Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
It seems wildly inappropriate to think that there was ever a "war in heaven," but that's just what Revelation 12:7-10 describes. A war to the finish between "Michael" with His angels against "the dragon [Satan] and his angels." A careful reading suggests that it was Christ and the loyal angels who started the war, although this is opposite to most thinking today.
But this fits in with what the Bible says about Christ. Christ never lies down and lets the devil walk over Him. You remember at His temptation in the wilderness, He told the devil to "get out!" and the devil did (Matt. 4:10). Again when Satan used Peter to try to turn Him away from His cross, He said, "Get behind Me, Satan!" (16:23).
When Lucifer (who became "the devil and Satan") instigated the rebellion in heaven, he was spreading his poison all through the ranks of the holy angels. If Christ and they had not protested, sin would have filled the universe. They could not sit back and relax and condone a fictitious "peace and harmony" as we are often tempted to do when evil is about to triumph; they arose in vigorous protest. They started a war! They saw through the subtle lies that Lucifer was telling, and their souls were on fire in their love for truth. Their concern was for the security of heaven and the universe. They had to "speak up."
We might say that "Michael and His angels" were pro-test-ants, righteously so. And so will everyone be who takes up his cross to follow Jesus (Luke 9:23). Love for souls, for your nation, for your church, for society, for the universe itself, yes, concern for Christ, motivates you to protest against injustice, against lies.
The first work of the Holy Spirit is to "convict of sin," that is, to protest against sin because sin kills (John 16:8; Prov. 8:36). Whatever your problem, the Holy Spirit will convict you of that sin before you repeat it. Before anyone chooses to transgress God's holy law, He continually says, "No!" He "convicts of sin" in love.
But be careful: It's not your job to do the work of the Holy Spirit. You can lift your voice against evil and not be obnoxious at the same time. You can "protest" in a Christlike way.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: January 24, 2002.
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