The images of the crisis in Ukraine this past week are raw and unsettling: war, destruction, and masses of refugees. Besides praying for Ukraine, however, what else can believers do? In moments of intense human suffering, we should remember that praying goes hand-in-hand with proclaiming the triumphant goodness of God.
As Christians, we should not only pray, but also proclaim a future where God’s righteousness will reign—over individual lives, over our communities, and indeed, over the affairs of nations. As believers, we must not shy away from addressing human evil and sinfulness as the root cause for war. And yet, in the same breath, we must joyfully announce to the world that God himself has vanquished human sin through Jesus, who has defeated death itself, and will usher in a future in which creation itself will be redeemed, to the glory of God.
Being Honest About Evil
How do we begin to talk about this? By being honest about evil, and its capacity to not only to cause widespread suffering, but also its ability to deceive us about the reason for our suffering. G.K. Chesterton wrote that original sin “was the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved.” The toll of human suffering in Europe through two world wars in the 20th Century made this point all too obvious. While every war ends differently, all wars start the same way, never by admitting sinful motivations, but with idealistic appeals to “the greatness of a nation”, “security”, and “respect.”
As believers, we must be clear-eyed about the inherent deceptiveness of evil and sin when it comes to war, in much the same way James wrote to the early church:
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel (Jas 4:1-2).
There is a rich theological tradition going back to Augustine on what constitutes a “just war,” so I am not advocating for a Christian pacifist response to evil, but rather biblical clarity about why wars begin in the first place—inherent human sinfulness, saturated with a heavy dose of pride. In the current situation, it is clear that the war in Ukraine is not a necessary war, but a war driven by the choice of one man. As believers who seek to convince the world of the need of a Savior, such a massive display of sin and its enormous consequences provides a significant apologetic opportunity. This is the dark backdrop that will prepare our listneners to receive the good news.
Reconciliation, Identity, and the Gospel
When we engage our listeners about Ukraine, we must also talk about the hope of the Gospel in the same breath. For if sinfulness, pride, and callous disregard for human life is at the root of this conflict, the path to peace must lie through the Cross.
Alan Noble, in his seminal work You Are Not Your Own, writes that because the death of Christ reconciles us to God, our identity is no longer in our own self-worth; we no longer need to be great or admired, because belonging to God is our identity. Once questions of identity are resolved, our lives can take a different turn: not only do we desire our neighbors to receive justice, to know God’s love and mercy, and to be treated with dignity, we desire the good of our neighbors in the same way that God does (181). This calls for the followers of Jesus to seek peace and goodness among the nations by proclaiming the Gospel, which means that times of global unrest are also avenues of gospel opportunity.
The Unstoppable Goodness of God
We cannot just proclaim the forgiveness of sins and the reconciliation of humanity to God. We must continue on to help our listeners understand that the ultimate triumph of God is already on the way. Not only believers, but the entire creation itself, will be redeemed (Rom 8:19-23), heralding a day in which evil and death itself will be vanquished, and everything in creation be brought under the rightful and righteous rule of God himself (Rev 20).
In Creation Regained, Biblical scholar Albert Wolters explains that Jesus’ Parable of the Ten Minas (Luke 19:11-27), means that Jesus’ followers live in anticipation of the eventual restoration of Creation, for upon his return, the king himself will reward the righteous and judge the wicked. Because Christ’s kingship lays claim upon all spheres of life, including the affairs of nations (76), when we preach the Gospel, we are also proclaiming that God’s plan cannot be derailed by any evil, no matter how great. God’s goodness, for those who believe, and for his creation, is unstoppable.
In the “already but not yet” of God’s kingdom, we know that evil may have its day, but it cannot last:
As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him (Ps 103:15-17).
It may take weeks, months or even years for peace to return to Ukraine. This crisis may get worse before it gets better. But there is no better time for this message. The light of the hope of the gospel shines brightest when the world is at its darkest. We need not fear men like Vladimir Putin or the wars that they start. Everyone, including Putin, will be judged by God on the Last Day, according to their deeds.
As believers, we not only pray for Ukraine and its people, we proclaim that God’s goodness will triumph in the end. Our hope is not in any nation nor any alliance of nations, but in the eternal and everlasting God, who himself will bring us peace.
Israel Soong is an MAR student at Westminster Theological Seminary and former executive director of Redemption Hill Church in Singapore. He has a JD and an MPA from Harvard University and attends Chantilly Bible Church in Virginia.