I awoke exhausted this morning because I spent the night dreaming of conflict. It began with a disagreement in a movie theater and escalated into rioting in the streets, and as the dream progressed my weapons became less. My pistol jammed, I had explosives thrown at me, and eventually I was cornered but prevailed through hand-to-hand combat. No matter what my enemies threw against me in my dream, I prevailed against them when others were killed or taken.
When I awoke, the Lord reminded me of a side of Him that I forget all too often: My God is a Warrior, and He cannot be defeated. When Sampson slew 1,000 Philistines, it was the Spirit of God that empowered him and won him an impossible victory (Judg. 15:14-15). When Joshua was at war, the Lord rained hail upon the enemy and killed more than the men did with their swords (Josh. 10:11). When Moses and the Israelites crossed the sea, it was the Lord that closed the waters behind them and wiped out the Egyptian army so that not one soldier remained (Exo. 14:28). When king Hezekiah prayed for deliverance from the Assyrians, God sent an angel who slew 185,000 soldiers in one night (II Kin. 19:35).
If a single angel can wield such power, how much more the God who created it? Not even death can stand against our God, the one event that nothing in creation was able to escape apart from the Lord and those He deemed fitting to take beforehand. The grandest trees fall, the highest mountains slowly erode, and even the majestic stars of the galaxy meet their end eventually.
Death is the one event in life that is certain, but Christ stands victorious. The Psalmist declares “The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” (27:1). With the Almighty on our side, why do we fear? All of His enemies will soon be His footstool, is there anything that should make us tremble when we live in the power of His presence? Of what are you afraid, you believers who profess to know Christ? Wage war with the enemy of your soul, the Almighty cannot be defeated, and He is coming soon.
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8