God Rules, Satan Looses, We Win

Shift Your Focus… If you have taken the time to read Revelation over the past few days, you probably got to the end of these chapters and said, “Huh?”  Don’t feel bad, so have I.  I have actually had to reread some chapters two or three times, and even then, I’ve needed to consult some of my commentaries just to make some semblance of sense out of them.  That is one of the reasons why, on the one hand, some believers are completely intimidated by Revelation specifically, and Bible prophecy in general, and on the other hand, why some believers come up with such far-fetched ideas about the end times. It is not the easiest book in the Bible to wrap your brain around!

Obviously, an extraordinary amount of symbolism is used in these chapters, and likewise, the Apostle John was trying to find language to describe future events for which there had been no human experience. Can you imagine someone in 90 AD in exile on the Island of Patmos seeing into the future during the 21st century and trying to describe computers, the Internet, cell phones, airplanes, electricity, and so forth?  No wonder his language seems pretty strange!

Suffice it to say that what John is describing in these chapters is the final knock-down-drag-out battle that occurs in heaven between God and Satan.  The object of Satan’s murderous rampage is the complete and utter annihilation of Christ and his people.  And even though we may not be able to accurately discern the details of John’s writing, we can certainly grasp his bottom-line:

God rules, Satan looses and we win!

One of the things historians, political commentators and sportscasters love to do is to do post game analyses on significant contests—wars, elections and Superbowls.  Revelation 12:10-11 affords us a rare post-game analysis before the event even happens.  It tells us how the spectacular defeat of Satan and the unlikely victory of the church takes place. And the Apostle John, the human author of this book, gives us two critical game-changers:

First, the game was already won before it got played when Christ died on the cross and rose again the third day.  He says, “they [that is, the church, followers of Jesus, you and me] overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb.”  When Jesus spilled his pure, sinless blood on the cross for the redemption of mankind, the dye was cast.  When he rose from death on that first Easter morning, Satan’s doom was sealed.  Checkmate!  Game, set and match!  Game over!

But there’s more—the game of all games still had to be played.  The second critical game-changer which secured the victory of Christ occurred as his followers lived out their faith not only in life, but they put their trust in his redemptive work on the line even in the face of death. John says Satan was defeated by the “word of their testimony…they did not love their lives so much as to even shrink from death.”

The blood of the Lamb—that’s accomplished fact!  The word of your testimony—that’s being lived out even as we speak.  It is still “game on,” and we are going to kick Satan’s tail.  It won’t be easy, but go to the end of the book and get a sneak peak at the final outcome:  We win!

Now go out there and win this thing for Christ!

“He who burst the bars of death was thereby declared to be the Son of God with power. Since the resurrection morning there has never been–there could not be–the slightest question as to His final rulership of the world. Death was conquered, Satan was conquered, and He proclaimed the wearer of the name above every name. His final triumph was hence merely a question of the fullness of time. And He is now seated at the right hand of the Father, from henceforth expecting till His enemies are made His footstool. This Easter morning certifies us of that approaching day, and with, as it were, the foregleams of its glory on our faces and the stirrings of its mighty joy in our hearts, bids us watch and pray and look for the coming of the King.” ~E.P. Goodwin

Prayer…  Lord, it is not always easy.  You never promised it would be.  But you did promise to be with us always, even until the end of the world.  Be with me today, and empower me to live out my blood-bought testimony in a way that honors you—even to the point of not loving my life so much as to shrink from death.