His Blood and Our Testimony

I haven gotten back to reading fiction novels. I am fascinated by how the author weaves the story, describes the characters and presents their back-stories. 

For plot twists, nothing beats scripture. Turning to Revelation 12, we find an extraordinary character conflict, between a pregnant woman and an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns. What kind of a lopsided battle is that? 

We are not told specifically who she is. Some say she is Mary. Others say she is Israel. In either case, her Child is Jesus. And the dragon is Satan.

She gave birth to a Son, a male Child, who “will rule all the nations with an iron scepter.” And her Child was snatched up to God and to his throne. (Revelation 12:5) 

The Baby the woman gives birth to is a powerful ruler. Good news! We expect she will be safe, but then the Child is snatched to heaven. The Child, the powerful ruler, has left. We, who live on the earth, remain to be pursued by Satan. What are we to do? Who will defend us?  

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of His Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death. (Revelation 12:10-11)

We don't have to defend ourselves. Christ has already been victorious because He took the curse of sin on His own body and paid the penalty by His blood. Because we believe Him, because He has changed our hearts and our lives, the victory has already been won for us. He has saved us and He is our Lord, our Shepherd, our King. Satan will continue to pursue us, to accuse us, but we are not longer bound by our sin.  We do not even have to fear death because we are confident of a better life after death where we will live forever in God's glorious kingdom. 

Jesus, who came as a baby, is the Christ. He has Redeemed us. He is our King.

This is our testimony. We do not have to battle the dragon. We only have to hold fast to our testimony of who Jesus is and what He has done on our behalf. That is our weapon! It is the only one we need.

Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus. (Revelation 12:17)

Beloved, what if instead of trying to battle my sin, I simply speak the truth to myself, that You have already won the battle? I feel weak, like a pregnant woman in a struggle with an enormous red dragon, but the King of Kings and His angel armies are on my side. Because of Your victory, the word of my testimony has power when I hold it fast. 

Beloved, thank You for Your protection of me. Even though I cannot see You with my eyes, I can be confident in Your power and faithfulness. I trust You.