Violent men

At that time there will be a general uprising against the king of the south. Violent men among your own people will join them in fulfillment of this vision, but they will not succeed. Then the king of the north will come and lay siege to a fortified city and capture it. The best troops of the south will not be able to stand in the face of the onslaught.

Daniel 11:14-15

As Daniel learned the history of the world from an angel that battles for Heaven, he hears of great violence and ultimately the end of the world of man as we know it - replaced by a new world where God once again rules and man knows his God. 

The angel uses words to describe part of this process as “violent men.”   What does it mean to be “violent men?”  That means more than just “men.”   Through history we see scenes of violent men mostly depicted in movies as generally we do not run into this sort of person.  Yet we read daily of mass shootings and other depictions of violent men.  Such evil abounds in this world. 

Until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

Matt. 11:12

In fact, all of creation has suffered. The implication is quite clear. In Jesus, there is a new now and another way. The leaders we serve live and work in places that are rampant with violence. These hard places typically operate with the world’s formula for transformation, which is peace through force. Jesus reveals this as the way of the Evil One (see Mark 3:23).

But unlike the Evil One, Jesus refuses to cast out violence by means of violence. Jesus says, “My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives” (Jn. 14:27).

God’s peace is not like our peace in that it is not achieved through violence. Peace is not only the end of the gospel, but also its means. In a word, the gospel is Peace! Violent men will not succeed. They didn’t succeed in the vision given to Daniel and we should not assume that the violent men succeed today.

Peace succeeds. We can trust in that as we trust in the ways of our Father.