And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

A War At the Beginning of The Tribulation

Jesus in showing this vision of hell’s final assault on Heaven. When Satan realizes that this is the last seven years of his kingdom on earth, it appears he makes a last ditch, desperate attack on the halls of heaven itself.

This war is won by Michael and his angels and once it is won, the Bible says there is no longer a place for Satan and his angels, his demon on that spiritual plane of heaven. We talked before about the 2nd heaven where it was believed that the angels dwelt, well it appears that that spiritual realm also include the fallen angels and Satan, until this future battle in heaven.

They are cast out of that realm to the physical earth. The loud voice calls out, “Now is come salvation and strength…for the accuser of the brethren is cast down.” One of the things that Satan could do, as we know from the book of Job, while he was in that spiritual 2nd heaven was accuse the people of God, but no longer. Furthermore, those accusation were defeated by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony.

The people of God, whose faith was in the grace of Jesus Christ and his shed blood overcame throughout history by that gracious gift and by the gift of their own lives in testimony of their faith. “they loved not their lives unto the death.” They destroyed the accusation of the Destroyer by the lives they were willing to sacrifice in service to their Savior and God.

Overcoming the Accuser

In Revelation 12 we are once again afforded this glimpse into heaven and thought that glimpse is mainly so we can understand this war that Satan has waged against God, there is another insight that is very valuable to us today. It is the insight into overcoming.

In vs 11, 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.

That verse is talking about all of us caught up in the sidelines and the frontlines of heaven’s war. To overcome you must possess three things.

The blood of the lamb. You must be born again, you must like the Hebrews prepared for the first Passover, have the blood of the lamb over your lintel and upon your doorposts, not of a physical house but of your heart and soul.

You must overcome through the word your testimony. We must possess the salvation Jesus Christ through his shed blood and we must tell others of Jesus our testimony, our witness, the truth of a life saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.

Finally, if we are to over come we must love something greater than our own life on this earth. We must love the Lord and we willing to give this life, to spend this life, to pour out this life. For if we are truly overcomers then we know this life is only the staging area for the first steps we will take into eternity. Spend that life wisely in service to God.

Remember what Paul said in Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If you can’t back up your faith with the actions of your life then doesn’t that mean you also can’t overcome the accusations of Satan? Don’t let him win even a temporary victory. Look to the blood of the Lamb, Live the word of your testimony and let your love for the next life be much more powerful than loving this present one.