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Sermon

The Battles Rage – The Outcome is Determined, Part 1

Series
Revelation
Scripture
Revelation 12:1-11

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Note: This transcript and summary was autogenerated. It has not yet been proofread or edited by a human.

Summary

Revelation 12 reveals the cosmic battle between Satan and God’s people, showing that the outcome is already determined. The chapter introduces key figures—the woman (Israel), the red dragon (Satan), the male child (Jesus), and the archangel Michael—demonstrating that God has kept every promise from Genesis to Revelation. Satan has relentlessly tried to prevent the Messiah’s birth, death, and victory, yet failed at every turn. Christ’s ascension and enthronement prove that God’s salvation is sure, our enemy is vanquished, and our atonement is complete through the blood of the Lamb.

Key Lessons:

  1. God’s promises are settled—from the seed of the woman in Genesis to the ascension of Christ, God has kept every promise despite Satan’s opposition.
  2. Our salvation is protected because no accusation can stand against God’s elect, since Christ’s blood has fully covered our sin.
  3. Believers are called to actively resist the enemy, recognizing that the Christian life is a spiritual battle requiring the full armor of God.
  4. True warriors of Christ overcome not by their own strength but by the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and an unwavering loyalty to Jesus even unto death.

Application: We are called to wake up to the reality of spiritual warfare, put on the armor of God daily, resist temptation through the truth of Scripture, and live with an attitude of complete loyalty to Christ—willing to sacrifice everything for the gospel.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In what areas of life have we fallen into a “peacetime mentality,” failing to recognize the spiritual battle around us?
  2. How does knowing that Satan’s accusations against us have been silenced by Christ’s blood change the way we handle guilt and condemnation?
  3. What practical steps can we take this week to move from merely experiencing temptation to actively resisting it through the power of God’s Spirit?

Scripture Focus: Revelation 12:1-11 reveals the war between Satan and God’s people; Genesis 3:15 establishes the promise of the Messiah through the seed of the woman; Romans 8:1, 33 assures that no condemnation or accusation can stand against those in Christ; Ephesians 6:10-12 calls believers to spiritual warfare; James 4:7 promises that resisting the devil causes him to flee.

Outline

Introduction

Turn to Revelation 12. Revelation 12.

We’re looking at the battles that rage and the outcome is already determined. As I’ve been saying along the way, the book of Revelation is really talking about God’s final unveiling of the last days. And again, it’s talking about things that will come to pass hereafter. Not things here, not things during its long history, but in its culmination period, in the last days.

The book started out where the apostle John writes to us in chapter one: “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day.” And that was talking about Christ in the church, the seven churches of Revelation. And then in chapter four, we see he moves and he says immediately he was in the spirit. And that began Christ in a sense in the cosmos, the process of world judgment.

So in both the Old and New Testament, a future is prophesied which will be unparalleled in horror and intensity. Nothing in the past can be compared to it and nothing will be like it ever again in the future. So this period is generally synonymous with the day of the Lord.

It’s the seven-year period of time yet future. And the last half of this time is referred to as the great tribulation.

But certainly the whole period of time, the whole seven years is a time of wrath. In chapter 12, it begins to drip with conflict and war. Satan is the center of these wars.

The Spiritual War Is Real

And he really propagates the mischief where he can during this time. Now you may not realize this, but there has been war all along since the beginning, since man fell. And not only war on earth, but there has been war also in heaven. The Bible lets us know about that.

And yet when we become a Christian, we realize that we are also pulled into this war because we realize spiritual battle like we never realized it before. And it’s come to my attention that many Christians don’t even realize that if they are Christians, they are in a spiritual battle, let alone putting on their armor and taking up the weapons to fight.

Some have really relegated the Christian experience to some kind of sugar and spice and everything nice type of approach to life. However, this approach does neuter the reality of the spiritual war and really gives a wrong impression of the Christian walk and the Christian life.

Here are some sound ministers that have quoted about spiritual warfare. One said this: “Our life in this world is a spiritual warfare. Whether we want it or not, it is inevitably so because of Satan.”

And then another said, “People who have no sense of conflict at all in their lives are patently just not Christians. They are asleep in the death of spirituality.”

And then another wrote, “As Christian people, as soon as we come into the Christian life, we become part of this mighty conflict between the forces of God and the forces of hell, and we are inevitably pulled into this battle whether we like it or not.”

And then another said, “Unfortunately, too many Christians live as if there is no war. They do not hear the bombs dropping all around us, nor the bullets zinging overhead, and consequently, too many Christian soldiers have gone AWOL and have been swallowed up in a peacetime mentality.”

See, it must be realized that positionally believers have victory in Christ in the heavenlies, but in reality, the victory will not be fully realized until the subjugation of all evil yet future. So that means this struggle is a present reality for every believer, which will culminate in the defeat of the devil and his angels at the second coming of Christ.

Let’s pray. Lord, this morning as we look at this chapter in Revelation, help us to understand more fully about this conflict. And Lord, not only that, but about how you are in charge of even this. And Lord, you have determined the outcome already, but the battle has to be fought.

And Lord, we’re brought into that battle. I pray that you would help us every day. Give us the strength. Help us to put on the armor of God so that we would know how to fight this battle because we have our eyes on you and we’re walking in the power and the strength of the Holy Spirit of God. I pray this in Christ’s name. Amen.

It’s important to see that from the beginning there has been conflict and war. And in the middle of the tribulation to the end, it will escalate and it will become worse and worse. And when Christ comes to the earth the second time, he will ultimately end it.

And so in this chapter, we’re going to see certain personages like the woman, the red dragon, the male child, and the angel, the archangel Michael. And just to recap from where we came from and where we’re going: Israel makes a league with Antichrist for seven years. The 144,000 are sealed Israelites. They will preach the gospel worldwide.

The Jews will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, indicating their return to the land, yet in unbelief. And then God sends two supernatural witnesses like Elijah and Moses to counteract, right in Palestine, the supernatural powers of Antichrist.

“The struggle is a present reality for every believer which will culminate in the defeat of the devil.”

So from the time Satan fell from heaven, he has continued an ongoing battle with good angels. He fights against God’s people, Israel, and the church. And when men fell into sin, they were brought into the battle.

And that’s why the Bible tells us to be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil because he’s still scheming.

Satan is attempting to get you and to get me to malfunction and then not function at all if he could. But for sure, we have to praise God because the saints, Christians, are on the winning side like we sang about this morning—we know the outcome.

“Jesus is the victor and we are victors with him.”

Jesus is the victor and we are victors with him.

So, as we saw last time, the seventh trumpet blows in Revelation 11:15, and the final wrap-up of the final judgment begins from chapter 12 to 14. Here’s another parenthesis, and it takes a look at the tribulation from not only a heavenly perspective, but also an earthly perspective.

The Apostle John sees God’s judgment pouring out from heaven onto the earth. So in reality, with all the characters in this passage of scripture and the next, we see that God is really the main character preparing and ensuring the saints about what has always been his purpose and plan. He has promised from the beginning that he will send a Messiah.

God’s Promises Are Already Settled

He will send a Christ. He will send someone to save his people from their sins. It really does start with the promises of God.

The first thing that I want to mention from chapter 12:1-6 is God’s promises are already settled.

The Promise to Keep His Word

And what promises are those? Well, there are several of them. The first one is the promise to keep his word.

Even when Adam and Eve were tempted to sin by Satan, the whole human race fell into sin and consequently separated from God. It was always the promise of God to guarantee deliverance through the seed of the woman. In Genesis, it tells us, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

So the first personage that we’re introduced to in this passage of scripture is the woman. Notice what it says in verses one and two: “A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and a crown of 12 stars on her head. And she was with child and cried out being in labor and in pain to give birth.”

So here is the woman, and the woman is really symbolic. She’s a symbolic representation of this great sign that appears in heaven, and she’s going to have a baby. Now if you look at your Bibles, you will have heard in the language of the Old Testament that the image of the woman is a classical symbol of Zion or Jerusalem and of Israel.

Genesis 3:15: “He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

The Woman: Israel

Back in Genesis 37, when Joseph had a dream, he dreamed about the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the stars bowed down before him. We know from the word of God that the 12 stars point to the 12 tribes of Israel, the patriarchs of the sons of Jacob. Jacob’s name would be changed to Israel.

Keep that in mind when we’re asking the question: who is this woman? Romans 9 reads, “Who are Israelites? To whom belongs the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, and the temple service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is overall God blessed forever.” So the woman is Israel.

“Israel is the one who produces the male child—the nation that would bring forth the Messiah.”

In other words, Israel is the one who produces the male child. The nation of Israel would bring forth the Messiah. From Abraham to the days of Mary, the nation of Israel was preparing to bring forth a male child that would bless the entire world. That’s what it says in verse 5: “And she gave birth to a son, a male child.”

Satan is after the male child. By going after the woman Israel, the suffering of the nation is the real focus in this chapter rather than the historic birth of Christ by Mary. Somebody comes after her, wants to kill her—Israel and the Messiah whom Israel produces. Who is that person? We have the second personage in our passage, and that is the red dragon.

The Red Dragon: Satan

Verse 3 and 4. Notice what it says. Then another sign appeared in heaven. And behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns. And on his heads were seven diadems. And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour her child.

So here the red dragon we know is Satan himself. And the red actually points to the dragon’s ferocious, murderous, beastly, cruel power that he has. And this other sign that is given in heaven, it says that he has seven heads representing seven empires and 10 horns.

Now, theologically or biblically, this could be the final form of the revived Roman Empire where 10 kings will dominate during the tribulation period. And the original 10 kingdoms which were subdued by the little horn in Daniel. And the little horn was the world ruler of the great tribulation who reigns over this revived empire during the tribulation period.

And then it says on his head he has seven diadems. That Satan in other words has power and has authority over the major empires of the world. Satan will have involvement in the nations and the governments and he will use the government of men to work his evil as he is doing today.

The things going on in the governments today. You think that is by chance? That is not by chance. He is pulling the strings behind the scenes. He is getting the world ready for his rule here in the tribulation.

So there will be 10 nations, a 10 nation confederacy that will be headed by the antichrist. Satan’s power is real. And his intent is evil. His intent is to destroy and to kill.

And Satan usurps for himself the dominion that belongs to God alone. And God allows this for a while. And the dragon, what he wants to do is he wants people to bow down to him and worship him. And we’re going to find that comes in the rest of the book of Revelation.

He gets that in the unholy trinity that comes about because he wants to mimic Christ as close as possible so he can deceive those who believe that he’s Christ himself. But what happens here in verse 4 is that the dragon falls. And it’s because of his diabolical plan.

But notice what it says. It says in verse 4, “And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.” That Satan was thrown out of heaven and thrown to the earth. And he dragged along with him one-third of the angels because they believed him other than God himself.

And so the angels with Satan on earth have tried everything possible to stop the Messiah from being born. Do you realize that where it says in verse 4, “And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth so that when she gave birth, he might devour the child.” So Satan has always been about holding back the plan of God.

“Satan will use the government of men to work his evil as he is doing today.”

Satan’s Failed Attempts to Destroy the Messiah

He always knew that God would send a deliverer. Satan has always tried to prevent this event from happening. If you go back a little bit in your mind, Satan tempted Eve and the whole human race was plunged into sin. God guaranteed their deliverance through the seed of the woman.

This is what we see in scripture. Satan tries to stop the seed. What does he do? He murders Abel through Cain. Then Satan tries to destroy the Davidic line.

In fact, at one time in 2 Kings, the Bible says there was one boy left in the Davidic line, and that was Joash. Athaliah wanted to destroy all the royal offspring and she almost succeeded except for one woman who pulled Joash out from that line and hid him for six years. He tried to destroy the line that would produce the Messiah. That one person was rescued and kept in place so that the line would not die out.

Satan tried to cut off the Hebrew nation in Egypt, but God raised up Joseph to save the people. Satan tried very, very hard to make sure Messiah would not come into the world as the God-man and as the baby child who would be born of a virgin birth. He would be able to live a completely perfect life so he could show who God is and show us who the Father is, and then ultimately go to the cross. He did not succeed. Jesus is the victor.

Notice again in verse 5: “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and her child will be caught up to God to his throne.” This is Jesus Christ who will rule all nations with a rod of iron.

Has that happened yet? The answer is no. But it’s going to happen in the millennial kingdom when he is ruling on this world after the tribulation. He has to do it with a rod of iron because there are still wicked nations in the world that don’t submit to Christ. But they have to submit because of his authority and the way he is ruling.

Satan tried to get Herod to make a decree to kill all the male babies so Messiah wouldn’t come. Satan tried to destroy Jesus during his earthly ministry. Satan tried to tempt Jesus to accept his offer and avoid the cross: “I’ll give you all the kingdoms of the world.” Satan tried to throw Christ over a cliff. Satan incited the scribes and the Pharisees to stone Jesus to death.

Satan entered into Judas, his inner circle, to betray Jesus and hand him over to be put to death. Luke tells us that Satan entered into Judas who was called Iscariot, belonging to the number of the twelve. He got into Jesus’ inner circle for what reason? To prevent Jesus from going to the cross.

So he tried not only to prevent the birth, but he tries to prevent the death of Christ. He tried to prevent the victory of Christ. He thought in the death of Christ that he won because the cross had a lot to do with Satan also. And yet what happens? The outcome of the battle between Satan and Israel, or the woman over the man-child Jesus, the God-man.

“Jesus is the victor. Satan did not succeed.”

The Promise to Honor the Son

Did Satan get him? No. Didn’t get him at all. See, that first promise is that God keeps his word. From the beginning of Genesis all the way to the end, God keeps his word.

And so the people—not only us today, but the people of the tribulation—have to depend on the promises of God. They have to know their history. They have to know what scripture teaches so they can endure through that terrible time that they’re going to go through.

Now, that brings me to a second promise, and that is in verse five. The second part of verse five is the promise for God the Father to honor his own son. Notice what it says in verse 5: “And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.” And notice the last part: “And her child was caught up to God and to his throne.”

So what is this? The dragon might have thought that he had the power to devour Christ, but his plan failed. Jesus not only defeated Satan and death on the cross, but he rose again to give eternal life to all who believe and then to what? To ascend into heaven. That’s what we have here. We have the ascension of Jesus Christ.

But not only the ascension—the Father honors his son by taking him out, bringing him back to heaven. This is the glorification of the son here who rules the nations with a rod of iron.

“From the beginning of Genesis all the way to the end, God keeps his word.”

This child which the woman bore was destined to rule and reign. This child was the Messiah and he would rule as king of kings and lord of lords for a thousand years on this earth. And he will rule with a rod of iron. This child is the Messiah.

Not only that, but this son, this child Jesus ascends to heaven. Notice what it says in verse 5: “And her child was caught up to God.” That’s the ascension.

The Ascension and Enthronement of Christ

In fact, if you remember from the book of Acts 1, remember when Jesus was standing there, the disciples were standing there and this is what it says in Acts 1:9. “And after he had said these things, he was lifted up while they were looking on and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And as they were gazing intently into the sky while he was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. And they said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched him go into heaven.’”

So his feet leave the Mount of Olives. What does Zechariah tell us?

Acts 1:11: “This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way.”

He’s going to return the same place he left. That’s what Jesus does, right? The father honors the son by taking him out of this world. The battle in some way against preventing the Messiah from coming or preventing the cross has failed completely.

Jesus is not only glorified in this passage. He is sent to heaven, but also he is enthroned. It says in verse 5, and to his throne. He’s enthroned as the son, seated at the right hand of God the father with power and authority. Seated because his work on earth is done.

What is he doing there? He’s praying for us. He’s praying for his people. And he’s preparing a place for us that where he is, we may go.

“He’s praying for us. He’s praying for his people. And he’s preparing a place for us.”

The Promise to Care for His People

That’s what the Bible says about what Jesus has done. So that’s what Jesus does. That’s what the Father does. He promises to honor the Son. He promises to keep his promises. And then also the third promise in verse 6, the promise to care for his people.

Now if Jesus is not here and Jesus ascended into heaven and he’s seated at the right hand of the Father, what’s Satan going to do now? What does he do? Verse 6. And then it says, “Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God so that she would be nourished for 1,260 days.”

See, Satan thought he won, but Jesus was caught up to heaven. Jesus is ascended into heaven where he is seen as glorified and exalted. And Satan could not stop it. So if Satan could not get Christ, he would have to continue to dog someone. So what does he do? He dogs Israel. He dogs the nation of Israel.

That’s what he does. He dogs the church. He kicks against the church. But he dogs in this time this particular people who he knows are going to leave him and they’re going to start believing in Jesus as the true Messiah. So he’s enraged at what’s going on. And this is what he does. He goes after Israel. That’s what he does. And that’s what it says in verse 6.

And what does God do? How does God care for his people? This is the promise. He prepares a place for them in verse 6 where they’re going to be nourished and protected for 1,260 days.

So the mother of the child is Israel. Because of the great persecution in the second half of the tribulation, a portion of the nation of Israel flees into the wilderness. That is a safe place prepared by God and then nourished by God through this period of time.

Now it uses the number here 1,260 days. The Daniel passage we read had the other way of describing it: the time, times, and a half a time. And then it’s also recorded in Revelation as 42 months and then three and a half years. All of it is telling us this period of time is going to happen. It’s going to take place. These things are really going to be.

Therefore, Israel is brought forth that brought forth the Messiah. And the first battle is between the dragon, the devil, who is determined to stop this thing and destroy the baby before he’s born. And Satan is a slick operator and you won’t explicitly see him out there in the open. Satan is always hiding, giving the strong impression that he doesn’t even exist. But yet Second Thessalonians tells us that this is not the way he messes things up.

“God prepares a place for them where they’re going to be nourished and protected.”

Satan’s Lawlessness at Work

It. This disorder, this lawlessness that Thessalonians describes is not simply referring to disorder and a violation of law, but it is referring to what’s going on behind the lawlessness. That behind the lawlessness is the aim of the devil to overthrow the rule and law of God and to establish his own rule.

In other words, even though this evil, this man of sin is not yet revealed, the spirit that will permeate his career is already operational. It’s becoming more evident every single day that if you have eyes to see as a Christian and if you have ears to hear what’s going on, this world is definitely getting to a place where lawlessness is now in our face. No longer just behind the scenes, it’s in our face.

We don’t have a world where we’re going to see righteousness. We’re going to see more and more lawlessness.

Even though this lawlessness is working now, it is working under restraint. Thessalonians tells us that this lawlessness is not as bad as it will be. Something is in the way of it fully gushing out. However, in time, the restrainer, which I believe is the church, the temple of God on earth filled with the spirit of God—when we’re removed and the church is out, then this lawlessness just takes over the world.

Satan loves to cause confusion. Anytime there’s confusion, there’s disillusionment, there’s all kind of misunderstanding, he has his fingerprints all over it. That’s why Christians are supposed to know the truth so we could know when we detect he’s been fooling around with things.

“Behind the lawlessness is the aim of the devil to overthrow the rule and law of God.”

Satan has fooled around with every religious system that’s on this earth today. Every one of them. Only the true church in Jesus Christ is the one who holds to the scriptures, holds to the word of God, and then reads it, studies it, follows it, lives it—those are the ones who know what’s really happening.

Even Daniel’s passage of scripture says the ones who are unrighteous won’t know what’s going on, but the righteous ones will know what’s going on. We know what’s going on, and we ought to live our life every day because we do know what’s going on.

The promises of God are settled in heaven.

God’s Salvation Is Sure

We have to know that as believers, and I believe people in the tribulation have to know that, too. But there’s a second thing, and it’s this: back to Revelation 12:7.

Our Enemy Is Vanquished

That God’s salvation is sure. Not only are his promises definitely determined, but also his salvation is sure. And there are three reasons for that. The first reason is this: because our enemy is vanquished.

Verse 7 of Revelation 12 says, “And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war.” In verse 8, “And they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.”

Let me stop right there. We see that this enemy of ours—remember Satan got kicked out of heaven and drew a third of the angels with him. He was once Lucifer ministering close to the throne of God.

Revelation 12:7: “There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon.”

Pride welled up in his heart and he rebelled against God and was able to take a third of the angels with him. Because of that, he incurred the judgment of God and was cast out of heaven, taking a numerous amount of fallen angels in his rebellion.

He introduced sin into the human race by his temptation of Adam and Eve recorded in Genesis 3. He has been waging war ever since and has not stopped. Satan’s minions are fighting against Michael and his angels. That’s amazing what’s going on here.

There was war in heaven. Michael’s angels were waging war with his angels, right? The dragon and his angels are waging war and Michael and his angels are waging war. The good against the bad waging war.

What are they fighting for? No longer the child, because Jesus is in heaven. The issue has been settled as far as he is concerned. He lost there.

So here’s a second battle he’s having. If we read on in our passage, notice what it says in verse 8: “The dragon and his angels waged war and they were not strong enough and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.”

Verse 9 says, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who was called the devil and Satan who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to earth and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Now, I believe Scripture is pointing to us. You can’t make a mistake about who we’re talking about here, right? We’re talking about this slanderous, deceptive, devilish adversary of God and God’s people. That’s who we’re talking about here.

The result of the battle in heaven is that Satan is cast out of heaven by the Archangel Michael. The reason for that is that he was not able to fight against the Archangel Michael. He could not win against him and his angels. He was too weak to do that.

Michael seems to be the commanding general and has been in the conflict with the devil over the ages. You go back into the Old Testament and you see fighting with Michael, evil behind the scenes, demons behind the scenes.

We don’t really know the like of this battle in heaven between the dragon and his minions and Michael and his angels. But we do know it was a decisive battle. One can make no mistake about who gets thrown out of the third heaven.

“Satan was cast out of heaven by the Archangel Michael. It was a decisive battle.”

Cast Out of the Third Heaven

It is this man, this serpent, this devil, this Satan, this deceiver of the whole world. He’s the one that gets thrown out. He is the ring leader of it all.

Just by way of note for you, we learn from scripture that there are three heavens. The third heaven is where God dwells. Well, how do we know that?

Remember when Paul was caught up to the third heaven, it says in 2 Corinthians, “I know a man in Christ for 14 years—14 years ago, whether in body, I don’t know, or out of body, I don’t know. I know God knows such a man who was caught up to the third heaven.”

So the third heaven is where God dwells. Satan is cast out of that place.

Obviously, he did have access to that. We see in Joshua, he does have access to that. But here it means that Satan and his demons still have temporary access to the first heaven, which is space, and the second heaven, which is the sky above.

Our Salvation Is Protected

I believe that’s what Paul was referring to in Ephesians when he says, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places,” and that Satan is the prince and power of the air.

See, he still has ability to move in and out of parts of God’s creation, but he can no longer go to the third heaven. He’s cast out of that completely. God’s salvation is sure because our enemy is vanquished, but also because our salvation is protected.

Notice in verse 10, it says, “Then 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 brethren has been thrown down. He accuses them before our God day and night.”

When a person—let me just say this. Why are they fighting? This is why they’re fighting. Because Satan has been accusing God’s people day and night in the presence of God. And Michael the Archangel said you no longer belong in this place.

It’s time for house cleaning. It’s time to get rid of you. So they fight about it once for all, and that is what we have here in our text, and they’re cast out.

Ephesians 6:12: “Our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Now what does that mean for us? When a person comes to Christ for salvation, no accusation can stick because there can never be an accusation against God’s elect.

What does Paul say in Romans? “Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ.” And then in verse 33 of chapter 8, he says, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.”

In other words, if you’re justified because the blood of Christ has covered you and made you clean, no one can bring an accusation against you and me because Christ already took care of that. See, our salvation is protected by God.

Romans 8:1, 33: “There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ… Who will bring a charge against God’s elect?”

Yes, because our salvation is protected, it is because Jesus has fought the greatest fight and has won the greatest battle. So what is the reaction of heaven in verse 10? “Then I heard a loud voice in heaven,” and notice what it says: “The salvation, the power, the kingdom of God, the authority of his Christ have come.”

That’s heaven’s reaction. All of heaven—the martyred saints, the 24 elders, the angels—they are singing a song of triumph in anticipation of the ultimate victory of Christ. One commentary said it like this: the great act of rescue resulting in the safety of all believers.

And despite all the efforts of Satan, God will save his people from all over the world. Doesn’t matter what’s going on, the gospel is still going out and it’s going out with power. It’s going out everywhere. God’s using social media, too. But he’s using it to bring the gospel to people, to bring truth to people. He’s using it also in a righteous way.

Our Atonement Is Complete

So Satan has been brought low. In this case, his mouth has been stopped. His character has been exposed. And there’s a third reason why our salvation is sure. And it’s this in verse 11: because our atonement is complete.

And it says this in verse 11: “And they overcame him because of the blood of the lamb, because of the word of their testimony. And they did not love their life even when faced with death.” See, our atonement is complete.

But just think, maybe you’re not familiar with the word atonement that’s taught in scripture. What it really means is that Christ’s death was a substitution for sinners. You and I should have been dying there. Christ died in our place, right?

And then when he was there, God imputed the guilt of our transgressions to Christ and then punished him for them. That’s what he did. And then included in that is it was a full payment for sin. It was a complete payment for sin. It was a final payment for sin.

And why? To satisfy the wrath of God. To satisfy the righteousness and justice of God so that he could forgive sin without compromising his holy standard. He can pour it all out on Jesus and Jesus would take care of it.

“It was a full payment for sin, a complete payment, a final payment—to satisfy the wrath of God.”

Satisfy his justice, the justice of the Father. So you and I could have a complete salvation in light of these truths that God’s promises are settled and God’s salvation is sure.

We cannot miss this fact. We are still in warfare. We are on the victory side, but we’re not home yet. And Christ hasn’t come yet.

So there are several things that are common to all true warriors of Christ. Here’s the first thing: the Satan saints battle is won by Christ. It says here because of the blood of the lamb. A second thing: the grounds for the believer’s victory.

Oh yes, have saints sinned? Yes. But there is no one to accuse them because he has been thrown down and defeated.

And since we have been redeemed by Christ from under the power of Satan, he cannot regain his hold on us again. His power over us is completely and forever broken. Oh, he will lie to you. He will deceive you. He will send temptation your way.

But see, you cannot believe him anymore. You cannot give in to him anymore. See, the saints conquer their accusers for two reasons. They overcame him because of the blood of the lamb. So the sins of all the brethren has disappeared. It has been washed clean and made white by the blood of Jesus.

The Blood of the Lamb and the Word of Testimony

And as I mentioned before, the altar was a place of sacrifice. On top of the altar was the judgment of God. But on the bottom of the altar was the cleansing forgiveness of the blood that washes away the sin.

When the sin is washed away, the believer now has fellowship with God. God looks upon them with favor and with pleasure, not in judgment or in wrath. Notice also in verse 11: they not only overcame them by the blood of the lamb, but by the word of their testimony.

What is the testimony of the saints? The testimony of the saints concerns the blood of the lamb. That’s our testimony. That’s the message we preach.

If ever we are to conquer Satan in the world, we must hold to and proclaim the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. It is an essential doctrine of the church. It cannot be altered or minimized or ignored.

Whenever there is a clear declaration of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, then the church comes forth in her glory and bruises the dragon’s head.

“When there is a clear declaration of justification by faith, the church bruises the dragon’s head.”

If you want to deliver souls from the power of Satan, you must preach the sacrifice of Jesus and his power to remove sin.

When Satan casts people, he casts them about in the chains of darkness and in drug addiction and in sexual uncleanness or self-righteousness or self-centered pride, whatever it may be. Satan always deals in the euphoric and the mystical and the religious and the unrealistic realm. That’s where he deals with things and he pulls people into that realm.

When you’re in that realm, you can’t understand anything. Everything is confusing. Nobody knows what’s up or down or left or right. But that’s his goal: to confuse people.

He is the author of confusion and chaos. He is very good at it.

No Other Way but Christ

See, that’s why we need to know the truth. Where do we stand? Do we stand on the blood of Christ? Do we stand on the word of the testimony of Christ, on what he’s done? We must stand there.

We need to let sinners know how sin was punished in Jesus and how ready the Lord is to forgive them. That’s what we need to do and press that and live that before people. We must preach the blood of Jesus as the only way of salvation. There is no other way.

In all the millions of religions in the world, there’s only one Christ. Amen. Satan wasn’t fighting with all the other religions. He was fighting with one—the one who’s going to produce the Messiah and who will send that Messiah to the cross to die for sinners and then rise from the grave. That’s who he’s fighting against.

These other religions are his. He’s the author of them because he’s getting people to say it’s by your good works that you go to heaven, it’s by your righteousness that you go to heaven. If you have some divine scales in heaven and hopefully your good works outweigh your bad works, God will say, “Okay, I think I’ll let that person in.” That’s how you get in.

That’s how you go to hell. You get in by taking all your sin to Christ and believing in him. That’s how you get saved. That’s how you get right with God. That’s how you get your sin forgiven. That’s how you conquer with the blood of Christ, and that becomes the word of your testimony.

See the old story of redeeming grace and dying love. There is no weapon like a testimony of the cleansing blood of Christ. Tell the sinner that there is no sin that man has done that the blood cannot put away and wash away.

“In all the millions of religions in the world, there’s only one Christ.”

It doesn’t matter how deep, how long you have sinned, or how much you’ve been captured by it. It is the blood of Christ that will free you from that because he washed it away and he forgave you. But if you don’t believe that, if you don’t know that, if you haven’t received that by faith, then you have to come and believe in Christ because he’s the only way. There’s no other way. No other religion in the world produces this.

Even the three major religions of the world don’t produce that. They give you false hope. You have to do this and you have to do that. You have the ten things to get to heaven and all these kinds of stuff. That’s all lies. It’s all authored by Satan.

Resisting the Enemy’s Attacks

So there’s another thing common to all warriors in Christ, and it’s just this: we learned from scripture that we are to resist the enemy’s attacks. But brethren, remember this—the pathway to victory has been trodden and fought by the most honored of the elect of God.

Just take the Apostle Paul, for instance, who won victories for Christ. Nevertheless, the Bible says he had the messenger of Satan to buffet him. His whole life, Satan was coming against him somehow, whatever that was, to stop him from doing what God called him to do. But he never stopped.

See, Paul had to stand against doubts and fears insinuated by the old serpent. Even you and I must stand. You and I will not conquer without conflict. If there’s no cross, there’s no crown. We will be attacked by the enemy.

You can mark that on your calendar.

And when you are attacked, what are saints to do? Well, we are led to resist the evil one. For no one overcomes an antagonist without fighting with him. But there are two sides of a real battle: there’s the antagonist who’s against you, and there is the one who resists the antagonist.

Now temptation is like an antagonist. Most professing Christians know much about temptations, but they don’t know much about resisting. A lot of times in counseling situations, you’re presenting them the word of God, and they have the power, if they’re real believers, to actually resist the thing they got caught into.

They’re enslaved to it, and they can resist it because they have the power to do that by God. But you hear people being tempted, but not too many people resisting. And now, brethren, however great our temptations, our resistance must be greater.

To be tempted is common even to the worst of sinners. But to resist temptation—mark this down—to resist temptation is the mark of a child of God. So if you are a believer and you have been attacked by Satan and you have been tempted to do certain things, what are you going to do? You’re going to resist him, and you’re going to resist him in the truth.

It says in Ephesians 6 to resist in the evil day when Satan has his crosshairs on you and he’s going to come against you. Some heightened day and unexpected spiritual battle comes into your path. You don’t even realize it was happening sometimes, and all of a sudden, bam—you’re caught into an old sin. You’re caught in an old pattern. Your mind is starting to think imaginary evil thoughts. Where do they come from?

So you have to resist those things. And how do you do that? James tells us: resist the devil and he will what? Flee from you. But what if you don’t resist? What happens?

It’s like the proverbial hook, the worm on the hook. He dangles it in front of you, and if you take it and don’t resist, he yanks it. It gets caught, and he drags you right along. That’s what he does.

But see, the thing is that you have to realize you are in a battle, but you have the armor of God to stand up against anything he throws at you. See, a sure evidence—a sure evidence that the voice of the Holy Spirit is becoming louder and louder every day in your life—is when you resist temptation.

“A sure evidence that the Holy Spirit is becoming louder in your life is when you resist temptation.”

The saint wrestles hard, keeps guard, and doesn’t give an inch until they drive the sword of the spirit through the heart of the enemy. That’s what we have the power to do by God’s spirit.

And rest assured, sin will never be conquered without resistance.

Overcomers in Christ

And yes, the victory is won in Christ, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We must watch and pray and strive and agonize and press forward as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. That’s what the Bible says.

See what is common to all warriors of Christ. They resist the enemy’s attacks. They resist temptation. A second thing is they are overcomers. Look what it says in verse 11: “And they overcame him.” So all Christ warriors overcome.

In other words, heaven is not for those who merely fight, but for those who actually overcome. It’s one thing to fight against sin. It’s another thing to overcome it.

For if sin overcomes you, if in fact sin becomes your master, then you have yet to know the true salvation that is yours in Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 6, “Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.” And then down to verse 14, he says, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.”

So the believer feels the battle, but he also rejoices in the victory both at the same time. You wrestle as a Christian and you conquer at the same time.

Romans 6:12: “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”

Loyal to Jesus Even Unto Death

Now that leaves me one part of the passage yet left. Not only do we overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony, but back in Revelation 2:10, the Bible was exhorting those there against satanic opposition. And it says, “Resist him and be faithful even unto death.”

Well, what? We have the same thing here. See, Jesus says, “He who runs well to the end, he who holds in there, who keeps going, who walks with me all the way to the end.” And then notice there is another thing common to all warriors of Christ. Verse 11: “And they did not love their life even when faced with death.”

What is that? They were loyal to Jesus. What do we need today? We need people who are loyal. Loyalty goes a long way.

Loyalty in families, loyalty in churches, loyalty in living the Christian life, loyalty to Jesus.

Now just imagine that is the mindset we actually should have. This passage right here—they didn’t love their life even when faced with death—there was a disconnect from loving the world and the things of the world and the pursuits of the world and the things that I want, all gone away. So when it came down to it, they would be willing to die for Christ even if somebody offered them the kingdoms of the world. They could not be tempted.

“They didn’t love their life even when faced with death—they were loyal to Jesus.”

They could not be bribed. They could not be led aside. They couldn’t be offered a better deal.

But in their unswerving loyalty and affection for Jesus and the only gospel that saves, they did not hesitate. If need be, they would give their life for Jesus Christ. Why? Because they know it’s not the end. It’s actually the beginning—enter into glory to be with the Lord forever and ever.

Don’t forget in this scheme of things, in God’s plan, that he’s not only started, but he’s going to finish. You and I are included in all that. Not only are we going to go into the presence of God, but when Jesus comes back again, we’re coming back with him and we’re going to reign and rule in the world as he sees fit. We’re all part of the program.

So losing your life is nothing compared to serving Jesus till the day you die. That’s the most important thing.

How could the warriors of Christ live with that attitude of life? I believe because God’s promises are settled, they are yes and amen. And because God’s salvation is sure and the outcome is determined by God himself. Amen. Let’s pray.

Closing Prayer

Lord, thank you so much for such a passage of scripture like this. Lord, you can give us your mind on things. You can open up the curtains of heaven and show us what’s going on.

You can see how battle has been raging for a long time. But Lord, we as believers are the only ones who now see it because we have the word of God that shows us that these things actually have taken place. And thank you, Lord. Thank you so much that because you shed your blood on the cross, by your blood we’re forgiven of everything. We’re made clean.

We’re able to go into your heaven, not based on our own righteousness, but the righteousness of Christ on our account. Thank you, Lord, for saving us. Continue to work in our life. Let us be warriors that resist the enemy. Let us be warriors that overcome the enemy by the truth that we understand and know from scripture.

Knowing, Lord, if it comes down to it, that you would give us that grace—that if we have to lose our life for the sake of the gospel, we wouldn’t even think twice. I pray you, Lord, use us to have this mindset. Even if we don’t have to die for you, that we would have the mindset that we would live with that kind of attitude. I pray this today in the name of Jesus.

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