For as long as mankind has existed, stories of mythical warrior gods have fascinated and terrified people of all ages.

The ancients in Mesopotamia followed them, the Egyptians worshipped them, the Greeks, Norwegians and Hindus were terrorized by them.

Hollywood is no stranger to make-believe superpowers doing battle over planets and galaxies with mankind’s future hanging in the balance (thank heaven for CGI).

It seems to be in our DNA.

The Only Real Warrior God

So, with Memorial Day firmly in mind, I propose that we remember the only factual, bona fide Warrior God that has ever actually lived

Two millennia ago, He visited planet Earth in the form of a mild-mannered low-born carpenter from Nazareth (I can’t help thinking of the parallel with legendary mild-mannered reporter from The Daily Planet newspaper from the city of Metropolis). 

This humble Nazarene set about confronting evil in all its forms and always came out the victor. And along the way, He seemed to stir up alien spiritual powers who were dead set on opposing and destroying Him.

Something about this seemingly ordinary man terrified evil spirits, threatened principalities and powers, and befuddled the Prince of the Power of the Air, Satan. (See Ephesians 2:2)

Jesus of Nazareth had few friends and seemed to be preoccupied with a divine mission that even those closest to Him could not understand.

But He pressed on and could not rest until He had fulfilled the covenant that He and His Heavenly Father had made to rescue mankind.

Our Heavenly Champion

The Apostle Paul put Christ’s “mission statement” this way in Colossians 2:14-15:

“… (Jesus) having canceled the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.”

In a previous essay, I wrote, “Some 2,000 years ago, an epic battle was fought in the spiritual realm between an enormous concentration of dark spiritual forces set against a lone, despised carpenter’s son from a tiny village in a vanquished country under the heel of its Roman master.

“The stakes could not have been higher, nor the weapons more lethal. The future of the entire human race hung in the balance. Satan and his minions would not give them up easily.

“This was a fight to the death.

“This sacrificial Lamb had been selected by Almighty God to be mankind’s spiritual Champion. It hardly seemed fair, with billions of fierce principalities and powers arrayed against this singular mutilated figure nailed ‘helplessly’ from a cruel cross of execution.

“In Luke 4:17-19, Jesus had once said, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me … He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives … To set free those who are oppressed.’”

Our Divine Rescuer

But Christ didn’t stop there. As explained in Ephesians 2, once He had released us from our bondage to Satan, He scooped us (sincere believers) up and parachuted us smack dab into the middle of His eternal Father’s house:

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our wrongdoings, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the boundless riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Rewards for the Faithful

Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He made sure His faithful followers were reminded of what was waiting for them when they ended their earthly sojourns and joined Jesus in His celestial kingdom:

As noted in Luke 22:28-30, “You are the ones who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

At first the plan for mankind’s redemption was a secret between God the Father and God the Son.

Then following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension — and Satan’s final defeat — there was no more need for secrecy. The war was over.

How About You?

History tells us repeatedly that Freedom is never free — someone always pays.

In 1 Peter 1:18-19, the Apostle Peter reminds us: “… knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

Remember always what Jesus did for you.

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Click here for a fascinating AI-generated podcast on this essay.