Greetings in Christ,
We have heard of the Lone Ranger. He is the good guy with his side kick Tonto who rides in the Wild West and fights evil villains. He wears white, rides a white horse, and has silver bullets for his gun. He rides in the west to carry out justice and fight for those who cannot stand up for themselves. He is the symbol for justice and truth and at the end of the show you see him ride off into the sunset with his horse Silver standing up on his hind legs launching forward to another rescue. We cheer for the Lone Ranger as the show ends thinking he is doing his job.
The show is based the good versus evil. It has a story line around every corner, and they appeal to many people because they can relate to the idea of good versus evil type of scenarios. Who hasn’t had a time where they have faced a bad person in their life? It is nice to have someone stand up for you and give aid in your fight against an evil person. That is why we can cheer for the Lone Ranger and boo the evil villains.
When we look at our spiritual lives it comes down to good versus evil. The only problem we have with our spirituality is we blur the good and the evil letting the evil blend with our thinking. The defined lines of crossing over into evil become invisible and they get crossed thinking we know best, and then find we have put ourselves in trouble and we need a Savior to save us from our evil tendencies.
Revelation tells the story of good versus evil. It tells of the battle of Satan trying to overtake heaven with his evil tendencies, but he could not overtake Michael and his band of angels. In this battle, a third of angels were cast to the earth along with Satan himself. They were cast out of heaven where they did not have the glory of the God shining on them and they changed. Satan became the prince of darkness, and his evil sidekicks became distorted looking characters which represented the effects of darkness in their lives. They no longer could stand to be in the glory of God, and they sought out the darkness.
Revelation reveals more details about the battle in heaven and how it started. It was good versus evil in that Satan felt he had more power than the Son of God. Satan felt he deserved more recognition than Jesus and he fought to prove his point. The only thing Satan did not consider was God Himself was stronger and He was not going to stand for evil in His presence, and Satan had to go. Earth was the most logical place to go, but it came with a price. Satan was going to have influence over mankind, but God had a plan.
God planned for His Son to come to earth and bring salvation to mankind. God knew His Son Jesus would bring light back into the darkened world and to show mankind how to overcome evil in their lives. The light Jesus had to share was the glory of God revealed through Him, and it drove darkness into the recesses. The battle of good versus evil would begin to brew even more with those in mankind who are willing to choose good over evil.
The Bible refers to the light as the truth, and the darkness as deception. John 3:16 tells us Jesus came to the earth to shine the light to reveal the truth so the darkness and its deception could be recognized. Jesus came to earth so His light could shine even into those recesses where evil thought it could hide in the soul and heart of mankind. Jesus came to earth to let His light drive out the darkness out of the deep recesses letting the truth guide our paths making those lines of good versus evil become defined once again.
One day Jesus will appear wearing a brilliant white robe riding His white horse wielding a double-edged sword gathering all evil and casting it into the recesses of the abyss, and they will never have power over mankind again. On that day we all will cheer and shout declaring Jesus’ work is finished. What a glorious day that will be!
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Psalm 8
Lord may we never forget You have the power over evil and Your light can reach the deep recesses of our heart to let Your truth reign. Amen
Blessings,