For the majority of my life (without publicly stating it) on the inside I’ve considered myself to be a pacifist…

For me practically this led me to one life experience where I was accosted by a couple of guys at a bus stop outside a local Mall here in Christchurch one of whom asked me to give him my sunglasses and when I said, “No”, pushed me over onto my back onto the pavement…

When I got back up he told me that he was going to beat me up and I asked him, “Are you OK?” then he took a swing at me and hit me in the face and I got knocked to the ground again…

When I got up the second time he and his friend ran away and hopped on a bus…

In that interaction I had no desire to defend myself (and felt that the Lord gave me peace during it) but after it was over, I went into the Mall and told Mall Security what had just happened…

They told me that a number of others had reported that they’d also been accosted by two guys in that same time period so it looked like these guys were hopping onto and off of buses in the Mall vicinity and intimidating and beating up people for some reason…

I left it at that, but I didn’t go to that Mall much after that occurred and I never caught a bus from that bus stop again…

I guess the way I feel, regarding my pacifist thoughts, is that (since I already know the Lord) I’d rather that someone else hurt me (so that I don’t hurt, seriously injure or kill them defending myself) if they attack me, just in case the Lord will save them at some later time…

I’m not sure if this is the way the Lord sees things but I probably still do consider myself to be mainly a pacifist (to be completely honest) but recently I had a revelation about the police and I believe by extension the military which kind of took me by surprise…

I was reading through Genesis and came to, “the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth” (Genesis 9:16b NASB) which God made with us via (our delegate) Noah after the flood (see Genesis 8:20 – Genesis 9:17)…

We learn that this was an important everlasting covenant because it is referred to later on in scripture (specifically I believe in Isaiah 24:5 as I don’t believe there is any other everlasting covenant which this verse could be referring to) in very sombre terms with Isaiah 24 painting the picture of what would happen to the earth after we, as the earth’s inhabitants, had broken this everlasting covenant with the Lord…

To be able to break this everlasting covenant with the Lord means that we, as the inhabitants of the earth, had something which we were meant to do (our side of the covenant, as covenants are always between two parties) which we haven’t done with respect to that covenant and when we read the covenant (again see Genesis 8:20 – Genesis 9:17) the only two things which we, as the inhabitants of the earth, could break would be the Lord’s command that an animal which murders a human be put to death and that a human who murders another human be put to death (Genesis 9:5-6)…

It would appear that the Lord made this overarching everlasting covenant with us (which I believe is for the purpose of civic governance) to avoid another occurrence of what had just happened in the flood, where before the flood, “the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and… every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Genesis 6:5b NASB) which prompted the Lord to, “blot out man… from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them” (Genesis 6:7b NASB) and to start again via Noah and his family and the chosen animals who entered into the ark…

It was like He was giving us civic governance authority to ‘police ourselves’ (with respect to murder only it would seem as nothing else is mentioned) so that He wouldn’t need to step in again and sort things out as He had to with the flood…

The issue of the sons of God (fallen angels) taking wives for themselves from the daughters of men had already been resolved as all the Nephilim (children born to them) had perished in the flood (2 Peter 2:5) and the demons involved had been banished “into hell… reserved for judgement” (2 Peter 2:4b, see also Jude 1:6) and from Genesis 19 we see that the Lord, after a close inspection of Sodom & Gomorrah dealt with the sexual immorality being practiced in those cities directly Himself with “brimstone and fire from… heaven” (Genesis 19:24b NASB)…

Thus, as we are now still living, in a civic governance sense, under the everlasting covenant made between the Lord and Noah (as our delegated representative) – because the Law of Moses (or the subsequent covenant made between the Lord and Moses) was for the nation of Israel up until the time that their Messiah came – nothing in the Law of Moses still holds in terms of how any nation on earth (including Israel) presently governs itself civically (in terms of law and order)…

If when Jesus died on the cross (and the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom) not just the covenant between the Lord and Moses (as the physical nation of Israel’s delegated representative) but also the covenant between the Lord and Noah (as all the inhabitants of the earth’s delegated representative) were annulled then Paul wouldn’t have made the specific reference he did to civic governance in Romans 13 (after establishing salvation by faith, growing in grace and spiritual service in the preceding chapters of Romans)…

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is due them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor. (Romans 13:1-7 NASB emphasis mine)

The words Paul uses above, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, after telling us in the previous chapter (see Romans 12:17-21) not to take our own revenge but to leave room for God’s wrath, seem to indicate that the Lord desires to use the police (within a nation) in exercising civic governance…

Peter appears to back this up (see 1 Peter 4:12-19) encouraging us not to suffer “as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler”…

If the covenant between the Lord and Noah no longer applied then Paul wouldn’t have mentioned civic authorities bearing the sword and being avengers and Peter wouldn’t have mentioned suffering as a murderer…

Thus, looking at scripture, it would appear to me that there is definitely a place for the police (within a nation) and that our tax money should go towards paying the police, and paying the courts (the lawyers and judges and their various associates) with respect to murder, theft and any other serious crimes which come within Peter’s definition of being an evildoer or a troublesome meddler…

In this world, it would be essential to have judges who judge with righteous judgement as anyone found guilty of murder, under the covenant made between the Lord and Noah, would face the death penalty…

Any lawyer, in this world, would have justice as their sole interest and as the stakes were so high (life or death) a very high bar would be required to demonstrate guilt…

To be fair, in such a world (which only the Lord could create), I would be happy to contribute my tax dollars towards providing boundaries around our nation and our communities which would protect ourselves from violent crime…

I guess the military comes in on that broader scale where there are nations who want to murder large portions of the populations of other nations (and take over their nations) and these nations need to be stopped…

A good example of murderous nations would be the Axis Powers in World War II, i.e. Germany, Italy & Japan…

A good example of nations obeying the covenant made between the Lord and Noah would be the Allied Powers in World War II, i.e. Britain (including other members of the Commonwealth), France, Russia and the United States…

If the Allied Powers had not obeyed the Lord’s covenant with Noah in World War II, we would not have a free society in the West today and the Jewish people would have been completely obliterated…

If the Jewish people had been completely obliterated, then Jesus would never have been able to return to reign in Jerusalem, as before He returns the nation of Israel must turn to Him and say, “Blessed is He who comes in the Name of the Lord” (see Matthew 23:39)…

When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. (Proverbs 29:2 KJV)