By Francis Frangipane
Scripture
says that the Lord left nations in the promised land "to test Israel by
them (that is, all who had not experienced any of the wars of Canaan);
only in order that the generations of the sons of Israel might be taught
war" (Judg. 3:1-2).
To complete our spiritual maturity, the Lord must "test" us with enemies; like Israel, we must be "taught war."
I
realize that most of us prefer peace. Yes, as much as it depends on us,
we should live at peace with all men (Rom. 12:18). Our fight is not
against flesh and blood, but we are in a worldwide conflict with
principalities and powers (see Eph. 6:12). You see, there is a "time for
war" (Eccl. 3:8). As Christians, we must accept and adjust to this
truth.
To stand victorious, we need
to expand our understanding of who Jesus Christ is. The Bible says
Christ "will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man
of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will
prevail against His enemies" (Isa. 42:13).
Even the
rapture must be understood in military terms: "For the Lord Himself will
descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and
with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first" (1
Thess. 4:16).
The imagery of the Lord's coming is
explosive: He comes with a "shout" (or "cry of command," a "war cry").
He's followed by the stunning "voice of the "archangel," then a blast of
the "trumpet of God," so loud, so undeniable that the powers of the
heavens are confronted and collapse! Finally, the very "dead in Christ"
begin to rise! The whole operation is fiercely militant in nature.
One
may argue, yes the Lord is coming to war, but His first goal is to
rescue us. Well, I am certainly not against being rescued, having been
rescued many times by the Lord! But the picture of the church is also
one of militancy. Remember, Jesus said, "I will build My church; and the
gates of Hades will not overpower it" (Matt. 16:18). Consider again the
imagery: it is the church that is advancing against the gates of hell,
and it is hell that is not prevailing!
The Need for War
Truly,
I am for peace, but I recognize that I cannot have peace unless I am
first trained for war. It is my training for war that secures my ability
to have peace. Indeed, it was during the times of warfare - of struggle
and battle - when I have grown the most in courage, in faith, in
sacrifice, and in love. The battle stretched me beyond the boundaries of
my spirituality. Yes, when I was fighting for my family, church or
community, it was the fight itself that defined and established my
spiritual growth.
Indeed, as I have grown older, I have
come to understand that every generation is ordained to confront and
defeat the enemies of its era. In the last hundred years, men and women
fought in WWI; then came the Great Depression, and poverty and fear were
conquered. WWII began, and again a generation rose and saved the world
from unspeakable tyranny. Next, America rose to stand against the spread
of godless Soviet communism.
You see, every
generation, at some point, will face a war that must be won. In that
fight we learn lessons of courage. Do we see this generational warfare?
Thus, we cannot interpret the fallen conditions of our world and assume
the end of the world is upon us. No! What we are seeing in our world is
the battleground of our war against the godless enemies of our times.
Remember,
I believe in the rapture; I also believe we are in the season of the
end. But I cannot excuse myself from facing the giants of today's wars.
As our forefathers had to succeed on the battlefield against great and
highly trained enemies, so we too must overcome the radical agenda of
those who seek to mainstream perversion into our society. Some of us
have fought in the physical wars of Iraq and Afghanistan - and we must
pray righteous conclusions for these wars as well. Others are fighting
to see our nation returned to Christ. I know some are weary, yet it is
time that we too "might be taught war."
Regardless of
the battle before us, no matter how dark the spiritual atmosphere
becomes, we must fight for the purposes of God in the earth. We cannot
relax our intercession nor surrender our vision for our nation's future.
We have not entered the day of irreversible darkness.
You are no doubt familiar with the Lord of the Rings
trilogy written by J.R.R. Tolkien. Tolkien, an Englishman, denied that
his work mirrored the realities of World War II. Yet much of his
manuscript was written during the height of that great conflict, when
entire kingdoms were at war. He was clearly influenced by his time. His
book is a metaphor for all times and conflicts, especially highlighting
the role of common men to attain uncommon levels of valor and victory
against forces of evil.
In a scene from the third Lord of the Rings movies, The Return of the King,
King Aragorn seeks to inspire his outnumbered men to fight in spite of
what seems like sure defeat: Hell's swarming legions have amassed before
them and the courage of Aragorn's fighters is weakening. Riding along
the front lines of his gathered, but lowly army, he shouts:
I
see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day
may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and
break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day. . . . This day we
fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand,
men of the West!
Let us also put aside our fears
and especially the burden of a passive, prayerless existence. Let us
take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. And let us
fight for all we hold dear in our times and culture. Yes, a day may come
when the world will fully succumb, for a sprinkling of years, to the
forces of evil. But it is not this day. This day we fight!
Adapted from Francis Frangipane's book, "This Day We Fight" available at www.arrowbookstore.com.
