Ever since Toto discovered someone behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz, we’ve been fascinated by what lies behind the scenes. What we easily detect with our eyes are external things, but what is really going on? Are there unseen realities behind the unfolding events on earth? Is there an explanation for the chaos that has engulfed our planet almost from the beginning?

To really understand the events in today’s world—and the personal battles we face—we need a look behind the scenes. When we open the covers of our Bibles, we find the real story—an epic conflict between an infinite and holy God and a rebel named Satan and his armies of fallen angels. This world is the battleground, and each one of us is caught up in the conflict.

The Battle Commences

When we read about the horrors of the Holocaust, the wars now raging in places like the Middle East, the rising violence in our cities, and the horror of school shootings—how do we account for all of this? How do we explain the presence of so much evil in the world and in the human heart?

It goes all the way back to the rebellion led by the archangel Lucifer, as described in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. The name “Lucifer” means “shining one” or “morning star” or “son of the dawn.” When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Latin, the word was “Lucifer.” In Latin, light is lux, and ferre means “to bring or to carry.” The early English translators picked up the Latin “Lucifer” and used it in their versions.

In Ezekiel 28:15, the Lord told him, “You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you” (NIV). Many commentators point to this one verse as the best biblical insight into the origin of evil. It arose in the heart of an archangel who became jealous of God. Lucifer rebelled, taking with him a third of the angels of heaven (Revelation 12:4).

His hatred for God fueled his desire to ruin God’s creation and to rule it for himself, and that’s why he showed up in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3.

The Battle Compresses

From the moment Satan tempted Adam and Eve until the coming of Christ, the devil had a field day. The whole earth was his playground. But suddenly the playground compressed to a very small battleground called Calvary. God Himself became human and intervened to save the human race. Satan raged against Jesus—killing the babies of Bethlehem in an effort to destroy Him, tempting Him as He began His ministry, swarming his demons around His majestic presence, sifting the disciples like wheat, entering Judas, who betrayed Him, and finally arranging for His brutal flogging and torturous death.

Hell rejoiced for three days. Then Jesus rose from the tomb—alive, imperishable, invincible, victorious, and Lord of heaven and earth. Satan was crushed beneath the resurrected heel of the Son of God.

The Battle Continues

Our defeated enemy is still dangerous. Just as a rattlesnake can still strike its victims after its head is severed, so Satan still strikes out at us. That’s why the Bible warns us to take our stand against “the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). We must “resist the devil” (James 4:7) and be sober and vigilant because he stalks us, seeking to devour us (1 Peter 5:8).

Thomas Brooks, a seventeenth-century Puritan who wrote a book titled Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, said, “Satan, being fallen from light to darkness, from felicity to misery, from heaven to hell, from an angel to a devil, is so full of malice and envy that he will leave no means unattempted, whereby he may make all others eternally miserable with himself.”¹

This presents a clear and present danger for us, but the end of the struggle is in sight.

The Bible Concludes

This epic battle isn’t going to rage on forever. The Bible takes us behind the scenes to show us its conclusion. I’ve found tremendous comfort in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Revelation, and throughout the rest of Scripture. Let me give you a summary of what I’ve learned.

At any moment, Jesus will come for His people, and we will be caught up into the air with Him (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Amid the ensuing chaos on earth, a powerful leader will emerge and make a seven-year treaty with Israel, God’s chosen people (Daniel 9:27). Tribulation will reign on earth (Matthew 24:3-14). Midway through the Israeli treaty, this evil dictator will set up his image in the Jewish temple and demand to be worshiped (Daniel 11:31; Matthew 24:15; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:14-15). This leader will be supercharged with such satanic power he will become like an evil beast (Revelation 13:1)—the Antichrist (1 John 2:18). All this will unleash three-and-a-half years of “great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world… no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21).

The Man of Lawlessness, the Antichrist, will gather the armies of the world to the Valley of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16) and surround Jerusalem in an attempt to destroy God’s chosen people and thwart the return of Christ (Ezekiel 38; Zechariah 12–14). Just when it seems all hope is gone, “Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven… and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).

“Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives” (Zechariah 14:3-4).

The hostile armies will be incinerated, and the Antichrist will be cast into hell (Revelation 19:20). Jesus will enter Jerusalem and establish a golden age of one thousand years (Revelation 20:1-6). The devil will breathe a last gasp of rebellion and be cast into hell to be “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10), and “the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat” (2 Peter 3:10).

“Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). And that’s how God’s epic story ends: “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 21:1) with its gleaming capital city, New Jerusalem (Revelation 21–22).

No sin. No suffering. No Satan.

I want to suggest that you cannot understand the times in which we live—or the trials which you may be facing—without looking behind the scenes at the arc of redemptive history amid a battle that commences in the Garden of Eden, constricts to a patch of ground called Calvary, continues through the age of the Church, and concludes “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels…. when He comes, in that Day, to be glorified in His saints and to be admired among all those who believe” (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 10).

I hope this look behind the curtain will give you an understanding of the nature of evil and a grasp of the victory God has provided through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Our best strategy is staying close to Him. The same passage that tells us to “resist the devil” advises us to “draw near to God” (James 4:7-8). The psalmist said, “But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God” (Psalm 73:28).

We draw near to God when we trust Jesus Christ as our Warrior-Savior who can free us from the grip of sin and from the grasp of Satan. We draw near when we renounce sinful habits that “war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). We draw near to Christ when we open His Word each day and hallow a daily time for fellowship with Him in prayer and Bible study. And we draw near to Him when we trust Him with all the issues of life and death.

Behind today’s headlines stands an unseen conflict. Behind tomorrow’s hope stands an empty tomb. And above it all stands our victorious Lord, who will soon make all things new. Focus your mind on Him!

1 Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices (Philadelphia, PA: Jonathan Pounder, 1810), 3-4.