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It Is Written Canada

Star Wars

Chris Holland

1. The Birth of the Controversy

God's book, the Bible, still relevant in today's complex world.

It is written sharing messages of hope around the world.

In 1975, a young director by the name of George Lucas began to conceive and write the story of a young boy by the name of Anakin Skywalker.

As he wrote more and more, his idea became a full script of 6 movies, 2 trilogies.

Almost all of them rejected his idea as silly.

1 studio, however, 20th Century Fox, went out on a limb to support his idea.

Work immediately began on the second of those trilogies, and in May of 1977, Star Wars, A New Hope was released.

It became the highest grossing film of all time at the time.

The second movie followed in 1980 with The Empire Strikes Back.

And then the third movie, Return of the Jedi, debuted in 1983.

The Star Wars trilogy became a timeless classic appealing to all ages.

It was so successful because it depicted the classic battle of good versus evil.

Toys, games, comics, all came exploding with the growth of the brand.

Then in 1999, after 16 years, the prequel trilogy debuted, giving the history of the birth of evil.

In 2015, after 10 years and the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney, the sequel trilogy began with The Force Awakens.

Make no mistake about it, this classic battle of good versus evil falls into the movie genre of science fiction.

And by using the illustration of these movies and sharing the title with this series, I am in no way suggesting that you view any of these films because the reality is, friends, we do not need to watch some film to experience Star Wars.

Each and every day, we all live in a Star Wars battle of good versus evil.

There is a constant struggle between right and wrong.

And the events unfolding around us are a demonstration of that battle between good and evil.

Many questions arise as we talk about good and evil.

And what is my role in this whole situation?

But the most important question is, who or what will be victorious?

Over the next several weeks, we will delve behind the scenes and explore the foundational events of history that define the battle of good versus evil and its impact not only for each of us personally and globally, but also for the very universe at large.

First, we must clearly identify who the players are in this battle of good versus evil.

The Bible gives clear evidence to the rise of evil and the development of this battle between good and evil.

Now, someone watching It is Written for the first time might ask, how can I trust the Bible?

I'd encourage you to go to our website, itiswrittencanada.ca, and there you can go to our archives and find the program, The Book That Couldn't Be Silenced.

Or you can go to our YouTube page and find it there.

You see, this book, the Bible, can be trusted And it tells the story of good versus evil.

Who are the players in this great battle of good and evil?

Jesus himself defines clearly who is good in this battle and who is the author of all good things.

In fact, in Matthew, the 19th chapter and verse 17, he says this, No 1 is good but 1, that is, God.

And then as we go to the Old Testament, Psalm 52 outlines the reality.

And Psalm 145 and verse 9 goes on to state this, The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.

And then James chapter 1 and verse 17 makes this very promise.

Every good gift and Every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." And in 1 of the most quoted Bible passages, 1 John chapter 4, and in verse 16, it says this, 1 John 4, and we have known and believed the love that God has for us.

God is love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him.

We could spend an entire show, in fact an entire series, delving further into the depths of God's love and goodness.

But today I'm looking to simply establish that God is good.

The book of Revelation tells the story, a tragic story in fact.

Somehow and someway there was war in heaven.

In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, chapter 12 and beginning in verse 7, the Bible says this, "...and war broke out in heaven." Just that phrase alone should raise our eyebrow.

Now We'll talk about that in just a moment.

Michael and his angels fought the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

But they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

He was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

In a fascinating turn of events, the Bible says that there was war in heaven.

Why was there war in heaven and where did this dragon come from?

Today, my friends, we will look and find the answer to that question.

Who is the dragon that the Bible calls a serpent?

The book of Ezekiel chapter 28 gives us the beginnings and the history of the evil 1.

Ezekiel chapter 28 outlines for us the history of this foe.

Beginning in verse 11, the Bible says this, "'Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, "'Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord God, You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

You were in Eden, the garden of God, every precious stone was your covering, The sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold, the workmanship of your timbrels and pipes, was prepared for you on the day you were created.

You walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones.

You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you.

By the abundance of your trading you became filled with violence within and you sinned.

Therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God.

And I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery storms.

Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.

You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor." The first question that comes to mind as we read this passage, what in the world does the King of Tyre have to do with the battle of good versus evil?

Now as we look at this passage, friends, we will become aware that everything is not as it seems.

The first 2 verses tell us very quickly that this is a word from the Lord and is directed to the King of Tyre.

Now Tyre was 1 of the main city states of the Phoenician Empire.

2. Hope Rises

The story begins sometime in the ancient past.

The Bible doesn't tell us exactly when, but sometime there in the ancient past.

The Bible in Genesis chapter 1 tells the story, tells us of the event of God creating the heavens and the earth.

The Bible says he created this earth in 6 literal days, and he rested on the seventh day.

But during those 6 literal days, he made a beautiful place where there was perfect harmony.

No death, no dying, no pain, no sorrow, perfect harmony between everything.

And on the earth, he created a garden And the garden was a special dwelling place for the first human beings that he had created, Adam and Eve.

And he looked around, and God brought all the animals, and Adam named all of those animals.

And I Imagine in my mind as Adam named the lion, God said to Adam, you know, I made this lion just for you, Adam.

And when Adam named the great egret, he said, you know, this egret, I made it thinking of you, Adam.

And when he walked next to the roses, God said, Eve, I made these flowers just for you.

I need to be secure in knowing that you will obey me no matter what the circumstances.

1 day Eve found herself wandering and she ended up by that tree that God said, don't eat from it.

There at the tree, Satan, who had been cast out of heaven, disguised himself as a serpent and began speaking to Eve.

He began to say to her things like, you're going to reach a higher plane, Eve.

You're going to reach heights you've never reached if you eat from this tree.

If you eat from this tree, Eve, you will become like God Himself.

And in a moment of weakness, Eve took from the tree and she ate.

Then she brought it to Adam and Adam faced a monumental choice.

His choice was to either trust God, that God would come up with some type of plan, somehow, some way he could do something or Adam could maneuver and make his own way.

And so the testimony of the Bible is that instead of trusting God, Adam, not deceived by the serpent, made a choice, his own choice, to partake of the fruit in a demonstration of his lack of trust in God.

In that moment, the dominoes began to fall.

I can imagine in my mind for just a moment, and I am speculating just a bit, but I can imagine that when Adam partook of the fruit, all of a sudden everything changed.

They knew it had changed because the Bible says that they realized that they were naked.

Their eyes had been opened and in that very moment everything changed.

The lion would no longer lay with the lamb.

The leopard would no longer be friends with the fawn.

Right in that very moment, the flowers began to wilt.

The Bible says that Adam and Eve made for themselves coverings.

It is a demonstration of the very crises that we face today.

You see, Adam and Eve made a choice to cover themselves because they wanted to try to cover up what they had done.

Adam and Eve tried to fix their own problem and cover themselves.

So when God arrived on the scene, He began looking for Adam and Eve.

God who communed face to face with Adam and Eve, He communed with them 1 on 1.

And the Bible says that Adam responded, we were hiding, we were afraid, we heard you walking and we were afraid.

Now why, my dear friends, would they be afraid of God?

You see, that's what Satan wants to do to us.

Because when we sin, when we make a choice to not do what God wants us to do.

And as soon as we experience that guilt, we experience fear.

And fear leads to anxiety and anxiety to pain.

And that is exactly what Adam and Eve experienced in that garden.

In that very moment, God had to teach Adam and Eve a lesson.

In the ancient past, God knew that this might happen.

God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit convened a meeting together in the ancient past before the fall of Adam and Eve.

And there Jesus the Son made a decision that He would come and die for humanity.

He would die in our place because the reality is sin demands death.

He pointed forward that Adam and Eve could know that there would be a better time.

Out of the great disappointment of the fall of sin, hope would rise.

Jesus is described throughout the Bible as the Lamb, but in the book of Revelation, 27 times Jesus is referred to as the Lamb.

Revelation 13 and verse 8, in that chapter, right there at the very center is the most important verse of the entire chapter.

It might be the most important verse in the entire Bible.

It speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world.

This is what differentiates the religion of the Bible, the practice of the Bible from other pagan religions.

You see pagan religions the gods demanded a sacrifice.

And here's the difference between the pagan gods and the God of the Bible.

Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice because he didn't demand someone else's life, rather he gave his own life.

But here's the question, the question that many people ask, why did Jesus have to die?

The Bible makes it actually quite clear why Jesus had to die.

Romans, the sixth chapter and verse 23, a verse many may know well, says this, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The demand of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.

Now Hebrews 9.22 tells us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin.

In the Garden of Eden, hope would rise, And it was demonstrated to Adam and Eve.

Well, Leviticus says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood.

Now blood is a multifaceted and multidimensional in its work and its task.

Now when our blood is healthy, when we have good circulation, The blood delivers oxygen to all of our cells.

It carries nutrients to where they need to go.

And then it takes out the waste and removes it out of our body.

And so God uses this illustration that blood cleanses.

Because when you cut yourself and your blood runs and you get it on your white shirt, it stains.

3. The Attack of the Dragon

♪♪ Gaius Julius Phaedrus was a Roman writer of fables in the first century A.D.

However, most historians believe that he lived through the rulership of emperors Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius.

However, he is most well known in history as being the first writer to Latinize an entire book of fables.

While not someone who necessarily made a major impact on much of history, he does have a well-known saying.

He is believed to be the 1 who wrote the words, things are not always what they seem.

The first appearance deceives many, the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden.

As we have looked at the great star wars happening all around us, the ultimate battle of good versus evil, of Christ versus Satan, Many have blamed God for the evil happenings of this world.

Some even refer to the major events of nature as acts of God.

Today, we will take a look behind the scenes of this great cosmic battle of good and evil, And we will see things are not always what they seem, but to the perceptive, believing Bible student, what is behind the scenes will be revealed.

We left off last week understanding how Satan had tempted Adam and Eve to defy and disobey God.

The rebellious spirit born in the garden led to the fall of Adam and Eve and like a cascading domino effect fell upon all of humanity.

Yet remember, in the midst of this tragedy and what appeared to be eternal loss, God gave a promise.

That promise was for a Redeemer to come and bridge the chasm of separation caused by that first sin.

The promise of God in the garden guaranteed the defeat of that old serpent called the devil and Satan.

However, we mustn't become complacent or presumptuous over this promise.

While the promise delivers defeat and forecasts the ultimate victory of God's people, this does not mean that the serpent, the dragon, the old wily foe, the devil, was simply going to go and curl up in a little ball in the corner and cry.

In fact, the Bible is clear that the garden promise drew fury from the dragon.

In fact, the Bible tells us in Revelation chapter 12 and in verse 12, Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.

The word wrath conveys the intense anger, passion, and indignation of the devil.

The devil is unleashing this indignant attack because his time is ticking.

Although the devil knows that he is a defeated foe and he knows that his time is short, the Bible says that he is full of wrath.

First Peter 5 and verse 8 describes those wrathful actions taken by the devil.

1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 8, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

Now this is a telling symbol of a lion roaring.

Now in the wild, a gazelle is faster than a lion at all times.

However, when a lion is chasing a gazelle, it will often roar.

The roar of the lion is so powerful that it throws off the cadence of the gazelle just enough that the lion is able to pounce and grab his prey.

They can be tamed by the 1 who the Bible refers to as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

So in the Garden, God delivered the promise of hope to humankind and the guarantee of the defeat of the devil by the Messiah, Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

Yet what would the devil do with this enormous defeat and such a short time?

He sought revenge upon God's people and the book of Job tells us 1 of the most detailed accounts of the serpent's revenge.

And the book of Job gives us a behind the scenes look at what the goal of Satan is and how he intends to inflict as much pain as possible upon God's people.

Now as you read the book of Job, in chapter 1, we find an interesting scene.

It is described as a meeting of the sons of God.

In Job chapter 1 and verse 6, it tells us the story.

Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord.

And the Lord said to Satan, From where do you come?

So Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it." Scholars and commentators are unsure on who exactly the sons of God are.

However, in a thorough study of the Bible, it seems that these sons of God are actually representatives from the various planets and worlds around the universe that God has created throughout time.

There in the heavenly realms they had gathered for some type of celestial meeting.

It was interrupted by the arrival of the devil.

Now some might rightfully ask the question, how is it that the serpent has come to the heavenly realms?

I thought the book of Revelation said he was kicked out.

That my friends is a very good question and an excellent observation.

Bible commentators seem to indicate that at this meeting, the proper representative from the earth would have been Adam.

After all, the Bible says that God had given him dominion over the earth.

However, because of Adam's disobedience to God and more importantly, his giving in to the temptation of Satan, Adam's rightful spot at this heavenly convocation was actually filled by the serpent.

You see, because of Adam's giving into the devil, he relinquished his right to be the leader of the earth and attend that meeting.

Instead, the devil came as the representative of the earth.

This is why, by the way, the New Testament refers to the devil as the ruler of this world and later as the prince of the power of the air.

Adam gave to the devil the authority God had given to him.

The passage then continues on there in the book of Job, and it says these words, Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, 1 who fears God and shuns evil?

So Satan answered and said to the Lord, "'Does Job fear God for nothing?

Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household and around all that he has on every side, you have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.' And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power only.

Do not lay a hand on his person.' So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord." So here it is.

Satan accuses 1 of God's prized people, 1 of his people.

He accused the man that he served God only because of the material blessings that God had given to him.

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