Season 3 Podcast 178 Milton's Paradise Lost Bk VI Pt XIII The War in Heaven, The Final Battle

Milton’s Paradise Lost Bk VI, Pt XIII, The War in Heaven Pt 3 The Final Battle In the last Podcast, Lucifer and his army create weapons of mass destruction, taking Michael and his army by surprise. Michael, however, leader that he is, responds in an unexpected way. They have no firepower to match the machinery of Satan; therefore, they throw their weapons down, not in surrender, but so they can dig up mountains of earth and bury Satan’s weapons of war.From their foundations loosening to and fro,They plucked the seated hills, with all their load,Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy topsUp-lifting bore them in their hands: Amaze,Be sure, and terror, seized the rebel host,When coming towards them so dread they sawThe bottom of the mountains upward turned;Till on those cursed engines’ triple-rowThey saw them whelmed, and all their confidenceUnder the weight of mountains buried deep;Themselves invaded next, and on their headsMain promontories flung, which in the airCame shadowing, and oppressed whole legions armed;Their armour helped their harm, crushed in and bruisedInto their substance pent, which wrought them painImplacable, and many a dolorous groan;Long struggling underneath, ere they could windOut of such prison, though Spirits of purest light,Purest at first, now gross by sinning grown.The rest, in imitation, to like armsBetook them, and the neighboring hills uptore:So hills amid the air encountered hills,Hurled to and fro with jaculation dire;That under ground they fought in dismal shade;Infernal noise! war seemed a civil gameHowever, they are stalemated. Neither side can gain victory.  It is immortals fighting immortals and nothing but confusion follows confusion.3 LINDATo this uproar; horrid confusion heapedUpon confusion rose: And now all HeavenHad gone to wrack, with ruin overspread;The upshot is that because the two armies were equal, the war in heaven would have continued perpetually, never ending, one side trying to outmaneuver the other but without a final conclusion.  This continued for two thousand years. Milton teaches a principle that runs throughout Paradise Lost.  He teaches the principle of agency. The Father and the Son, from a distance, have been watching the war but did not intervene.  It was a test to see who would follow Michael who had been ordained by Christ himself to lead the war and who would follow Satan. After two thousand years, the battle lines were clearly drawn, and all the hosts of heaven had made their choice. It was fruitless to let the war continue. The second principle that Milton teaches is that God is always in charge, that God always has a plan, and that God always wins. The third principle that Milton teaches is that God has placed all power in his Son, and he wants all those who followed Michael to know that without Jesus Christ, they cannot win the war against evil, but with Christ they cannot lose. The Father instructs his Son to take charge of the war and have the armies of Michael step aside and watch. The Father says to his Son.Two days are therefore past, the third is thine;For thee I have ordained it; and thus farHave suffered, that the glory may be thineOf ending this great war, since none but ThouCan end it. Into thee such virtue and graceImmense I have transfused, that all may knowIn Heaven and Hell thy power above compare;And, this perverse commotion governed thus,To manifest thee worthiest to be HeirOf all things; to be Heir, and to be KingBy sacred unction, thy deserved right.