Hello everyone and welcome back to Deeper Waters. I certainly have had a busy day and I hope a very productive one and also one that has helped shape me into Christlikeness. As I think about that, isn’t that what we should hope for every day? Thus, with my prayer requests, I ask that you keep praying that for me. I also ask for your prayers in my financial situation. I’m in a very tight spot with a lot to plan for and I’m going to need a lot of resources to do it. Lastly, I ask for prayer in a third related area in my life to which at this time I will not state what it is. Tonight, we’re going to continue our Trinitarian commentary with Revelation 12:10-12.
10Then 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 Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11They overcame 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.
12Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
This is a hymn of victory after the defeat of the devil. We are interested mainly in seeing what this tells us about the doctrine of the Trinity. Noteworthy is that victory is seen as coming through salvation. The offer of salvation and the possibility of it being actualized is seen as victory. It means the devil has not made the world and the human race irredeemable. God has won again.
Notice that this is to the kingdom of God and the authority of his Christ, that is, Jesus, the Messiah. The two are again tied in together. The power of God and the authority of Christ both have brought about the victory in the world. It is the power of God that transform a life and it is by the name of Jesus that that power is given to us.
In fact, what is interesting is that in verse 11, we are told that it is us who overcame the evil one. How? We did it by the blood of the lamb. How incredible. By proclaiming Christ, we have defeated satan. When we make Jesus Lord of our lives, satan is defeated. What a message this must have been to the early church wondering if their efforts were in vain to proclaim the gospel. What a message it is to the church today when we wonder if our efforts are in vain to proclaim the gospel!
As the final part says, this is cause for rejoicing. Woe to those who are still in bondage. We should do what we can. Those of us who are free can rejoice, but we should also do what we can to make sure others have reason to rejoice. As Luther said, we are beggars telling other beggars where we found bread.
We shall continue tomorrow.
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