As our breakneck tour through the music of the Jesus Movement comes to an end, there is no better place to conclude than the climactic battle between good and evil. Mike Johnson’s powerful imagining of this last great confrontation is well worth a listen not just for its excellent horn section (which adds meatiness to its tale of destruction) but also for the its exploration of the horror of the final battle, a theme which is often lost in Christian rock focused on Christ’s return.
To understand exactly what Mike is talking about in this
song, it’s necessary to have a basic understanding of the “millennium”
described in chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation. The chapter imagines the
arrival of an angel who “seized the dragon, that ancient
serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years”.
During this period, those who had died for Jesus “came to life and reigned with
Christ a thousand years”. This thousand year period has been hugely
controversial, for it seems to presume that there will be a physical reign of
Christ on earth, in which the Saints (who are currently persecuted) will
finally enjoy dominion. Because this point of view imagines Jesus returning
before the millennium, it is often called premillennialism.
As a result of some of the more elaborate ideas advocated by extreme
premillennialists (Free food! Free drink! Free sex!), the belief was generally
discouraged from the time of St. Augustine (354-430) onwards. Augustine claimed
that Revelation 20 did not actually refer to any future period of time, but
instead represented a spiritual binding of Satan which took place at the resurrection
of Christ (amillennialism – or “no
millennium”). Despite the continued antipathy of most of the divines in my Fantasy
Theologians all-time best XI (Aquinas, Luther, Calvin), the belief in a premillennial
return of Christ persisted and was espoused by both radicals (see the carnage
at Münster) and conservatives (see 17th century Cambridge professor
Joseph Mede). For the sake of completeness I should also mention a final millennial
position – the idea that everything will slowly improve, and Christ will return
at the end of the millennium. This form of postmillennialism
is far too optimistic for nearly everybody on our countdown, with the exception
of “The Spokesmen” from last week (“What about the Peace Corps organization? Don’t forget the work of the
United Nations” – thanks boys, we won’t!).
Indeed, nearly all of our song writers so far have
imagined a premillennial return of Christ. Yet despite predicting a thousand
years of peace, Revelation also tell us that “when the
thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the
four corners of the earth”. Premillennialists therefore believe that Satan will
gather together all of those who have secretly resented Christ’s rule and march
“across the breadth of the earth” to surround “the camp of God’s people, the
city he loves.” We might well ask exactly where these rebels will come from –
after all, a thousand years of peace reigned over by Christ sounds pretty good.
Yet as premillennialists are quick to remind us, people who never knew the old
world of sin will be born during the millennium. Not all of them will become
Christians. Engaging in a form of nostalgia even more socially damaging than discussing
old episodes of Doctor Who online,
these people will yearn for the mystical past in which they were free from
Christ’s “dictatorship”. These are the people that Satan will mislead and cause
to march against God for this final battle. Of course, things won’t go well –
God destroys them by fire and consign Satan to suffer for all eternity – but that
doesn’t mean that Mike doesn’t succeed in making a stirring song out of the
whole affair.
One of the many musicians to come
out of the Jesus Movement, Mike Johnson cut this record in 1972, and has
released things sporadically ever since. I view this song as a bit of a lost
apocalyptic gem, and was glad to see that Mike still seems to be around (i.e.
he has a MySpace page) – and has released some new music over the past couple
of years.
The Last Battle (Johnson, 1972)
Ringlings,
jinglings, hoof beats in the air
The sound of
an army, giving me a scare
The
munching, the punching
Soldiers marching
feet
The smell of
new armour where the air was sweet
Pillage,
pillage came from everywhere
Up on the
mountains to stand on long roads bare
I said to
God, what can this be?
He said to
me boy, come tap on me
My Lord, my
Lord how can this be?
Where the
fathers and the brothers,
Those who
you set free?
He said “Men
are not happy, though they know no pain
They will
not be contented boy, while I have my reign
One thousand
years, they have had their fill
Now they
rebel at the beauty of my will!”
Man child,
man child what have you done?
Man child,
try to find the holy one!
Millions,
millions came dressed in white,
The beauty of the glory, set fire to the night,
The beauty of the glory, set fire to the night,
They came to
the mountains, the valley down below
To fight the
greatest battle that
Men had ever known
I had to
look away, I could see no more
But read it
in the book my friend it’s what it’s written for
It is the
greatest battle that men shall ever see
And then and
then, we’ll have no war, finally to be free
Man child, man child,
what have you done?
Man child try to find the holy one!
Man child try to find the holy one!
Listen on Spotify: Apopalypse: Apocalyptic Advent Calendar
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