The Only Kind of Christian that Frightens Satan

I want to turn to Revelation chapter 12 and verse 11. This is speaking about what I believe to be a great end-time conflict that lies ahead at the close of the present age, a conflict in which heaven and earth are involved.

The angels of God are involved. Satan and his angels are involved. And God’s believing people on earth are involved. And thank God that the victory goes to God and to His people.

This passage describes how the people of God on earth, God’s believing people on this earth, played their part in obtaining that victory. It’s a statement made by the angels, but it’s made about the believers on earth.

“They overcame him.”

Who is ‘they’? They is people like you and me, believers in Jesus Christ. Now, who is ‘him’? Satan, that’s right. That’s very important. And you see, that shows very clearly that there can be direct conflict between us and Satan. There’s no one else in between.

“They overcame him.”

And then it tells us how they overcame him.

“By the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.”

And it also adds what kind of people they were.

“They loved not their lives unto the death.”

To say it in one word, they were committed, totally committed. And that’s the only kind of Christian that frightens Satan: totally committed Christians.

When it says, “They loved not their lives unto the death,” what does it mean? Well, it means for them staying alive was not priority number one. Priority number one was to do the will of God, whether they stayed alive or not. Staying alive wasn’t the most important thing for them. The most important thing was to be faithful to the Lord and do His will.

So, we talk about being soldiers in the Lord’s army, but I think a lot of us really have got a very vague and rather sentimental idea about what it is to be a soldier. I, by no choice of my own, was a soldier in the British Army in World War II for five and a half years. And let me tell you one thing, when I, I what, I didn’t enlist, I was conscripted, but anyhow, when I got into this situation, I didn’t get a nice little certificate from the commanding officer saying, “We guarantee you, you will never have to live, lose your life.”

No soldier has ever joined an army on the condition that he will not be killed. In fact, in a certain sense, anytime a soldier joins an army, one of his commitments is, “I may be killed. It may cost me my life.” And it’s just the same in the Lord’s army. You’ve got no guarantee that you will not have to lay down your life. The people that Satan fears are those who are not afraid to lay down their life. After all, life is comparatively brief anyhow. It’s not going to go on forever, and it’s not all a bed of roses, is it?

It would be foolish to miss eternal glory for the sake of a few brief years on earth. You see, I believe this is enlightened self-interest, to have a proper sense of values. What is more important? I believe that we should say, “For me, the most important thing in life is to do the will of God.” There’s a wonderful statement in 1 John chapter 2, verse 17:

“The world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”

When you unite your will with the will of God in total commitment, you become unsinkable. You’re undefeatable. You’re unshakeable. You’re just as totally sure as God’s will. When you identify yourself with the will of God, whether you live or whether you die is of secondary importance, but you cannot be defeated.

Now, I want to consider what it means to overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. This is one of the precious treasures of truth that God has given me over the years. There’s no way you could put a price on this. You could offer millions of dollars, but it wouldn’t be sufficient.

There is no monetary value equal to the value of this truth. I want to say it very simply, and I trust I’ll make it clear. Listen carefully. We overcome Satan when we testify personally to what the Word of God says the blood of Jesus does for us.