In times of war governments enforce national military service, where all men of fighting age are required to enlist in the armed services.  Should Christians avoid military service?  The short answer is yes.  For the reason why and to answer those – perhaps the government – who challenge this, keep reading.

Why do should Christians military service?

Firstly, God commands us not to kill.

Ex 20:13  Thou shall not kill

More than that, the second greatest commandment is for us to love our fellow human beings.  The Pharisees asked Jesus about the greatest commandment.

Mat 22:36  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Mat 22:37  Jesus said to him, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like it: ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

We are to love our neighbours, not kill them.  This was Jesus’ example when He lived on earth.  He did not fight.  An example of a situation where He could easily have fought is before His crucifixion in the garden of Gethsemane.

Mat 26:50  But Jesus said to him [Judas], “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.
Mat 26:51  And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.
Mat 26:52  But Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
Mat 26:53  Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?

Jesus could have called on more than twelve legions of angels to fight for Him, but He didn’t.  Jesus’ example for us was not to fight.  Jesus explained to Pilate why He and His servants (His followers) do not fight.

Joh 18:36  Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.”

But Jesus is not a pacifist.  When Jesus returns in power and glory then He will fight against the nations.  He will fight not in hate, but love.  He will fight so people will repent and turn from their evil ways, in the same way that a loving parent chastises their naughty child.

Let’s now look at some arguments governments or others use to justify fighting wars.

Argument 1 to justify fighting wars

David was a man after God’s own heart.  He fought in battle; therefore, so should you.

Response to Argument 1

Act 13:22  And when He [God] had removed him [Saul], He [God] raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I HAVE FOUND DAVID THE SON OF JESSE, A MAN AFTER MY OWN HEART, WHO WILL DO ALL MY WILL.’

Paul said that David was a man after God’s own heart.  But why?  Was it because David was a warrior?  Paul quoted from 1 Samuel 13:14.

1Sa 13:14  But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be commander over His people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”

King Saul was crowned king in the previous chapter.  Two years into his reign the unfortunate incident occurred where Saul did not wait for Samuel but instead offered a sacrifice himself.  It was here that God rejected Saul as king and explained He was going to choose a man after His own heart.  At this point David was a young man; he hadn’t yet even killed Goliath.  “A man after God’s own heart” refers to David’s commitment to obey God – unlike king Saul.  At this point in his life, David hadn’t shed any blood; he wasn’t a warrior.

Later in his life king David wanted to build a temple for God.  But God would have none of it; He did not allow it.  Why?

1Ch 22:7  And David said to Solomon: “My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house to the name of the LORD my God;
1Ch 22:8  but the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in My sight.

God did not allow David to build His temple because He had shed so much blood.  Shedding blood and fighting is not something “after God’s own heart”. 

Argument 2 to justify fighting wars

If your house were broken into and your family threatened, you would do what you could to protect them.  Therefore, you should protect your country.

Response to Argument 2

Realistically, most people would not be able to defend themselves against intruders, especially if the intruders are armed.  Even the police recommend not putting up any resistance.  In such a situation we rely on God.

Pro 21:31  The horse is prepared for the day of battle, But deliverance is of the LORD.

In other words, you can prepare your weapons and defences (burglar alarms, security cameras, etc), but it’s just a show.  It is God who provides the real deliverance or protection.

But what does God want us to do if we are attacked or wronged?  God wants us to trust Him to right the wrong in His time.  He wants us to love our enemies.

Rom 12:19  Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
Rom 12:20  Therefore “IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM; IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP COALS OF FIRE ON HIS HEAD.”
Rom 12:21  Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Argument 3 to justify fighting wars

Ancient Israel, God’s chosen people, fought.  Therefore, God expects you to fight too.

Response to Argument 3

Firstly, if two Christians, in opposing countries, joined their respective armed services, they would end up fighting each other.  Clearly that goes against everything Jesus taught.

Secondly, sometimes God uses one nation to punish another.  What if God uses an enemy nation to punish your nation?  Enlisting to fight against the enemy nation would be like fighting God.

Thirdly, God promised to fight for Ancient Israel; to protect them, if they obeyed Him.  God said the following to Ancient Israel before they entered the Promised Land:

Exo 23:20  “Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.
Exo 23:21  Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
Exo 23:22  But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
Exo 23:23  For My Angel will go before you and bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will cut them off.

God promised Israel that He would cut off their enemy nations if they obeyed Him.

Exo 23:27  “I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
Exo 23:28  And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you.
Exo 23:29  I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you.
Exo 23:30  Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land.
Exo 23:31  And I will set your bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the River. For I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you.

God promised Israel that He would make their enemies run away and give them victory over their enemies.

Argument 4 to justify fighting wars

If war is wrong, why did God at times order Ancient Israel to war?

Response to Argument 4

Ancient Israel showed a lack of faith.  They did not believe God.

Exo 17:1  Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the LORD, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.
Exo 17:2  Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the LORD?”
Exo 17:3  And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”

A few verses on, Moses struck the rock as commanded by God and water gushed out.

Exo 17:7  So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?“

The people did not believe God.  Next, an enemy nation attacked them.

Exo 17:8  Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

Amalek came to fight Israel.  The people did not believe that God would fight their battles for them.  So, what did they do?

Exo 17:9  And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.”

Israel did not trust God to fight for them but instead chose men to go and fight.  Israel decided to become a warring nation.

Israel sinned in not trusting God to fight for them.  Israel sinned in choosing to become a warring nation.

So why did God sometimes order Ancient Israel to war?  God had promised Abraham that His descendants would enter the land of Canaan.  God would have fought Israel’s battles for them, but Israel chose to fight.  God sometimes ordered Ancient Israel to war to fulfil His promises to Abraham, but God did it in the sinful way that Israel had chosen – by fighting their own battles.

Let’s now look at seven examples of where God fought Israel’s battles.  These examples show that God has and will do our fighting for us.

Example 1 of God fighting for Israel — Red Sea Crossing

God told Israel to hold their peace or stay calm.  God told Israel that He would fight for them.

Exo 14:13  And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever.
Exo 14:14  The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

God destroyed the Egyptian army.

Exo 14:21  Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided.
Exo 14:22  So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Exo 14:23  And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
Exo 14:24  Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the LORD looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians.
Exo 14:25  And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.“

The Egyptians recognised that God was fighting against them.

Exo 14:26  Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.”
Exo 14:27  And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the LORD overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.
Exo 14:28  Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained.
Exo 14:29  But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
Exo 14:30  So the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

God saved Israel that day.

Example 2 of God fighting for Israel — King Asa of Judah vs Ethiopians

2Ch 14:8  And Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah who carried shields and spears, and from Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand men who carried shields and drew bows; all these were mighty men of valor.
2Ch 14:9  Then Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and he came to Mareshah.
2Ch 14:10  So Asa went out against him, and they set the troops in battle array in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah.
2Ch 14:11  And Asa cried out to the LORD his God, and said, “LORD, it is nothing for You to help, whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O LORD our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God; do not let man prevail against You!”
2Ch 14:12  So the LORD struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled.

Later in Asa’s reign there was another incident.

2Ch 16:1  In the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and built Ramah, that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.
2Ch 16:2  Then Asa brought silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and of the king’s house, and sent to Ben-Hadad king of Syria, who dwelt in Damascus, saying,
2Ch 16:3  “Let there be a treaty between you and me, as there was between my father and your father. See, I have sent you silver and gold; come, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
2Ch 16:4  So Ben-Hadad heeded King Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel Maim, and all the storage cities of Naphtali.
2Ch 16:5  Now it happened, when Baasha heard it, that he stopped building Ramah and ceased his work.
2Ch 16:6  Then King Asa took all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah, which Baasha had used for building; and with them he built Geba and Mizpah.
2Ch 16:7  And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand.
2Ch 16:8  Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand.
2Ch 16:9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.”

King Asa didn’t do so well.  He trusted in another king to help him rather than trusting in God.  And God was not pleased.  God wants us to trust Him to fight our battles.

Example 3 of God fighting for Israel — King Jehoshaphat of Judah vs Moab & Ammon

2Ch 20:1  It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat.
2Ch 20:2  Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar” (which is En Gedi).
2Ch 20:3  And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

We see Jehoshaphat turning to God and trusting Him.

2Ch 20:4  So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.
2Ch 20:5  Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court,
2Ch 20:6  and said: “O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?
2Ch 20:7  Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?
2Ch 20:8  And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying,
2Ch 20:9  ‘If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.’
2Ch 20:10  And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir—whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them and did not destroy them—
2Ch 20:11  here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit.
2Ch 20:12  O our God, will You not judge them? For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”

The people of Judah trusted God to save them and to fight their battle.

2Ch 20:13  Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the LORD.
2Ch 20:14  Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.
2Ch 20:15  And he said, “Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the LORD to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.

The battle is God’s.  God is about to fight their battle for them.

2Ch 20:16  Tomorrow go down against them. They will surely come up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the brook before the Wilderness of Jeruel.
2Ch 20:17  You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem!’ Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD is with you.”

The people didn’t have to fight.

2Ch 20:18  And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the LORD, worshiping the LORD.
2Ch 20:19  Then the Levites of the children of the Kohathites and of the children of the Korahites stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with voices loud and high.
2Ch 20:20  So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem: Believe in the LORD your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.”
2Ch 20:21  And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: “Praise the LORD, For His mercy endures forever.”
2Ch 20:22  Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.
2Ch 20:23  For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another.
2Ch 20:24  So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude; and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.

God wiped out the vast armies of men that had come up to fight against Judah.  The people trusted God and God fought their battle for them.

Example 4 of God fighting for Israel — King of Israel vs king of Aram (Syria)

2Ki 6:8  Now the king of Syria was making war against Israel; and he consulted with his servants, saying, “My camp will be in such and such a place.”
2Ki 6:9  And the man of God sent to the king of Israel, saying, “Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.”
2Ki 6:10  Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once or twice.
2Ki 6:11  Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, “Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?”
2Ki 6:12  And one of his servants said, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.”
2Ki 6:13  So he said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.” And it was told him, saying, “Surely he is in Dothan.”
2Ki 6:14  Therefore he sent horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city.
2Ki 6:15  And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots. And his servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
2Ki 6:16  So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
2Ki 6:17  And Elisha prayed, and said, “LORD, I pray, open his eyes that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
2Ki 6:18  So when the Syrians came down to him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, and said, “Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.” And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.
2Ki 6:19  Now Elisha said to them, “This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.” But he led them to Samaria.
2Ki 6:20  So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, “LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.” And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria!
2Ki 6:21  Now when the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “My father, shall I kill them? Shall I kill them?”
2Ki 6:22  But he answered, “You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.”
2Ki 6:23  Then he prepared a great feast for them; and after they ate and drank, he sent them away and they went to their master. So the bands of Syrian raiders came no more into the land of Israel.

This time God did not kill the invading army.  He blinded them temporarily and they all went back home.

Example 5 of God fighting for Israel — King of Israel vs Ben-Hadad king of Aram (Syria)

A few years later the king of Syria besieged Samaria, so there was a great famine in the city.

2Ki 7:3  Now there were four leprous men at the entrance of the gate; and they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die?
2Ki 7:4  If we say, ‘We will enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. Now therefore, come, let us surrender to the army of the Syrians. If they keep us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall only die.”
2Ki 7:5  And they rose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians; and when they had come to the outskirts of the Syrian camp, to their surprise no one was there.
2Ki 7:6  For the LORD had caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses—the noise of a great army; so they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired against us the kings of the Hittites and the kings of the Egyptians to attack us!”
2Ki 7:7  Therefore they arose and fled at twilight, and left the camp intact—their tents, their horses, and their donkeys—and they fled for their lives.

This time God did not kill the invading army.  He caused them to panic and run back home leaving everything as they fled.

Example 6 of God fighting for Israel — King Hezekiah of Judah vs Sennacherib king of Assyria

Sennacherib king of Assyria came to attack Jerusalem.  King Hezekiah of Judah said this:

2Ch 32:7  “Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him; for there are more with us than with him.
2Ch 32:8  With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
2Ch 32:9  After this Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem (but he and all the forces with him laid siege against Lachish), to Hezekiah king of Judah, and to all Judah who were in Jerusalem, saying,
2Ch 32:10  “Thus says Sennacherib king of Assyria: ‘In what do you trust, that you remain under siege in Jerusalem?
2Ch 32:11  Does not Hezekiah persuade you to give yourselves over to die by famine and by thirst, saying, “The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria”?
2Ch 32:12  Has not the same Hezekiah taken away His high places and His altars, and commanded Judah and Jerusalem, saying, “You shall worship before one altar and burn incense on it”?
2Ch 32:13  Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of other lands? Were the gods of the nations of those lands in any way able to deliver their lands out of my hand?
2Ch 32:14  Who was there among all the gods of those nations that my fathers utterly destroyed that could deliver his people from my hand, that your God should be able to deliver you from my hand?
2Ch 32:15  Now therefore, do not let Hezekiah deceive you or persuade you like this, and do not believe him; for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand?’ “
2Ch 32:16  Furthermore, his servants spoke against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah.
2Ch 32:17  He also wrote letters to revile the LORD God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, “As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.”
2Ch 32:18  Then they called out with a loud voice in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten them and trouble them, that they might take the city.
2Ch 32:19  And they spoke against the God of Jerusalem, as against the gods of the people of the earth—the work of men’s hands.
2Ch 32:20  Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven.
2Ch 32:21  Then the LORD sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there.
2Ch 32:22  Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all others, and guided them on every side.

King Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem trusted in God, who fought their battle for them.

Example 7 of God fighting for Israel – In the Millennium when Gog comes against Jerusalem

Eze 38:8  After many days you [Gog] will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.

This is referring to a time not long after the start of the Millennium.

Eze 38:9  You will ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.”
Eze 38:10  ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day it shall come to pass that thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan:
Eze 38:11  You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates’—
Eze 38:12  to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.
Eze 38:13  Sheba, Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish, and all their young lions will say to you, ‘Have you come to take plunder? Have you gathered your army to take booty, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to take great plunder?’ ” ‘
Eze 38:14  “Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On that day when My people Israel dwell safely, will you not know it?
Eze 38:15  Then you will come from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army.
Eze 38:16  You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog, before their eyes.”
Eze 38:17  Thus says the Lord GOD: “Are you he of whom I have spoken in former days by My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied for years in those days that I would bring you against them?
Eze 38:18  “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord GOD, “that My fury will show in My face.
Eze 38:19  For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel,
Eze 38:20  so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’
Eze 38:21  I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,” says the Lord GOD. “Every man’s sword will be against his brother.
Eze 38:22  And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
Eze 38:23  Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.” ‘

Gog will attack a defenceless Israel.  But God will utterly defeat them.  God will fight Israel’s battle for them.

In conclusion, God commands us not to murder or kill but to love our neighbours.  There are many examples in the Bible where God has intervened to fight for His people.  The important lesson for us in our personal lives is that we need to trust God, and let God fight our battles.