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NOT BY MIGHT

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Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Michigan · Oct 2, 1900

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 77, No. 40.

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“NOT BY MIGHT.”

By H. J. Farman

H. J. FARMAN.
The Holy Spirit as a precious teacher has been but little appreciated by myself, although it has often been my helper. But a personal experience gave me much joy and gratitude to God for such a teacher.
In all the English colonies great enthusiasm was aroused over the “patriotic fund.” This fund, if I understand it correctly, was for the purpose of buying material and making clothes for the soldiers, and perhaps in some cases for those who were made widows or orphans by the war. This work is a commendable one, and worthy of maintenance by all those interested in war—those who are citizens of this world. But those whose “citizenship is in heaven,” who are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth, . . . make it manifest that they are seeking after a country of their own.” Phil. 3 : 20; Heb. 11 : 13, 14, R. V. These do not feel that they can engage in this work.
When God’s people refuse to engage in this work, they may be thought unpatriotic, or perhaps, in some cases, enemies of the government under which they live. A right understanding of this matter will satisfy all right-thinking persons. Having met this question, and desiring to answer it Scripturally, according to 1 Peter 3 : 15, R. V., I was led to consider John 18 : 36; Matt. 26 : 52.
If those who “take the sword shall perish with the sword,” how can I sanction the use of the sword by supporting it in a voluntary offering? Again, Christ’s reason for his disciples not fighting against his deliverance to the Jews was, “My kingdom is not of this world.” How can I support warriors who are fighting with the sword for earthly kingdoms? This seems to me a great inconsistency, especially when the commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill,” and I am teaching the people to keep, rather than to break, God’s commandments.
Being asked, “What about the children of Israel whom God sent out to make war with the heathen nations? Did not he sanction the taking of life by the sword?” I answered, “No! had Israel trusted God to deliver them, he would have done so without their ever using the sword; he would have destroyed the heathen by his own mighty power, as he did the Egyptians in the Red Sea.”
Not having in mind other scriptures on this subject, I was not quite satisfied with the answer, although I felt assured that it was the correct principle. While reading Elder Haskell’s article on “Israel’s Failures and Our Dangers,” in the REVIEW of February 6, I read the following references: Joshua 24 : 12; Ex. 23 : 27–30.
Jacob’s only protection of life from his enemies under very trying circumstances was “the terror of God upon the cities.” Gen. 35 : 5. His deliverance from Esau was just as miraculous, and yet was effected without the use of the sword. Gen. 32 : 24–32; 33. Moses and Aaron were not called upon to take the sword to deliver Israel from Egypt. But forty years prior to their deliverance, Moses attempted to do it with the sword, and was obliged to flee for his life, and become a shepherd, till he learned the lesson that it was “not by might [“army,” margin], nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.” Zech. 4 : 6.
The Lord told Israel, in the song of Moses, “The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. . . .”
“The mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till thy people pass over, which thou hast purchased.” Ex. 15 : 14–16.
“I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to which thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee. I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee. I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee. By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.” Ex. 23 : 27–30.
“Moreover the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed.” Deut. 7 : 20. According to Joshua’s testimony (Joshua 24 : 12), the Lord began to do this work. “I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out before you, even the two kings of the Amorites; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow.” God would have fought their battles and delivered them without their ever taking the sword if they had fully trusted him. But they wanted to fight, and the time soon came when they wanted to have a king and be like the other nations, and God granted their request, as he does that of the warriors in our day.
But the children of God, heirs of the heavenly kingdom, can neither go to war nor voluntarily support it. There is nothing that would please Satan better than to have the children of God use the Lord’s money to support war. This would turn into Satan’s hands the money that should go to support the missionary work.
But some may ask, How about paying taxes that are used to support war? In that case it is direct taxation, which, in Rom. 13 : 6, 7, we are commanded to pay; while the other is a voluntary offering that God does not require, nor would he be pleased with me if I were to make it.