Part 4: The War Continues

We have spoken at length about the fulfillment of the first prophecy, and of many others. But as I mentioned in my last post, there are many prophecies that remained unfulfilled. And the last prophecy – or, I should say, the prophecy of the last things – speaks of events that are yet to come.

The Last Things

I can’t describe all the prophecy says now, and of course we cannot know quite what it means, any more than those who heard the first prophecy knew what it meant until it came to pass. Like well-crafted plot twists, these events make perfect sense in hindsight, but you can’t see them coming beforehand. Still, there is a general outline we can give of the last things, of the climax of this war.

The great enemy, we are told, will in the last days make his last and greatest war on the earth, seeking to bring all of it under his rule. And he will nearly succeed; nearly all the world will bow to his reign. He will take part of it by force, as a conqueror, but he will take far more power through deception. For the prophecies say that at the end times a great deceiver will rise up and draw all the world after him, and that the deceiver and the enemy are one.

But this will not be the end, for as the great enemy prepares to destroy the Holy City, the city where God died – and the city God has sworn to make his capital – the heavens will open, and the Son of God, the Chosen One, the great champion, will appear. This time, he will not be subtle. He will not be humble. He will not be gentle. He will stand with his people against all the nations of the world, and there will be no contest. The great battle will be a great slaughter, and the Lord of all the earth will take his rightful place on the throne of the world and set all things right, and none will be able to stand against him.

The New Beginning

We call these things the last things, but in reality, they are just the beginning. The whole history of the world has been of a stumble at the very beginning of a great adventure, and of our recovery from that stumble. The adventure originally intended for us has hardly begun. But to be part of that adventure, you have to be willing to stand on the side of the king and not of the enemy, the usurper. Because the usurper cares nothing about you, and the king will not force you into his kingdom if you refuse his rule, and you will be left outside, in the darkness, when true life is only about to begin.

This is the point of these blogs, of this history. I didn’t write this primarily for enjoyment, to hang nice trappings on the history of the world. I tell you this because you need to know that there is a larger story by which we should judge the significance of our lives. All of this world’s battle is just a preparation; you have to make it through this to get to the real adventure.

The Meaning of it All

If you choose to fade into the periphery of this story, or to fight on the villain’s side, you’ll disappear from the story; you’ll just be part of a footnote: “at the beginning of all this, there was a misstep, and many were tragically lost to darkness.” It is only the heroes who get to be part of the real story, and the footnotes for their great deeds and adventures will read, “How did they find the strength for such great feats? Their souls were forged long before, in the fire of the war at the beginning of the world, when their spirits first awakened and learned to seek the light even amidst the darkness.”

For the real story begins now, and while the darkness will fade away, the light will remain. Our acts of heroism, of love and kindness and courage and self-sacrifice, will stand forever. When that great battle comes, it will be affected by our action – or lack thereof – in the here and now. The war is still going on, and we have this one chance to become heroes in the greatest of all stories. I want you to join me in seizing that chance. Because in the end, nothing else really matters.

He is coming.

“Red Sunrise” by BR Sunkara is licensed under CC BY 2.0 CC BY 2.0