Views: 75
[Note: This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 3 page.]
To the entire ungodly world, it appears that Truth and goodness are weak. Most certainly, error and evil have the vast majority of men and the preponderance of wealth and power on their side. With manifestations all about us of Paul’s inspired axiom that “evil men and imposters shall wax worse and worse” (2 Tim. 3:13), even the elect sometimes despair of being victorious. In fact, many who once stood with us have lost sight of spiritual verities and have defected to the camp of the enemy. However, in spite of all of these realities about the power of evil and error, there is no clearer message in the Bible, from beginning to end, than that Truth will triumph at last.
The very fact that God, the Almighty, the Supreme One, is the source of all good, necessarily implies the eventual triumph of good over evil. God’s promise of Christ’s victory over Satan (Gen. 3:15) is a promise of the eventual final triumph of Truth over error. The preservation of humanity because of the goodness of one family in Noah’s wicked generation foreshadowed this final triumph. The outpouring of plagues on Egypt and the liberation of Israel from bondage typifies that final conquest of all evil. The driving out of the evil Canaanites and the inheritance of the promised land foreshadow the final solution to the problem of evil. To the discouraged, downtrodden disciples of the Asian churches, the consoling message of The Revelation preaches triumph for the unfaltering.
The great victory to be won in Christ has two aspects. First, it must be considered from the standpoint of each individual Christian. We all have the personal duty to “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling” faithfully (Phi. 2:12). We must “not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal. 6:9). We will be glorified with Christ only if we have suffered with Him (Rom. 8:17). The “crown of righteousness” is reserved for those who have “fought the good fight” (2 Tim. 4:7–8).
The second aspect of the great victory of good over evil will be the final overthrow of all evil and the consignment of the prince of all evil to Hell. This will occur when Christ returns, raises the dead, judges all men, destroys the material universe, and takes his people away to the prepared place (John 14:3; Phi. 3:20; 1 Pet. 1:4). Only those who remain steadfast and immovably faithful to Christ through all the temptations and trials of their personal pilgrimages will be partakers in His final great triumph (1 Cor. 15:58; 2 The. 1:4–10).
[Note: I wrote this article for and it was published in The Lighthouse, weekly bulletin of Northpoint Church of Christ, Denton, TX, February 18, 2007, of which I was editor.]
Attribution: From thescripturecache.com; Dub McClish, owner and administrator.
