I am sure that I'm not the first to consider the last battle-the ultimate good vs evil. I am sure that there are lots of theories out there on how this will all look. So I'll just add my small idea into the mix.
I was reading the scriptures about the last days. I thought about the millennium, the 1000 years of peace after the terrible trials that finish out this dispensation. And then I found myself thinking about the final battle we read about in
Revelations 20:7-11 where it says, "And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the whole earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them."
Have you ever thought about that last battle? I thought about trying to fight with Jesus in a kind of hand to hand combat as a youth. I thought that that would be just great because even then I knew in my heart that if I was on the Lord's side, everything would turn out well.
But as I've started to really look at the Lord's ways and ponder more about how He does battle, I have noticed quite a different battle technique.
The one thing that seems constant is that there is a power used whenever the Savior, or anyone who is a follower of the Savior, encounters Satan or a devil or devils are present.
In
Mark Chapter 5 the Savior right after getting off the boat at
Gadarenes was met by a man possessed by devils, He first asked how many were present and then cast devils out and into the swine which in turn jumped into the ocean.
And when Moses who had already experienced the beauty and power of Jesus Christ, was confronted by Satan who tried to convince Moses that he, Satan, was the Son of God, Moses casts him out in the name of Jesus Christ
(Moses 1:12-23).
In
Luke 4:33-35 there's the story about a man in the synagogue who was possessed by a devil. Listen to what he says to the Savior. ". . . Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou some to destroy us? I know thee who thou art; the Holy One of God." Isn't it interesting that even devils were compelled to acknowledge the Savior, the Son of God? At this point Jesus Christ said, "Hold thy peace, and come out of him." The devil possessing this man threw the man's body and came out.
Here we read (
in Matthew 8:16 of the New Testament) "when the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits
with his word, and healed all that were sick:" (bold added)
And again in
Matthew 9:32 and 33 it says, "As they went out, behold, they brought to him a dumb man possessed with a devil. And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel."
In
Matthew 4:1-11 we read about probably the most personal confrontation between Satan and Jesus Christ. Here the Savior, in the interest of intensely preparing for His official ministry, had been fasting for 40 days. The Savior was "led up" by the Spirit to face the temptations of the Devil, Satan, himself. After the three particular temptations the Savior merely said, "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." It was done. Satan left and angels came to minister to Jesus.
In these few examples that show the power used to rid each person of the presence of Satan, we can see some common things. First it was not uncommon for the devil and devils to actually recognize who the Savior was, the Son of God and speak of it. Second, all that was needed was faith in the Savior and the use of His name to send these devils and Satan away. Third every time Satan or devils are told to depart, they put up a fight, pitch a fit, throw a tantrum. . . but leave.
It's more apparent than ever that this last battle will be a battle of faith and priesthood power. I think that as with Moses, even if we are all so frightened by the amount on Satan's side and the depth of evil we encounter, we will still need to be able to call on the Savior and in His name cast all evil away from us and from off of this earth forever. Yes, I did say that WE, using his name should be able to cast evil, in fact devils, away from us.
What does the Savior keep trying to tell us? He says to be perfect in Him, to have faith, hope and charity, to continually be on guard. He's telling us continually work on strengthening our testimonies of Him and the truths of the gospel and of gospel living. Do you think that He knows how hard the final battle will be? Does love us so much that he wants us to succeed with Him?
In
Ephesians chapter 6 verse 11 we are told to, "Put on the whole armour of God" why? "that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil". It sounds like Jesus Christ tells us how we can succeed in this final battle. As most know from the rest of this scripture, the armour of God consists of: "having your lions girt about with truth and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, where with ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication"
Doesn't this scripture alone give great insight as to the great love he has for us and the determination He has to tell us how it really is? Giving us the understanding of what is needed to succeed in battle is true love and devotion. This isn't just to get ready for the final battle. But this is to do battle every day with real evil in our lives. Just like with everything else good for us we have to exercise, to train, to build our spiritual muscles. In the same chapter of Ephesians we also continue to read in vs 12, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." This is for our day to day application of the building of our armour. We have to make our armour impenetrable! We have to seal up all soft spots all possible weak areas so that the Devil has no power currently in our lives. And then we have to keep on building our defenses and patching our wounds every day so that we can discern the strategies of Satan in our lives and beat back the darkness. Remember the story of Moroni? He taught the people to fortify their cities. They didn't take for granted where their cities were located in the land. They built up high walls with great defenses they prepared by storing food and making armour. The were ready for the enemy-the enemy that was determined to take them captive. Satan would have ALL to be his captives. He thinks that this will bring him the glory he sought so long ago in the pre-existence. He is in an all out man to man, if not more like a double and triple teaming strategy with each one of us until his time is up and that final bell rings to say the game is over! If you want to talk a little more basketball, we are in March Madness. We are in the final four if not the Championship game. Both sides have come to win. One side will surely play dirty and foul out many players but their bench is deep! We need to pick the winning side. This one has classic ball strategies that have been proven since the beginning of time. It's one that doesn't require dirty playing. In fact the strength comes from loving the game and clean play. The Coach has been there before us. He's THE best coach and we just need to follow every game plan, every move, every empowering pep talk He gives us.
The constant pep talk we get is to follow His example. What was He like, this being with all power? In Moroni 7:45 we read of the characteristics that we are told will bring about the win. Here's the list: we should be able to suffer at length, be kind, no be envious, not be puffed up/proud, not seek our own, not easily provoked, not think evil things, should not rejoice in evil things but rejoice in the truth, bear all things, believe all things, have hope, and endure all things.
He, our loving Savior wants us to be triumphant with him. He wants us to have the opportunities that He enjoys, He wants our lives to be eternally filled with joy and growth and peace and love and so much more that we can comprehend. Part of his game plan is to give us a playbook-the many examples in the scriptures. We have examples of prophets, disciples, and apostles. They all faced their challenges and we have examples of their successes to motivate us. People like
Daniel,
Joseph,
Abraham, Paul, Peter,
Job,
Ruth,
Mary,
Moroni,
Helaman,
Ammon and so many more.
When we are working to be like Jesus Christ, successful in our life's journey, and ultimately triumphant, we need to have and idea of what makes the Savior as powerful as He is. With the list of characteristics in
Moroni 7:45, we have a fighting chance. It's a list that keeps me, personally, evaluating. It's a list that has a promise attached. In verse 46 and 47, the promise is that if we have these characteristics, we will not fail. HE HAS PROMISED THIS. I have tried this out in my life and it has worked in my darkest hours. I am still working on it, though and will until I die. It reads, "Wherefore, my beloved
bretheren, if ye have not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never
faileth. Wherefore, cleave unto charity, which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail. But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it
endureth forever, and whoso is found possessed of it at the last day, it shall be well with him."
Remember a trial of Peter's faith when the Jesus walked on water and Peter was told he could, too, and did. What happened. Peter's faith faltered. Let's go to the list. He fell short in believing all things. It's a great example to us that we in small and big things need to keep our eyes on the prize. We need to have hope (the energy source) and the faith to do the things that Jesus tells us we can do. He tells us we can win-every day and in the end.
If in fact we are proven in this life and we find ourselves standing with our best foot forward with the Savior in that final battle and all hell unleashes, will we be able to stand tall and command this great legion of evil to cease and depart or will we shrink and doubt as the example of Peter's quick lack of faith in the account of walking on water?
This whole thought makes us look deep into our souls. It takes us to the point of the reality of the power of faith. It brings us to the real strength of the Savior. Like the story of the 2000 stripling warriors led by Helaman, if in fact, we have faith in the Savior that He will stand with us and protect us, we too will prevail. We can choose to stand with Him forever.
Did the Savior not create this earth? His power has created and destroyed at will all of this world and anything in it!
So really is that last battle a battle of metal swords, guns, tanks, and bombs? I can't find anywhere that even leads to this level of combat. As with the examples recorded for us to see, it looks like the battle will be ugly because evil is terrible and dark and powerful but the battle will be overcome by faith and the power of the priesthood and with the Savior and in His name. Ultimately as when Satan has been cast out before, we will see the huge tantrum but at the command of our Lord, Satan and his legions will DEPART.
