12:10
“Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Messiah”. We should remember the context within this verse is given. There has been a war in heaven, Satan lost. Satan has been cast down to the earth and he is leading the whole earth astray. We are then going to read about him accusing the brethren. We feel the battle, but the cry from heaven is that the kingdom of God has come. The authority of the Messiah has come. Satan is described as the accuser of the brethren, he has been hurled down. So again we have the picture of a serious battle, one that is tough for believers, but the enemy is a defeated enemy.
12:11
“They triumphed over him”. Who triumphed over the dragon? We do. How? By the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony. We have been cleansed by the blood of the lamb, healed by it. But things do not tend there, we are to proclaim the gospel. Then we get the end of the verse “they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death”. This is no superficial victory, it is not a “name it and claim it” silliness. It is a deadly serious battle, but one that we win. We need to hold on to both aspects. The serious and costly nature of the battle, and the assuredness of ultimate victory.
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