It’s Time to Fight

It was one of the last sentences Jesus spoke to His disciples before His crucifixion. A warning—and a promise:

“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Jesus wanted His disciples to understand that trials were coming. The god of this age was going to try and break them, to sift them like wheat—and yet, at the same time, they were to take comfort in knowing that, through His own death, Jesus was about to destroy “him who had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14).

Earlier that evening, the disciples had taken the Passover with Christ. He’d broken the bread and told them it was His body. He’d poured the wine and told them it was His blood.

Broken… for them. Poured out… for them.

He’d also washed their feet—the Lord of creation, performing the role of a servant—and explained, “I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you” (John 13:15).

And so we do. Year after year we come together to follow the Teacher’s example. We wash each other’s feet, we eat the bread, we drink the wine, and we reflect on the price that was paid for our peace: the wounds. The bruises. The stripes.

Then we sing a hymn and go home.

We go home and, gradually, the rhythm of the world catches back up with us. The next day, there’s work to be done. There are meals to make, chores to do, responsibilities to consider. We do our best to remain aware of what God has done for us, but life keeps moving—and without fail, it will attempt to pull you inch by imperceptible inch back into its unceasing and undirected flow. Dulling your focus. Distracting you from the things that matter.

But it’s not really “life” doing all that, is it?

Of course it isn’t.

Passover refocuses our attention on the undeserved gifts of peace and salvation given to us by the sacrifice of our Brother. But you face an enemy who would rip that from your grasp if it was in his power—an enemy eager to see you burned to ash in the second death, to have your spiritual potential stamped out and destroyed forever. The moment you leave the Passover service this year, he’ll be looking for ways to wear you down—to whittle down your resistance until you lose the will to continue.

You can’t let him do that.

Eternity is on the line.

Which is why, this Passover, we will go on the offensive. We will not allow this to be a Passover of passivity, of quietly returning to old habits and old ways. We will wash the feet of our brethren, our comrades in arms. We will eat the bread and drink the wine, we will give thanks for the divine strength that enabled us to put the old man to death and that opened the door to our salvation, and then we will take up arms.

Our adversary has been warring with the people of God for thousands of years. He has employed deception and subterfuge, brute force and drawn-out attrition. He has besieged us and sought out our weakest points, pummeling us mercilessly until we are tempted to roll over and take it.

Not this time.

NOT. THIS. TIME.

This time, we fight back. We hold our own. We equip the armor God has given us, and we go on the offensive. We take back the territory Satan has stolen from us. We tear down his strongholds and give him no quarter. No footholds. No compliance. We find his every hiding place in our lives, every fortification where he feels safe and secure, and with the power God has given us, we drive him out.

When we walk out of the doors of the Passover service, wherever we are, we’ll be walking back into an ancient war against an enemy far stronger than ourselves.

But we won’t be walking out alone. We’ll be walking out alongside brothers and sisters—fellow soldiers, armed and equipped to face what’s coming. We’ll be marching under the banner of the Lord of Hosts, God Most High, “from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Ephesians 3:15).

The Passover arms us with the most powerful weapon of all: the truth. The truth that Christ died for our sins. The truth that He did so willingly, because He felt we were worth the cost. The truth that He has not left us orphans, but provided us instead with the Holy Spirit, which is “not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled” (2 Corinthians 10:4-6).

With God’s help, we have everything we need to step into this fight and win it—because once, a long time ago, a Man named Jesus Christ offered up His body and His blood and overcame the world.

Through His sacrifice, we can too.

Brethren—it’s time to fight.

Until next time,
Jeremy

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