Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels 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. The great dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. Revelation 12:7-10, NIV

 

War in heaven! Are you also doing a double take? The idyllic place that some of us had been hearing about since childhood was pierced by war. But isn’t that just at odds with everything we have ever heard about it?

 

Yet, the Bible reveals that one day, aeons ago, that is exactly what happened. Warrior angels set out and battled for the truth, for heaven itself and for their God. Other passages show that a third of the angelic beings fell to earth with the hate-filled, god-wannabe Satan. Earth has never been the same since.

 

Now what happened to Satan to make him believe that he was God, and why his heart was corrupted? We do not know, what we do know is that sin was found in him. It is widely believed that Satan was one of the most beautiful angels in all creation, who thought himself to be so special that the sin of pride took root.

 

From the moment that he pitted himself against God, until today, we suffer the effects of that sin – and the loss of true peace. A friend asked me, “Why doesn’t God just forgive Satan?” I wonder if Satan ever wanted forgiveness. Peace-loving God may be, but not at the cost of his creation. Sounds to me like the devil remains an unrepentant scoundrel who hates God and, certainly, his children.

 

Are you wondering why there is no peace in this world? Well, we have the antagonist. He has had thousands of years to observe mankind and he has got us into all kinds of knots. His hatred towards God knows no bounds, while he has no qualms about lying to, misleading and stealing from his children. He doesn’t care about us at all, and the biggest lie he has ever spewed is that he simply does not exist. There can be no negotiation for peace with this scoundrel. We would be wise to heed Thomas Fuller’s words: "It is madness for sheep to talk peace with a wolf."

 

“Shalom,” in its most basic form means peace. This month, we endeavour to discover true shalom!

 

Prayer: Father God, we know that the day sin was found in the devil, when he and his minions rebelled against you, everything changed. Peace has eluded us since, but thank you, God, that we can run to you and find it with you. Amen