In the political economy of Paradise, Adam and Eve enjoyed fellowship with God and harmony with each other. They were also God's representatives towards the rest of creation; the first society on earth had a representative form of government. Humans were made in the image of God, to have dominion over the living creatures and to subdue the earth. People were not representing people, but people were representing God. Could that peaceful order continue?

God's instructions and provisions make it plain. Creatures were to fill the Garden and thrive on the plant world aided by abundance of water. There was gold, onyx, and bdellium, representing precious, durable, and malleable materials from which to build a Garden city. There was no labour as we know it, but meaningful and purposeful activity, such as Adam naming the animals. All activity blended the spiritual and physical completeness of God's creation and the fellowship between God and mankind.

The first attempt to take over 'power' from God is recorded in Genesis 3, and breaks the pristine obedience and harmony of Paradise. By his will and action, man tried to rival God. The human pair crossed into the domain of the enemy. This was the first war-like action in human history. As a result, God orders a new human condition: sorrow and scarcity are introduced. Inequality and competition become common. Suffering and death follow.

Similar to the other consequences of sin, wars began small. The first religious war takes place in Genesis 4 and leads to the first casualty, Abel. This first 'war' may well have been in the area we now call the Middle East, which is where we believe the last war will take place as well.

Power politics began to characterize social relations. Nimrod likely used his 'mighty hunting' skills to conquer weaker groups. The pattern spread widely after the dispersion of the Tower of Babel. We see in Genesis 14 that war was used as a tool to keep wealth. As the Bible unfolds and as we read recorded history of the last 2000 years, we see that the causes and methods of war vary, but war itself continues. One scholar noted that times of peace act as the laboratory of the next war.

There is another crucial element of God's revelation that we need to bring into the discussion at this point. While Paradise was fused, meaning that the spiritual and physical worlds were one, after Genesis 3:15 we notice that God separated them to some extent. God also separated the temporal and eternal realms. He gave a little bit of information about a new Representative, called the Seed of the woman. The Seed, we learn, is the second Adam, the Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. It is the spiritual or soul domain He comes to redeem at first. Only when God brings an end to time will the spiritual and physical be put together again. Then the new heavens and the new earth will appear. Only then will warfare come to an end. The prophets Isaiah, Joel, and Micah all proclaim that swords will no longer be needed and nations will not practice war anymore.

How should we understand where we are today, both in terms of war and in God's unfolding of history? We must exercise humility and great caution. We easily put together the calamities of today with our little bit of knowledge about end times. Jesus made clear that the difficulties of life and society will worsen, and that natural disasters and wars will intensify. In Luther's time, many feared that the advance of the Ottoman Empire led by the Turks that had begun in the 1350s would bring the end of history.

Many Christians thought the Cold War stand-off between the Soviet Union and America would bring in the last judgment. Today, people like to know how the events in the Middle East are following the script of Daniel 10-12 and Matthew 24. In view of this, I recommend you read Joel Richardson's book The Islamic Antichrist to help you think biblically about Islamism and the antichrist. Still, we do not know if the problem of Islamist violence will also pass and an even greater evil of violence will appear.

We must remember that war is a symptom, not a cause, of evil. Willful turning away from God is evil. Good law and responsible government to administer such law are, as Augustine already noted, God's remedy to reduce the number of wars among us. As Christians, our first attention should be on what good law and government are, and how we can help other peoples in the world to acquire these.