Dear friends,
I want to raise an important topic.
In the passage below we read of three keys to overcoming and being effective for Jesus.
Rev 12:11
“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12 For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”
Each of these three would seem to be descriptive of how victorious believers acted.
So the Blood of the Lamb...
At passover the Blood of the Lamb was physically smeared on the House over the doorway.
One sacrificed Lamb for each Household.
Now I know references on this subject are scant but the Holy Spirit leads us into all Truth.
I pretty much pray daily for our house and property to be covered by the Blood of the Lamb.
I pray for angels to minister here and the presence of the Holy Spirit to be strong.
Like the Armour of God has to be put on, we similarly apply the Blood.
Now I am well aware that there are different views on this and no one should be surprised that such a central matter of faith will be hotly contested.
Some will insist that doing this is little more than superstition, nonsense, even witchcraft.
This would seem to be a very important topic to get right.
What is God saying ?
Beloved one, you quoted Revelation 12:10-12, and emphasized on Revelation 12:11.
If we are to understand what God is saying, we must understand what we heard first:
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The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,”
Revelation 1:1 NKJV
So what you quoted in Revelation 12:10-12, God is saying the revelation of Jesus Christ.
If not the revelation of Jesus Christ, we can be assured that the interpretation is wrong.
Your concern for quoting the Scriptures in Revelation 12:10-12, that you considered three keys to overcoming and being effective for Jesus, that you read, and you are considering what is God saying.
I consider that we should not follow a pattern of 3 keys or 1-7 points or top ten ways to overcome and be effective for Jesus, for Jesus never taught us that manner.
For we heard:
“Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and
stewards of the mysteries of God.”
I Corinthians 4:1 NKJV
I say that there is nothing wrong for you and others to pray daily for your house and property to be covered by the blood of Jesus Christ.
For we heard :
“The wicked are overthrown and are no more, But
the house of the righteous will stand.”
Proverbs 12:7 NKJV
For we are made righteous by the blood of Christ, that we received the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, so we are justified by His grace, that our house in Christ, that will stand .
Also we heard:
“The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.”
Psalms 24:1 NKJV
So there is nothing wrong to pray for what we have, for we are of the Lord.
There is nothing wrong to pray for angels to minister here and the presence of the Holy Spirit to be strong.
For we heard:
“Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?”
Hebrews 1:14 NKJV
So we can pray that the Lord sends His angels to minister us who will inherit salvation.
Yes, there is nothing wrong to pray to the Lord, Holy Spirit, that He manifests His presence strong here.
About applying the blood, this is what we have heard:
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whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,”
Romans 3:25 NKJV
Yes, we can apply the blood of Christ through faith.
Now, let us perceive and understand what God is saying in Revelation 12:10-12.
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.”
Revelation 12:10 KJV
Paraphrasing: “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven” ; and I heard or that I understand saying in the heaven or in the
spiritual realm.
“Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ:”; now is come or in NKJV now have come, salvation, that is, Jesus Christ. Now have come strength, that is, Jesus Christ.
Now have come the kingdom of our God, that is, God reigns as king in the spiritual realm, or God reigns as king in our minds.
For we heard:
“For those who identify with their old nature set their
minds on the things of the old nature, but
those who identify with the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. Having one’s mind controlled by the old nature is death, but
having one’s mind controlled by the Spirit is life and shalom. For the mind controlled by the old nature is hostile to God, because it does not submit itself to God’s Torah — indeed, it cannot. Thus, those who identify with their old nature cannot please God.”
Romans (Rom) 8:5-8 CJB
Now have come God reigns in our minds, that the Spirit of God rules our minds.
Now have come the power of Christ, that is life and shalom: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
If we are no longer accused, we are absolved or cleared or redeemed or justified by His grace, for we are the Lord’s brethren, that our enemy, the devil is cast down. So we should stand trusting, that now Jesus Christ saves us, that He strengthens us through His Spirit, that we should let His Spirit reigns in our minds, and now have come the power of Christ, for we were raised to be justified by His grace, whom God sets as a propitiation by His blood through faith.
Next, we heard:
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
Revelation 12:11 NKJV
Beloved ones, we heard that we overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb.
Also this, we heard:
“And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory,
so that your faith and hope are in God.”
I Peter 1:17-21 NKJV
So Jesus Christ was manifest in these last times for us who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that our faith and hope are in God.
So we overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb because our faith and hope are in God.
Paraphrasing:
“
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and
by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”
Beloved ones, we overcame the enemy by the word of our testimony, that we spoke the testimony of the Lord or the instructions of the Lord, for we are encouraged or strengthened by the Spirit of His word, for by His instructions of truth that we overcame the enemy, that we didn’t love our lives to the death, that we died with Christ, that we may live to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
For we heard:
“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 6:8-11 NKJV
So we reckon or consider that we ourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now let us paraphrase Revelation 12:12.
“Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.””
Revelation 12:12 NKJV
Therefore, we who have the mind of Christ, let us rejoice, that is, we who dwell in the Spirit, that we dwell in the words that Christ have spoken!
How we may paraphrase what we heard:”Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea”
that is, woe to those who have inhabit the old earth, that is, woe to those who inhabit with old nature.
About woe to the sea, that is, woe to those who inhabit the wisdom of the world or the wisdom of the serpent.
For we also heard:
“Then I stood on the sand of the sea.
And I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name.”
Revelation 13:1 NKJV
So let us not rise up out the wisdom of the serpent or the world, but our Lord Jesus Christ should be our wisdom, our holiness and
our righteousness.
Let us continue paraphrasing:”For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
For the devil has come down those who inhabit the old nature and inhabit the wisdom of the world, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.
This has revealed to us through His Spirit.
For this we heard:
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But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.”
I Corinthians 2:10 NKJV
