Greater is He That Is In You!
Reflection: Although the book of Revelation can be a very confusing book and left many wondering what good can from it, I think there are a couple of themes that are very helpful to us as we seek to be faithful to God’s call on our lives. We see a little bit of the cosmic struggle that goes on behind the scenes between God’s angels led by Michael, and the dragon who is also called the “devil” or “Satan”. The term “Satan” means “obstructer”, and the word “devil” means “tempter/tester”. And we see from this passage that we do have an enemy who is literally “hell-bent” on our destruction, and obstructing us from number one, having a relationship with God. And number two, accusing us continually so that we might not be freed up to serve God.
Paul acknowledges this enemy and our battle as God’s children against him in Ephesians 6:12 when he states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
The general teaching is that Satan and his demons were thrown down out of heaven and their only goal in life is to lead the whole world astray. Meaning their goal is to distract, discourage, and defeat Christians, who are called to be children of light. A defeated, discouraged and doubtful Christian is rendered an ineffective Christian. The Church often shies away from teaching about the devil for fear of either freaking people out, or fearing it will give the devil too much power.
So there is a balance here. We need to correctly understand where our enemy comes from, his mission, and the limited amount of power he has been given for a time. But ultimately as we will get to in this book, he will be defeated and thrown into the lake of fire forever. The bottom line is that Jesus has conquered sin, death and the power of the devil forever, when died on the cross and rose again from the dead on the third day.
Even Jesus recognized the limited power of the devil to tempt us and lead us astray when He taught the disciples to pray, “Deliver us from evil”. Which is often rendered, “Deliver us from the evil one.” “Evil” and “evil one” are the same root word in the Greek, so it could be translated either way.
Bottom line, as a Christian you expect to be under temptation and attack from Satan. But God has called you, chosen you and you are His. God has delivered us from evil by what Jesus has done on the cross defeating the evil one, and by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in us.
As Paul teaches us we have been given spiritual weapons to fight spiritual battles. We have been given the Armor God, which includes: the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness (that is the righteousness of Christ!), the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and also prayer! On top of this God has given us to the power of the Christian community to encourage us and pray for us and at times challenge us.
Just today I got a call from my Christian brother, who is a great friend from my previous church. Weekly he calls me, prays for me and we keep each other accountable. As it says in 1 John 4:4, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” As we remember our identity is in Christ and greater is He that is in us, we don’t have to unnecessarily worry about the devil!
Revelation 12:7-17
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
Additional Readings Today: Psalm 141:5-10, Micah 1- 3:7
Prayer: Thank you God that we are your children and you have given us authority as sons and daughters of the King. Help us to live out our lives in Your authority as we cling to Your Word and promises and pray, "Deliver us from the evil one." We know our victory is secure because of what you have done for us in Jesus' name, Amen.
Paul acknowledges this enemy and our battle as God’s children against him in Ephesians 6:12 when he states, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
The general teaching is that Satan and his demons were thrown down out of heaven and their only goal in life is to lead the whole world astray. Meaning their goal is to distract, discourage, and defeat Christians, who are called to be children of light. A defeated, discouraged and doubtful Christian is rendered an ineffective Christian. The Church often shies away from teaching about the devil for fear of either freaking people out, or fearing it will give the devil too much power.
So there is a balance here. We need to correctly understand where our enemy comes from, his mission, and the limited amount of power he has been given for a time. But ultimately as we will get to in this book, he will be defeated and thrown into the lake of fire forever. The bottom line is that Jesus has conquered sin, death and the power of the devil forever, when died on the cross and rose again from the dead on the third day.
Even Jesus recognized the limited power of the devil to tempt us and lead us astray when He taught the disciples to pray, “Deliver us from evil”. Which is often rendered, “Deliver us from the evil one.” “Evil” and “evil one” are the same root word in the Greek, so it could be translated either way.
Bottom line, as a Christian you expect to be under temptation and attack from Satan. But God has called you, chosen you and you are His. God has delivered us from evil by what Jesus has done on the cross defeating the evil one, and by the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in us.
As Paul teaches us we have been given spiritual weapons to fight spiritual battles. We have been given the Armor God, which includes: the shield of faith, the breastplate of righteousness (that is the righteousness of Christ!), the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and also prayer! On top of this God has given us to the power of the Christian community to encourage us and pray for us and at times challenge us.
Just today I got a call from my Christian brother, who is a great friend from my previous church. Weekly he calls me, prays for me and we keep each other accountable. As it says in 1 John 4:4, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” As we remember our identity is in Christ and greater is He that is in us, we don’t have to unnecessarily worry about the devil!
Revelation 12:7-17
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. 8 But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. 9 The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
who accuses them before our God day and night,
has been hurled down.
11 They triumphed over him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
12 Therefore rejoice, you heavens
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury,
because he knows that his time is short.”
Additional Readings Today: Psalm 141:5-10, Micah 1- 3:7
Prayer: Thank you God that we are your children and you have given us authority as sons and daughters of the King. Help us to live out our lives in Your authority as we cling to Your Word and promises and pray, "Deliver us from the evil one." We know our victory is secure because of what you have done for us in Jesus' name, Amen.
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