Rejoice
(Rev 12:12~16)
People say that the priorities of a joyful life are good relationships, nice meals, sound sleep, love, and success. How can we do these things well? First of all, we need a sound soul, which enables us to rejoice as God commanded us. Revelation 10 depicts the heavenly war as a great sign. How can we wage the war? We need to rejoice in it. Lets see why we should rejoice.
1. Satans final time is coming. After Jesus resurrection and ascension, Satan was defeated in the war, lost his place in heaven, and came down to the earth, filled with fury. The time of Satans reign from Jesus first coming to his second is to be over soon and he will be thrown into the firy lake of the second death in Hell. Thats why he is waging his last ditch-fight in order to take down everyone with him. This world is Satans kingdom. His number-one project is making us his people, of which we dont need to be afraid because hes already lost in the heavenly war. Jesus showed us that Gods kingdom has already arrived by defeating Satans temptations while fasting for 40 days before he began his public life. Then he tied up Satan, the strongest enemy on earth. Thats why he commanded us to rejoice. No matter how greatly Satans fury, God protects us from him because our enemy is also His. Therefore when someone gets furious at us, we need to rejoice, believing that his time will be over soon and we will have salvation, watching Satan expelled for good. Man is not Satan, but can be Satans temporary dwelling place. Thus by identifying the Satan dwelling in a person, we can put up with the person no matter how angry gets. We need to show our faith by being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, praying that Gods salvation will be on us soon. The power of Satan within us blocks our way to the Word. Theres a heavenly war occurring within us also. When we defeat the Satan in us, we can do the same thing for others. So just rejoice, waiting for the impending doomsday of Satan.
2. Persecution is also a part of Gods training for us. Satan persecuted the woman who gave birth to Jesus the Church. The Greek word persecute implies to chase. The more we chase money, sex, fame, academic achievement, alcohol, success, the more we hate those who believe in Jesus. The more ground we offer to Jesus in us, the less ground we give for Satan in us. Thats why we express our anger women throw fits while men shake their fists. People in the world tend to persecute Christians when they fail in their projects. Therefore, being persecuted by the world is a good mark for Christians. Saul, before being born again, had great passion, but he also had a deep sense of inferiority without peace because he didnt know the truth despite his great knowledge. Human passion that precedes God drives us even to murder. Jesus asked Saul 'Why do you persecute me?' when Saul was eager to carry out his self-righteous mission. The Lord touched Sauls conscience by reminding him of his persecution of Stephen and his stoning of him, which drove Saul to a guilty conscience and spiritual distress. We feel restless because of our guilty conscience until we become the prey of self accusation full of rage, threatening, and thirsting for blood. But God visited Saul with mercy, blew away all his anxiety at once, and gave him his new mission. Wilhelm Stekel, a psychiatrist said, 'Immature people want to die nobly for a great cause, while mature people want to live humbly for it.' Without modesty, we can by no means rejoice. Thus God changed Saul, who had persecuted him, through his personal spiritual fostering. Verse 14 depicts the woman who was given the two wings of a great eagle and flew to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of. Several places of the Bible show us similar stories. Thus the place where we are in our crisis is the training place of God for our spiritual nurturing as in Moses Median, Davids refuges, Pauls prison, Apostle Johns Patmos, John the Baptists wilderness, Elijahs Mt. Horeb, Jonahs big fish, and the Catacombs of the Christians in Rome. What we need to do is be trained there as Gods children, not as Satans slaves.
3. God keeps us from being swept away by the currents of the world. While we are trained in our desert, enduring persecution and trials, Satan spews water like a river in order to sweep us away with the worldly currents of idleness, pleasure, capitalism, atheism, humanism, scientism, and heresies. Thus he attacks the church and tries to wash away its biblical values with these worldly currents. However the earth helps us by opening its mouth and swallowing the river just as the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the tribe of Korah while standing against Moses and the Philistines frustrated Sauls effort to catch David. So it was with Korea. God frustrated the plan of the Japanese government to get rid of Korean Christian leaders through his judgment of the Atomic bomb and gave Korea its independence on August the 15th. The late missionary, Seo-peong Seo, who visited Korea 100 years ago as a 32-year-old single woman devoted herself to serving Korean widows and orphans even in her worst circumstances with her catch phrase of 'Not success but service.' Thus she showed us the great heavenly joy she enjoyed by taking care of the most wretched and weakest of women and children even though she had no reason to rejoice from a human perspective. May God bless us not to be swept away by worldly torrents but to rejoice in listening to his voice!
Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! (Rev 12:12a)
