Revelation 19:15

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

In Revelation 19, we see a picture of Jesus that is many times forgotten. Many today want to label Jesus as an all-accepting Savior. Jesus would never judge anybody! He was too loving to do such a thing. In fact, those who would say that some practice is sinful are often times branded as being un-Christ like. Yet the picture in Revelation 19, which is clearly of Christ, shows a strong and powerful warrior. He brings judgment to the nations, He rules over them. A sword protrudes from His mouth so that he may cut those down who oppose Him! This is quite a different image of Jesus than what most people want you to see today.

This view of Jesus has two important applications for us today. The first is that it means we need to make sure that we have indeed done what the Lord wants us to do for remission of sins. If we fail to do so, then we will be judged. All those who will not come to Christ as He has put forth will incur His wrath. When looking at the image given in Revelation 19, we can know that we desperately want to avoid His wrath.

The second thing it teaches us is how important our work as Christians is. This is not a hobby. Jesus is here portrayed as a warrior, leading others into battle. Those who are following Him into battle are His saints. We are in a war right here and right now. We sometimes want to treat our Christian life like it is something we can pick up and lay down. This is not so. We must constantly be alert and on guard, for the battle is all around us.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.

Genesis 3:4

     The very first time we introduced to Satan, he shows us one of his most powerful tactics. When He is discussing the fruit of the tree of knowledge and good and evil with Eve, he tries to confuse her about what God’s will really is. The lie that finally pushed her over the edge was that she would not surely die. Now Eve should have known better. She knew the commandment well enough that she could tell Satan herselve what it was. And yet she decided to listen to Satan instead.

     Satan has not stopped using that lie. It is just as powerful today as it was back then. We want to believe it to be true. We would really prefer that we could go against the Lord’s will and there be no consequences. Would it not be nice if we could fall to our desires and it not impact our eternal lives as well as our relationship with God? Since we would prefer it that way to begin with, all it takes from Satan is a gentle nudge that direction. A great example is people’s attitude toward sex these days. “Well if you love each other, I do not think God will judge you for that.” That is Satan talking, whispering in their ear what it is they desire.

      We need to be constantly on guard against this particular tactic. We have to continually watch ourselves, and our motivations. Why do we believe this? Why am I changing this view? Is it because that is what the scripture says, or because it is what I want it to say? Satan will try to sneak in, mixing half lies with the truth so that we can appease our conscience. However, it is a huge mistake to take heed to his words. The Lord keeps His word. Just as Eve recieved the punishment she was promised, if we defy the Lord’s commands, we too will receive punishment.

 James 4:4

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

     A quick overview of the Old Testament shows us how foolish it is to be an enemy of God. Time and time again, we see people try to thwart God. Sometimes it is common men, but even the greatest kings of the time would try to resist God. We see the folly of their attempts recorded for us. Pharoah’s nation was ravished. Nebuchadnezzar was turned into a beast of the field. Belshazzar had his kindgom taken from him. Over and over again, God shows the consequences are dire for those who would oppose Him.

     This is important to keep in mind when we read James’ statement. We do not have to climb the rooftops and yell, “God is my enemy!’ in order to opposed to Him. It can be much more subtle than that. To be friends with the world is to be an enemy of God. While Pharoah might stand out as an enemy of God, the rich young ruler who refused to sell all of his possessions and follow Jesus was just as much an enemy as Pharoah. His love for the world made him an enemy of God.

     Understand this, we need to monitor closely our relationship with the world. It is very easy for us to flirt with it. We may not have an overt relationship with the world, but we can allow it to remain in our lives. Even if others do not know about it, God does. Like most relationships, the longer you are around it the closer you become. That friendship is in direct contrast to our relationship with God. We can not be friends with both. We must remove wordliness from our lives, because there are dire consequences otherswise.

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Ephesians 6:17

…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

In Ephesians chapter six, Paul offers Christians an illustration of warfare to show how serious we need to take our battle in the spiritual realm. This battle is just as important and just as real as any war that has been waged throughout history. However it is easy to neglect the reality of a war that exists on the spiritual plane. Since we do not easily see or feel the effects of the war, we can push it aside and ignore it. Paul tells us that we can no do that, and it is vital that we arm ourselves for the upcoming battles.

It is interesting here that Paul does not have a purely defensive list of what Christians should supply them for themselves when the battle comes. He does focus on shielding and protecting ourselves. However, he also tells us that we need to fight back. We can not just be content with trying to dodge and deflect the blows that Satan throws at us. Instead we must be ready to fight and take him on. In order to do that, God has supplied us with the sword of the Spirit.

In our battles against Satan, we need to be sure to use the sword. Jesus is an excellent example of this in Matthew four. Instead of just saying no, He quickly jumps out and tells Satan exactly what the word of God says about the matter and why He cannot do it. By using the word of God, He was able to push Satan back, and you can imagine that quoting the scripture strengthened His own resolve. We too need to use the word of God when Satan tempts us. This requires that we have knowledge of it to call on in times of temptations. However, if wielded properly, the word of God can be a powerful weapon in our spiritual battles.

…and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Genesis 39:12

She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.

Joseph was truly a great man of God. Here he is, a slave in a foreign country, and all of the sudden he is being seduced by his master’s wife. Considering Potiphar was a man of considerable means, his wife was probably considerably attractive. On top of that, he was sold into slavery by his own brothers after recieving a dream from God. No one here knew anything about him or about his God. It would have been easy for him to fall into temptation here. No one would have to know. And yet he resisted temptation.

Joseph does two important things when confronted by Potiphar’s wife. The first is that he remembers how his sin will effect others. He keeps in mind his master and how it would hurt his master to have such a relationship with his wife. Even if Potiphar never knew, Joseph still would have been hurting the husband/wife relationship. He also tells her that he can not do this because it would be a sin against God. Despite all of his hardships, he has kept God close in his thoughts, knowing that this action would be a sin against him. He refuses her both because it would be unloving to other and unloving to God.

Despite being pressured day after day, Joseph stood strong. One day Potiphar’s wife was with him alone, grabbed his cloak and tried to force herself onto him. Joseph would have nothing of it. He pulled away so quickly that he lost his garment. He did not tarry for it though. Knowing that temptation was there, he ran away as quickly as possible. This is another aspect of Joseph we need to emulate. We must run away from sin. It is at times desireable to hang around temptation, flirt with it a bit. To do so is to flirt with danger. We must flee from sin as quickly as possible, not giving it a chance to worm itself into our hearts.

She caught him by his garment, saying, "Lie with me!" And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and went outside.

Daniel 1:8

But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank

Daniel was a man who could have easily stopped trusting the Lord. He was captured from His home people, and might have even prayed to the Lord for protection. He was a talented and attractive young man who was being groomed to be a lead official in the most powerful country at that time. Few Jews back home and even fewer here were truly diligent about seeking the Lord. The Babylonians had no respect for God. Daniel could have easily allowed himself to slip into the Babylonian ways without more than a few passing thoughts about God.

Daniel refused to do this. Instead he purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. He made a decision that no matter what happened, he was going to follow God. This dedication served him well throughout his entire career, and was what helped him through this test. Daniel was not going to eat the King’s food because it would defile him. His first move was to go and ask the administrator to feed them something else. The adminstrator said no, knowing that to do so was would be to risk his own life. Daniel could have shrugged his shoulders and said, "Oh well, I tried." Instead he kept pushing until he found the way of escape that the Lord provided.

As Christians we need to follow Daniel’s example. Satan is going to attack us from every angle, pushing us to fall. We can be our own worst enemy, desiring things that we know are not God’s will for us. When we face battles, we need to decide once and for all that we will not defile ourselves. We need to be willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to do it. If our first attempts are rebuffed, we keep trying like Daniel did. But the battle starts in our hearts and in our minds first. If we do not dedicate those to victory, we are setting ourselves up for failure.

But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank

2 Timothy 2:4

No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier.

      The life of a soldier is a difficult one. He must go away from his home, and his life focuses purely on the war effort. He spends countless hours training himself for the life or death struggle before him. Every day he must look for a way to improve himself. He may have some time for recreation here and there, but for the most part, his life revolves around the task at hand. Read the rest of this entry »

1 Peter 4:8

Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour

            I have a closed in back porch. Unfortunately a few windows are missing. The other night I heard some rustling going on in the porch. At first I thought it was nothing, but when it persisted I decided to go check. Imagine my surprise when I looked out there and saw a drooling, angry possum! Having no more ferocious a weapon, I carried my plastic broomstick determined to scare him out. I tried to sweep him outside the back door, but due to the narrow terrain, he ran into me instead. I panicked, hoping to keep him from biting me, and kicked at him wildly, striking as quickly and often as possible. This only served to scare him into a hiding place farther from the door. Having lost the battle, I opened the door and left, hoping he would leave on his own. I didn’t know whether or not he left but not wanting to invite more creatures in, before I went to bed, I closed the door, hoping he had vanished. Read the rest of this entry »