New heavens and a new earth


The terrible violence maliciously stirred up by forces unknown in the Middle East over the last few days in Libya, Egypt and Yemen, using an inflammatory video as the catalyst, is a sobering reminder that the prince of darkness still rules this world. "For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh," Ephesians 6 :12 reminds us, "but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."

The writer of Ephesians then exhorts us in stirring language to take up "the whole armor of God." First, though, it is key to acknowledge what we are dealing with and what the larger context of that battle is. Jesus tells his disciples in John 14:30-31 that "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know I love the Father."

Knowing God's commandments, we, too, can do no other. We know how the story ends. The fact of the Resurrection testifies that life, not death, is the victor - both now and on that last "day of the Lord," which 2 Peter:10 tells us "will come like a thief" and on which "the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will bve dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed." 

In the meantime we resist being drawn into the "present darkness" but instead concentrate our lives in prayer and holy reflection.

Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. (2 Peter 3:11-13)

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