Jamin Bradley

The story of Sauron in The Lord of the Rings is much like how I read Revelation in the Bible. Both are about a cycle of evil and darkness that grows and grows as people partner with it until it’s put out. The next generation is then told the story of how evil once got the best of us by taking on a certain form and converting people to its cause. Of course, the next generation either forgets the lesson, thinks they are above making the same mistakes, or is unable to spot the ways in which evil mutates into a different yet similar form in the next generation.

Revelation isn’t just a coming story. It’s one we live in now. It’s one we’ve lived in before. And it’s one that has been happening over and over again ever since Adam and Eve entered into the realm of sin. No matter how many times Sauron is snuffed out, he always finds a way back in because we don’t have ears to hear.

While no evil grows greater than God, its impact on the world strengthens as physical beings partner with the darkness. Though Gandalf, Galadriel, Sauron, and Elrond are strong enough to fight against Sauron in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, they still gasp at the return of their enemy and struggle to fight him. They know that if the beast is on the rise again, then darkness is coming, growing, and converting whoever will listen—even formerly good angels like Sauron.

This is not a minor story in the Bible. If we read the book of Judges alone, we will see that generation after generation is capable of making the same exact mistake over and over again. In this age, the cycle of Sauron will always return. We must be observant enough to break free of it and proactive enough to shine light into it. I wrote a song on this topic that you can hear more of here.