You’ve probably watched a movie or read a book where there was some great battle at the end. What comes to mind for me is the last confrontation in the Lord of the Rings where the armies are arrayed against one another and the fight is intense and the victory uncertain.
Well, there is a final battle coming. The absolute last battle this fallen world will ever see. We read about it in Revelations 20, beginning at verse 7:
“When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city...”
So far, this sounds a lot like the movies we’ve watched and the books we’ve read. The bad guys have the advantage of numbers and they have an evil and intelligent and vicious commander-in-chief. They’ve surrounded the good guys. The tension is huge ... how can victory come against such odds?
Are you ready for it?
Here it is –
“... and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.”
Just a few words. Not even a full sentence. Don’t blink, or you might miss it!
Don’t hurry on ... dwell for a while on this simple statement. Think about it:
There was no fight – it was over before it had begun!
The good guys had zero casualties and no injuries – not even a scratch!
God didn’t even have to exert himself to overcome all the forces of evil – he simply spoke the word and they were completely, utterly, and instantly vanquished!
This reminds me of a major truth that I can turn to every day – right where I am now and in whatever circumstances I find myself – for strength and comfort and assurance:
*** My God is BIGGER, my God is STRONGER, and my God is KING! ***
The final battle isn’t going to be a battle at all. It will be over in the blink of an eye – God’s eye. We don’t serve a God who is equally matched with Satan. The victory is never in question. If we picture Satan as a grain of sand and God as the entirety of the whole universe, we still have not grasped how much higher and greater and stronger God is compared to Satan. If we could compare that grain of sand to a hundred universes, we still wouldn’t have it right. God is INFINITELY more powerful than Satan. That is why the battle is a foregone conclusion: Satan loses. God wins.
So when the powers of evil seem overwhelming ... when you are being buffeted by temptation, pain, sin, cruelty, despair, and doubt ... remember this: there is no comparison between Satan and God –
-- for every temptation, there is a way of escape.
-- for every pain, there is the assurance of justice.
-- for every sin, there is the offer of forgiveness.
-- for every cruelty, there is the promise of joy.
-- for every despair, there is the reality of hope.
-- for every doubt, there is the bedrock of truth.
Commit yourself to God and the battle is a foregone conclusion: Satan loses. God wins.
*** Our God is BIGGER, our God is STRONGER, and our God is KING! ***