Mercy

 But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.”
Hosea 1:7 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/hos.1.7.ESV

When the Lord Jesus Christ finally came to mercifully save His people, they seem to have forgotten this verse. At His arrest by the religious leaders, one of His followers, Simon Peter, drew His sword to try and prevent His arrest. James and John seemed to assume he'd have a conventional earthly Kingdom where they hoped to have the top jobs.

Maybe Judas betrayed Jesus because He didn't fit what may have been his dream of a political Messiah to kick out the Romans from Palestine. Or perhaps it was simply because he was a thief who just wanted to make some money out of Jesus's arrest (thirty pieces of silver). Jesus had a far greater purpose than simply some political pipedream.

We don't need an army to save us from an occupying power. That's not even the greatest need of the Ukrainian people nowadays. Our greatest need is eternal salvation.

We don't just need some temporary fix. We need God to have mercy upon us through Christ's sacrifice on our behalf. He's willing, we just need to be willing to be saved ourselves.

'Sovereign God, have mercy upon us, and save us we pray from the condemnation we deserve. Thank You for Jesus's sacrifice on our behalf. In His name, amen'

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