The Arm of the Lord

1 – Jerusalem, Sometime In the Future
Dark storm clouds obscured the sky adding to the foreboding aura.  Black-slimy vicious demons darted in and out of the vaporous overcast.  The maddened hoard’s advance towards Jerusalem appeared as angry waves, a sea of humanity shouting and cursing, as Jeremiah road towards the Temple Mount.  He could almost feel the rage and virulent hate.  In front of the opposition, mounted on a white stallion prancing back and forth, was the dragon of old.  Satan himself was leading his forces against the Righteous One in the Holy City.
    Jeremiah dismounted his horse, hesitating for a moment to remove his sword from its sheath.  He stood transfixed, gazing at the weapon he had not held for a thousand years, but then refocused on the situation at hand.  He hurried towards his assigned position on the East Wall of the Temple Mount, directly above the Golden Gate. Upon reaching his position the scene before him was surreal. As far as the eye could see there were hordes of humanity, mobilized for an attack on the City of Peace.
          At first Jeremiah hardly noticed David had taken his place beside him.  Without even looking over he asked David, “Did you bring your sling?”  
“I brought a bow and arrows,” David answered soberly.  
Jeremiah frowned, looking down at the smaller man, “I knew that story about you killing a giant with a rock was a bunch of bull!”  
David instantly reacted, “It was not. . .”  Then noticing the calm smile on Jeremiah’s face he laughed and laughed, uproarious laughter.  The men around them on the wall, and even the faithful angels standing ready, didn’t know what David was laughing about.  Nevertheless, they were strengthened thinking he was laughing at the opposition, taunting anyone who would come against the God of Israel.
David looked quizzically at his old friend, “How in the world did it ever come to this?”  
Jeremiah’s mind drifted back a thousand years when he was just an unknown writer living peacefully with his dog in Alaska.  He had every intention of living out his life as unnoticed and uninvolved as possible.  However, that was before God called him, and before he fell in love with her.  Jeremiah had, in fact, experienced much of how ‘it had come to this;’ times of tribulation intermingled with endearing love.  Jeremiah and his beloved had been just two of many caught up in the cosmic struggle between light and darkness.