Trumpet Ministries, Revelation 12:11
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And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. (Revelation 12:11)
The brothers of Christ, through the grace of God in Christ, will conquer the accuser—the fiery-red, huge, ancient dragon and his angels.
How can we overcome this dreadful wickedness that is accusing us before our Father day and night?
First, by means of the holy blood of the Lamb. When we place our faith in the blood of the Lamb, abiding under the blood at all times, the legal aspect of our guilt is resolved. The guilt of our sins is forgiven by the Judge of the bench of Heaven because of the justifying authority of the blood.
Apart from the legal authority of the blood of Christ to forgive our guilt in the eyes of Divine Law, we do not have any ability whatever to overcome the accuser and his charges.
Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth [declares to be righteous—free from condemnation]. (Romans 8:33)
God has forgiven the trespasses of His sons on the basis of the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God Himself in Christ bore away the guilt of our sins. The legal authority of this transaction is supremely, totally conclusive.
No matter what charge the accuser may bring against us, if we have kept ourselves in the love of God, confessing and repenting of our sins as the Holy Spirit has directed us, walking in the light of God’s Presence and will, then the blood of Christ continually has been keeping us free from condemnation in the sight of God (I John 1:7-9). The guilt in our record has been expunged, making it as though we never had sinned.
The atoning authority of the blood of Christ forgives our sins in the Presence of God. The covering power of the blood protects us when the Lord is executing judgment against the gods of this world. The life in the blood becomes eternal life in us as we learn to draw our strength from the Lord Jesus.
Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. (John 6:54)
First, we overcome the accuser, the ancient dragon, by the blood of the Lamb.
Second, we overcome the accuser by the word of our testimony.
God has glorified His name in time past, as described in the Scriptures. God will glorify His name again in the end-time, latter-rain, Divine Testimony. The two witnesses, the Head and Body of Christ, under a double anointing of the Holy Spirit, will proclaim the Person, Word, will, and eternal purpose of the Father. The testimony of God is the truth of God. No matter what appears to be true in our life or in our environment, we must hold to the truth of God as it is presented in His holy Word.
It is the Holy Spirit who creates the word of our testimony. As we walk in the Holy Spirit, He perfects the testimony of Christ in us. The testimony of Christ is the Spirit of prophecy, pointing toward the coming of the Day of the Lord (Revelation 19:10).
We receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon us: power to testify of the atoning death and triumphant resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; power to testify of the need of people everywhere to receive Christ, to repent of all sin and wickedness because of the soon coming to the earth of the righteous Kingdom of God.
The Divine testimony to the earth consists of righteousness and also of works of supernatural power and wisdom. All righteousness, both imputed (ascribed) and practiced, comes from the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit. All holy supernatural power comes from the Lord Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.
The Lampstand is of solid, refined gold. The Divine testimony comes from the Holy Spirit. No part of the testimony comes from the wisdom and strength of human beings.
There is a point at which we humans tell about the Testimony. John spoke of the Divine Testimony, Christ, who was from the beginning, whom John had seen and heard. But even John’s testimony concerning the Testimony, given in John’s Gospel, in his three letters and in the Book of Revelation, had to be guided by the Holy Spirit Himself. The eternal Testimony of Christ always comes from the Spirit of God.
The witnessing Church is clothed with the righteousness of Christ. Christ gives us His righteousness. We preach, as the Holy Spirit enables, to all persons everywhere that if they will receive Christ, repent of their sins, and be baptized in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they too will be covered with the righteousness of Christ.
Those who believe in Christ and are baptized in water will be saved from destruction in the day the Kingdom of God enters the earth, as Rahab and her family were saved from destruction by the covenant of the scarlet cord in the day Israel entered Jericho.
The witnessing Church of the end-time outpouring of the Spirit of God will be a righteous, holy, and obedient Church. It will be "clothed in sackcloth" (Revelation 11:3). This means it will be a Church that itself is always humble and repentant before God and preaches the message of repentance.
The message of repentance is as follows: turn away from the spirit of the world; turn away from unrighteousness; turn away from uncleanness; turn away from disobedience to God. Entrance into the Kingdom of God requires that we receive Christ as our Lord and Savior, and that in His name and through His grace we live uprightly, truthfully, sincerely, faithfully, patiently, humbly, in holiness and in obedience to God’s written Word and also to His will for our individual life.
Any person in the days to come who does not turn away from dishonest conduct, unclean practices, and disobedience to God, will perish whether or not he or she names the name of Christ.
Salvation in the Kingdom of God requires repentance.
The testimony that overcomes the accuser is the testimony of repentance through the name and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)
A church that does not practice continual repentance and does not preach repentance is not part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Divine Testimony to the earth consists of works of supernatural power and also of the call to repentance. The life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and of His Apostles was distinguished by the message of repentance from sins and also by works of supernatural power.
It is evident from the eleventh chapter of Revelation that the testimony of the end-time Church will include works of tremendous power. Nature will cooperate with the saints as the Divinely ordained miracles suspend natural law. The elements will bow in obedience before the Word of almighty God in the members of the Body of Christ.
God’s purpose in such a demonstration of Divine power is to command the attention of every person on the earth. God desires that each human see the majesty of God and hear the word of righteousness, the word of holiness, the word of repentance.
God has prepared a covering for each individual. It is the blood of His Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Each human being is to repent of all unrighteous behavior and to put on the garment of righteousness the Lord God of Heaven has prepared for him or her.
Woe to the person who will not repent of unrighteousness, uncleanness, and disobedience to God! Woe to the individual who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ or who gives only a token allegiance to Christ but does not repent of unrighteousness! He or she will reap corruption when the Kingdom of God enters the earth in the near future.
All the lies of those who have taught us that God is so loving He will not perform His Word of Judgment will be swept away in the torrent of fire in that Day.
The righteousness and the power of the word of the testimony of the saints will overcome the accuser in the hour that even now is upon us. It is not just the works, the symptoms, the fruit of the accuser that will be injured. It is the accuser himself who will be torn down from his place of influence in the spirit realm. The devil and all his works have come to their termination. Woe to any human being who attempts to carry on the works of Satan!
The purpose of the gifts and ministries of the Body of Christ is to build the Body itself, the Lampstand—the Divine Testimony of the Lord God of Heaven.
First, the gifts and ministries will build Christ in the character of the saint. Then the double portion of the Holy Spirit will come upon the saint, and through the wisdom and power of the Spirit he or she will bear witness of Christ to the whole earth.
When the wisdom, power, and prophetic utterance of the Spirit of God flow in power and glory through the saint, all the works of Satan will be shaken and dissolved. Satan himself will be bound and cast down from his position of rulership over the earth. The material creation will be released from the chains of darkness and corruption. In Christ the Divine curse will be lifted from the creation of God.
All Divine Testimony is of the Holy Spirit of God. Both the righteousness and the power of the Kingdom of God, and the resulting peace, are all of the one Holy Spirit.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only true Witness of God. In Christ we behold the righteous Character and deeds of God Almighty. From Christ we hear the Divine call to repentance. We learn of the love and forgiveness of God through Christ, and of the coming fierce wrath of God.
In Christ we behold the works of Divine power and glory. In Christ we behold eternal wisdom and knowledge. From Christ we hear the Word of eternal Life, the Word of the Spirit of God. In Christ we observe the fullness of the Glory of the seven Spirits of God who abide eternally before the throne of the Lord God of Heaven. This is the true testimony of God.
We overcome the accuser of the brothers by the blood of the Lamb, by the perfect Divine righteousness that covers every true child of God. We overcome also by the word of our testimony—the living Word that shows forth the salvation of God, the righteousness of God, the will of God, to the heavens and to the earth.
The end result of the demonstration by the Holy Spirit of the salvation, the righteousness, the power, the will of God to the heavens and the earth, is the forcing of Satan down from his spiritual rulership and the casting of him into the earth.
Satan cannot be conquered when the Church is unrighteous, unholy, or disobedient to God. Satan cannot be conquered when the Church is performing works of human talent, human wisdom, and human strength.
Satan cannot be conquered when the Church is speaking from human intelligence and education—even education in the Scriptures. Satan cannot be conquered other than through the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.
Satan cannot be conquered other than by the Divine prophetic testimony of Christ coming forth through the wisdom and power of the Spirit of God through the remnant of the woman’s Seed "which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12:17). Only Divine truth can conquer the lie that Satan is.
In order to force the accuser from his position of rulership over the world and to hurl him into the earth we must overcome him by the blood of the Lamb. We must overcome him by the word of our Spirit-empowered-and-guided testimony.
Also, we must overcome him by loving not our lives to the death.
The death signified here is the removing of King Self from the throne of our personality and the placing of King Jesus on that throne.
The means God has provided so we may die the death to self is the cross of Christ. Our self-will must be crucified with Christ. We must be sharers in, partakers of, His sufferings. We must be conformed to His death on the cross.
If we are not willing to die in this sense, Christ cannot live in us. If Christ does not live in us, the accuser cannot be wrenched from his place of dominion over the world and thrown into the earth by Michael and his angels.
By no means whatever can the people of the churches of Christ overcome the ancient dragon. Only the Lion of the Tribe of Judah can overcome the huge, fiery-red dragon.
When the ministries of the Christian Church, the Body of Christ, begin to travail, Christ is formed in the Church. As Christ is brought forth in the personalities of the saints He is caught up to the throne of God in preparation for that Day when He will be revealed with and in His saints.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3,4)
Christ is our life. Our life in the present hour is in Christ at the right hand of God.
As soon as Christ has been formed in the members of His Body and then caught up to God, the authoritative Word of Divine judgment can be pronounced against Satan. The direct result is that to Michael and his angels will be issued the power of God to force Satan and his angels from the thrones of spiritual dominion over the earth.
When the Church of Christ attempts to destroy the works of Satan in its own wisdom and strength, nothing is accomplished in the heavens. Until the strong man is bound it is impossible to invade his home.
The Christian Church possesses neither the wisdom nor the power to bind the strong man, Satan, the accuser of the brothers of Christ. Therefore the Church must enter deep travail, as a human mother enters the valley of the shadow of death in order to bring forth a child. The Church must enter the travail of death to self-will and self-seeking.
When the Church is "living," little of eternal value is accomplished in the spirit realm; and it is the spirit realm that controls the world, the material creation. When the Church enters travail in the Spirit of God, dying to its own life in order that Christ may be formed, the Divinely authorized Word of judgment issues from the throne of God in Heaven.
It is the immutable decree of God that His beloved Son, Christ, shall inherit the heavens and the earth. None other can inherit the works of God. All the promises of God are directed toward the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of the inheritance is His. Therefore a "living" church, a church that has its own life, cannot enter the Kingdom of God. It is dead to the purposes of God.
And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. (Revelation 3:1)
The church in Sardis was alive in the flesh and soul but dead as far as Christ was concerned.
It is only as we die that Christ can live and come into the fullness of His inheritance. His inheritance is in the saints. It is only as Christ lives that the accuser can be wrested from his throne and forced into the earth by the elect angels.
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Before the accuser can be cast out of the heavenlies (which is the goal of the wrestling of the Church of Christ—Ephesians 6:12), the blood of the Lamb must proceed at the head of the army of God; the Holy Spirit must utter the Divine Testimony; and the saints must die the death of absolute obedience to the Father so Christ, and not the self-will and self-seeking of human beings, is established firmly and eternally on the throne of the personality of each member of the Lord’s army.
The blood is of the Lamb of God, Christ.
The testimony is of the Holy Spirit of God.
The death of the saint is the death of obedience to the will of the Father.
The Son, the Spirit, and the Father are all directly involved in overcoming the accuser.
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