Its rider is called Faithful and True.

 

Monday, December 18, 2023


Psalm 144

Isaiah 22:1-14

Revelation 19:11-21


Its rider is called Faithful and True.


Watching too much television is bad for you. But you don’t need some quiet, little Christian corner of the internet to tell you that. Even so, the plague of overseas war seems to be spreading to this land which has blessedly been mostly free of war for most of its history. Not that we are at risk of actual war – it is the heartbreak of war which is infecting us through our screens.


The readings today shake us out of our comfort and complacency. Here is Jesus, our Brother and Friend, showing a side of Himself to us that may seem confronting. The rider of the white horse is not gentle Jesus meek and mild: this is the Lord Jesus Christ, the king of heaven and earth, riding out to war to take back His kingdom. He wields a sword and an iron scepter, and He is treading the winepress of fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. King David sings of Him: “Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.” King Jesus is riding to war and He is calling His soldiers to His side. The war is on, and there is no neutral ground to hide in. All that is left is to pick a side.


We are soldiers, and we are fighting a war. But we are not shooting other human beings. There is no murder in our fight. We are not creating refugees and we are not condemning children to death. Our fight is against the powers and principalities of the air. Our enemy is the great enemy of God, the father of lies, the serpent, Satan. Our weapons are the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit; the Word of God is our sword, and our trust in that Word is our shield.


Best of all, we know who is winning this war, and we know who will claim ultimate victory in the end. God’s word is spreading out to the ends of the earth, and we know that God’s word never returns empty. That word will spread over the earth as water covers the ocean – and the ocean is, last time I checked, very wet. We are fighting a war, but we are on the winning side, and our enemy is death itself. Our King is also our Brother and our Friend, and He is with us, fighting alongside us. Take up your spiritual weapons, Christian. There is a world to be conquered.


He lives to crush the fiends of hell, glory, hallelujah,

He lives and doth within me dwell, glory hallelujah.


Shout on, pray on, we’re gaining ground, glory hallelujah,

The dead’s alive and the lost is found, glory, hallelujah.

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