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Second Fiddle? No Way!

There’s a story told about Julius Caesar, one of the greatest generals and rulers in of ancient Rome.

One day, leading his army through the Swiss Alps, Caesar came to a small village, a barely-inhabited and rather miserable looking spot. His officers were glancing around, mocking the village, joking that there were probably rivalries among men over who would have first place even in this little Podunk town. Caesar then looked at them, and in all seriousness proclaimed, “As far as I am concerned, I’d rather be first man here than second man in Rome.”

Wow!

Talk about pride, talk about arrogance—talk about an unholy ambition, one that by the way led Caesar into war, a civil war that left thousands upon thousands of his own countrymen dead.

And all because Julius Caesar couldn’t stand second place.

But, friend, this wasn’t the only time when the desire for supremacy led to devastating results. On the contrary. Scripture tells us of something similar happening long ago, in another part of the universe, with a powerful being who, despite having so much, wanted even more.

Look at what Scripture says about this being: "You were the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering . . . . You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you . . . You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you” (Ezekiel 28:12-15 NKJV).

The seal of perfection! Full of wisdom, perfect in beauty! Perfect in his ways! Anointed!

Yet what happened? According to Scripture, “Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor” (Ezekiel 28:17 NKJV).

He got proud, lifted up because of all that He had. And, then, what did this self-exaltation lead to?

“For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High’” (Isaiah 14: 13, 14 NKJV).

Though having so much already, it wasn’t enough. He wanted more. He wanted to be where God, His own Creator, was. He want to be like “the Most High.” That is, he wanted to be like God Himself. In other words, no matter what this being, called Lucifer, had—and he had beauty, perfection, status, power—he wanted even more. He wanted to be God Himself!

Thus, when Julius Caesar said that second place was one place too low, and that his position as a great general having power and prestige and honor wasn’t enough--he was reflecting the same principle that led to the down fall of Lucifer, this great and mighty angel in heaven.

Thus, we see in the Bible the background to what’s known as “the fall of Lucifer,” also called Satan, the fall of this powerful being who, through unholy pride and unholy ambition, sought a place that didn’t belong to him, a place that was not his to have.

And yet, Satan’s self-exaltation didn’t end there. Things like this rarely do. Satan’s pride led to discontent among some other angels, and this led to a rebellion in heaven, a war. In fact--that’s exactly how the Bible describes it.

“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him” (Revelation 12:7-9 NKJV).

So we see, Satan’s pride, his arrogance, his desire to be God Himself led to a war in heaven. We’re not talking Star Trek here with Mr. Spock and Captain Kirk, or George Lucas and The Revenge of the Sith. We’re talking a real war in a real place between real beings.

Yet, according to the texts we’ve just read, though this war began somewhere else in the universe, it winds up here. It said that Satan and his angels were cast down to the earth. The front has moved into our own backyard.

And it’s no small thing, either. Look at what else the Scriptures says to us: “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time" (Revelation 12: 12 NKJV).

Now, I know that in this day and age, there’s a tendency to mock this idea, the idea of the devil, of Lucifer. After all, we’re in the time of quantum physics, of Space Shuttles, of supercomputers, right? Not the age of Satan and of demons. Come on, Lonnie, get serious.

Not so fast, friend. In one sense, it should be easier today to believe in the existence of supernatural being from another part of the universe that we can’t see than it would have been hundreds or thousands of years ago to believe.

Why?

Look, thousands of years ago, or even just two hundred years ago, people had no idea of the size of the universe, no idea of the endless number of galaxies and stars out there. Can anyone honestly think today that our tiny little planet, less than a drop in this vast endless sea, is the only one with life? Don’t be so narrow-minded. Modern science, astronomy, has made it so much easier to believe that there would be intelligent life out there, simply because it has shown us how much bigger the universe is than our forefathers could’ve ever imagined it to be.

Also, you’re listening to me on the radio, right? Let me ask, Where is my voice originating from? The radio itself? Of course not. My voice is coming via radio waves all around you even if you can’t see, hear, touch, or feel them. If you turned the radio off, you would sense nothing of those waves though they are as real as the air your own breath. Without the radio you would know absolutely nothing of those waves, no matter how real they are.

The point is that modern science has shown us how easy it is for there to be things all around us that we can’t see, hear, sense, smell, or touch. How many voices, cell phone calls, other stations and channels are around you right at this very moment, as real as my voice, and yet you can’t hear or feel or even sense any of them? That’s something people a few hundreds years ago could not comprehend as we can now. We’re so used to it we don’t think about it any more. Thus, for us, today, the reality and presence of the supernatural, of forces operating around us that we can’t see or feel or touch, should be easy to accept.

I would humbly suggest that you not limit your understanding of the world to the narrow confines of what you see, or what your culture at this time tells you can or cannot exist--especially when we know there’s more out there than meets the eye!

And, friend, the Scripture is clear: we are in a battle, a great controversy, one that began in heaven but is now being waged here, on earth, a battle that involves us all, whether we want to be in it or not, a battle between forces that we often don’t even see!

Thousands of years ago, a Greek philosopher said that there were two forces contending in the world. He called them Friendship and Strife. Other writers, philosophers, theologians, poets have through the ages talked about a struggle going on between Good and Evil, between right and wrong, between light and darkness. Whatever you want to call it, and regardless of all the different ways it might be manifested--it’s a battle that we are all engaged in, one way or another.

Don’t you sense it sometimes, even in your own life? This tug? This wrestling This pulling of your own conscience, a struggle for your own heart? We feel it in ourselves sometimes--don’t we?--even if we’re not sure what it’s all about. And we can sense it going on in others as well, right?

And though it can be seen in so many different ways, in so many nuanced manifestations--the strife, the turmoil, the violence and general antagonisms all around us are, I believe, expressions of the real battle, the great controversy between Christ and Satan, a controversy that goes back long before us but is being waged among, in us, and through us. We see it, at every level, from the wars that great armies fight to the often quiet struggles in every human heart.

Yes friend, every heart. Yours, mine, everyone’s.

In fact, I believe that the real battle, the real struggle—it isn’t over oil fields or deserts in the Middle East or elsewhere. The ultimate stakes in this struggle isn’t over land; it’s over souls, our souls. The great controversy between Christ and Satan is over our allegiance, and our eternal destinies. That’s what’s at stake here!

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12, NIV).

Yes, there’s a spiritual battle out there. We’ve all experienced it, one way or another, haven’t we? It’s a spiritual war, a battle for our hearts and minds as much as it is anything else.

Yet, and here’s the good news--unlike other wars, the outcome is already assured beforehand. That war, in a very real sense, has already been won--by Jesus, and He offers each of us the full fruits of that victory

Stay tuned this week, as we look more at this great controversy; stay tuned because you’ll not only learn more about it, you’ll see the wonderful hope that is offered each of us, the wonderful assurance of victory that is ours, if we claim for ourselves in Jesus.