Do you ever reread books? I know many of us re-watch TV shows. Shoot, I could sit and watch reruns of The Office any day of the week. But to pick up a book and reread it, knowing full well how it will end, is something altogether different. It is a strange investment of time to go once again down a familiar path with any sense of wonder and excitement. Yet, I have come to realize that I do this often and enjoy it. Now, this is not because I am a deep thinker and want to dive into the nuances of a familiar text. No, it is because I am a creature of habit. I read when I get into bed at night. I do not watch TV or “doom scroll” on my phone, I read. I always have and probably always will. But I do not constantly have a new book at hand when I have finished whatever I am reading. So, I will regularly pick up something I remember liking and start rereading it. And once I start, I keep going until the end. One of my favorite authors is Cormac McCarthy, and as it happens, I have been reading again, for I believe the third time, his masterpiece Blood Meridian. A haunting character in this work, called “The Judge,” has a fantastic line. He says, “It makes no difference what men think of war. War endures… War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.”
That is a beautifully written, if not frightening, line, “War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him.” And though it is not something we may want to hear, I think, especially in light of Revelation 12, this is very much a true statement. War was certainly here before man, and war was waiting for us. Today is the feast of St. Michael and All Angels. It is a time to recall and thank God for the protecting and faithful work of the angels; those heavenly beings who serve God and His children in the great spiritual warfare of this age. As we learn from our text, it was a war that started in the heavens, a battle between the Devil and his angels against Michael and all God’s servants. And the ramifications of this war mark and define our life here and now.
Today, we watch war on TV and get up-to-date footage through social media. There is money to be made in war, power to be gained, and vengeance to inflict, so there is no chance for real peace. Wars and rumors of wars are the norm, and though the images are brutal and difficult to stomach, we quickly grow accustomed to them and become numb to the death and destruction. We get to this strange point where we can quickly scroll past another image of dead children in Gaza without giving it much thought. And if we do this with temporal war, with the physical violence all around us, it is much worse when we begin to speak about spiritual warfare, battles not of temporal realities but eternal ones. We can quickly grow numb and complacent with the battles that play with our eternal salvation.
This past summer, while I was on sabbatical, one of the things my family and I did was visit other churches. They were not other churches of our denomination and confession but other Christian churches, especially the popular ones in town. Really, several times, I decided what church we would visit simply because I saw a window decal on a car the previous day. The experience was enlightening, to say the least. All these so-called non-denominational churches had a familiar flow to them. They had their own liturgy or movement to the service. The music was uplifting and inspiring. The sermons were long but thoughtful. However, the more I thought about it, the more it all felt so flat and plastic. It was consumer-driven and shallow. It was hard to describe, but perhaps it is this: They had forgotten the war. They behaved as if we were deciding which band we were to be groupies of rather than preparing us to endure the battle.
The feast of St. Michael helps us remember this. Thinking again of the work of the angels, the heavenly messengers of God, is to think of God’s provision, His care, and His love for sure. But it is also to recall the war and confess the battle we are all caught up in. As Bonhoeffer said, in The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” We live and breathe and have our being in a world torn by war. It is a war not just off in foreign lands, but a war that is ongoing right in your own souls, a war for your hearts and minds, a war which seeks to tear your hope and assurance from you.
In the story of the war in Heaven, we see Michael and the angels fighting against the Dragon and his angels. In his defeat, the ancient serpent is then thrown down to the earth, and he is described as the deceiver of the entire world. Then a voice from Heaven proclaims victory by saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come.” The defeat of the Devil and his accusations is the coming of Christ. Now, this is good news for us. It means that though we are caught up in the war, though the battle wages outside and even within us, the victory and outcome are already known. There is victory in Christ, victory in the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
We are told the Devil has come down to us in great wrath “because he knows that his time is short.” He is here, at work, relentlessly doing his best to corrupt and destroy the people of God. He is the great accuser who accuses us day and night before God. This is his great work and it is an ongoing battle. He hurls accusations at you which seek to strip you of the assurance of the Good News, accusations that would have you doubt the gifts of Christ. War is here. The Devil is at work, even though it may not look like the images we see in modern warfare or some scene from your favorite horror movie. No, it probably looks much more like you are lying in bed at night, unable to sleep. Through your mind run all your fears and regrets. Suddenly, the battle begins. It is a whisper of accusation and doubt in your ear. Who are you before God? Why would He love you? What have you done to earn His grace? And that whisper drives you deep within yourself. You need to try harder if you are to be saved. You need to be better.
Here, the accusations begin to mount. Indeed, you want to be the child of God you once believed you were, but how can you? There is so much sin, so much disappointment, so much shame, and so much failure. The good you know you should do, you do not do. The evil you know you should avoid, that you have been commanded to avoid, why, you do it over and over again. There are those you hurt, those you fail to help, and your thoughts and desires are soiled with sin. The longer you look, the deeper you go, the more apparent it all becomes. The Accuser is just in his accusations. His relentless whispers reveal what you would rather forget. You are a sinner, a sinner in every thought, every word, and every deed.
This is the war. This is the battle in which we are caught up. This is why you are here; to conquer the ancient Dragon again. He knows his time is short and is doing all he can. But victory is already yours. It is not won by your effort or overcoming your failings. Victory is yours in Christ alone. As we read, “They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony.” The blood of the Lamb and the Word testifying to the Gospel is victory, which is now freely given to you. We gather together for this very reason. This is not some country club of inspiration. Rather, it is a place where we reveal the war, where you hear once again of your victory in the Lamb, a victory proclaimed by St. Michael himself. His name is a question, and when translated it asks, “Who is like God?”
No one. And this God has declared you to be His own in the blood of the Lamb. You are forgiven all your sins. You are children of the Most High, and you will enter Paradise eternal. War is here, but victory is yours!
