A Pepper Grinder Post

Loving Life

It often seems to me that the ideal state presented by our culture is of someone who is "loving life." Thus, in countless advertisements, we see happy couples or happy families who look like they are enjoying life to the full because they have purchased the right type of car or selected the right vacation spot.

But what does the Bible say? On the one hand, contrary to some people's preconceptions, the Bible does not teach that we should be going through life with a permanent dour expression. While we read in the book of Ecclesiastes of the author being tired of his meaningless life, this is not presented as an ideal, but as a miserable state. Although we are promised that followers of Christ will experience persecution, we are also told that the Holy Spirit will bring us joy in the midst of those persecutions. There is no doubt that the Bible presents life in Heaven as being far superior to life on Earth, but the picture it paints of life on Earth is not all gloom and doom.

It's interesting, then, when we're told how the followers of God overcame Satan in Revelation chapter 12. John has just been shown a vision of Satan and his angels being cast out of Heaven and down to Earth. The Devil, knowing that his time is short, attacks the Jewish people and the followers of Jesus with ferocity. In the midst of this dramatic scene, here's what we read:

Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and of his Christ has come because the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them day and night before God, has been cast out. They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb, and the word of their testimony, and because they didn't love their lives too much to die*. Therefore, let the heavens and those living in them rejoice. But alas for the Earth and the sea, because the Devil has gone down to you in a great rage, knowing that he only has a little time." Revelation 12:10-12, my translation

*literally, "They did not love their lives unto death."

This is the book of Revelation, which can often be confusing, so we need to start by trying to understand what was going on. In the verses leading up to our passage, we hear about a violent battle taking place in Heaven, which culminates in Satan being thrown down to Earth. It is after this that we hear the triumphant pronouncement: "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and of his Christ has come because the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them day and night before God, has been cast out." (12:10, my translation)

While I can see that a great victory has been won, I can't help looking at this from the perspective of someone who lives on Earth. Yes, the Devil has been thrown out of Heaven, but now he's on Earth, and I wouldn't expect him to be in a good mood. In fact, we don't have to speculate, because in verse 12 of our passage we're told, "But alas for the Earth and the sea, because the Devil has gone down to you in a great rage, knowing that he only has a little time." (12:12, my translation).

A natural question would be when this battle happened. Just about everyone would agree that some of Revelation consists of prophecies of a future time, so it's possible that this battle has not yet occurred. Or perhaps this happened when Satan and the angels following him rebelled against God. I won't lie to you. I don't feel sure about the timing of almost anything in the Book of Revelation, but I believe that this happened somewhere in the period that started when Christ was born and ended when he rose from the dead. The reason I say this is because of what Christ said when his disciples returned from their first solo missions trip, having healed people and cast out demons. Upon their return, he announced, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven." (Luke 10:18, NIV) Even here, Christ could have been stating what he saw in the distant past or proclaiming a prophetic vision of the future, but I think it's most likely that the defeat of Satan about which we're reading happened sometime during Jesus's life, death, and resurrection.

Okay, so Christ came and the Devil was defeated. It's all good, right? In a way, that's true. There is a real sense in which we Christians are all like Harry Potter at his final confrontation with Voldemort in the last of the Harry Potter books (which is TOTALLY different and vastly superior to the movie in the way it portrays that last battle). We are facing an enemy filled with malice and longing to destroy us, but we know that we cannot lose. Christ has already won that battle.

And what are the weapons with which we face and conquer our foe? An elder wand with a core of unicorn hair? Not quite.

Our first weapon is no surprise: the blood of the Lamb. Satan's name means "the accuser." Without the forgiveness that comes to us through Christ's sacrifice, we could not face the Devil. The very best of us have MANY ways we have fallen short of God's standards. Every mistake we have ever made would be a chink in our armor that the Devil could use to get to us. It is only in the perfection given to us by Jesus that we can face our adversary.

Weapon #2 also seems reasonable: the word of our testimony. However, the word I've translated as "testimony" has a slightly different connotation than what I hear when I think of the word. I think of people standing up in church and sharing their testimonies, which are their stories about how they came to Christ. However, the Greek word actually has a meaning more like the way we use "testimony" in a legal context. It does not refer to people being persuasive, but to people stating what is true. Testimony could even be silent, as when the good behavior of Christians in 1 Timothy 3:7 stands as a testimony to those outside the church.

So far, so good. We can face our enemy because of Christ's forgiveness, and we can defeat him by being honest about Jesus Christ and what he has done.

And what is the third and final weapon? The last weapon of these believers in the violent confrontation with Satan is that they didn't love their lives too much to die. I have never served in the armed forces, but I suspect this would make sense to someone who had. For someone to be a good soldier, he must be prepared to die carrying out his duty. However, for us civilians enmeshed in culture that emphasizes loving and hanging onto life, it may seem strange. I can see that an army composed of people who are willing to die to defeat the enemy would be a very powerful one. However, I also think there is a personal element to this final weapon.

Think of our battle with Satan. He has many weapons to use against us. Fear, greed, lust, jealousy… the list could go on and on. But what if all these have failed? The big gun he can pull out is our desire not to die. It's a natural and right thing not to want to die--I believe God created people to want to live. In fact, I think God planted the desire to live forever, just as he lives forever. However, Satan can pervert this natural and good desire into something twisted, just as he perverts other good things God has created--sex, for example. The lie we are told is that to live, we must hold onto our natural life as long as possible, with the maximum amount of health and intelligence that we and medical science can provide. The Devil craftily turns this into a god: when push comes to shove, staying alive and healthy trumps everything else.

But what is the reality? The reality is that we truly CAN live forever, but to do so we must be willing to surrender this life. A child with a tired but familiar toy held in both hands cannot grasp a new toy being offered without letting go of the old. Our example is Jesus, whose primary purpose in coming to Earth was to die.

Does this mean we can't appreciate and enjoy this life? Not at all. But we must remember that life on Earth is purely the prologue to something much better. People have mocked promises of eternal life as a way of getting the masses to be content with a miserable life, but even if some people have tried to use these promises as a tool of oppression, that does not mean that the promises are untrue.

We can enjoy life, but we must hold it lightly. We can know that whether our life is happy or sad, healthy or sick, wealthy or poor, it is a feeble shadow of eternal life with God. Armed with this knowledge, we can stand up to the enemy of our souls.

- Pepper
Posted 2021-02-20

*Image Credits: Family on beach from www.nassauparadiseisland.com, photo of Coptic Christian awaiting execution by Isis taken from a video released by Isis--still photo posted on www.catholic.org.