Neville Chamberlain reads the agreement he made with Hitler at the Heston Aerodrome on Sep. 30, 1938. (Photo via Wikipedia.org)
Let me throw a name at you (figuratively): Neville Chamberlain.
What do you think of when I mention Neville Chamberlain? Do you have any overarching emotions or preconceived notions about him?
If you’re a World War II or European history buff, then you might have some feelings of nausea at the mention of Neville Chamberlain.
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, you might have feelings of awe and sympathy for him. Except you’re thinking of Neville Longbottom, the doughy klutz who grew up to be a beefcake and marry Luna Lovegood. The character married Luna, the actor became a beefcake. Just to clear up confusion.
No, Neville Chamberlain was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom before Winston Churchill, putting him in the seat juuuuuust before World War 2 broke out.
That’s important because Neville Chamberlain is also the Prime Minister who flew to Germany, sat down with all-around trustworthy guy Adolph Hitler, and said that their two countries would not be going to war because Hitler was done invading places. Hooray!
I want to pull out a few of his actual quotes for you to read because it’s a fascinating story. Not in the positive sense, either.
The settlement of the Czechoslovakian problem, which has now been achieved is, in my view, only the prelude to a larger settlement in which all Europe may find peace. This morning I had another talk with the German Chancellor, Herr Hitler, and here is the paper which bears his name upon it as well as mine. Some of you, perhaps, have already heard what it contains but I would just like to read it to you: " ... We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again."
To hit a few key points, the “Czechoslovakian problem” he refers to is the simple fact that the Czechs objected to Germany invading their country. How dare they! I also find it darkly humorous that Chamberlain was proud to have his name signed on the line next to Hitler’s. You don’t hear many people bragging about such a dubious accomplishment, do you?
While the above quote is the context, the quote I want you to read next is the real kicker. It just seals the deal.
My good friends, for the second time in our history, a British Prime Minister has returned from Germany bringing peace with honour. I believe it is peace for our time. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Go home and get a nice quiet sleep.
Chamberlain made both of these statements on Sep. 30, 1938 when he returned from Germany. The first quote (audio here) was made at the airport as soon as he got off the plane and the second was made just outside the PM’s residence on Downing Street.
I’d put it up there somewhere with “Gatorade bath before losing in seven overtimes.” (Uploaded by Reset Gaming on 2018-11-25.)
So why is this man so reviled by history? Well…because he made one of the most short-sighted statements of all time. In the category of “That aged poorly,” almost nothing ranks up there with the British PM telling everyone to go home and sleep well, because he has secured peace in our time…less than a year before World War 2 breaks out.
There’s also the simple fact that he sold out some other innocent nation or two for peace for himself and his own people.
Now some historians give him a break because the British people were certainly against war and the government was in no way ready for another all-out war with Germany so close after World War 1. So perhaps Chamberlain felt he had no other option than to delay war, or prevent it altogether, since his nation was so thoroughly unprepared.
I don’t buy it, but some historians do, so we’ll give Chamberlain a slight pass.
We will not, however, give this next guy a pass.
See, the statement “peace in our time” is far older than Chamberlain. It’s a sentiment that perhaps some noted figure in every generation has said, either publicly or privately, just before things got awful for themselves or someone else.
Today’s bad example is the old Jewish king Hezekiah. And he’s often considered one of the good kings!
So Hezekiah had a rough couple years. He had to deal with an Assyrian siege of Jerusalem, which God handled by striking down 185,000 warriors overnight. He then had to put up with a near-death experience, a severe illness that God informed Hezekiah would lead to death, only for God to hear his prayer for mercy and add 15 years to his life.
Then, Hezekiah decides to invite the Babylonians into his palace to see all the neat stuff he had. And boy, does he have a lot of neat stuff to show off.
The prophet Isaiah, though, has some choice words for Hezekiah after this misstep.
Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?”
Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.”
“What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah.
“They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own—all my royal treasuries.”
Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies: ‘The time is coming when everything in your palace—all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the Lord. ‘Some of your very own sons will be taken away into exile. They will become eunuchs who will serve in the palace of Babylon’s king.’”
Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “This message you have given me from the Lord is good.” For the king was thinking, “At least there will be peace and security during my lifetime.” - Isaiah 39:3-8 (NLT)
Hezekiah’s concluding statement should sound familiar to all of you, and not just because it’s the title of this post. He echoes Chamberlain’s sentiment from earlier (well…later) almost word-for-word: “Peace for my time.”
I asked my dad about this passage the other day, just to make sure I wasn’t missing some essential context. I asked him if there were anything positive about Hezekiah’s statement, if he was somehow less of a dweeb than I thought.
Um…no. It’s pretty much as bad as it looks.
Consider exactly what Isaiah has just told Hezekiah here. He says that the treasures of the Israel, the property that Hezekiah’s own family had collected over the centuries, would be absconded with to a foreign nation. The wealth of Judah and the culture and the history would all be erased.
“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just sitting here thinking about how much better my life will be than theirs.” (Photo by Jared Sluyter on Unsplash)
To make matters more personal, Isaiah informs Hezekiah that his own sons will be taken into custody and made eunuchs. Without dwelling too long on what that would entail, let’s just settle on the fact that it would be extremely painful for any man and extremely shameful for a Hebrew man. It’s, uh…it’s not good.
How does Hezekiah respond to this news? Is he upset, or does he plead with the Lord for mercy? Oh, no. He just says, “That’s cool. My days are gonna be sweet!”
That’s an exact quote, of course.
What really burns me up about this is the fact that Hezekiah had no problem calling out to God for mercy when his own skin was on the line.
About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’”
When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly. - Isaiah 38:1-3
Again. When Hezekiah was on the brink of death, he called out to the Lord with sorrow and anguish, and God heard his prayer and let Hezekiah live. Great. But when Hezekiah’s sons are in danger of being…ahem…then he has nothing to say about that other than, “Peace in my time.”
When people make “Peace in my time” decisions, they’re taking on a debt that someone else will have to pay with interest. It is despicable and cowardly.
He’s a faithful reader. Love you, Benny! (Photo via Wikipedia.org)
And yet, how often do we make those types of “Peace in my time” decisions in our own lives? I know most of us aren’t heads of state (Hey, Benny Netanyahu!), but that doesn’t mean we are immune from making these types of decisions.
Any time we make a decision to avoid an awkward confrontation or whenever we fail to live out the truth for the sake of our own personal comfort, those are “Peace in my time” decisions.
Consider this concept in the context of sharing the Gospel. If we neglect to share God’s Word with someone for whatever reason, but especially if we do so because we don’t want to have those uncomfortable moments, then we have just decided that our own personal peace is more important than that person’s eternity. We are letting other people die and spend an eternity apart from God in Hell because we don’t want to risk awkwardness.
Don’t misunderstand me here. Appeasing Hitler and letting him have Czechoslovakia is bad. Letting your sons be taken away by Babylon and being turned into eunuchs is bad. But condemning someone else to an eternity separated from God, spent in anguish and pain and misery, because we just can’t be bothered to risk an awkward conversation is infinitely worse.
I would love to say that I’m just innocent of this charge and that it’s only you awful people reading this who need to shape up. I would love to say that I’ve never prioritized my own personal peace over the needs of others. But I can’t. I’m as guilty as anyone.
Most all of us need to reconfigure the way we think when it comes to “Peace in our time.” And not just in evangelism. What about those awkward conversations about social justice? Not that we all have the answers, but most of us tend to avoid those topics if we can. We might do so under the noble guise of “patient listening”, but that’s not enough. We cannot afford to be silent on topics like abortion, poverty, government malfeasance, etc.
Sure, these are topics that are often co-opted by politics, but they don’t exist solely in the realm of politics. These are moral issues. These are faith issues. People of God need to have Biblically-informed opinions on these topics and we need to speak. If we don’t, then we’re just saying that someone else will have to deal with the consequences of our silence and inaction.
We wish we could forget you, ya dope. (Image property of Warner Bros. Studios)
Heaven help us if any of us have our names next to the likes of Hezekiah or Neville Chamberlain.
Or Neville Longbottom. Seriously. That guy is the worst.