Spiritual War is Won – Now Rebuild

How do you know that a war is over?  How about when the victor hangs up his weapon? 

I heard a homily once where the priest described the rainbow in Genesis 9:13 as God’s bow, as in bow and arrows.  God hangs his weapon up in the clouds as a sign that he will not flood the world again.  God has won the spiritual war against sin in the world and can hang up his weapon because the threat has been eliminated.    

God tells Noah to be fertile and multiply, abound on earth and subdue it, Gen. 9:7, a clear reflection of the original command to Adam and Eve in Genesis.  It is a time of rebuilding the earth after the destruction of sin.  It is participation in the new creation.  The flood is a prefigure of Baptism; the covenant with Noah a prefigure of the New Covenant established with Jesus.  The Spiritual War is won symbolically in the passage from Genesis, prefiguring the life, death and resurrection of Jesus when it will be won definitively. 

Often we hear preachers, and religious writers urging us to enter into “spiritual battle.”  Or, that we are in a spiritual battle for the souls of the world.  But, it would be more helpful to acknowledge that Jesus has won the battle.  The victory is his.  It is our job now to participate in the new creation of the world.  We must wage spiritual reconstruction, not spiritual battle.