How the war is won!
“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.” – Revelation 12:11 NASB
As we saw yesterday the church (not a denomination) was represented as a woman who gives birth to a male child. Throughout scripture there is one woman upon whom God bestows His supreme regard – his bride – His church. Firstly Israel, who is constantly unfaithful and then replaced, according to scripture, by the Christian church (see e.g. Gal.3:26 -29). The ‘church’ in this context is global. A little later, John will provide the defining characteristics God uses for this group of people.
The battle lines are drawn, John has identified the three principal players in the closing events, he now drops back to the beginning of the conflict in heaven and shows how it was transferred to this earth. (See yesterday’s devotional On Revelation 7-11.) The winners do so by their testimony and by the blood of the Lamb. The future is clear; the devil knows that his time is limited, and he is angry. With great wrath he turns his hatred towards the women (the Church). But by their testimony of what Christ has done for them on the cross, they are victorious and faithful, even unto death.
God now defines His people not by a time period or by birth, but by responsiveness to His love – though by the end of the chapter He will add further clarity to that. What we should note at this point is that location, source, ethnicity or denomination of His people is irrelevant; they are His people if they are on His side.
A point not to be missed is that the woman initially gives birth to only one child, but by the end of the chapter (see Revelation 12:17), we see the dragon at war with the rest of her offspring.
Chapters 12-14 prepare us for the last day events section of the book which is found in Rev 15:1-22:21. While the first half of the book had described the spiritual struggles of the church in a hostile world throughout the Christian Era, the remainder focuses on the key events leading up to the Second Coming and God’s kingdom.
The purpose of chapter 12 is to give us the big picture behind the final crisis of world history. It shows us the development throughout history of the great controversy between Christ and satan.
In the book of Revelation, satan is the archenemy of God and His people. His existence is real, and he stands behind all evil and rebellion in the universe. He knows that his last chance to succeed against God before the second coming is to win the battle of Armageddon. So he focuses all his efforts on preparing for that event.
Revelation 12 is intended to provide God’s people with an assurance that satan will not succeed! It is also a warning that he is determined and will wage all-out war against God’s last-day people and that their only hope and power to overcome is found in “the blood of the Lamb.”
In Rev 11:19 we had seen the Ark of the Covenant in heaven. At the cross the curtain was rent and the place of the Ark was exposed as the grounds shook; just as at Sinai. The Ark was always a symbol of the presence of God to His people. Joshua marched it into the flooding Jordon and the waters dried up. They marched it around Jericho 13 times (7 times on the 7th day), with 7 priests blowing 7 trumpets, before the shout that brought down the walls. The presence of the ark in heaven is a sign that the walls of opposition will come down, that God will dry up the waters of tribulation and take His people into the promised land. Hallelujah!
Galatians reference is 3 v 26-29.
Thanks Alan, I corrected the original post and if you open it again you will see Galatians 3 not 2