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.
(Rev 12:11 NLT)
The devil, who accuses Christ’s own, will be defeated by the blood of the Lamb and by our testimony of God’s salvation and those who belong to Christ know Him and are not afraid to die because their eyes are set on Him and their trust is in Him.
Not all will die for Christ by the sword but in those last days as Satan’s army wars against the heavenly hosts it sounds like that is how God will gather the last of His people unto Himself. Those who do find themselves in that time and place will no doubt look around, see the horrible things taking place and know that their time is short but they will also know God has something better in store and the last and greatest threshold they must cross is death. For they will not back down about their testimony of Christ because He is their all in all and even though backing down would allow them to keep their lives they trade it gladly because by faith they know what lies ahead.
We read Revelation and think how terrible it would be to live through all that will take place on the earth, and it is true but as the end draws near and the evidence of God’s great judgment becomes more obvious it does something to change people. No longer are we concerned about lives of comfort as bags of gold will be traded for a loaf of bread. No longer are we concerned about building warehouses to store our riches. No longer can we stretch out our arms in pride and point to all that we have accomplished because God will be bringing to a close a chapter in His great story. People will either try to save their lives and disregard the salvation that stands before them or they will give what remains to God and prepare for whatever He has planned. You’ve heard the saying whatever doesn’t break you makes you stronger, well this time only those who live by faith will be made stronger and the rest will be broken.
What does that mean for us today as we live to make our lives more comfortable, as we plan to accomplish our goals in this life? One thing it means is that we better learn not to hold too tightly to the things of earth, the things meant to satisfy the flesh. We do not know when Christ will return but when He does the dead in Christ will rise up out of the ground to go be with Him first, whether those who are alive in Christ on that day will return to heaven with Him at the same time remains to be seen. We do know that there will be those who become saved during the Great Tribulation and since that is the case that indicates there will be others to witness of Christ’s love, meaning that not all who belong to Christ will escape the display of God’s wrath on the earth. Revelation makes it very clear that those who belong to God and remain on the earth during this time will be protected up until chapter twelve and then after seeing all that has taken place that change I mentioned that will make some stronger and crush others will act to galvanize the saints of God and prepare them for the final threshold they must cross before coming home.
