Title: You win in the end.
Contents
Bible: Title: We win in the end.
Revelation 12 is a record of the struggle between the church and Satan.
In the book of Revelation, Satan is called by various names, such as the old serpent, the great dragon, and the harlot.
There are also stories of dragons or evil spirits harassing and attacking good gods in ancient Babylonian myths, Greek and Egyptian mythology.
Not only the record of Revelation, but also the 2,000-year history of Christianity was the history of the fight against Satan.
Sometimes Satan came out in the robe of power and persecuted the church,
Sometimes wearing heretical clothes,
Sometimes they persecuted or seduced the church in the garments of prosperity.
But each time the church eventually triumphed.
It is the living proof that God is victorious in the end, and that God gives victory to the church.
In that sense, I have a hopeful view of history and a hopeful view of the future.
The teaching of the Bible is that even if lawlessness and injustice rule the whole world, and communism and atheism spread, the church will win in the end.
In particular, the book of Revelation does not say that democracy and communism are at war.
The church and Satan are fighting,
It is said that atheism, the antichrist, and the forces of lawlessness, who were instigated by the church and Satan, are fighting.
And the sure conclusion is that "the church wins in the end."
We are convinced of the victory of the Church for the following reasons:
First, because the Bible prophesied so.
Second, because He gave us the power to overcome.
Third, the power of God is incomparable to anything else.
We can confirm the victory of the church once again in the text.
1. Let's look at the war in the air.
Verse 7 says, “There is war in heaven.”
The place of war is the sky.
And the target of the fight is the angel Michael and the dragon.
Michael was one of the seven angels on errands before God and was the angel who guarded the nation of Israel.
Regarding the dragon that fought against Michael, in verse 9 he is called the great dragon, the old serpent, the devil, Satan, and the one who deceives the whole world, and in verse 10 he is called the accuser.
We can draw the following lessons from here.
① This is the true nature of Satan.
If you look at the original Greek text of verse 9, it says, “The dragon, the great one, the serpent, the old man, the devil, and the Satan”.
The article "he" has a deep meaning.
Then the old serpent that entangled Eve in the Garden of Eden,
The old man who has been enticing and seducing people since then.
Then it means the devil, the Satan.
The devil has disturbed the world from the Garden of Eden to this day and continues to do so.
That Satan is called “the one who deceives the whole world” in the text.
The important thing is that if you fall into that tangle, both individuals and nations will perish.
If we are caught in God's hand, we will be saved and prosper, but if we fall into Satan's tricks, anyone will be ruined.
(John 10:10) The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
In verse 10, Satan is called “the accuser.”
What is sesame?
By slandering and telling innocent people, it means breaking our relationship with God as well as our relationship with humans.
(Job 1:9) Satan answered the LORD, saying, How can Job fear God without cause?
(Job 1:10) Do you not surround him, and his house, and all that he possesses with a hedge? for you have blessed the work of his hands, and spread the possessions of his possessions in the land.
(Job 1:11) Now stretch out your hand against all that he has, and he will surely curse you face to face.
So, nothing Satan does is good on a scale of one to ten.
② This is the content of the fight.
The meaning of the phrase “there is war in heaven” in verse 7 is that it is a spiritual air battle.
In other words, it's a spiritual war, not a war where you shoot guns and detonate bombs on the ground.
There are no separate fronts in spiritual warfare.
Just as the Vietnam War was a war without fronts, spiritual warfare does not have a fixed front.
Good and evil may fight in my heart,
There are times when the family becomes a fierce front,
Sometimes the church becomes the central front,
The whole world could be the front line.
What is Paul talking about?
(Romans 7:23) I see another law in my members wrestling with the law of my heart, bringing me captive to the law of sin that is in my members.
(Romans 7:24) O wretched man I am; who will deliver me from this body of death?
I confessed that there were two selves fighting within me.
③ It is the result of the fight.
Verse 9 says, “The great dragon was cast out.”
"cast out to the ground",
"His angels were cast out with me," he said.
When the great dragon that had fought the angel Michael was no longer able to fight, he was forced to be banished. So he was thrown from the air to the ground.
So, what does the Bible say about this kind of Satan?
(Ephesians 2:2) In those days you walked in them, after the customs of this world, and after the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience.
In the meantime, Satan has struggled to seize the power of the air, oppose God, and rule over people.
But he was expelled because he lost the fight.
This explains that the devil eventually loses.
2. Consider the victory of the church.
Verse 11 says, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives to the point of death.”
In verse 11 we find three reasons for the victory of the church.
① It is the blood of a lamb.
The blood of the Lamb here has its background in the Old Testament.
The night before the Israelites escaped from Egypt, a lamb was slaughtered and its blood was put on the threshold and lintels, and the meat was roasted and eaten with unleavened bread.
And the angel who killed the firstborn did not enter the house covered in the blood of the lamb that night.
After that, the Israelites sacrificed lambs with their blood when they offered official sacrifices to God, especially for the forgiveness of sins.
So, in the Old Testament, the blood of the Lamb was the blood of merit for salvation and atonement.
In the New Testament times, this blood came to symbolize the blood of Jesus Christ, and when we say “the blood of the Lamb,” it means the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and the salvation of man through it.
The blood of the Lamb referred to in the text means the blood of atonement.
When we believe in the blood of the Lamb Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and when our sins are forgiven, we become children of God. And we are freed from sin.
So, the fact that the brothers in verse 11 overcame me with the blood of the Lamb means the assurance of salvation.
If you are convinced that your sins have been forgiven and that you have been saved through the merits of the blood of the Lamb Jesus, you have nothing to fear.
First, there will be no fear of sin,
Second, you will not be afraid of Satan's accusations,
Third, there will be no fear of judgment or death.
The book of Revelation describes a person who has been forgiven of their sins and has the assurance of salvation as “the one who is sealed.” Putting a seal on the forehead means that there is a master.
From the day we are saved, our Lord is God. So from that day on, we become a possessive body.
If the owner is not an ordinary owner, but the God who created the heavens and the earth, what are you afraid of and what are you afraid of? From the moment I become a child of God, I become a victor.
②It is the evidence of the Word.
The weapon through which the church can triumph in the end times is the Word of God.
In Ephesians 6:17, God's Word is called "the sword of the Spirit."
Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword.”
There is good reason for expressing the Word of God as a weapon used in warfare.
As mentioned above, spiritual warfare requires a spiritual weapon, because that weapon is the Word of God.
However, just as even a good weapon can bring great disaster if used incorrectly, the word of God becomes a tool of temptation if misused.
In the case of Jesus, after the 40 days of fasting and prayer in the wilderness, Satan's temptation came.
But the surprising thing is that on all three occasions, Satan used the Bible, the Word of God, as a tool of temptation.
In that way, you have to keep in mind that if you memorize the Bible verse by verse, apply the Bible in the right place, or follow the Bible in a cool way, great things can happen.
The latest weapons we have, the word of God, the more we use them, the more we save ourselves, others, our families, and our nation.
And you can overcome the devil, you can overcome atheism and communism.
God's Word is the driving force that creates new history.
The word of God is a weapon that makes the devil tremble.
When the Lord was tempted in the wilderness, he did not defeat the devil with his own words, but with the words of God recorded in the Bible.
③ It is a belief in the determination to die.
In verse 11, it says, "They did not spare their lives to the point of death."
If you want to live, you die, and if you want to die, you live. This is the Lord's lesson and the principle of life.
If you are afraid, you die quickly; if you are not afraid of death, you will not die quickly.
If you are afraid of temptation, you will fall into it, but if you actively resist and resist it, you will run away.
Let's not be afraid. In the end, we win. In the end, the church wins. Truth wins, justice wins, and the church wins.
Verse 12 concludes: "Therefore, rejoice in heaven and those who dwell in it."
In the end, you won and you will win, so be happy.
Even those who are being tempted, those who are in despair, those who are anxious, and those who drink the bitter cup of defeat, if they are armed with the blood and words of the Lamb Jesus, they will surely be victorious in the end.
Believe in victory.