To Encourage You

Revelation 12:10-11 “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, ‘Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.’”

In the Revelation of John, God gives “the apostle whom Jesus loved,” a vision of the way things really are.  As John languished in exile on the Isle of Patmos, his present and future reality surely seemed bleak.  He was the last of the Twelve to remain, and as far as we know, the others had all died a martyr’s death.  John’s prospects weren’t much better.  What an end for these followers of Jesus.  What thoughts must have entered their minds.  What doubts and fears must have assailed them.  How did they prevail in the shadow of death?  But it is in the vision God graciously gives John (and us) in the Revelation, that, as the well-known hymn puts it, “the things of earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” 

In the verses above we see one aspect of this heavenly perspective of the things of earth.  We see the arch-enemy of every believer “thrown down.” He’s called the “accuser of our brothers.”  That’s because accusations are one of Satan’s most powerful weapons.  In the face of the inevitable suffering that comes to those who have put their faith in Christ, how often do thoughts assail them about who they really are?  We have a wonderful example in the life of the great and godly man Job. As he struggled in the afflictions Satan had brought upon his life, we see Job, with the “help” of his friends, wondering aloud why this was happening to him.  Their advice is filled with accusations, for they assure him it is only the wicked that would suffer such a fate.  They tell him such things as “You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.  You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you have crushed” (Job 22:8-9).  They tell him “There is no end to your iniquities” (Job 22:5).  Perhaps you’ve heard similar things, if not from others, then as accusing thoughts coming into your own mind.  It is with the sins of our past that Satan accuses us, and it’s in times of our own weakness and suffering that he most effectively brings such thoughts to mind. 

But John tells us the secret to victory for not only the martyrs that he sees in his vision, but for any believer in any age that has ever lived.  And what is that remedy for the attacks of the accuser? John tells us it consists of two things: “the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.”  What a strange way to gain a victory over such a powerful foe.  But what does this mean?  For one thing, Christianity is about the death of a Lamb. It’s central to all we believe.  In the Old Testament God provided deliverance to Israel by the death of the Passover lamb. It was by applying the blood of this lamb to the doorposts and lintel of their houses that they were protected from the death angel that brought death to the land.  By this lamb, God was pointing to His own Son, who would be “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).  It was because of the shed blood of the Lamb that the accusations of the enemy lose all their power over those who believe.  The accusations have their power in the reality that the sins of our past were actually done, but they lose that power when we realize that Jesus’ death paid the price for every one.

But that’s not enough.  Although the Lamb of God died to take away the sins of the world, it is only as we apply the blood that He shed to our own lives by putting our faith in what Jesus did that the remedy for all our sins provides forgiveness.  The testimony of every Christian is the confession that they have believed.  For if you “confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, ‘Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame’ . . .   ‘For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’” (Romans 10:9-11, 13).  

What wonderful victory there is in Jesus for all who will put their faith in Him.  So, do you have the victory over the “accuser of our brothers.” Well, if not, you can if you will but put your faith in the blood of the Lamb. For like the martyrs in the apostle John’s vision, it is only those who can speak these words of victory: “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

Praise be to His glorious name.