“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." - Matthew 10:34
I’m sure we’ve all heard these lines before…
“A Darkness is coming…” “Something hides in the shadows…” “Dark Lord ‘so-and-so’ has returned…”
They’re the most basic forshadowings of the most classic of conflicts: good vs. evil. Regardless how it’s portrayed or worded, it’s quite common in stories. Ninety percent of fantasies are built upon this trope alone! An antagonistic force endangers our characters’ happy lives. It’s big. It’s bad. It’s advancing, and the hero must either gear up or buckle down to survive its storm. Still, isn’t it funny how opposite it is to what we’re actually living?
Now, it’s not like evil isn’t sneaky and aggressive. Classic tropes are classic due to their unfading relevance. Everyone, Christians especially, must be watchful for dark danger (1 Peter 5:8), but I’m referring to the ‘big picture’ view. What’s the general outlook on good vs. evil? Watch any action film from Star Wars to Indiana Jones. A heroic underdog beats the baddie who's way out of their league. The nemesis is stronger, faster, and often supported by several mooks. Still, the undaunted upstart sends them packing. That's the typical setup and it reveals our accepted outlook on darkness: it’s the overpowered conqueror while light is the long-suffering usurper. This, however, doesn’t fit reality.
We humans love comfortable norms. Anything or anyone who causes negative change is bad and must be stopped, but that logic only works if our comfortable norm truly is a good norm. Yes, obvious evils come, but they rise and fall like tides. It seldom occurs to us that even a quiet life is subpar and evil apart from Christ. (Psalm 51:17) We just mistake relief for evil's absence. So long as we refuse our design to experience life with Christ—our Light—evil remains. All-consuming darkness isn’t coming. It’s already here.
So if darkness is here, then what’s the actual oncoming force? Light! Jesus Christ more specifically. (Revelation 22:12) You see, ‘good’ is no underdog and 'evil' isn't an impressive powerhouse. God is ‘goodness’. He couldn’t be bothered to play cosmic chess with the Devil! One step is all it takes for Him to annihilate imperfection (1 Kings 19:9-18)! Satan, meanwhile, has to beg God’s permission just to inflict a cold! (Job 2:1-8) There is no contest! Darkness, rather, employed a convincing scam. It's puffed up to look big but truly, that offensive front is all they got.
How amazing were Jesus's actions in light of this! I’ve yet to hear a story where the main hero is an uncontestable champion of light. Much less for said hero to purposely weaken Himself to rescue the inexcusable before wiping out their entire realm of darkness. (John 10:16-18) No secular creative would script that. It'd be called boring nonsense, yet that’s the story we’re living! We're not chess pawns. We're characters on the Author's page, and the end of darkness He's already written. (Revelation 22:13) Darkness is the desperate one. Not light. Its time is short. Not light's. (Revelation 12:12)
Jesus will return, not to mend but to rend and replace. (Matthew 10:34) As fire to gold, just as in His appearing to Elijah at the cleft, His righteousness will burn away the dross. It'll wipe out everything, until a still small quiet beauty remains for those He's forgiven. To them, His fire purifies. Their hearts He prepares for new inheritance.
....The Lord of Light is coming…. This story's real conflict asks who'll pridefully gear up? Who'll humbly kneel down?
"If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." - Isaiah 1:19-20
I can't wait to rest in Jesus's light! Well written, Hannah!