The Birth Of Christ Was An Act Of War

Many people think the theme of war ends with the Old Testament.  Not at all.  Jesus says, “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.”[1]  In fact, his birth involved another battle in heaven:

“A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.  She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth.  Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads…  The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born.  She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter…  And there was war in heaven.  Michael and his angles fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.  But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven…  Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring — those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”[2]

The birth of Christ was an act of war, an invasion.  The Enemy knew it and tried to kill him as a babe.[3]  No pale faced altar boy, the whole life of Christ is marked by battle and confrontation.  He kicks out demons with a stern command.  He rebukes a fever, and it leaves Peter’s mother-in-law.  He rebukes a storm, and it subsides.  He confronts the Pharisees time and again to set God’s people free from legalism.  In a loud voice he wakes Lazarus from the dead.  He descends to hell, wrestles the keys of hell and death from Satan, and leads a train of captives free.[4]  And when he returns, I might point out, Jesus will come mounted on a steed of war, with his robe dipped in blood, armed for battle.[5]

War is not just one among many themes in the Bible.  It is the backdrop for the whole Story, the context for everything else.  God is at war.  He is trampling out the vineyards where the grapes of wrath are stored.  And what is he fighting for?  Our freedom and restoration.  The glory of God is man fully alive.  In the meantime, Paul says, arm yourselves, and the first piece of equipment he urges us to don is the belt of truth.[6]  We arm ourselves by getting a good, solid grip on our situation, by getting some clarity on the battle over our lives.  God’s intentions toward us are life.  Those intentions are opposed.  Forewarned is forearmed, as the saying goes.  In Mere Christianity, in the chapter he so rightly titled “The Invasion,” C.S. Lewis tried to clarify our situation:

“One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe — a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin.  The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong.  Christianity agrees… this universe is at war.”