Tuesday, July 5

Tuesday

And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.  Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.    - Revelation 12:7-12

This is a fascinating passage that gives us a glimpse into the reality of spiritual warfare.  We see hints of the past and future of our enemy the Devil.  Satan was cast out of heaven and hurled down to earth after a great battle, and his time here on earth is short.  In fact we read here that Christ on the Cross-has already overcome his power!  "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.” 

Satan is referred to here as the accuser.  This is a good description for what he does, he accuses us before God, and he accuses us in our own hearts.  Have you ever heard the devil accusing you? Did you ever hear in your inner ear a voice saying, "What kind of a Christian are you? Look at the way you have acted.  God has to be tired of you making the same mistakes over and over again.  God could never love you! What makes you think you are acceptable in his sight? You are a mess!"  How do you handle that?  According to this text you ought to admit it. It is true.  We mess up all the time.  We believe lies, we act selfishly, we are malicious and self-indulgent at times, we hurt others thoughtlessly. 

All of that is true about us and we must admit it!  Ah, but we must also remember that it has also been forgiven, and wiped away by the blood of the Lamb!   We remind the devil (and ourselves) of the blood of the Lamb, the cross of Christ!  This is what it means when it says they overcame him (Satan) by the “word of their testimony”.  There on that cross Jesus bore our sins so that we are no longer to be judged or even accused before God.  That is why Paul can say in Romans 8, "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus!" (Romans 8:1).

That is the meaning of the blood of the Lamb. There is no way to handle Satan, and avoid the guilt and shame of which he accuses us, without resting upon the work of the Cross, the blood of the Lamb! When Jesus makes you a new creature, Satan can accuse you only of something that is past and gone. The blood of Christ is sufficient for your own problems with guilt, past, present, and future!


Jeff Frazier