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Revelation 12
11 They overcame him because of the Lamb's blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn't love their life, even to death. 12 Therefore rejoice, heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has gone down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has but a short time."
They overcame him because of the Lamb's blood
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written, "For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter." No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)
It is important that we become aware of what it is that we overcome, or else it is likely we will put our focus on trying to overcome the wrong thing, fight our battles in the wrong places, mistake who is our enemy and end up fighting people instead of cooperating with the Lamb and the holy angels.
For though we walk in the flesh, we don't wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of strongholds, throwing down imaginations and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; (2 Corinthians 10:3-5)
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. (Ephesians 6:11-13)
This word principalities has a deeper meaning than what appears on the surface in our language. It is often translated as beginning, yet its meaning extends far beyond simply an origin in time. It taps into the very foundational issues of the war we have been studying throughout this book. It refers to the underlying principles used to govern, and which ones are more reliable. The original word here means beginning, commencement, chief, magistrate, corner, principle, rule. This is about the beginning principles that are relied on to regulate life and used to maintain order in society. This takes us to the core issues involved in the arguments that started the war originally.
God's principles are founded on and defined by love alone, while the new system developed in the mind of Lucifer (the one who came to initiate the rebellion against God's government) was asserted to be an improvement on God's design, a more effective way to maintain order and avoid potential problems should anyone choose to abuse their freedoms. But God would not agree to integrate Lucifer's ideas and methods into heaven's social order, and the result was what we studied previously about Michael and the dragon facing off in the first round in heaven.
Keep in mind that Satan's system is shaped around the principles of commerce. So his principalities are angelic enforcers of this world's system of variable value, trading and exchange, and relative importance of people and things that is constantly in flux depending on many factors such as desire, intelligence, abilities and power. The world's systems today are guided by the principles originally invented by Lucifer in heaven, and his angels keep his system firmly under control here on earth so they can maintain their position as masters over us. This is all about the enforcement of hierarchal authority, artificial law and a system of value and worth as defined within the design of commerce and trading. This is all involved in the meaning of the principalities of this world.
Overcoming is directly related to what we studied previously, where the dragon and his angels did not overcome but lost their place in heaven and had to exit. Satan's attempt to have his principles used in conjunction with God's principles did not succeed there, leaving him no choice but to find somewhere else to carry on his ideas. That is how we became involved, when our Adam who represented all of us chose to embrace Satan's principles and turn away from the design of love. Now the war continues with us who currently live in this battle zone. What is still contending to overcome involves what we will choose as the principles that will shape our lives and define our character.
Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve you Yahweh. If it seem evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh. (Joshua 24:14-15)
Elijah came near to all the people, and said, "How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him." The people answered him not a word.
(1 Kings 18:21)
It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. But there are some of you who don't believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who didn't believe, and who it was who would betray him.
He said, "For this cause have I said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father." At this, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, "You don't also want to go away, do you?" (John 6:63-67)
Jesus brings heaven's principles to light in His words, actions and disposition in every circumstance He encountered while living among sinners here on earth. He is the light that exposes the principles of darkness that have controlled the thinking and behavior of this world. Now the choice comes to each of us as to whom we will serve based on the principles each side represents.
This word principalities does not merely apply to the principles of Satan's kingdom of darkness, but also refer to the principles of God's kingdom of love.
For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things are held together. He is the head of the body, the assembly, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. (Colossians 1:16-18)
For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power; (Colossians 2:9-10)
to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places, (Ephesians 3:10)
This verse actually involves both sides in the supernatural realm who are witnesses observing the unfolding of the fruit from both sets of principles in the lives of people on earth. The assembly of all who listen and follow the principles embodied in the Lamb of God, provide the final testimony in God's trial corroborating the testimony of the Faithful Witness whose principles have transformed their lives to look and act just like Him.
For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men. (1 Corinthians 4:9 NIV)
Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
Therefore don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Neither present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be! Don't you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching whereunto you were delivered. (Romans 6:12-17)
We need to grasp the contrast between the principles governing how life ought to be regulated. These passages reveal that we are on a stage demonstrating freedom versus compulsion.
When the war originally broke out in heaven, it did not involve angels living in fear for their lives. It only involved a war of words, ideas, politics, meaning that the battle was over what principles should be relied on to govern the interactions and activities of intelligent beings. The word principalities extends to the governing leaders in the supernatural realm that now support one side or the other. We choose which side we will embrace, which set of principles will determine how we think.
After the war expanded to our world, allowing the dragon assumed the role of prince of this world and the stakes suddenly became much higher. The dragon wields fear as his primary tool for maintaining control and keeping order. This introduced a whole new dimension in the war, involving punishment, suffering and ultimately death which had never existed previously. This intensified the war far beyond what angels had originally experienced in the early stages of the war in heaven. Now it becomes an issue of life or death, yet the real issue is over who is behind death – God or someone else. The war is still over whose methods will be trusted to maintain order and long-term security in all societies, and what will be the motives relied on to maintain peace, order and harmony.
When the war came to include those on earth who were created to experience what we call death, profound issues began to emerge as the eternal consequences and true danger of sin became clearer to the watching universe. Angels may have never contemplated the potential of death for themselves, especially in the mind of the leader of the revolt against God's way of running the universe. Denouncing God's ways and pulling out from living in harmony with Him did not at first seem lethal until a form of death was witnessed as resulting from sin on this uniquely new planet.
This passage in chapter 12 summarizes the history of the war and especially the tipping point where the dragon committed the greatest crime possible by instigating the torture and execution of the Son of God. God took on the form of humanity, making Himself vulnerable to experience all physical and emotional suffering and even death to exemplify the final effect that sin produces. I believe the design of this whole world's ecosystem is unique in many ways, one of which is the capacity for living things on this planet to die. I believe God created it this way in order to provide a venue in which the true outcome of withdrawing from a relationship of trust and love with the Creator could be witnessed in a way that was not permanent, yet so real and intense that the true nature of sin would be exposed in a dramatic way that was impossible to appreciate previously.
This helps explain the confusion between soul sleep and full-on eternal death, and why it is so important to distinguish between them. One purpose God had for our planet was to clarify the danger of sin before allowing anyone to experience the full eternal consequence of it. If humans chose Satan's system over God's, the resulting suffering, injustices and death we would experience on earth would serve to demonstrate the far worse outcome of eternal death that was impossible to grasp before it was witnessed destroying our environment of beauty. But this is only temporary though very real.
When humanity handed dominion over to Satan, he gained access to manipulate this unique design, and immediately it began to be seen how sin degrades not only the ecosystem but also the reflection of God in humans. Distrust of God is like caustic acid tearing apart relationships and replaces love with fear. Yet even in all the death and brutality witnessed after the fall of this world, heavenly beings still could not completely understand what God meant when He warned that disobedience (disconnecting from trust and synchronizing with God's heart) would result in death. In other words, all the deaths witnessed for the preceding 4,000 years before the death of Christ still could not fully illustrate the kind of death God warns about as resulting from sin until it was finally revealed in the unique death of Christ. God in human flesh dying as sin on our behalf was the first true revelation of the result of turning away from God. Before allowing anyone else to experience the full effects of sin, God Himself became the grand exposé of what sin will produce in created beings unwilling to be rescued from its terrible power by being restored to harmony with love.
For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)
This is the essence of what it means to overcome because of the Lamb's blood. The death of the Son of God is the ultimate evidence that turned the tide of the war. The evidence the blood of the Lamb provides is in that Jesus died from the internal effects of sin in His psyche rather than merely His body dying like all previous deaths have involved. This cracked the secret formula Satan relied on that mask his true nature. Even angels could not understand fully until they witnessed what happened to Jesus at the cross. This was the game-changer that severed all lingering sympathies with Satan's compelling arguments. His true nature was now exposed by the power of love. Fear and love faced off at the cross in the greatest showdown of all history, as God in human flesh chose to become the first to receive the full wages that sin pays when it is allowed to have its way.
But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:22-23)
What these verses refer to is the evidence about true nature of sin. They counter and expose the lies that has kept the dragon in power for so long. God Himself in human form displayed for the first time ever, the kind of death of which all other deaths previous to this were merely a shadow. The physical death of Christ was incidental in comparison to the kind of internal, emotional death that caused His physical death. Jesus said ahead of time that no one would take His life from Him, for His death would happen by His choosing to allow it to happen to Him, not forced against His will.
Jesus never participated in sin by distrust or disconnecting from His heavenly Father at any time. This meant that the sin causing His death had no roots inside of Him (John 14:30). His death then proves that the natural consequences of the principles of God's design in creation cannot be ignored. Eternal death is the inevitable result of choosing to separate from the only Source of life.
I will no more speak much with you, for the prince of the world comes, and he has nothing in me. But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father commanded me, even so I do. (John 14:30-31)
What was also exposed by the unique experience of the Lamb of God is that fear of death does not have more power to control than the power of love received from God. This laid the ax to the very root of Satan's assertions that God's system based on love alone is not strong enough to prevent chaos and anarchy. This cosmic display of unconditional love and forgiveness to everyone involved in His torture and execution became the overwhelming testimony vindicating God's design of creation, that love is stronger and there is no place in His design for fear whatsoever.
He who doesn't love doesn't know God, for God is love. By this God's love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
(1 John 4:8-10)
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. (1 John 4:12)
If a man says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn't love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? (1 John 4:20)
No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. (John 1:18)
...who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:15-16)
What is being exposed in this study may help to explain why John declared that no one has every seen God. What was never seen before was the hidden alleged 'dark side' of God that was shrouded in mystery. It was this unknown region of God that Lucifer had originally exploited to gain traction for his assertions implicating God as having darker attributes like what Lucifer insisted were necessary to govern effectively through use of rewards and punishments. He asserted that God was both good and evil (Genesis 3:5), and that what created beings need is sufficient knowledge of both light and darkness so as to be able to know how to have more power. This entire matrix of cleverly devised insinuations and assertions have had enormous influence on nearly everyone throughout the universe, which is why only the true Son of God, the representative who alone intimately knew God's hidden side, was qualified to overcome the accusations of Satan. The Lamb is that revelation.
In this love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. We love Him, because he first loved us. (1 John 4:17-19)
This adds deeper meaning to what we studied previously about there being no place found for the dragon and his angels in heaven. The dragon argued that fear was needed to supplement what love was too weak to provide – security and deterrence to prevent or put down any potential lawlessness. This is at the very core of the war that began in heaven, and this is what the death and resurrection of Jesus overcame with a resounding victory that can never be fully obscured. God's kingdom of love has no place for fear. And all who choose to follow the Lamb will be cleansed of all lies that involve fear. This is what it means to overcome.
The people who overcome are those who embrace the true meaning of the Lamb's blood. They reject the pagan construct that has been used to reinterpret blood as being a means of manipulating God and satisfying a false version of justice attributed to God. It is vital that we make a clean break from all the distortions the accuser uses that anchors fear and darkness in our heart. We must embrace the true meaning of the literal blood of Jesus so we may understand the true purpose of the symbols of His blood. Out of a right understanding of the true purpose of Jesus coming to live and die among us, liberating truth can be released into our lives that overcomes all the dragon's accusations against God and His Christ. This is the true meaning of the purpose of the Lamb's blood.
(For expanded explanations of this view of the blood of Jesus, see other articles I have written on this in the past. Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt; Covered by the Blood; Shedding of Blood.)
because of the word of their testimony
I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn't worship the beast nor his image, and didn't receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for the thousand years. (Revelation 20:4)
A testimony is given by a witness. God calls us to provide testimony in His favor, and if we follow the Lamb and believe His testimony about God, we will provide a similar testimony.
"You are my witnesses," says Yahweh, "With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me. I myself am Yahweh; and besides me there is no savior. I have declared, I have saved, and I have shown; and there was no strange god among you. Therefore you are my witnesses," says Yahweh, "and I am God. (Isaiah 43:10-12)
Don't fear, neither be afraid. Haven't I declared it to you long ago, and shown it? You are my witnesses. Is there a God besides me? Indeed, there is not. I don't know any other Rock." (Isaiah 44:8)
When the Counselor has come, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me. You will also testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:26-27)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. You will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. (Acts 1:8)
The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. Not one of them claimed that anything of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. With great power, the apostles gave their testimony of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Great grace was on them all. (Acts 4:32-33)
Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. (Acts 14:3)
Their testimony corroborates and confirms the testimony of the star Witness about God's character that is interpreted through the evidence of the blood of the Lamb correctly understood. Our testimony is always given either for or against God's reputation, so it is paramount that we keep in mind that it is God who is on trial, not us. God repeatedly calls throughout history for people to witness in favor of God. We are free to testify against Him, and we do so every time we indulge in complaining, unbelief, fault-finding and focusing on fear instead of resting and trusting in His goodness and continuous care and love for us. The best way to witness in His favor is to learn and practice the New Song which is the theme that runs all through this book and even all of Scripture.
They didn't love their life, even to death
The Lamb's blood is the first witness. The testimony from their mouth is a second witness. Their actions resulting from their choices and beliefs becomes a third witness. The actions and the disposition displayed when under duress, persecution and hostility either expose a character conformed to God's image, being restored to reflect His likeness as the Lamb reacted under similar circumstances, or they expose defensiveness, fear, self-preservation and reflect the dragon's version of God in his slander accusing God as an abuser and untrustworthy to save us from the power of fear and selfishness.
The whole war is both expansive in that it involves the entire universe, while at the same time concentrated in the mind and heart of each person. Because humans especially are created to uniquely reflect the image of God our Creator, the war targets every human being's beliefs about how God relates to us and how He feels towards us. The contention is over whether or not we will choose to believe the testimony given most clearly by God's Son along with His first apostles, who declared unequivocally that God is love and light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we choose to not only believe this truth about God, but to also allow His Spirit of truth, love and freedom to be the governing motivation for all our choices, then our whole life will testify that God is who He says He is and that love really can be trusted over any other option for living and interacting with others.
They said therefore to him, "What must we do, that we may work the works of God?" Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (John 6:28-29)
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
Jesus said they will know we are His disciples when it becomes clear to others that we choose love over resentment, offense and self-protection. Love flows freely out of every life that allows God's love to flow into it, that is the nature of our design as reflectors. Thus love itself is the evidence seen in our lives that confirms the truth that God is love, which is what defeats the lies of the enemy that contradict this reality. To overcome means to overcome the lies of Satan by being filled with the Spirit of love and resting in full assurance that God is trustworthy, and we will trust Him above any urge to save our own reputation or even our own lives.
