by Rich Cali

After speaker Louis Markos came to Geneva to speak on the virtues found in Tolkien, I purchased and have been reading his book, Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Classics.  As I have been reading this and teaching Virgil’s  The Aeneid, I am overwhelmed by God’s sovereignty.  Yes, Dr. Markos is right; my faith is being strengthened by pagan literature.

When Virgil was commissioned by Caesar Augustus to write a Roman epic in the style and tradition of Homer’s ideal, his aim was to say that Rome was destined by the gods and Augustus was fated to be its emperor.   The Roman poet weaves a complex tale that shows how the hero, Aeneas, must forsake his own desires and passions to leave behind Troy, to overcome many obstacles, and to establish a new city in Italy; one ordained to rule the world.  Along the way, he encounters gods and ghosts who encourage through “prophetic” words.  At one particular point, Aeneas is granted a vision of Troy burning, but the “curtain” is peeled back, and he sees the gods pulling down the stones of the city.  In other words, it is not men who destroyed the city, but the gods in order to accomplish their purpose of leading Aeneas out.

As I’ve re-read The Aeneid for the fourth or fifth time, I realized for the first time, with the help of Professor Markos, that Virgil was right!  However, he was not right in the way he perhaps intended.  In the back of my mind, I can’t help thinking about the book of Daniel, in which the Lord gives the prophet understanding of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the statue.   The prophecy foretells the coming of the Roman Empire as legs of iron and feet of iron and clay; in reality, the One True God, the Lord, purposed that the Roman Empire be established.  It is God who was at work “behind the curtain” to bring about the Empire as the backdrop for the arrival of His Son.  It was a Roman Procurator that tried Jesus.  It was the Roman form of execution that facilitated the work of salvation.  God, not gods, destined the formation of the Empire and not for the glory of Augustus but for the glory of Christ!  

On a personal level, my faith is encouraged because I am reminded of the passage in Romans 8:28 that says, “All things work together for good for those who are called according to his purposes.”  If God can orchestrate all of history, if even the mighty Augustus was merely a pawn in the hands of Jehovah, then how much more is He at work in the lives of His people?  His Word promises us that He is.  By faith we believe that He is working behind the veil.