The Battle is Not Over

This is my Father’s world—
O Let me ne’er forget
That tho’ the wrong seems oft so strong 
God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world! 
The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied, 
And earth and heaven be one.
Maltrie D. Babcock
Every Memorial Day, we remember men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is an important observance in the United States of America, because it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in the Civil War. It was an attempt to heal the divisions in a nation that had been engaged in one of the deadliest and costliest civil wars in history.

This holiday was designed to remind every soldier that the battle is never over with simple victories. There is no real victory in killing another human being, in winning territory, in crushing opposing forces. That is only the beginning of the process.

Following each military victory there is the task of realizing the gains of battle. If it is indeed a righteous cause, then the victorious, believing that what they achieved will bring a better society, a better world, will endeavor to reconcile with their enemies, to assist the vanquished in rebuilding in a new way, so that the contradictions created by former conditions will not occur again. Hence Reconstruction (however short-lived) was an attempt to build a new south based on absolute principles of equality, freedom and justice for all.

In theory this is wonderful, but this world is not yet capable of actualizing such utopian dreams. Reconstruction failed in the south, because the greed of Northern Industrialists, addicted to cotton, rubber, sugar and tobacco required that servile cheap labor be employed to insure their profits.

This meant that a new form of feudal system (sharecropping for Black American Africans and poor unemployed Western European Americans--Tenant Farming for “reconstructed" Western European middle and lower middle class farmers) had to be reinstituted. It could not happen as long as Federal troops were in the South establishing a rehabilitated society, so the troops were withdrawn, and some argue a way of life worse than slavery was instituted in the former Confederacy. Even before this, President Andrew Johnson was impeached on dubious grounds, because he believed that a more conciliatory attitude toward former “Confederates” would enable a smoother transition to a new society, without resentment and hostility.

Paul reminds the disciples of Jesus’ way in Ephesus,
For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood
(we are not contending with physical opponents)
but against rulers, against the powers, against the
Master spirits of the world, the rulers of this present
darkness, against the spiritual forces of
wickedness in the supernatural sphere.
Ephesian 6:12

Babcock reminds us that “Yes.” Ultimately this is God’s world. Jesus’ death on the cross broke the barrier between God and the former souls of light that he created to rule the earth. His resurrection demonstrated that God is the real power, that the forces described in Ephesians 6 have been neutralized. The ultimate victory however is in the hands of those redeemed souls of light. So
The battle is not done. Jesus who died will be
satisfied, And earth and heaven be one.”

The prayer, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” is not a passive idea. It is a reminder to God, that as He has been victorious in defeating the powers of darkness, that we, too, living out our lives through faith in Jesus Christ, might accomplish what is necessary in the war to return this planet and this universe to its rightful owners, God’s people—us—the souls of light.

Paul reminded the Ephesian community, that prior to knowing Christ,
when you were slain by your trespasses and sins—
following the course and the fashion of this world,
following the prince of the power of the air, you
were obedient to demon spirits that still
constantly work in the sons of disobedience.

In Second Corinthians 4:4 we read,
For the prince of this world has blinded the unbelievers’
minds, preventing them from seeing the illuminating
light of the Gospel of Christ, who is the image and
likeness of God.

We who adhere to, trust in and rely of God through our faith in the work and witness of Jesus Christ, are soldiers of “the new image,” the “new human being,” the eternal Son of Light who has brought Light back into the world. We who believe are once again returned to the Adamic state as the "imago dei" the image of God, the daughters and sons of "Light."

The battle is not over until God decides that we have sufficiently demonstrated and displayed that light in the world. Yes. Through the soldiers of light—through those of us who are so filled with God’s Spirit that the love of our benighted world and unbelieving brothers and sisters in it will compel us to reach out to them with faith, hope and love, continue as soldier's in the army of God, standing against an enemy whose weapons have already been rendered harmless and ineffective before us, "Jesus who died will be satisfied. Earth and heaven will be ONE.'

"Thy will be done on earth, as it is in the transcendent realm." In memory of the saints who have passed on, who rest from their labors, and who wait to greet us in final victory.

Pastor Guest