The Romans were an extremely warlike people and as a result, they conquered the world. They even made mortal combat into a sport, and thousands of people cheered as two gladiators fought it out to the death in the Colosseum. Today we are more civilized, we work out our aggressive tendencies in a sports arena of a different sort. Such sports as soccer, volleyball, baseball, basketball, and football have thousands of spectators, called fans, who support a multimillion dollar industry. During the baseball season a team will play 162 games in a grueling contest of skill and endurance, starting in April and ending in September. The basketball season consists of eighty-two games, and the football season has sixteen games. Despite every effort to prevent injuries they do occur, and this seems to happen in frequency and severity in inverse proportion to the number of games played, with baseball having the least and football the most. In each of these sports there is a final contest called a playoff. This playoff series determines the top two teams, and these meet on a final field of battle. In baseball it is called the world series, in basketball it is called the finals, and in football it is called the superbowl. In each of these final conflicts a team ultimately faces its last enemy.
Ever since Lucifer rebelled against God and was expelled from heaven, ever since Adam and Eve became involved in this cosmic conflict, man has been involved in conflict against himself and against God. This was first manifested when Cain murdered his brother Abel. As a result Cain was cursed by God and was exiled as a fugitive and vagabond in the land of Nod. Subsequently, mankind became so corrupt and violent that, except for Noah and his family, God destroyed all humans in a Flood. The history of mankind since then has been a constant struggle for supremacy, with bloody wars between tribes and nations. Ever more deadly weapons have been invented to accomplish victory; clubs, knives, swords, spears, bows and arrows, rifles, pistols, machine guns, rockets, bombs, cruise missiles, A-bombs, and weapons of mass destruction such as chemical, biological, and nuclear agents.
However terrible these weapons are, Satan has been the instigator and implementer of all this conflict that has resulted in the suffering and death of millions of people. His weapons of hate, deception, greed, and lust for power have resulted in untold misery and destruction. His most powerful weapon is death by which he has imprisoned all of mankind since Adam. There is one Man that has escaped that prison. who has the keys to the grave and has unlocked Satan's prison house. When Jesus rose from the tomb, He led captivity captive, He has swallowed up death in victory. In the great game of life, Jesus has conquered death, "the last enemy."
