By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – World War I was a gruesome conflict, introducing horrific combat weapons that had not been imagined before: flamethrowers which burned men alive where they stood; machine guns that fired 500 rounds per minute at a distance of 2,000 yards (indiscriminately cutting down infantrymen as they charged enemy positions); and mustard gas (as well as chlorine, bromine and phosgene variants) that killed and permanently disabled troops with such lethality that chemical weapons were subsequently banned by international treaty.
Six months into the grueling battle along the Western Front (the nearly 440 miles of dueling trench lines that stretched from the border of Switzerland through Belgium to the North Sea) Christmas came (after an estimated one million deaths in that brief time of war), and with it a miracle of sorts.
On the eve of Christmas, in the mud and muck amid the misery of war, soldiers on both sides of “no man’s land” (the territory between the opposing armies, marked by barbed wires and pocked with craters from exploded artillery shells) began to blend their voices to the tune of the carols that in times past they would have been singing with family in front of the hearths in their homes. Then there were calls from both sides to meet in the middle of what only hours earlier was a death zone. Before long, mortal enemies all along the Western Front shook hands instead of exchanging fi re, and some even engaged in friendly soccer matches on Christmas day.
However, the truce was brief, lasting only hours for most, perhaps a couple of days for others.
Meanwhile, world peace, at least the end of this global conflict, would not come for another four years and after another 16 million or so deaths.
What is called “The Christmas Truce” proves the truth of God’s Word that any cessation of conflict on earth is only temporary, and that lasting peace is possible only through the Person of Jesus.
Indeed, Christ declared, “My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you”
(John 14:27). Later, Paul put it this way, saying that those who believe “have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). He further explained to the congregation at Colossae that this “peace” is man’s reconciliation with God through the blood of Jesus on the cross (Colossians 1:20).
I am truly amazed that President Trump has been able to end eight wars in eight months and is on the verge of brokering an end of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. However, World War I was declared to be “the war to end all wars,” and yet major conflicts have continued to break out wherever men covet power and wealth at any cost to others.
Still, we who believe can spread Peace through the world — a lasting peace, an eternal peace – by helping the lost to be reconciled with the Father through His Son.
This Christmas give someone the present of Peace. He truly is the reason for the season.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
