Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Satan is no match for God’s might. Michael does the kicking-butt in Revelation, but it’s just a metaphorical stand-in for Jesus’ defeat of death on the cross. (Metzger p. 74) These images of spiritual warfare still hold many modern believers who take them as literal and ongoing, which I can’t do. But on the other hand, while I don’t believe there are demons and dragons out there battling angels in some dimension we can’t perceive, I absolutely do believe that humanity is under attack by its enslavement to wealth and power and fame and its desire for ease and comfort. These addiction cause us to victimize, oppress, exploit, and otherwise cause incredible harm to our neighbors and, by these acts, to our own souls, separating us from God by leading us to give into the temptation to put ourselves in God’s place.
Is God just standing by and letting this happen? Isn’t there some kind of heavenly counter-attack happening? I think so. It’s to be found in God’s potent inspiration of faithful Christians who follow in Jesus’ way of radical welcome; in God’s potent inspiration of any and all faithful in every culture and faith throughout the world who proclaim this same message of radical welcome, simplified lifestyles, love and service; in God’s potent inspiration of philosophers and poets and social commentators—even if they don’t believe in God!—who proclaim this same message in different words. These people are all around us, have been all around us for thousands of years.
Sadly, at the present moment in our history, it feels as though almost no one is listening. The dragons and demons tighten their grasp on the world’s resources and create chaos and preach hatred in order to distract those who might unite against them by pitting them against each other. There are so very very few voices of reason, of measured generosity and objectivity, who are calling us to set aside our egos and our devaluing of one another in order to work together for the good of others. We need those voices to be louder. We need God to amplify their witness. And we need to pray and show up in whatever way we can to turn the tide.
Do I believe in spiritual warfare? In what way? What is my role in bringing about God’s loving will for creation?
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Metzger, Bruce M. Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1993.
