There are soldiers (us) living in this great city which has different kinds of ammunitions and defensive weapons. This city has one greatest enemy (Satan) who is always roaming around the invisible wall (grace) that surrounds the city looking for any loop holes or entry points. But there are no loop holes, the great general (God) of the city has created the wall to be so strong that even the greatest attacks (lies/deception) of the enemy does not penetrate it.
You see, the soldiers of this great city have once belonged to the enemy’s kingdom but because “the great general” loved them so much, He went to the enemy’s kingdom and He purchased them in exchange of His only Son (Jesus Christ) so that they may live with Him in His city free from the oppression from the enemy.
The Son however did not stay with the enemy for long. “The great general” sent through His army and took His Son back from the enemy’s kingdom after three days and the Son returned to rule in the city with His father. This angered the enemy so much because he now realized that he had lost both the soldiers and the Son of “the great general”. So he tried with everything that he had to bring back to his kingdom as many soldiers as possible but after several attempts on bringing down this great invisible wall, the enemy realizes that all the attacks that he comes up with are being neutralized by this wall, so He called upon his entire loudest, largest, scariest and ugliest beasts in his kingdom to come and surround the city.
However, the beasts still had no power over this great invisible wall.
After saving His soldiers, “the great general” and His Son knew that the enemy will not rest and that He will want to take them back into his kingdom so “the great general” gave to each and every one of His soldiers an invisible armor to wear so that they can protect themselves against the enemy. This armor is made of the breastplate (righteousness), belt (of truth), shoes (of peace), helmet (salvation), shield (of faith), sword (of the spirit/Word of God) and He told to each and every one of them to come and talk to Him (prayer) if they are ever attacked by the enemy or if they ever need anything else. “The great general” and His Son also warned the soldiers that the armor on its own will not completely protect them if they are not communicating with them (prayer). However, the general loved His soldiers so much that He also gave them the freedom to enter and exit the city (God’s grace) at any time that they wanted.
So after careful observation, the enemy realizes that most of the soldiers are walking inside the city freely (relaxed/passiveness) without any fear or worry about him and some even walk in and out the city gates freely (backsliding and coming back to God) because of the freedom that “the great general” and His Son has entrusted them with so the enemy positioned all his beasts around the main city gates and he instructed them to roar, shout, and grumble as loud as they could making so much noise outside the great city wall that everyone of the soldiers could hear the noise so loud in their ears that they panicked and fear within them started to grow so much.
“The great general” and His Son heard the noise and they saw their soldiers running around in panic but because they were now living with them in the city, they reached out to the soldiers. They sent someone (The Holy Spirit) to remind them of the love that they have for them and all the power that they possess but most of them could not hear Him because the noise outside the walls was so great. He reminded them of what He did for them when He sent His only Son to save them but they had heard this story a million times before so they didn’t even what to hear it again for time of terror was near them. He reminded them of the armor that He gave to them to wear but from their point of view, the enemy appeared to be stronger; He looked as though he could rip the armor single handedly so the soldiers still did not believe that the armor could protect them. Some looked around and because the city wall and the armor was invisible; they could not believe that it can save them.
In fact, most of them ran out of the city (the only place of sanctuary) and they went to the corners of the earth looking for the solutions against the attacks from the enemy. As they were getting out of the city gates the enemy was busy instructing his army so attack them one at the time because they were now divided and where out of the protection of “the great general”, His Son and His city; the enemy took them back into his kingdom and he used them to do his evil works and they were now attacking the city themselves.
So “The great general” and His Son called for an agent meeting with the soldiers for they could see that some of their precious soldiers were taken but most of the soldiers (lukewarm people) were still afraid after what had happened so they stayed behind in the city wall with fear of the enemy and they waited and watched with fear as the enemy took their brothers and sisters into captivity. The enemy came back and in their view point, he was even more powerful this time around because his army had grown and it was filled with confidence. The enemy started saying how weak “the great general” was and it said all sort of thing about how bad the city was and those who were standing by the walls believed the enemy and they let go of their armor and went out of the city and they follow the ways of the enemy (“two kings cannot rule the land at once”).
Some soldiers (religious without God) were very enraged about what the enemy did so they didn’t listen to “the great general” as He called for a meeting so they went after the enemy by themselves wearing only the armor for they believed in the things that “the great general” and His Son had given to them but not in Him and His power. When the enemy saw that they were by themselves he quickly attacked their armor starting with their belt (of truth) which ripped the rest of their armor apart for they were not with “the great general” (“Who is the truth, the way and the life”) and they also follow the ways of the enemy while they are still thinking that they are fighting against the enemy.
Some who were left behind held on to “the great general” and His Son under protection of the city while wearing their armor for they could see that as long as they are with “the great general” and His Son the enemy was not able to attack them and as much as he made lot of noise they could see that he was not doing anything to harm them for they were with “the great general” and they could speak with Him every day and they put on the armor and they couldn’t get tired of wearing the armor because they were with Him and they were getting new strength from Him everyday as they hear from Him.
Now at the meeting, “the great general” and His Son said to them “I have given you everything for free and everything which is in this city is yours and you do not have to work for it for I the great general will always provide to you. So, don’t worry about what you’ll wear or eat for I am with you. Now, I want you to go to the enemy’s kingdom and bring the soldiers which have been taken by the enemy back in to the city – For freely you live in this city and freely you shall allow your brothers and sisters to come back and live in this city with you”.
But most of the soldiers did not receive this word well; some were so afraid for they saw what the enemy did to their brothers and sisters and they did not want to hear anything about what the enemy is doing so when the enemy returned he slowly manipulated them that they ended up seeing themselves as the same with the armies of the enemy. So they served the general while doing things which is done by the army of the enemy.
Some were very comfortable because the great general was providing to them everything that they wanted and needed, so let go of the armor and when the enemy returned he found that their armor was nowhere to be found and he took them as well and they followed his ways.
And some choose to listen and obey “the great general” and His Son; they went out there and talked about the greatness of “the great general” and His Son and they also talked about the city and its great wall of strength and protection as well as all the riches which are available in it. They convinced those soldiers who were taken captive by the enemy to let go of the things of the enemy and come back into the city which has the “river of live” that flows through it – some accepted and some refused. Thousands and thousands of soldiers, who were taken by the enemy, were now returned back to the city and every time when the soldiers were returned; the general would throw a party and there was a big celebration.
All the soldiers who remained by “the great general”, those who went to look for those who where in captivity and those who returned back to the city were largely rewarded by “the great general” and His Son and He allowed them to live with Him forever and enjoyed the His riches together with Him forever. However, those who stayed with the enemy where all destroyed by the armies of “the great general” and His Son and they all died.
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 25: 45-51
