The great English poet, John Milton, completed his famous epic, Paradise Lost, in 1665. The purpose of his monumental work was to "justify the ways of God to men". The question was, "How can an all good God allow sin and evil?" Implicit in this question is a fear that perhaps sin and evil are more powerful than God. Long before Milton lived and wrote, the Bible faced the same problem. An awareness of God and His plan gradually became sharper and was manifested in the coming of Jesus Christ as Saviour.

The Book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible to be composed, in a sense summarizes all that had gone before in the inspired Hebrew and Christian writings. It proclaims that on the last day God will show forth His goodness and power by the total destruction of sin and evil from the universe. Our reading today from the Book of Revelation contains a brief but beautiful hymn sung by all the saints in praise of God's power and righteousness. On the day of Christ's second coming the saints cry out to God, "Your mighty deeds are clearly seen."

Victory over sin and evil does not lie in the future. It has already been achieved in the death of Jesus on Good Friday. Through the ages of the Christian era this victory is unfoling in its effect and will reach completion in the second coming of Christ.