How They Conquered the Dragon

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Revelation 12:10-17

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ…

I. ALL THE BLESSED ONES WHO ARE REJOICING IN HEAVEN WERE ONCE WARRIORS AND VICTORS HERE BELOW. We too often think of the saints that have gone before as if they were men of another race from ourselves, capable of nobler things, endowed with graces which we cannot reach, and adorned with holiness impossible to us. The mediaeval artists were wont to paint the saints with rings of glory about their heads, but indeed they had no such halos; their brows were furrowed with care even as ours, and their hair grew grey with grief. Their light was within, and we may have it; their glory was by grace, and the same grace is available for us.

1. It is clear from our text that every one of the saints in heaven was assailed by Satan. How could there be a victory without a battle?

2. The glorified, in addition to having been attacked, were led to resist the evil one, for nobody overcomes an antagonist without fighting.

3. We find that these warriors all overcame, for heaven is not for those who fight merely, but for those who overcome. "I do fight against my sin," says one. Brother, do you overcome it? Attack, resistance, and victory must be yours.

4. So, then, in heaven they all rejoice because they have overcome, for the next verse to our text puts it, "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them." It is a theme for gladness in heaven that they did fight and resist and overcome. There is joy among the angels, for they had their conflict when they stood firm against temptation; but ours will be a victory peculiarly sweet, a song especially melodious, because our battle has been peculiarly severe.

II. THE VICTORS ALL FOUGHT WITH THE SAME WEAPONS.

1. First, the blood of the Lamb: it was theirs. The blood of the Lamb will not help us until it becomes our own. It is the blood of the covenant, and it secures all the covenant gifts of God to us. It is the life of our life. So, then, they had the blood of the Lamb, and they possessed the privilege which the blood brings with it.

2. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Now, what is the testimony of the saints? It is a testimony concerning the blood of the Lamb. If ever we are to conquer Satan in the world, we must preach the atoning blood.

III. While they all fought with the same weapons THEY ALL FOUGHT WITH THE SAME SPIRIT; for the text says, "they loved not their lives unto the death."

1. The expression indicates dauntless courage. They were never afraid of the doctrine of a bleeding Saviour. Let us never be ashamed of our hope.

2. These men, in addition to dauntless courage, had unanswering fidelity. They "loved not their lives unto the death." They thought it better to die than deny the faith.

3. More than that, they were perfect in their consecration. "They loved not their lives unto the death." They gave themselves up, body soul, and spirit, to the cause of which the precious blood is the symbol, and that consecration led them to perfect self-sacrifice. No Christian of the true type counts anything to be his own.

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