“And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die.!”

Revelation 12:11 In this incredible verse in the bible we have an awesome statement of how you can win over this present age and the one who controls it. The “they” in these verses is referring to the believers in Christ of which you are if we have put your faith in him. The “him” refers to Satan the prince of the this world (John 14:30). There is one thing that many of us who have been believers in Christ for some years and that is that we cannot win on our own and with our own strength. Every time we try we are spiritually bruised and beaten, but here John writes about how we can win through another strength not of our own. There are two things that Satan runs from and there is one type of person that he can’t defeat. This week we will look at “the blood of the Lamb” Firstly the kind of person– In this verse the believers were totally committed, being blessed with health or wealth was not their priority, they were faith fol-lowers of Christ. They were not afraid of death as they knew that ultimately this would lead to life, with God. (I am not teaching like some 80’s cult that we should all go and lie down and commit suicide or desire to face martyrdom, but simply asking how committed to Jesus are we, what is your priority, your well being or the gospel of Jesus). People who join the army don’t join it to die, they join to protect the freedom of their country or the state that they are protect-ing, but some do. A soldier goes into battle knowing that it could be his last. The bible teaches us that we are like soldiers, we are fighting not against physical powers, but against the evil world that surrounds us all. We too as disciples of Jesus will face difficult times, because of our faith. But whether we live or die we will still win in the end. This verse teaches us that because we have come under the blood of Christ we are protected from the enemy, just like the Israelites were protected from the angel of death during the Passover (Exodus 12) We come under his eternal protection because of his blood shed on the cross. When we apply his blood to our lives, Satan cannot touch us. We don’t have to physically cover ourselves with his blood, it’s a metaphor, but we associate ourselves with his death, by believing and trusting what he has done for us. We apply it by being obedient to his commands and standing for his truth and living them out.
Andy Hodson

Labels: Applying, Blood, Lamb