It went by quietly today in Canada. There were a few news articles that aired around the afternoon, but we were generally unaware that May 8, 2025 marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day, when Europe was finally liberated from the grasp of Nazi Germany. It broke the murderous rage of one man who left a trail of carnage where he had gone. But of course, World War 2 did not end on May 8, 1945. It would be in August 15, 1945 more than 3 months later that the Japanese high command likewise surrendered, concluding all of the Second World War in the Pacific theatre. And it took the dropping of two atomic bombs onto Nagasaki and Hiroshima to prompt that surrender. In all, the world saw 85 million deaths because of World War 2, making it the deadliest conflict of human history. It also ushered in the nuclear age, the beginning of the Cold War, the arms race, and the age of terrorism. It seems we have not learned much from the moral devastation that war brings. Instead, we have learned how to make war in more hideous ways with missiles and drones and more lethal instruments of death.
As I turn to the Scriptures, I read the declaration of Jesus, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and to destroy” (John 10:10). We have witnessed this thief called Satan in every page of human history. Even today, as nations are calling for the cessation of hostility in Ukraine, the leadership of Russia is threatening to unleash World War 3. The US is speaking loudly about taking over nations and redrawing “artificial boundaries”. And war is raging in Palestine, while knives are being sharpened between India and Pakistan, China and Taiwan, civil wars in Myanmar, Nigeria, the Congo, Syria, Cameroon, Yemen, Central Africa, and the persistent wars created by Islamic State across the globe. Paul describes the sin of humanity in a survey of the Psalms with these words, “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known” (Romans 3:13-17). And the Bible points to the greater war that will come as the world rebels against the coming of Jesus. A theologian once said, “All wars lead to the Great War.” It will be a war fought between God and the forces of evil, and a battle for the soul and not for territory. Here the test is not of warcraft but of faith, and the only peace that will matter is the peace that Jesus brings. As I think about the meaning of VE Day, I think about our world’s need for peace with God and the true peace that can come only with Jesus, the Prince of Peace. Pick up the Bible; preach the Word in season and out of season; be ready with an answer to all who ask. The time is shorter than we think.
Just Church
At Just Church, our desire is to know Christ to the fullest and to make the fulness of Christ known to all. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
