The Victorious Church

Yesterday we saw that the local church should be the first place to receive practical and solid Bible teaching. Only by this means can the Church of Christ, as a whole, rise up in strength, administer in Christ’s name the victory of Calvary and accomplish the task committed to her by her Lord and Master. This accords with the picture in Revelation of a victorious church at the close of this age.

“And they [the Christians] overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” (Rev. 12:11)

Here are revealed the three elements of victory: the blood, the Word, our testimony. The blood is the token and seal of Christ’s finished work upon the cross and of all that this makes available to us of blessing and power and victory. Through the Word we come to know and understand all that Christ’s blood has purchased for us. Finally, through testifying to that which the Word reveals concerning the blood, we make Christ’s victory over Satan real and effectual in our personal experience.

As we study this divine programme of victory over Satan, we see once again that the Word occupies a central position. Without proper knowledge of the Word, we cannot understand the true merits and power of Christ’s blood, and thus our testimony as Christians lacks real conviction and authority. The whole of God’s programme for His people centres around the knowledge of His Word and the ability to apply it. Without this knowledge, the Church finds herself today in the same condition as Israel in Hosea’s day, concerning whom the Lord declared:

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you.” (Hos. 4:6)

A church that rejects the knowledge of God’s Word faces the certainty of rejection by God Himself and of destruction at the hands of her great adversary, the devil.