about the heroism of a young Canadian, (I believe it was Colin Barron) who gave his life during the bloody WWI battle of Passchendaele. An enemy pillbox was preventing the advance of the entire Allied army, and many soldiers died, unable to get close enough to throw grenades. He slowly crawled through the mud with his rifle until he got close enough to shoot point-blank, single-handedly taking out the enemy defensive position so that the whole army could finish the advance. He was killed in the exchange of fire, and was posthumously awarded the highest honor in the United Kingdom, the Victoria Cross.
There are countless examples of that kind of heroic self-sacrifice in the annals of warfare throughout history. Men and women in battle often set their own self-interest behind to lead the charge against overwhelming odds to defend their family, their friends, their city, their province, their country, and even other countries from enemies who would enslave them.
Good soldiers matter. Their lives and their deaths matter. I was disappointed when Prime Minister Harper decreed that flags would no longer fly at half-mast when one of our own died in the line of duty in Afghanistan. Of course, I suspected that he decided that because many more would do so, and it would be hard on the morale of the country if we made a big deal about each one.
Christians sometimes forget that while King David started as a shepherd, he became a mighty warrior long before he became king. His many amazing military exploits became legendary in Israel. In fact one of the favourite songs in Israel at the time had the refrain, “Saul has killed his thousands and David his tens of thousands.” (1 Sam. 18:7 & 21:11). This, of course, was one of the causes of Saul’s jealousy toward David.
The Bible even records the names of David’s most renowned soldiers along with their exploits. 1 Chronicles 11:10 to the end of the chapter lists David’s mighty men. Even Saul’s son Jonathan, David’s best friend, is honoured in scripture for his military bravery, including his amazing two-man attack an entire Philistine army (1Sam. 14) Jonathan killed 20 in his first assault, which caused the whole army to panic and retreat, giving the 600-man force under Saul the advantage in routing the Philistines.
As I had been reading the Bible on my own for about two years prior to joining the CAF, I had the (hopefully understandable) impression from stories like this that military service was an honourable way to serve God. What would give me that impression? As an example, Abraham leads his servants as an army to fight against the northern kings who had taken Lot, his family and the inhabitants of the “Plain of Siddim” (Sodom, Gomorrah and neighboring cities) into captivity. Rescuing slaves seems to be a good thing.
In fact, I can’t read God’s law in the Old Testament without getting the impression that freedom from slavery is important to God. Even where slavery is allowed, God limits its destructiveness and oppressiveness in Israel to a point where some might even prefer to remain slaves (Ex. 21:5). Jesus goes even further: It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. (Gal. 5:1)
Putting my life in harm’s way so that others can live and live free seemed like the right thing to do at the time. After all, no less a man than Jesus himself says, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13) (NIV). Many soldiers end their careers by dying for their country.
Of course, context is important. Jesus was telling his disciples that he was not only willing, but decisively going to die for his country. It is a motive and a decision that any true soldier would hold in highest honour on the battlefield.
Jesus was, of course, speaking of laying down his own life to save the world from an oppressive regime. Would he attack the Roman Empire? The Herodian dynasty? The cruel tyrant Caesar?
No. Any good soldier knows that to win any war you must neutralize the enemy’s power at its source. That usually means conquering the enemy’s capital and source of influence. In normal battle, the goal is not, as one former U.S. Navy gunner (later turned Sci-Fi writer) famously put it, to die for your country, but to make the other sorry [expletive deleted] soldier die for his country. You normally have to get through that “sorry [expletive deleted] soldier” to get to the source of enemy power and influence.
Jesus’ strategy went so much further than even the best-equipped army ever could. You see, in this world, an armed force will always be necessary. Whenever you take out one would-be conqueror another will inevitably arise. They do not do so by accident. There is a dark power behind all oppresive regimes: The oppressive regime of sin and death is led by its own “president for life,” Satan the Devil, and his demonic minions.
By deliberately placing his life between us and death, Jesus defeats Satan by taking the power out of sin and the sting out of death, allowing reconciliation between human beings and their Creator. This reconciliation with God completely frees us from the need for war by changing the nature that causes war. Each person reconciled to God reduces the greed and envy that is needed to cause conflict by one person.
Jesus has targeted the cause of war, not just its effect. Now the battle is moved to the field of each person’s mind and heart. Jesus’ cause has its own heroes who faced death in the battle with oppression. They died witnessing to Jesus’ death, resurrection and Lordship. This is how Christian soldiers fight the good fight. They live and die with Jesus in their actions and in their words. They die with Jesus’ name on their lips.
King David started as a shepherd, became a warrior, then became King, and died in honour in his own bed (unlike many other warriors).
Jesus started as a “shepherd” gathering a flock, died in dishonour, was brought back to life in glory to become King, and will return first to gather his flock, then wage war as a warrior beyond compare to judge and completely remake the world. Only after this will…
“They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Micah 4:3) (NIV)
John Valade 
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