To Love Is to Be a Warrior

When Jesus hung upon the cross for our sakes, He was acting out of His great love for us and our Father. He was making a statement. That love is power, that it is an act of warfare… Because through that great act of love, He made war against hell and the grave. 

The Love of Jesus:

Jesus, totally innocent, used His Blood to pardon us. In essence, our Savior went to Satan, showed Him the innocent Blood upon the mercy seat and said, “it is finished.”

In Jesus’ crucifixion, He went through more humiliation, physical punishment, separation, and pain than we can understand. He went through agony. He had to separate Himself and take every curse we had allowed upon Himself. He became our scapegoat; His act lasting for all eternity.

In every step: from the crucifixion, to rending the veil, to rising from the grave, going to Heaven to sit at the right hand of His Father, and more, Jesus showed us what love truly is. He gave us the Holy Spirit to act as our guide and teacher to the things of God. He allowed us access to the Father.

Yet, even before the cross, every breath that Jesus took was an act of love. 

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.”—John 3:16-17

By becoming flesh Himself, Jesus acted in love—showing us His love, but also the love of the Father, and the Holy Spirit.

 “For this is how much God loved the world—he gave his one and only, unique Son as a gift. So now everyone who believes in him will never perish but experience everlasting life. God did not send his Son into the world to judge and condemn the world, but to be its Savior and rescue it!”—John 3:16-17 (TPT)

To live for us, just as to die for us, was an act of perfect love. It was an act of warfare against those principalities of hell which held us captive through our iniquities and disobedience to the instruction of God.

Yet, Jesus never raised His hand against anyone—turning tables which did not belong in God’s house being the closest He ever came to violence. He lives in love and even healed one who sought to kill Him.

“But Jesus answered and said, ‘Permit even this.’ And He touched his ear and healed him.”—Luke 22:51

Jesus could have called down all of Heaven’s host to save the fleshly vessel He dwelt in. He could have spoken one word and His enemies would have been scattered. Yet, that was not how the God of all creation chose to war on our behalf.

He chose to war with love. The greatest form of warfare.

Fighting with Love:

In the years following the Holocaust’s end, many Jews who survived had battles to fight. Some battles were for a new, safe home. Some were for the valuables they had lost. Some were against the very horrors they had seen and felt. Yet, in all these, the battle against those who would have killed an entire race raged on… quietly.

So quietly the world likely did not see it, or hear it, or even imagine it existed. For many survivors fought all these horrors and trials with love. Choosing to live. Choosing to bring forth life.

Many fought by marrying; by creating a new generation… a new home. In doing so, they said to those who had tried to destroy them, “you failed, we live, and we love. We feel, though you said we were like animals. We not only survive, but we thrive!”

Even the very creation of Israel was not merely a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy… it was an act of love. 

Love… From the Father in bringing His children home. From His children in desiring to return to the Promised Land—to remember God, to love Him and one another, in that place of promise.

Today, Israel’s very survival is because of love. Her warriors fight because of love—a love for the land, for God, and one another. A love for community and family. Love. A simple four letter word that allows a people to survive against all odds. Because God’s love, and God’s love flowing through His people, is a style of warfare the enemy cannot use. Love is the opposite of Satan… it is Truth and Life.

Thus, when you and I face our own enemies—be it words fliting through our minds, trying to take our peace; be it financial lack; be it envy or pride—any enemy we face cannot stand up to love, because God is love… and He has “overcome the world.”

“… In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”—John 16:33

“He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”—1 John 4:8

When we move in the opposite spirit of what oppresses us, we overcome. When hate attacks, we are to respond in love. When distresses come, we are to remember the love of God and rest in His peace. When we doubt our worth, we are to remember the price God paid—a price paid with love and Blood.

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.”—John 10:17

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you…”—John 13:34

“The Lord preserves all who love Him…”—Psalm 145:20

Conclusion:

Love is a small word, and at times, a small action… but it grows. Every time we use love it blossoms inside of us, just as it shines the light of God to those all around. The light of God’s love.

“‘Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But let those who love Him be like the sun when it comes out in full strength.’ …”—Judges 5:31

We begin life with a measure of love, but we are capable of much more. We are capable of loving beyond earthly reason, because we have been made in the very image of God. The very image of love.

Therefore, let us each walk in love. Let us shine with the light of God as we do all in love, just as Jesus shone with the love-light of His Father in all that He did—doing nothing unless He saw His Father do it. Let us battle in the opposite spirit of hate. Let us walk in fellowship, mercy, faith, and all the fruit of the Spirit; for all good things come from God, who is Himself, love.

“And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”—Deuteronomy 30:6