War in Heaven

This painting War in Heaven by Pieter Brungel has facinated me for a long time as a boy.


Rev.12:7-12

 ⁷And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

 ⁸And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

 ⁹And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

 ¹⁰And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

 ¹¹And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

 ¹²Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

The things that impress me about this passage is that it is the background to the spiritual battle we fight today. The accuser of the brethren, the great deceiver has been cast down to earth. He has great wrath because his time is short. However we can overcome this warfare by the blood of the lamb. Meaning in simple terms Trust and Believe wholly in Jesus and God's will for our lives. To do this is like having blood on the door post symbolized in the Jewish Passover in Exodus. I just earnestly want to be watchful and make sure to be an overcomer in this conflict.

Another Brungel painting the Triumph of Death that had a profound impact on my young mind as a child. It filled me with a fear of the end and how I do not want this nightmare to be my fate, as a result of ignoring the  Cross of Christ in my life. Note that there is a cross in the middle of the painting slightly to the left. Other than the lone cross there is a absence of hope in this picture--it is past. In fact the Saints must have already ascended to their reward and now the reality of the end has truly come. Sorry perhaps this may strike you as morbid but we do well to think on the big picture and see where our life's choices could lead us.