The Scope of Revelation

Last month ABC News reported that soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are using rifle scopes that bear Bible verses such as 2 Corinthians 4:6 "For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.." That verse is engraved in the tiny letters "2COR4:6" on the scopes, made by Trijicon, a Michigan-based manufacturer. See Article.

Other references include verses from the books of Revelation, Matthew and John, such as JN8:12, "Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." ABC has a slideshow of Trijicon scopes and verses here.

Trijicon has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide 800,000 more sights to the Marine Corps and the U.S. Army. And get this! The scopes are called the Trijicon Revelation, apparently in reference to the New Testament book. Just what we need! More propaganda ammunition for Al-Qaeda, who already recruits suicide bombers by portraying Americans as Crusaders invading Muslim lands!

Fortunately, in response to the recent publicity, Trijicon has agreed to stop putting the references on products supplied to the military, (article) but the propaganda battle has already been lost.

Revelation pictures a war between good and evil. Revelation 12:7 says, "War broke out in heaven." The war begins in heaven between the Dragon (Satan) and his angels versus the archangel Michael and his angels. Then the fighting quickly spreads to earth. But it is not won by high-powered scopes on semi-automatic rifles. It says, "They defeated him through the blood of the Lamb and the bold word of their witness." (Rev. 12:11)

The spiritual battle is not against enemies of flesh and blood. It is a spiritual battle against spiritual foes. (Ephesians 6:12) But this spiritual battle is just as dangerous as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also involves physical death for the human combatants. It says of these spiritual freedom fighters, "They weren't in love with themselves; they were willing to die for Christ." The Biblical word for witness is martus, meaning martyr. We overcome by the blood of Christ and our witness to that victory on the Cross!

"They weren't in love with themselves...." Our biggest problem is that we are in love with ourselves, and therefore are not willing to give up anything, much less die, for Christ. Men and women enlist by the thousands to die for their country, but how many are willing to die for their Lord?

Just for the record, I have great respect for the young men and women in uniform fighting overseas. They are willing to lay down their lives for a cause. I only wish that more Christians would be willing to lay down their lives in the nonviolent war of the spiritual cause of Christ. That is where the victory will be won according to Revelation.