“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.” Philippians 2:12-13
H.R.R. Tolkien’ ‘Lord of the Rings’ and especially ‘The Return of the King’ tell the story of the Church today.
Spoiler alert. In the end of ‘Return of the King’, Sauron is defeated, the king has risen to his throne and bright healing and new life to the land. The people exalt and life enters a new age.
But, the story is not over, full victory isn’t come. The hobbit heroes go home to find their beloved Shire is contaminated by evil. Their fight isn’t over. Their home has to be fought for.
The same stands true for us in our world. Our King, Jesus Christ has defeated Satan and the greater enemy of death itself. He has risen and risen to His throne. Our King had brought healing in His ministry but with His victory, He bring true and full healing at a depth and level beyond temporal. Though evil is defeated and death destroyed, we are still in a fight.
My heart is surrendered to God but I still have to fight the evil within. Jesus’ victory is total but, as I move forward, I see the fight goes on. The evil forces remaining have no hope of winning, they have little to no power remaining. But, in their defeat they will not give up. The forces of evil will throw their last gasps at us with hope that they can hurt of damage us beyond repair.
God will and has overcome darkness and sin but not yet. There is still a fight to be fought by us ‘hobbits.’ In our victory and glory, the war though over battles forward.
“And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.” Revelation 22:5
The watchers and servants must stay vigilant despite their kings victory. They must stay alert until he returns to take full charge of His Kingdom. This is the moment in which we live. We know our King has won the war, we stand exuberant at the gate with our lamps. We keep our lamps lit and burning bright because there is still darkness in the world.
Fight forward knowing our Lord has defeated all death, all sin, all darkness and all the forces of evil. But, fight forward for while the Lord has been, is and will be victorious, the fight continues. Like the hobbit heroes of Tolkien’s tale, we too move forward from absolute victory to fight heroically onward. Keeping our vigil with lit lanterns until the Lord take His throne upon earth.
This is why my blog is ‘The Road of Faith’ and these weekly reflections are ‘The Bible on the Road’ as we are still ON the road.
Fight the fight! The race is won but not over. Fight onward!