If you haven't read part one of this three-part series, catch up here. Part two will make more sense if you do.
For those who have read J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece The Hobbit, you may remember that the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins, lived a very quiet, peaceful existence in The Shire. Then one day, there was a rapping on his round, green door with the knob in the middle. Rising to open it, he found a grey wizard on the other side who informed him there was an adventure afoot. He was a part of a greater scheme than he could have ever imagined, and all he needed was a push out the door.
Let this be your push out the door; there is adventure afoot, and you are part of a bigger story than you know. Remember how last week we talked about how we are designed for stories, and how the desire for a beautiful life-story was ingrained in each heart? Well, if we are made to be part of an epic story, and now find ourselves living seemingly ordinary, hobbit lives, what the heck went wrong?
The answer to that question can only come through a story, and this story begins with a rebellion of the most treacherous kind, and a divine battle of epic magnitude.
"Who first seduc'd them to that foul revolt?
Th' infernal Serpent; he it was, whose guile
Stird up with Envy and Revenge, deceiv'd [ 35 ]
The Mother of Mankind, what time his Pride
Had cast him out from Heav'n, with all his Host
Of Rebel Angels, by whose aid aspiring
To set himself in Glory above his Peers,
He trusted to have equal'd the most High, [ 40 ]
If he oppos'd; and with ambitious aim
Against the Throne and Monarchy of God
Rais'd impious War in Heav'n and Battel proud
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurld headlong flaming from th' Ethereal Skie [ 45 ]"
If you are wondering what the heck I just asked you to read, it was John Milton's Paradise Lost, the dramatized account of the fall of Satan (Lucifer). Milton's version of Lucifer's fall is not purely interpretation. The Bible states that there was an angel so beautiful, and so loved by God, that he was deemed perfect, and his fall to disgrace and wickedness was so cataclysmic that history was forever altered.
Ezekiel 28:12-15 says "You [Lucifer] were in Eden [...] every precious stone adorned you [...] Your settings and mountings[b] were made of gold [...] You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you.You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you."
This perfect, powerful creation, became consumed with his glory, and was so enamored with his own beauty and power that he led angels in a revolt against God. In response, God cast him and his army of defiled angels out of heaven.
"Through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. [...]So I threw you to the earth." Ezekiel 28:16-17
Let's pause for a moment. Whether or not you believe this passage (or the Bible for that matter) is true, consider the story we have just encountered. Almighty God was just threatened by His most glorious angel, and has exiled the rebel and his army to an eternity of Hell and damnation. Satan, in his spite and malice towards God, discerns that the only way to strike back is to torment and destroy God's true love: us.
Whoa...we're involved in this mess? Absolutely. We are God's true love, His crowning creation, His masterpiece, His bride. Agonizing in his own defeat, Satan was fully aware that God can never be overthrown, so he decided to destroy the thing that God loves most. This plot is particularly cunning because of the nature of our relationship with God. He gave us free will to love Him; we are never forced to choose Him, because that is not love, and God knows it. Satan takes full advantage of our free will nature, and slowly seduces us until we fall into the same pitfall he did. He seduced Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, leading to the fall of man; he seduces us now; he even attempted to seduce Jesus, the Son of God. Readers, we have found our antagonist, and from him springs all other antagonists throughout history. Thank God there is a Hero, or our story would have a very different ending.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
16 This perfect, powerful creation, became consumed with his glory, and was so enamored with his own beauty and power that he led angels in a revolt against God. In response, God cast him and his army of defiled angels out of heaven.
"Through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God, and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. [...]So I threw you to the earth." Ezekiel 28:16-17
Let's pause for a moment. Whether or not you believe this passage (or the Bible for that matter) is true, consider the story we have just encountered. Almighty God was just threatened by His most glorious angel, and has exiled the rebel and his army to an eternity of Hell and damnation. Satan, in his spite and malice towards God, discerns that the only way to strike back is to torment and destroy God's true love: us.
Whoa...we're involved in this mess? Absolutely. We are God's true love, His crowning creation, His masterpiece, His bride. Agonizing in his own defeat, Satan was fully aware that God can never be overthrown, so he decided to destroy the thing that God loves most. This plot is particularly cunning because of the nature of our relationship with God. He gave us free will to love Him; we are never forced to choose Him, because that is not love, and God knows it. Satan takes full advantage of our free will nature, and slowly seduces us until we fall into the same pitfall he did. He seduced Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, leading to the fall of man; he seduces us now; he even attempted to seduce Jesus, the Son of God. Readers, we have found our antagonist, and from him springs all other antagonists throughout history. Thank God there is a Hero, or our story would have a very different ending.
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, will not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
God loves us with more intensity and passion than any human romance we can conceive of. He knew Adam and Eve would fall, but still He loved them. As man was seduced into eternal damnation, God responded with love, and sent His Son to redeem His fallen bride. Jesus Christ was murdered by sinful man as a payment for the ransom Hell holds over God's bride. Then in the ultimate narrative upset, He rose again on the third day, but not before He descended into Hell to pay a certain antagonist a visit. I never want to see Hell, but I would have loved to know how that scene played out.
So where does this leave us? Believe it or not, we are woven into this story of the ultimate good and evil incarnate. We are the true love that was almost destroyed by our own folly and poor choices. God is the hero who did whatever it took to redeem us and bring us home, and Satan is still seducing and destroying lives and souls. I believe with all my heart and mind that this story is true because I have seen the evidence of it throughout history, and in my life. We are at war, my friends. There is no demilitarized zone, no neutral state, no non-combatants. There is adventure, and a war and a world so much bigger than your little, safe home in the Shire, my fellow hobbits.
On Thursday, we will continue with the final chapter of this epic blog series.
Be
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