An Open Letter to the Dragon (On the Death of the Saints)

In light of our remembrance this week of Jesus’ great triumph over Satan and death, and in view of what we endure in the face of this pandemic, I thought of this excerpt from my first book, Running from a Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus). In this “letter”, I refer to the second coming of Jesus Christ and why, as that time grows ever near, Jesus’ defeated enemy lashes out even more because he knows his destruction is sure.

I pray this will fortify your heart as we face the next week and celebrate Jesus’ resurrection, which is also ours.

He’s coming, you know.

It won’t be long now, well, not in your sense of time.

And you can’t stop Him.

That’s what gets under your skin, fills you with rage, fuels the fire in your dragon belly, driving toxic smoke from your nostrils: you know the end is closing in.

That’s why you strike at us. Us, the pathetic creations you thought you could pilfer from under His nose. We proved such an easy target, weak-willed and all too ready to bite at the bait.

That should have been the end of it,

our ruin,

His rage.

Instead, He surprised you. He crafted a plot twist driven by love you hadn’t anticipated. You stood helplessly by, watching as He carried out the most amazing plan of redemption in all of eternity.

Ruined race redeemed.

This all the more galling to you, fallen one, for He provided no such redemption for your kind, despite your beauty, your wisdom, your original standing. For you, only destruction awaits, and you can feel it oozing, flames licking toward you even now.

But for us He gave His only Son and stole us back from you forever.

So you release your fury on us. Yes, it’s a terrible fury. You send us twists and temptations, deception like mustard gas, sorrows upon sorrows, indignities, humiliations, imprisonments, and depravity. You rob us of our young, our old, our freedom, our health, our dreams, our heroes, our sanity, and our earthly comfort.

You divide us, confuse us, arrest us, torture us, hold us down, hold us back, surround us, and kill some of us. You murder us in our sleep, in the streets, in our churches, in dark forests, and cement-walled prisons and places forgotten by those in power, and in private palace rooms behind tiled walls.

We suffer loudly.

We die easily.

We break beneath your boot, crushed and snuffed like spent smokes. When we fall there is no sense of glory, only defeat.

But a deeper truth exists than the one we experience beneath your boot, for we are not being brought to death but to everlasting life.

Despite what is visible.

Despite how we falter, flounder, flop, fail.

Despite the fact that we fell.

He has loved us, redeemed us, and breathed into us life everlasting.

We will rise.

He will come and He will bring our lives with Him—whole, free, undamaged, more glorious than even we imagine. He will draw the final curtain on this battle, and you will face your sulfuric damnation, locked away where you will never harm us again.

We will be with Him forever.

Safe.

Free.

Beautiful.

Redeemed.

Basking in His love and glory.

So spew your fire and blow your smoke. He is coming. As pathetic and weak as we are, He is so close that we feel it too, and it gives us strength to endure the dragon’s fury because the Bible says:

We know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:14-18 NIV)

So, dragon, crush us now, but we will rise, whole, unharmed, and free in the conquering name of Jesus Christ.

Ponder the Perplexities:

Creepy, right? Knowing we have some dark force enemy trying to destroy us to get back at God.

Some days that seems like an old story from childhood—as distant and unreal as fairy princesses and knights on horseback. Other days, it’s as real as the headlines ticking across the screen, and I can feel hot dragon breath on my neck.

What’s important for us? Know the battle is real and so is the enemy. Know his time is close to an end. Know we need not fear, for he is defeated. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4).

Remember: As pathetic and weak as we are, He is so close that we feel it too, and it gives us strength to endure the dragon’s fury.

(Excerpted from Running from a Crazy Man (and other adventures traveling with Jesus).)

An Open Letter to the Dragon (on the death of the saints) https://t.co/oBWrNdGSvO #Easter #COVID19

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) April 6, 2020