Overcoming – Four Principles in Revelation 12 (Part 11)

  

“And they overcame him because the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even unto death.” Revelation 12:11.

 

As we saw in our last post in this series, the blood of the Lamb redeems us, we have been bought with a price and we are not our own. The blood of the Lamb also cleanses us from our sins and is the basis for God forgiving us for our sins. Therefore, the blood of Jesus Christ redeems us, cleanses us, and is the ground of God’s forgiveness for our sins. This, in turn, is our foundation in Christ, for overcoming the world, the flesh, and the devil.

 

My soul is soiled, my conscience is polluted, my relationship with God is shattered, I am living in death – I can do nothing to help myself and restore my relationship with God; in His great love, God in Christ reconciles me to Himself, “not counting my trespasses against me,” and making Christ, “who knew no sin to be sin on my behalf, so that I might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:16 – 21).

 

“In Him [Christ] we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7). “…in whom [Christ] we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:14). (See also Romans 3:21 – 5:11!).

 

What does all of this have to do with overcoming Satan? Note that in Revelation 12:9 that the enemy is styled as “deceiving the whole world,” and also note that in 12:10 he is called “the accuser of our brethren.” Satan wants to deceive us about God, he wants to deceive us about others, and he wants to deceive us about ourselves. In other words, the enemy does not want us to see things as they really are, he wants us to live in an opium den of semi-consciousness, of shadows and shades.

 

We live in perhaps the most self-centered and self-preoccupied society in history. Yes, I realize that in our fallen state that we’ve always been self-absorbed black holes, but consider how preoccupied we are with ourselves, with our emotional and psychological and physical condition – our therapy has a thousand faces; whether we think of the aisles of self-medication, alcohol and drugs, self-help programs, therapeutic talk shows, physical fitness programs that become obsessive in their messaging, “experiences” such as vacations which we simply must have in order to survive, and sadly, so sadly, the content of much preaching and teaching which is all about us – and our wants, our needs, our desires, our pleasures – it is the entire package of life I’m writing about. Some of these things, in and of themselves can be good and healthy, but when we buy into a way of thinking and living that is all about ourselves then we have bought into the opium den of Satan.

 

What does the blood of the Lamb have to do with this? In one sense everything.

 

The blood of the Lamb speaks to me of the amazing and unfathomable love of God for me…yes, it is also for “us,” but if I don’t see it as for “me” personally then I will not know the security of His love. Also, if I do not see it as for “you” as well, then I will not see you as a person loved and valued by the True and Living God and as a person for whom Christ died. I love Paul’s words, “…who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

 

Once I see that the blood of the Lamb is for me and that God’s acceptance of me in Christ is complete, that my sins are forgiven in Christ, then I can forget about myself and live for Christ and others – then I am free from the fears and intimidation and manipulations of this world and the enemy, then I begin overcoming in Jesus Christ. My life changes when I am convinced of God’s love in Christ for me, I begin living in the new creation of 2 Corinthians 5:17.

 

The letter of Revelation is written to followers of Jesus Christ in a hostile world. They are facing false teaching, economic pressure, social pressure, and outright persecution. God is not promising to take them out of the world, but to be with them in and through the world (John 15:18 – 16:4; 16:33; 17:15; Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5 – 6).

 

The enemy will try again and again to get me to doubt God’s love for me in Jesus Christ, He will try to get me to live in guilt for my sins, not believing that God has truly forgiven me – remember, the enemy is “the accuser of the brethren.” If I am living in guilt then I am living in insecurity, and if I am living in insecurity then I am living in fear, and if I am living in fear then I am playing games to protect myself – I am not living in the light and reality of Christ’s sacrificial and reconciling blood.

 

When Paul writes that we are “justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith…” (Romans 3:25 – 26a), he is saying that when we are justified in Christ that not only are our sins forgiven, but that we are “justified.” That word “justified” not only means that our sins are forgiven, and it not only means that when God looks at us, in Christ, that He sees us as if we have never sinned, but it also means that when God looks at us that He sees us as if we have always kept His Law, as if we’ve always been obedient to Him.

 

(When I write “as if” I think there must be better words, I think there must be a better and higher concept and way of putting this, because “as if” can convey the idea of a fiction, and this is anything but a fiction. I just don’t know another way to express this in my limited understanding. What Paul is writing about is as real as real can be.)

 

I love Paul’s words, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction [or entrance] by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1 – 2).

 

When we have “peace with God” we can live in the midst of uncertainty and pressure and tribulation. In this sense Romans 5:1 – 2 has everything to do the Revelation as a whole, and with Revelation 12:11 in particular. How do I know this? See what follows Romans 5:1 – 2:

 

“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Romans 5:3 – 5).

 

O dear friends, God has not called us to live in guilt or insecurity. He has not called us to cave into the fears and pressures of this world. Our heavenly Father sent His Only Begotten Son to live and die and rise from the dead for us; for you, for me, for us. His blood was shed to reconcile us to God, to redeem us from this present evil age, so that we might live as we were created to live, in intimate relationship with God; in and through Jesus Christ.