A Strong Tower or a Stronghold?

I love the Lord of the Rings books and the movies too. I think Tolkien learned a lot

about the nature of the battle we are in for our eternities as he wrote such deep, meaningful

books based on his WWI experiences. He lost friends along the way. He saw victories and

defeats and all these things helped shape how he saw the nature of the spiritual battle we

are in. In the second book, the Two Towers, there is a huge battle that takes place and it

almost has a catastrophic ending, The armies have retreated to Helms Deep, a place

Theoden tells them has never been breached or defeated. As they retreat there and await

the arrival of Sauron’s forces, there is tension in the air for the coming battle.

The truth is that many of us have retreated into a stronghold. We have withdrawn to

a place where we feel untouchable by the forces of the world and our enemies. These

strongholds feel like safety and security to us. They seem to be impenetrable. For the most

part, we feel that they have kept us safe and so we retreat to them often. As you read, or

watch the movies, you find out that the stronghold held for a while but that they were

breached at just the time the armies were feeling tired and ready to give in to despair. It was

at this point that Gandolf showed up with reinforcements and an army of Huorns, walking

trees, who herded the Ents, also showed up. It was only at this point that the Orcs and

Uruk- Hai were overwhelmed and defeated. Helms deep alone was not enough of a fortress

to keep them safe against overwhelming odds. They needed rescue and it came just in

time.

We are the Rohirrim. We have our stronghold that we retreat to because we have

always felt safe and secure there. That is the thing about a stronghold. We build them to

keep ourselves from feeling past pain again. They are not built to ensnare us but as our

attempt to protect ourselves. They are a place we run to for comfort and tranquility, but

they are built around us with our limited understanding of the nature of the battle and they

have weaknesses. Our attempt to preserve them involves just making the walls thicker.

Unfortunately, even the most impenetrable walls are not thick enough to protect us when

we invite the enemy inside with us. We do this because we have not properly identified who

the enemy is. The enemy is the one who tricked us into thinking that we needed a

stronghold to run to in the first place. He seemed like a friend, but he has ulterior motives

for our destruction because we represent something he can never be.

14 "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the

faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. 15 "'I know your works: you are

neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are

lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, "I am

rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing," not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable,

poor, blind, and naked. - Rev 3:14-17 ESV

A Strong Tower Instead of a Stronghold

It is the times we think we are good, we are strongly tucked inside our stronghold

that we are most exposed. We begin to get comfortable within and we are exposed for who

we are. The Church at Laodicea seemed to have it all together on the outside. They seemed

secure and confident until they were shown to have nothing of value. They had

compromised and let themselves be polluted, corrupted by the world around them. While

they had pursued the worldly pleasures of wealth and comfort, they lost the edge that once

marked them as Children of the Father. They traded their inheritance for something that

would soon be burned. They were trapped within the prison of worldliness they built to

protect themselves. They needed a rescuer.

It is at this point that Jesus gives them an amazing invitation.

18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and

white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not

be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove

and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If

anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he

with me. - Rev 3:18-20 ESV

Jesus has seen them. He knows where they are and how they got there. He offers

them true riches, clean clothes to cover their shame and salve so they can see things

clearly. He wants to show them how they have fallen so far and invites them into

restoration. When Jesus says the He is standing at the door and knocking, this is not just an

invitation to salvation as many would suppose. It is an invitation to these who know Jesus

and have compromised their identity and integrity for worldly wealth, comfort, or

satisfaction. I suspect that most of us can identify with that description at times. We live

surrounded by many strong draws to become worldly. We live in a time where they are put

in front of us constantly. The pull is real. Often it is based on real needs but is offered with

shortcuts to the Lord’s plans for us.

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and

said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread."

4 But he answered, "It is written, "'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that

comes from the mouth of God.'" - Mat 4:1-4 ESV

Our greatest temptations come in the ways that feel the most necessary to

surrender to. This is how strongholds are built. They offer security, provision, peace,

comfort, love or one hundred other things that feel like we will die without. Strongholds are

not built to provide inconsequential things. They are built to guard what we treasure.

A Strong Tower Instead of a Stronghold

Unfortunately, they are prisons of our own making and in the end steal the very things we

thought that they guarded.

It is not until we realize we are in bondage that we can hear the knock and the call

that offer us true freedom. It comes as an invitation to friendship with the One we feel has

let us down, who we have been told has forgotten us. The difference is that He is the only

one who has ever been our real source of security. He does not reside in a cave, hidden

away. He lives in a tower, and when we open ourselves to His offer, He raises us up to sit

with Him in the only secure 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. -

Mat 6:21 ESV

34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. - Luk 12:34 ESVplace that

exists.

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is

safe. - Pro 18:10 ESV

As you read Proverbs 18, there is much wisdom. This verse points us to our true safe

place, but much of the rest of the chapter points out the strongholds we are used to

running to. It shows us how we can build our lives around things that disappoint and bring

destruction. This verse is the place we are invited into the Lord to sit with Him on His

throne. Rev 3 closes with the same invitation for those who have blown it and chased after

the wrong treasures.

21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also

conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear

what the Spirit says to the churches.'" - Rev 3:21-22 ESV

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. - Mat 6:21 ESV

34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. - Luk 12:34 ESV

We have been invited to the Strong Tower. Minas Tirith was the place that the King

was going to be enthroned. It was the Tower that he would rule Gondor from. We have been

invited to sit with the King on His throne. To get there we must walk out of our stronghold.

We may even have to tear down walls to get out. We have built them to keep our enemies

out, but they have become a cage around us. They need to come down so they cannot

easily be rebuilt. Once out, we need to run to the strong tower. We will find that there may

be sieges there too, but we are safe within. The King is there with us and He is guarding us.

I have come to believe that most of us return to our sinful patterns out of a desire for

comfort or a sense of need. We do not believe that Jesus is as good, kind and loving toward

us. I also believe that we often see how this plays out in our relationship with authority. If

A Strong Tower Instead of a Stronghold

we struggle with being close to authority figures, I will bet that we are used to living in our

own stronghold. In this place we are cut off from all the things we truly need. It is time to

stop and listen for the knock at the door, the knock of the one who genuinely loves us and

wants to sit and enjoy an intimate moment of fellowship with us. But, even more than a

moment, He wants to invite us into His strong tower and sit with Him on His throne.

There are battles on the way, the challenge is to keep moving forward with Jesus

until we are in the place He is inviting us to. Even Minas Tirith came under siege and there

was a huge battle before it once again became the royal city of Gondor. It became the place

when Strider was revealed as Aragorn II, son of Arathorn II, and Gilraen, who was the 16th

Chieftain of the Dunedain, descendant of Isildur, and rightful heir to the thrones of Arnor

and Gondor. What a title. It has history and a future. It conveys something old onto

someone young. Can you feel the weight of it? In the movie, right after his coronation,

Aragorn comes over to Sam, Frodo, Merry and Pippen. They bow down to the new king, and

he tells them they do not bow to anyone.

The King has conveyed the weight of his authority and his majesty onto those who

have stood by his side in the battle. He recognized their sacrifices for His kingdom. While

they are still subjected to the king, he honored them. He recognized them and held them

up before all the other attendants at his coronation. This is the same invitation that Jesus

gives at the end of the letters to the seven Churches. He desires that we overcome because

He wants us seated with Him throughout eternity. He is calling us to overcome and to live in

a place of intimacy and honor, by His side. To do this, we must tear down our strongholds

and follow Him where it may not necessarily feel safe. We must enter the fray, by His side.

Are you ready to move out of the stronghold so you can live in the Strong Tower?