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#287: MAINTAINING PEACE FOR HIS NATION IS GOD-APPOINTED KING’S ROLE

MAINTAINING PEACE FOR HIS NATION IS GOD-APPOINTED KING’S ROLE

A newly disclosed documents have revealed the fact that the late Japanese Emperor Showa was a convinced pacifist and how much he opposed the World War Two by every possible effort... Moses’ law made the king’s role and responsibility clear in that a God-appointed king should not be a warmonger...
Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands towards heaven and said: ‘LORD, the God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below – you who keep your covenant of love with your servants who continue wholeheartedly in your way. …And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true. … and when a prayer or plea is made by anyone among your people Israel – being aware of the afflictions of their own hearts, and spreading out their hands towards this temple – then hear from heaven, your dwelling-place. Forgive and act; deal with everyone according to all they do, since you know their hearts (for you alone know every human heart), so that they will fear you all the time they live in the land you gave our ancestors. ‘As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name – for they will hear of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm – when they come and pray towards this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling-place. Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name. 1KINGS 8:22-1KINGS 8:22-23, :26, :38-43. 
When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving …you say, ‘Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,’ be sure to appoint over you a king the LORD your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. …The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the LORD has told you, ‘You are not to go back that way again.’ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law… It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.            DEUTERONOMY17:14- 20. 

When the construction of Jerusalem Temple was completed, King Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD and prayed with worship and praise to God. His prayer included seven petitions: 1. God’s continual presence and protection, 2. His forgiveness of trespasses, 3. His forgiveness for sins causing defeats from enemies, 4. His forgiveness of sins that would bring on calamity, 5. His people’s victory in battle, 6. His people’s restoration after captivity, and 7. His mercy for God-fearing foreigners. Solomon, recognising that God’s ultimate purpose is to be known by all nations on earth,

so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God and that there is no other (1Ki.8:60), 

dedicated the temple to Him as His footstool in the presence of all the congregation of Israel. Moses’ law made the king’s role and responsibility clear in that a God-appointed king should not be a warmonger, worshiper of mammon and philander, but instead, he should revere the only God of all nations, who foremostly revealed Himself to Israel. As long as Solomon lived according to His commands, his life would have been blessed by God and there would be peace on the land.

The same principle could be applied to every kingdom on earth, if her king/leader is willing to obey God’s will because every nation has been placed under God’s blessings and curses by the Noahide principles written in Genesis 9. 
On 26th September this year, Sanhedrin is to host the first conference of 70 Nations, which is to take place on the anniversary of God’s creation of the world. “70” represents the seventy nations which came out from Noah as written in Genesis 10, and God established the borders of the world based on the seventy children of Israel who went down to Egypt according to the Sanhedrin. 
The conference is to bring together all of the nations under the common belief in the sanctity of the Bible and the sanctity of all mankind, founded in the fact that God’s covenant was established with all of mankind through Noah. Every nation and ethnic group who accepts responsibility to join in a universal covenant of brotherhood of peace is invited to take their place in this Organization of 70 Nations. Through both covenants by Noah and Moses, God’s emphasis is solely upon “peace” among nations because all of mankind are precious members of God’s big family so that they should not be at war with one another.

On 19th August, an article put it: “Emperor Showa prevented from expressing remorse over war in '52, newly disclosed documents reveal” in which records detailing exchanges between the Japanese Emperor Showa and Michiji Tajima, the first grand steward of the imperial household Agency were newly disclosed. The Emperor Showa is the grandfather of the present 126th Emperor Reiwa in Japan and he passed away in January 1989. He has always been held responsible for the war crimes in World War Two, especially by anti-monarchists. 
However, thirty years ago just after Emperor Showa passed away, I was informed by a certain pastor, who is very deeply related to the Japanese imperial family and who has long been waiting for a chance to release his book about the unpublished fact about Emperor Showa, and also Emperor Meiji (Emperor Showa’s grandfather) who had attended regular youth gatherings for Bible studies taught by Missionary Guido Verbeck in the last half of the 19th century.

This pastor emphasised in his sermon that Emperor Showa was a convinced pacifist and had opposed the world war by every possible effort but in the end the military authorities forcefully won his sealing for decisive action. Some Christians who acknowledged this fact have for long prayed over the day when the truth will be revealed in public as the Bible proclaims. This time has finally come. The disclosed document shows: 
… the emperor as saying, “If we reflect, we have all done bad things, so please write well and include in the upcoming speech the meaning that we must all reflect and not repeat them.” But Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida, who was consulted by Tajima, opposed the emperor’s plan to publicly express regret and remorse…’, ‘…the emperor reflecting on the path toward Japan’s defeat, saying “no one could stop the military,” particularly by the time Hideki Tojo was serving as the country’s prime minister’, and ‘The draft speech, which mentions “deep shame” due to “my fault,” was estimated to have been written around the autumn of 1948, and indicated that he may have been planning to admit responsibility for the war and apologize to the Japanese people. A slew of other documents, including diaries of the emperor’s close aides, have shown the emperor was uneasy with Japan’s drift to war but was too weak to alter the course of events, and was in anguish in his final years for being blamed for his role in the war. …’
As history repeats itself in worldly terms, the current Japanese government is trying to remove “Peace constitution Article 9 of the war renunciation” enforced in 1947, which reflects Japanese successive emperors’ heart and also God’s heart, without considering its dreadful consequences. 
What Christians can do is to pray for God’s intervention for the continuation of this constitution.