As you view this painting, look beyond the masks… peer through the charades. Some of the barriers we face are nothing more than hollow facades. The Lamb establishes our paths… opening what no one may shut, even as he makes war upon our enemies… whipping them up into a frenzy amidst his most fierce peace and power. They have become like little kites shredding in a tempest, as they hear the death rattle of the accuser… silenced by a hole in the head.
For followers of Jesus, the territory we inhabit here on earth would not best be described as neutral. There are forces which work to undermine our freedom… to usurp Christ’s victorious voice in us. We face opposition from sources unseen… from the world… and from within. Chief among the strategies employed against us are falsehood, deception, illusion… the LIE. And… these hold no power over those who would resist. The Lamb alone will make final determinations. His will be the last word. We hold fast.
Revelation 3:7-9
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
“‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.’”
Revelation 12:10-12
And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them!
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring