In charge of the king's army was a great commander. The king had given him power for good and everyone obeyed the commander, and the commander obeyed the king. But in the commander’s heart hid a single seed of darkness. If the commander had only admitted to fault, perhaps everything would have been fine. But the commander was proud, and he hid the badness growing inside him.
One day, the commander gave in to the badness, and he turned suddenly upon the loyal soldiers and convinced them that the king was evil. The soldiers who believed him went with him to storm the palace. The rest of the soldiers who were still loyal told the king as fast as they could. Now the king was a strong man, and he could have easily defeated the commander. But in a fight, the people who didn’t know what was happening would follow the commander, not seeing that they were fighting their beloved king. So the king was forced to wait for the message to spread.
Some of the people of the nation just didn’t know that the commander had betrayed the king. Some knew, but were too afraid to tell anyone. Others knew and just wanted to follow the commander, for he promised riches to all who would betray the king. Some realized he was evil, but they were afraid that since they had followed the commander for a time, the king would be angry and treat them as the traitors they were. Very few knew about the betrayal and followed the true king. These few worked hard to be good enough to appease the king.
The ones that were working hard to belong with the king knew they weren’t good enough to ever make up for how they had betrayed him before they realizied exactly what was happening. The king saw this problem, and he wanted them to be safe inside his palace, but betrayers weren’t allowed in his palace. So, he sent out his only son, the prince, to trade him for the ones who trusted the king. The prince was not a traitor, so he could switch places with all the people and be the commander’s prisoner instead. So the commander had some of the people strike the prince. Everyone who saw and still trusted the king were sad and mourned, for now they believed no one could save them. But the prince was so great and powerful and loving that he stood up, and everyone saw he had only been hurt on his heel!
All of the people who trusted the king were taken back to the palace, where they were safe, and the prince was strong enough to escape the commander’s clutches. But some of the people didn’t see that they could go to the palace, or they didn't believe it, so the ones who understood, did their best to spread the message that the prince had saved them, and he had not forgotten them. The saved people in the palace asked the king to go and fight off the commander, but he knew that anyone still out there who hadn’t had a chance at freedom yet would be killed during the fight. So he waits now, waiting for his people to believe him and enter the palace.
Someday, when everyone has entered the palace who will, the king and the prince with the loyal soldiers will ride out and conquer the commander and his evil troops. But now, until everyone has heard, we must wait. For we are the people who are loved by the king. The king is God. The prince is Jesus Christ, the one who died for us. The loyal soldiers are angels, invisible but watching out for us. The commander is Satan, the betrayer. The unloyal soldiers are fallen angels. The King is waiting for us to spread the word, so that we will be safe when the final battle comes. Are you ready to help spread the word? Send this to two other people, or show someone else this blog, until everyone has heard.
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